ABC Year 2 Quarter 2 Lesson 7
In this lesson, David Capoccia discusses Solomon’s temple, both its description from Kings and Chronicles as well as the preparations King David made for his son Solomon. David Capoccia also briefly examines how temple worship changed after Solomon and what the temple means for believers today.
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no not not Kings oh hopefully I’m not getting it wrong but first Chronicles First Chronicles begins with the death of Saul and that’s where II Samuel begins so roughly second Samuel in first Chronicles they over they parallel each other which Old Testament history book overlaps first and second Kings Judy that’s right second chronicles now this is second chronicles I forgot to mention this last week but the books of Chronicles they focus on the kings of Judah but in terms of time period second chronicles covers both the time period of First Kings and of Second Kings now which whole test which Old Testament history book picks up where II Chronicles leaves off Remember 2nd Chronicles ends with the decree of Cyrus to return to Israel which book begins with the decree of Cyrus not Nehemiah Ezra and it’s convenient for us because right after second chronicles in our Bibles Ezra appears but their histories go right into one another so those are some of the things we saw last week we also looked at some of the benefits of having these overlapping accounts what’s one benefit yeah Greg that’s right it’s extra confirmation of the historical details presented because you have multiple Witnesses saying these things happen or these are the these are the details that go with these things so you have confirmation what else is the benefit well sometimes there’s an expansion on a detail from the other account maybe one account doesn’t mention when something happened but another account does or maybe one account gives a fuller explanation of an event mentioned in another account so there’s an expansion on the details because of these parallel accounts then we also mentioned that there’s also a check on our interpretation and even the copying of the details of these accounts Answers in Genesis kind of tying up these different benefits together says it like this we can be sure if the Bible’s accuracy because the accounts agree with one another even though they had been copied independently in the few cases where there are disagreements we can compare the accounts and other information in the surrounding text to clarify any supposed contradictions or copying mistakes now Rob brought up last week a question about Cyrus’s decree which I wasn’t able to answer but done a little bit of research now how does his decree to let the Hebrews return to Israel how does that interact with the 70-year prophecy mentioned by Daniel from Jeremiah how does that connect with Old Testament history well welcome back to this question later on but just to give you a brief answer Cyrus decree has been dated somewhere between 539 and 536 BC Jeremiah’s prophecy meanwhile or mentioning the Desolation that would come on Israel is specifically refers to the number of years that Judah and its neighbors would serve the king of Babylon prophecy comes from Jeremiah 25 11 which says the whole land will be a desolation and a horror and these nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years so that’s what the prophecy specifically mentions it’s about serving the king of Babylon though desolation is part of that so when did Judah and its neighbors first become subject to Babylon well probably right around the Battle of charge Mish dated 605 BC and which Babylon defeated the combined forces of Assyria and Egypt battle Mark the end of a Syrian power and the great curtailing of Egyptian power Babylonian hegemony was established in the Middle East Judah quickly submits to Babylon it may even happen may have even happened in the same year I actually spoke an error I think last week saying Jerusalem was only besieged twice it actually was besieged three times though Siege is only specifically mentioned in the book of Kings twice but each time Nebuchadnezzar came up against Judah Judah Was Defeated and captives were taken into Babylon so the first time was probably very soon after the battle of chachimish in 605 BC so 605 BC to about 536 BC would give you 70 years which would fulfill Daniel’s prophecy now that’s not the way that everyone explains that prophecy people come up with other solutions to show how the 70 years came to pass but I think that’s the best answer best answer is to go back to the establishment of Babylonian hegemony when the nations of the Middle East began to serve the king of Babylon because that’s what the prophecy of Jeremiah mentions so there you have it any other questions about what we talked about last week okay well today we’re talking about Salman building the Temple there’s a lot to say there’s a lot that we won’t even be able to talk about won’t be able to talk about a dedicatory prayer at the end of the construction of the temple really what I want to focus on today are just two things and maybe if we have time a third which is the preparation for the temple building David’s words to Solomon we’re going to spend some time looking at that then we’re going to look at the temple itself what was in it what did it look like and then if we have time we’ll make some observations about God’s relationship to his Temple as scripture moves along let’s pray father father I pray that you would give me the ability to speak to speak clearly and that the listeners they would be encouraged by David words to Solomon and also father that they would have a clear idea of what your temple was and uh how it was arranged in Jesus name amen let’s start our study by looking at the preparation for the temple turn to First Chronicles chapter 28.
we’ll be looking at the whole chapter First Chronicles 28 1-21 remember David King David wanted to build a house for God but God told David that well that was a good thought that was righteous intention it would be David’s son Solomon who would build a temple that didn’t mean that David had no role in the Temple’s Construction let’s see what the Aged King David says in first Chronicles 28.
follow along with me starting in verse 1.
now David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel the princes of the tribes and the commanders of the divisions that served the king and the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and the overseers of all the property and livestock belonging to the King and his sons with the officials and the Mighty Men even all the Valiant men then King David Rose to his feet and said listen to me my brethren and my people I had intended to build a permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God so I had made preparations to build it but God said to me you shall not build a house for my name because you are a man of war and F Shadow blood yet the Lord the god of Israel chose me from all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever for he has chosen Judah to be a leader and in the house of Judah my father’s house and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me King over all Israel of All My Sons the Lord has given me many sons he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel he said to me your son Solomon is the one who shall build my house and my Courts for I have chosen him to be a son to me and I will be a father to him I will establish his kingdom forever if he resolutely performs my Commandments and my ordinances as is done now so now in the sight of all Israel the Assembly of the Lord and in the hearing of our God observe and seek after all the Commandments of the Lord your God so that you may possess the good land and bequeath it to your sons after you forever as for you my son Solomon know the god of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts if you seek Him He will let you find him if you forsake Him He will reject you forever consider now for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary be courageous and act and David gave to his son Solomon the plan of the porch of the temple its buildings its storehouses its upper rooms inner rooms and the room for The Mercy Seat and the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the Lord and for all the surrounding rooms that the storehouses of the house of God and for the storehouses of the dedicated things also for the divisions of the priests and the Levites and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord and for all the utensils of the service in the house of the Lord for the golden utensils the weight of gold for all utensils for every kind of service but the silver utensils the weight of silver or all utensils for every kind of service and the weight of gold for the golden landstands and their golden lamps with a weight of each lamp stand and its lamps on the weight of the silver for the silver lamp stands which the weight with the weight of each lampstand and its lamps according to the use of each lamp stand and the gold by weight the tables of showbread for each table and silver for the silver tables and the forks the basins and the pitchers of pure gold and for the golden bowls of the weight of each bowl and for the silver bowls of the weight for each bowl and for the altar of incense refined Gold by weight and gold for the model of the Chariot even the cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord all this said David the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me all the details of this pattern then David said to his son Solomon be strong and courageous and act do not fear nor be dismayed for the Lord God my God is with you he will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service the house of the Lord has finished Now Behold these are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service the house of God and every willing man of any skill will be with you in all the work for all the kinds of service the officials also and all the people will be entirely at your command okay it’s a pretty big section but let’s make some observations whom does David first address that’s right various officials of Israel these gather together princes and commanders and different wealthy people the Nobles he speaks to them and what does he command them to do he reminds them a number of things but what does he actually command them to do but listen yeah he tells him to listen to what he’s saying what else right so you mentioned the motivation along with the command but he basically says seek the Lord’s command seek and observe God’s Commandments and he also gives a reason as you mentioned Shea so that you can keep the land that God has given you so that you can continue to live in it and last in it forever then David turns his attention to Solomon what two commands does David first give Solomon yeah it’s Wayne that’s right it says know the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly and he also gives some reasoning to Solomon why should Solomon do this something about God’s nature what does he mention exactly he mentions his omniscience he says You Gotta Serve him with a whole heart because remember God knows all things he knows all thoughts he will know if you’re serving him partially or hypocritically you will know your secret sins so serve him with a whole heart he also says he also gives a guarantee what else does he use as reasons for Solomon to obey these commands what’s the guarantee that’s right and we quote a variant of this many times if you seek Him He will let you find him that’s a great encouragement right that’s a great promise he says but if you forsake Him he will reject you forever it rewards you if you seek him but if you reject him you will curse you and you will be punished so some very important motivation David finally reminds Solomon that God has chosen Solomon to build a temple this is Solomon’s divinely ordained and direct admission therefore David says to Solomon be courageous and act build the temple now how was Solomon going to build the temple or rather how is he going to know how to build the temple he has plans David is giving the plans to David and notice how specific these plans are not just um the general dimensions of the building or of its porch but also the rooms and the floors and its various furnishings and holy items even the weight of the metal needed to create those various items and the Personnel divisions of the priests and Levites for servicing this building an intense amount all of the planning is already done and where did David get these plants he got him from God David says specifically God gave me the pattern his hand was upon me this is divine inspiration they may be experiencing a little deja vu what else have we seen a person being instructed in a Divine pattern for an Earthly building project Moses right um Noah no also I think but Moses specifically he talks the Lord says to him many times see that you build according to the pattern that you have seen on the mountain Moses when he constructed the Tabernacle he was also being inspired in his plans by God now notice what David says after that in a text he says be strong and courageous do not fear nor be dismayed for the Lord my God is with you this too should sound familiar where else have we heard almost these exact same words Joshua this is what God spoke to Joshua when Joshua was about to do what lead the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan so we have another illusion here and this this phrasing I think becomes standard in Israel it gets quoted a number of times but it originally was given by God to Joshua you’re not fear and our Venus made the Lord your God is with you wherever you go now Solomon is obviously going to need a lot of materials to fulfill all the plans that David is father and the spirit of God have laid out Pete down at the next chapter glanson verses one to four so first Chronicles 29.
from where will much of the material be provided to build the temple yes David David not only supplies the plans for the temple but he’s already gathered a ton of material David’s been amassing it look down just a couple more verses second chronicles 29 5-6 after David details what he’s laid up for the temple of God what does he do yes please exactly in verse 5 and chapter 29 he says who then is willing to contemplate consecrate himself this day to the Lord okay who’s willing to make himself holy to the Lord said himself apart for the Lord and that kind of seems vague what exactly are you asking David well verse 6 clarifies then the rulers of the father’s households and the princes of the tribes of Israel and the commanders of thousands and of hundreds with the overseers over the king’s worst work offered willingly and then we get the detail of what they offered many thousands of talents of gold silver brass and iron so he’s asking the people the Nobles to give and they do they give generously they give willingly and then even notice verse 9.
then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly for they made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart and King David also rejoiced greatly deja vu all over again where else have we seen the exact same thing happening with the Tabernacle remember that God allowed Israel to plunder the Egyptians but then when he gives Moses the plans for the Tabernacle he asks Moses to ask the people to give for the construction and they do and they give so much and so joyfully that there’s too much they have to tell him stop giving we have more than we need we see the same thing happening here it doesn’t say necessarily that they could give more than what is needed but it is interesting later on after the whole Temple is constructed and finished that one of the things that text mentions is that Solomon brings in many of the treasures dedicated by David into the temple which says to me that there was he didn’t have to sell that stuff or melt it down for the temple construction there were some leftovers he had some Treasures that he was able to put inside so perhaps again we have more than enough to build the temple okay let’s make some conclusions based off of these observations by clearly alluding to the construction of the Tabernacle and the conquest of Canaan what is David communicating to Solomon he’s trying to motivate Solomon why would these things be motivating okay he certainly has some obstacles perhaps in his mind to overcome we’ll talk about those in just a second but what about alluding to these two events would be motivating so Solomon did as well and so according back to Joshua to God encourage Joshua at the beginning begin setting things up to Solomon exactly uh specifically with Joshua but I think also with a tabernacle we’re seeing that there was a a very serious task to be done it was divinely ordained and yet God empowered those committed with that task to do it they did it and they did it well Solomon you can do the same thing you have a serious task don’t think that this is something that’s not that important you’re making a house for God but God will enable you to do it look here are the plans look here’s the material look at what God has done in the past is trying to encourage Solomon in both the seriousness of his charge but also in God’s ability to cause Solomon to do it and there were indeed many things that may have met may have made Solomon fearful of his task Solomon’s yawning and inexperienced his father sets a high standard he was a great king in Israel this house is to be a glorious house actually in a previous exhortation in first Chronicles 21 he says to Solomon like this is going to be a great house I want you to know that it’s going to be a house for God’s name so maybe that pressure is on him this is that glorious house for God but just like with Moses and just like with Joshua the encouragement is not you really are great Solomon you’ve got it in you just believe in yourself but the encouragement is God he will be with you God will be with you he won’t leave you or forsake you this task is from him and he will Empower you to do it so act and be courageous obey him obey him and he’ll be with you God was with Moses Moses who said he was not a good speaker who was not able to carry God’s people it was too much for him but God empowered Moses for the task Moses acted by faith and he was able to do what God called him to do he led Israel through the Wilderness he delivered to them God’s law and he brought them to the promised land God also was was with Joshua Joshua who also bore pressure pressure being Moses successor and facing the impregnable Fortress of Jericho but God promised that God would fight for Joshua if Joshua obeyed and acted by faith and Joshua did and no Army in Canaan was able to withstand Joshua because God fought for him David tells Solomon the same is true for you whatever task God has given you he will enable you to do it be strong and courageous at build the temple fulfill your calling the power of wisdom are not in you they are in God look at how he’s provided in the past and look at how he’s provided for you already here are the plans here are the materials here are the Willing princes of Israel have faith in God know him love him and Obey him yeah probably many of you are making parallels in your mind because isn’t this message necessary for us we are not faced with the task of conquering kingdoms or building temples but we are faced with the task given to us as followers of Christ enduring suffering raging against sin rescuing men and women from captivity to Darkness the task is difficult even impossible but where is our strength and Hope not in ourselves but in God it’s our brothers and sisters let us be strong and courageous we are here to fulfill a Divine mission let’s not be afraid or be dismayed no matter how bad the situation looks let us seek the Lord for the Lord our God is with us wherever we go if we obey him he will Empower us to endure and to conquer not here to get rich rich to be comfortable or to become popular we have a mission we must build up the church make disciples pass on God’s truth to the Next Generation God will Empower us to do it but we have to seek Him by faith can you pause the moment questions or comments so this first section we look at the preparation I’ve done an observation interpretation a little bit of application but now let’s turn our attention to the house of God itself now we’re going to approach this in a different way we’re not gonna be able to do the observation interpret and apply because the text is too long there are several chapters that describe the building of the house of God we’re just going to look at the first verses that begin those sections to get a little bit of information and then we’re going to examine the rest in a summary format I’m going to be summarizing the information that comes from these chapters but look first at First Kings 6 verse 1.
first king six and seven describe the building of the temple so just go back in your Bibles a little bit first king six the introductory verses give us a little bit of information that’s significant regarding time and place look at First Kings 6 verse 1.
now it came about and the 480th year after the sun’s visual came out of the land of Egypt and the fourth year of Solomon’s Reign Over Israel in the month of ziv which is the second month that he began to build the house of the Lord now this may seem like just an idle detail to you but it’s actually quite significant this time detail not only tells us when in Solomon’s Reign he begins to build the temple the fourth year but we’re also told that construction began 480 years after what event The Exodus after Israel came out of Egypt this is momentous this connects the time information given in the pentitude with the time information given in the Old Testament history this is vital to building any accurate biblical or yeah any accurate biblical chronology God has given us these time details because this is real history how fortunate we are to have this detail that it is 480 years after the Exodus now so where what what date is that in history as we understand it in BC and AED terms well remember there are some variates in different chronologies I’ll give you Answers in Genesis and one from the MacArthur Study Bible Answers in Genesis dates to Exodus to 1491 BC MacArthur gives in his Study Bible 1445 BC so if it’s 480 years later there’s a little bit of an interpretation difference in how they understand when 480 begins and to include the previous year did it include the last year Etc but that means Answers in Genesis scheme that the temple construction begins around 1012 2012 BC and then MacArthur’s version 966 BC but 480 years after the Exodus we had the construction of Solomon and this also helps us Place Solomon’s Reign because we know he began in the fourth year so Solomon only began to reign as king four years before the construction dates that we have listed here so this detail gives us the time the buildings the temple what about the place we know it’s Jerusalem but is there something more specific than that actually we get some more information in second chronicles turn over to Second Chronicles three and look at verses one and two second chronicles three verses 1 2 page 447 in your Q Bibles here we don’t get the time detail the specific time detail but we do get extra detail about the place first one of chapter 3 second chronicles then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to his father David at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Orna in the jebusite it began to build on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his reign hmm first notice the confirmation of the time detail given in Kings doesn’t give us the point you need to your part but does say second month of the fourth year of Solomon also tells us the day the day of the month the second day of the month but notice the place first it says Mount Moriah in Jerusalem Now isn’t this now this isn’t I’ve been saying this a lot today this isn’t the first time we’ve seen sudden such well this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Mount Moriah where else have we heard of Mariah Abraham and Isaac now in the original passage Genesis 2 22 2 didn’t say specifically Mount Moriah but the mountains of Moriah let me remind you of the verse Genesis 22 2 God says to Abraham take now your son your only son whom you love Isaac and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you the mountains for the temple is probably the same Mountain that God directed Abraham to go to to offer up his son Isaac and do you remember the end of that account Abraham saw that on the mounts of the Lord it will be provided and that became a saying for the Hebrews on the Mount of the Lord it will be provided because God provided a substitute for Isaac so this is in the background of the Temple’s construction and then there’s this detail about the threshing floor warning and the threshing floor that seems random but of course it’s not earlier in first Chronicles not second chronicles but in first Chronicles we actually hear about this threshing floor what is this the significance of this threshing floor yes Judy exactly there was a plague stopped at that threshing floor and how did that plague begin this was David’s other big sin he took a census he took a wickedly motivated census to boast in the number of troops he had at his command the trust and the strength of Israel’s armies and God sent a plague people were being devastated many were dying and the angel of the Lord halted its destruction of the people at this threshing floor at the house of ornam the jebusite and the angel became evident David rushes to the site he entreats the Lord he builds an altar or he purchases the site from ornan he builds an altar there he offers sacrifice and God accepts the sacrifice with fire from heaven and the plague stops plague ends so that’s what this verse is talking about it’s where David purchased the land from ornan he made sacrifice he entreated the angel of the Lord he actually met with the angel of the Lord there the angel of the Lord with his drawn sword but God accepted a sacrifice and the plague was ended so this is a significant site the site that was chosen to build the temple this Divine association with the site as well as an association of redemption of buying that covering and saving well let’s now actually explore the temple itself I’m going to be mostly talking here but follow along with me as best you can I’ll give you a couple pictures to Anchor your understanding and we might turn back to them as I described in summary what the temple is and what it looks like now of course these illustrations are not inspired they are the best efforts of certain interpreters to visualize what the Bible describes about Solomon’s Temple so there might be something that’s not quite correct don’t be dismayed by that we obviously want to Wed ourselves to the scripture but here’s one example of Solomon’s Temple you can see most of what the Bible describes the court of the priests the various outdoor implements and then the temple building itself with its columns its porch in the front two sections on the inside what we would call in the Tabernacle terms the holy place and the holy of holies or what’s described in the Bible as the outer Sanctuary or the Nave and then the inner Sanctuary or the holy of holies and they don’t really give us a detailed look inside there but you can see some of the gold and the cherubim in there also a little size uh comparison the temple complex at least of the uh inner Court the court of the priests when you combine that with the temple building it’s a little bit more than half the football field so big not uh not as big as some of the other temples will be later on Heritage temples complex is going to be even bigger but that gives us a little bit of a size comparison it’s another picture this one doesn’t show us the whole court but it gives us a little bit more view of the inside lots of gold there you see the side Chambers side Chambers around the temple the Sea and the basins outside the large altar burn offering and you can see they’ve inferred some stairs between the Nave and that most holy Place here’s a map and for some reason they don’t have this they don’t have the side Chambers going all the way around which seems to be what the Bible depicts but you see some side Chambers um the ultra in the front and for some stairs between the courts we used to also see the lamps and the tables inside the Temple okay a lot of this we haven’t actually talked about yet but we will and you’ll understand why these things are depicted we’re going to be describing the temple by moving from the furthest point outside to the furthest point inside as if we were walking into the temple ourselves so we approach from first the outer court or the great court it’s not actually mentioned in First Kings but it is mentioned in first Chronicles First Chronicles 4 9.
it says that Solomon created the great court that doesn’t tell us anything else about that court we don’t know its size we don’t know if it had a wall around it or what exactly was uh what exactly it was for I can infer however because the next chord is also called the court of the priest so this is probably the laities court this is as far as non-levison priests could go as part of Temple worship they stayed here in the outer court or the great Court so we’re walking in this outer Court we’re part of the worship of the general Israelites and then we pass into the next court let’s we’d have to be a levite or a priest presumably but we proceed into the inner court or the court of the priests now this for this court as well we don’t get the dimensions but this obviously because the other implements that are mentioned in this court is where the outdoor Priestly activities would take place this would be where the Sea and the bronze Altar and all that is this court is apparently walled a little bit of an ambiguity in the description of this wall and its association with the court but there’s a description in Kings of a wall that is made of three rows of stone and some beams of Cedar so this court appears to have been wall it also had a bronze gate here we find the sacrifices taking place on a new bronze altar that’s described in second chronicles 4 1. it’s a massive altar 20 cubits by 20 cubits by 10 cubits or if the 18 inch qubit is used 30 feet by 30 feet by 15 feet this literally dwarfs the old bronze altar huge could offer presumably many more sacrifices on it at once position the altar is not specifically mentioned but it was presumably near the front of the temple the temple is Facing East the little Bronzeville altar was probably positioned right in front of the entrance or very close to we also have the uh bronze C this replaces the bronze lever that was described in the Tabernacle Construction bronze is also giant it’s the that big pool sitting on top of some sculpture and let me find it again okay this is mentioned in second chronicles four two to six and first king 7 23-26 positioned specifically at the southeast section of the temple it was five cubits or seven and a half feet high ten cubits across it was Lily shaped in this bowl I mean this yeah this bowl sat on top of 12 bowls actually oxen 12 bronze oxen each Ox representing a tribe of Israel The Oxen are all facing outwards behind parts are inward toward the bowl and it is aptly named a c because it could contain a lot of water the Bible says two thousand baths more than two thousand baths or apparently the equivalent is twelve thousand gallons of water flat Chronicles tells us the purpose of the sea it was for the priests to wash in basically like their their bathing area but there are other bronze implements for washing not for the priests but for the sacrifices 10 mobile basins wheeled bronze basins on stands around the temple each Basin could hold 40 baths or 240 gallons yeah 240 gallons of water the stands in basins were exquisitely decorated and they were used to rinse the offerings there are five basins stationed on the north side of the temple and five basins station on the south side of the Temple so we see these various bronze implements in the inner Court we were there in the inner Court we would see the priests and the Levites going about their duties with these implements this apparently also was the place where the musicians were or at least that’s where they are when the temple is being constructed right when the temple is finished and they’re going to have the dedicatory ceremony it says that the singers and musicians they are standing on the east side of the altar so perhaps even between the entrance of the inner court and the outer Court probably visible to the Whispers on the other side or at least could be here or you could hear the worshipers the musicians rather this would be where they were they were also part of the inner Court at least if they follow the pattern presented in Chronicles okay so this is the out or this is the Court of the priests the uh intercourse but now let’s turn our attention to the temple proper the temple structure itself it’s described in uh First Kings 6 2 to 14. if I if I misquote the references please bear with me it gets a little bit confusing trying to compare the two passages but first game 6 2-14 and second chronicles three three to seven what’s the temple building itself like well you saw a little bit in the pictures but the building is rectangular with its entrance to the east 60 cubits long 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits High both accounts get the same dimensions that would be if we’re using the 18 inch qubit 90 feet by 30 feet by 45 feet now it could actually have been longer Chronicles mentions that the qubit was according to the old standard how did that mean a longer qubit that mean the 21 inch Royal qubit that’s mentioned at least one other once or twice else in the Scripture it could be in that case it’d be a little bit bigger than the dimensions I just gave you 90 by 30 by 45 feet in addition to these Dimensions the temple has a porch five cubits long and 20 cubits wide or seven seven and a half feet by 30 feet on this porch there are two giant bronze columns come back to those in a minute the temple also has a number of storage rooms that surround the north south and west sides of the Temple storage rooms are side Chambers and these are set in three stories there’s a bottom story a middle story and a third story and they get progressively bigger the rooms inside get bigger as you go up presumably because the walls got thinner the lower story is five cubits or seven and a half feet wide middle story is six cubits or nine feet wide and is an upper story of seven cubits or ten and a half feet wide and each story is five cubits tall or seven and a half feet so not exactly huge rooms not a lot of ceiling room but enough for storage there are sets of winding stairs that connect the different stories of the side Chambers there’s only one door mentioned to access these Chambers and it’s on the south side of the temple perhaps there are more doors but there’s only one mentioned in the Bible the structure of these side Chambers is not truly integrated with the rest of the temple there are what are called out offsets and the outside of the temple wall where Cedar beams could be placed from the side Chambers to lock in I guess with the temple wall so we have these side Chambers surrounding the sides and back of the Temple and the whole Temple aside from some cedar beams in these side rooms is made of stone cut stone cut at the Quarry so that the sound of a tool is not heard at the construction site now was there any adornment on this Stone well most interpretations say no though there are two curious descriptions given in the accounts of kings and Chronicles in first king 6 9 it says so he built the house and finished it and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar now we’ll see later on that the inside of the house is definitely covered by wood which is then covered by gold but this verse First Chronicles 6 9 appears in a context describing the outside of the house there’s actually a break in the text that doesn’t resume until verse 15 that we go into the inside of the house so was the temple then covered in wood and then presumably covered in gold first king 6 22A says he overlaid the whole house with gold until all the house was finished now I’ve never seen any depiction of the temple that way but there is this odd description uh in first king 6 9.
just to complicate things second chronicles three six three six a also says further he adorned the house with precious stones now precious stones are not mentioned any other time in the building account where are these precious stones are they on the outside are they on the inside and where exactly are they we’re not told they’re part of the adornment not exactly sure where so while we have these odd details most interpretations of the temple exterior are merely stem but now let’s go all right let’s start going inside the temple we have to come to the Eastern porch if we actually want to go inside and on this porch sit two gigantic bronze pillars these pillars are described in second chronicles 3 15 and 17 Empress King 715-22 now the accounts give them Heights for these pillars King says that they’re 18 cubits tall or seven 27 feet now this does not count the nine qubits of the capital and the Lily design so that would be a total of uh 27 cubits an additional 13 and a half feet but Chronicle says the pillars are 35 cubits tall or 52 and a half feet hmm how do we resolve this well even if we add the top Parts 27 cubits to 30 35 cubits doesn’t match there must be an explanation though as we’ve iterated throughout this course the Bible is true perhaps the Chronicles account adds the height of both the 18 cubic columns together approximately 18 cubits maybe 17 and a half add those together you get 35. or maybe the Chronicles account is giving some extra elements that are not talked about in the king’s account maybe the height of the porch is added in there or maybe the height of if there is a covering over these pillars maybe that is also added to the height of the pillars there’s got to be some explanation perhaps one of those is the explanation or maybe there’s another one but these are very tall columns very tall big bronze columns the circumference of these columns is 12 cubits or 18 feet or 18 feet its columns are also highly decorated each column has a five cubic Capital that would be like a cap to the top of the column networks of Twisted chain work a network of 200 pomegranates on each pillar and a four qubit Lily design on the top of each Capital so there’s a cap on the column and then there’s a lily design on the top of that cap these giant pillars even get names the right pillar is named jakeen meaning he shall establish and the left pillar is named Boaz meaning in it is strength so we see the porch these giant pillars these giant bronze pillars on the porch but as impressive as the outside is the real beauty of the temple is inside and to go inside we actually have to pass through a set of golden doors and these are mentioned in Scent Chronicles 4 22 and First Kings 6 31-35 actually there are two sets of doors in the temple there’s one that separates the outside of the temple from the inside that is approaching the Nave there’s also another set of dwarfs in the Nave to the holy of holies that’s actually kind of surprising but there’s a there’s a set of golden doors there as well these doors are made of wood the outer doors are made of Cypress Wood and four-sided Olive door posts all the inner doors and the five-sided door posts are made of olive wood on both sets of doors are carved cherubim palm trees open flowers and then they are covered with gold overlaid fully with gold you have these beautiful big golden doors that separate the porch from the Nave and then there are another set of doors inside but we passed through the doors we’re passing through these outer doors and we enter the Nave and everything is shining gold just Gold Everywhere the Nave is described and a number of sections from First Kings and Chronicles it’s 40 cubits long or 60 feet the floors are Cypress Wood covered with gold the walls are cedar wood and there are carvings in the wood of gourds and open flowers and these two are covered with gold there’s no stone scene there’s no wood scene it is all gold there are gold chains hanging somewhere in the room there are framed windows high up in the room that are bringing an outside light so it’s not just the inside light but there’s actually outside light coming in that’s Illuminating this golden room and there are golden items in the room holy items you remember there is a golden lamp stand as part of the Tabernacle well now there are 10 golden lamp stands and there are five on each side of the room they’re adding extra light and Beauty to the room there are 10 golden tables as well it’s a little bit of a an oddity in the description the section we read from Kings I know um maybe it was from Chronicles but King says that there that Solomon had one table for the showbed while Chronicle says that he had ten tables okay another another difference here how do we resolve that again there may be multiple ways to do this but and maybe that one table was specifically for the bread and the other tables were for some of the other elements associated with the Holy items maybe some of the bowls and the plates and snuffers and things like that but there appeared to have been actually ten tables 10 golden tables that Solomon creates and again five on each side of the room maybe there was one table extra that was also special so I’ve got these golden lamp stands remember those the menorah that look a little bit like almond trees with their flower blossoms and then we have the golden tables tables and all their necessary implements then there’s the golden altar golden altar that stands before the holy of holies remember there was a similar altar in the Tabernacle it’s a little unclear whether this is a new altar or it was just the old altar overlaid with cedar wood and then gold but their altar is placed in front of the holy of holies now this room must have been incredibly beautiful Gold Everywhere light streaming in from outside golden lamp glow Illuminating the room very glorious and beautiful but there’s one more room that’s the holy of holies the inner sanctuary precise arrangement of the entrance is a little unclear as I said there’s another set of golden doors but then there’s also a veil there was a veil in the Tabernacle and it’s apparently a new Veil made by Solomon it’s made of violet purple crimson and fine linen and it has cherubim woven into it so there’s a some sort of succession between the doors and the veil or maybe the veil and the doors but either way you’re not passing through and going into the inner Sanctuary accepts on the day of atonement but one day that God allowed the priest to go in there and with blood but let’s say we were the priest and we it was a David tomman we could go into the holy of holies we’re passing through in there and once again it’s Gold Everywhere we have wooden floors of Cedarwood wooden walls of cedar wood the walls are carved with cherubim palm trees and open flowers and again everything is overlaid with gold and the room is a cube 20 cubits by 20 cubits by 20 cubits and there are no windows to this room the only lights that would be in it would be whatever is brought by the priest when he goes in there or the light provided by the Shekinah Glory of God there are no other windows or lamps mentioned the Ark of the Covenant is in this room with its poles and its two cherubim on The Mercy Seat now at this point only the tablets of Moses are in the ark for whatever reason the other items are not in there but the poles of the Ark in a kind of an odd detail the poles of the Ark are so long and situated in such a way that they could be seen from the Nave because that’s how it was going to be arranged but you couldn’t be you couldn’t see them from outside so in many ways the holy of holies was mimicking what the holy holies look like in the Tabernacle except for one great addition and that is two giant cherubim now there were two cherubim on top of the Ark but now we have two cherubim standing apart from the ark now again we don’t know exactly what cherubim looked like I mentioned in the previous class that the only cherubim described in scripture are kind of fantastic they have four faces number sets of wings but these chairs apparently only have two because it talks about the whip up their wings One Wing so long and another Wing so long these cherubim are 10 cubits high or 15 feet so rather tall they are set parallel to each other apparently facing the priest as he comes in Wings the chair of them are outstretched so that together they fill up the 20 Cubit width of the room their wing tips touch each side and then touch each other in the center of the room they apparently set up in the middle of the room so that their wings actually cover the ark the overshadow the ark so we have cherubim not just on the ark but also standing next to and covering the arc this is appropriate because remember when God is described in his throne throne room he is enthroned above and among the cherubim and all of this is just to surround The Mercy Seat the place of God’s presence where he said he would dwell with Israel and now in the temple not just in a temporary way but in a permanent way or at least that’s what the building suggests okay I think that covers the details that the Bible gives us about the different elements of the temple but questions yes Roy out of scripture there’s no comment on it all but that would there were no seats there was no seating and so and so apparently whatever he didn’t sit down in the presence of God yeah that’s interesting observation I’ll just repeat it apparently no seats in the temple or Tabernacle you don’t you didn’t sit in the presence of God yes Rob what do you think what do you think the purpose or the symbol of the two giant terms it’s a good question why the two giant cherubim well I think certainly it has to has to do with the enthronement of God in heaven it’s trying to mimic that that he has the cherubim around him why are they so big well as we see with many of the things of the temple everything gets bigger and partly that’s just to emphasize the Majesty of gods partly it’s uh it’s a practical matter I mean when you had a temporary structure that was moving around along you probably didn’t want to make things for big but something that is permanent you can afford to make things really big I imagine these cherubim could not be moved I mean if their wings stretch the sides of the uh the holy of holies there’s no way you can move it there’s no way you get it out of the room so maybe those things are part of the part of the reason certainly they would be inspiring of awe and of the appropriate reverence of actually being in the presence of God other questions okay well with our last couple of minutes let me just say a few more things regarding the temple again we could go a lot of different directions at this point there’s the dedicatory prayer of Solomon which is quite significant we could talk about the differences between this Temple and the Temple of Israel after Exile and the Temple of Herod later on in Jesus’s time we don’t have time to explore all those different things but let me just mention a few quick statements first we should note the length of time needed to build the temple seven years and six months it’s Solomon took seven years and six months to build a temple now some say well Solomon took this long he took even longer to build his own house oh Solomon what’s wrong with you you obviously are very proud and prideful well there might be a more generous explanation consider all the preparation that was done before Solomon even got started the plans were all there and many of the materials were all there and people are probably highly motivated to build the temple this is God’s house we want to get this done Solomon’s house uh maybe that wasn’t the same motivation certainly not the same amount of preparation so yes maybe he was being proud maybe he took longer because he wanted his house to be more glorious but I doubt I think there are other reasons why it took longer but anyways the temple took seven years and six months as we mentioned the Solomon’s Temple certainly outdoes the Tabernacle one interpreter said that it’s actually double dimensions are double what the Tabernacle were it’s actually difficult to figure out the Tabernacle Dimensions but perhaps that’s true this Temple is bigger more highly decorated and furnished and it can service many more people and sacrifices definitely more glorious than the Tabernacle it seems to symbolize as I’ve already alluded to already the permanent dwelling of God in the midst of Israel because remember this whole idea of the Tabernacle or Temple was that God dwells with his people there’s a emphasis on his Holiness and His glory but he does well in the midst of his people and with a permanent building wow permanent dwelling the Kingdom of Israel is established peace and prosperity are going to last forever we are now in the era of blessing well as we know from the rest of Old Testament history that’s actually not the case though God’s glory did visibly inhabit the temple it also departed from the temple God even allowed his glorious temple with its cherubim and all its golden holy items to be destroyed and to be plundered why because of the wickedness I want to make clear I cannot dwell in the midst of such a sinful and hypocritical people I’ve overlooked your sin long enough I’m gonna allow my dwelling place to be destroyed the temple was rebuilt first under Ezra later it was remodeled under Herod these tell them these temples shared elements of Solomon’s Temple but they were also different herod’s Temple was quite different and we’ll get to that later on in the course six even herod’s Temple was destroyed in 1870 and it was never rebuilt this is this is the case today but why is it actually okay for us as Christians that the temple of God has never been rebuilt I mean that seemed like such a central building and the worship of the Israelites why is it actually nothing important for us yeah Steve yeah yeah now Jesus we can explain in a number of different ways but Jesus makes the temple unnecessary I mean the temple was a symbol of God’s dwelling but Jesus dwelt with us God dwelt With Us an even greater way than sending his son dying for us he made a way into the holy of holies the veil was torn into there’s no need for a temple anymore and he even said that a time is coming he was speaking to the woman at the well well you’re not going to worship on a high place nor are you going to worship in the temple of Jerusalem but God will have his worshipers worship Him in spirit and in truth the Temple’s not going to be necessary in fact we could say that there still is a temple today but it’s totally different what is today’s Temple yes exactly the Believers are the temple and the Heart certainly involved but that’s a common exhortation from Paul and I think some of the other writers he says you are the temple of God and you’re the temple you got to be holy that’s why you got to put off the old way you’re being built up into the temple Christ the Cornerstone but you’re the different blocks being put in or the foundation being laid by the apostles Christ the Cornerstone we are the temple and we have to live in the light of that anyways the symbolism of the Tabernacle and Temple have been fulfilled a physical Temple is not necessary today to worship God because God has made those Redeemed by Jesus into a spiritual Temple and into true worshipers what’s interesting also is that even in the new Heaven and new earth in Revelation there’s no Temple but for a little bit different reason it says that because God so intimately dwells they are the temple there is no need for a temple they are the temple God and Christ and they actually there’s not even a sun and moon because their light lights up the whole place the light of their Glory well that’s all the time we have for this week next week we’re actually looking at the Book of Proverbs and since that’s a big book it’s going to be a little bit of an overview let’s pray father I thank you for the history that you’ve given us about the construction of the temple it was indeed a glorious building and a wonderful symbol of the blessing and Glory that your presence brings and yet God that was just a temporary symbol father you showed us that through the symbols in the temple a greater reality which is that of your son that you actually took on human flesh you dwelt among us and we are going to one day have no barriers between us and you that you will actually bring Heaven and Earth together in your new Heaven and new earth we thank you Father that we can be part of your intimate Glory that we can enjoy it father I pray that in a limited way that we would be able to do that and the rest of service today in Jesus name amen okay