Bible Study - 2 Chronicles 3:15-4:1

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Let me pray for us. Lord, we do thank you for the opportunity we have to come and to gather here today. We pray that you bless our time and to help us to learn great things from your word.

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In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Certainly you guys will not be getting a 2

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Chronicles scholar here tonight, but I'll do my best to answer whatever questions you have.

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First, I'm going to start by reading 2 Chronicles 3, 15 through 4, which is basically the place where we're supposed to be at here.

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So in your notebooks, we are on page number 33. So I'll go ahead and start by reading 2

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Chronicles 3, 15 through 4, 1, so 2 Chronicles 3, 15.

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1 Chronicles 3, 15. He also made two pillars for the front of the house, 35 cubits high, and the capital on the top of each was 5 cubits.

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He made chains in the inner sanctuary and put them on the top of the pillars, and he made 100 pomegranates and put them on the chains.

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Thus, he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and one on the left, and named the one on the right,

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Jachin, and the one on the left, Boaz. Then he made a bronze altar, 20 cubits in length and 20 cubits in width and 10 cubits in height.

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All right, amen. That was the LSB. Did it seem unfamiliar?

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The ESV, and I failed on that one. Well, what differences did you guys notice between 2

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Chronicles and 1 Kings as you read it? There are a few, right, in 1

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Kings? Yep, so a lot more description in 1

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Kings and 2 Chronicles. What else do you guys see? A lot more descriptions.

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There was a bit of a discrepancy between the pillars.

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Did anyone notice that? The measurements? Yeah, so let's see.

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So, I think we're thinking right now of the first question that's being asked. So the first question, it says, what's the significance of the dimension of the pillars and the capitals?

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How does this verse differ from the parallel texts in Kings? What accounts for these differences? What differences did you notice between the pillars in the two?

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Yeah, so one said they were 18, one said they were 35. Any thoughts about why that was the case?

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Anyone come up with a good answer because this one was a little bit hard? Okay. I don't think so.

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All right, so I think the answer is that the Chronicler is essentially summing up the links into one.

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So you have 18 cubits of height plus 12 cubits of circumference plus 5 cubits of the capitals totals 35 cubits.

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So if you do 18 plus 12, that's 30 plus 5 is 5. And that obviously may seem odd because the translation speaks of it as 35 cubits high, but the word for high, essentially, oric, may refer to any sort of length.

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And this is a sum, so it appears that the Chronicler is basically combining all the measurements together and doing that for the sake of brevity to basically impress upon them the dimensions of the pillars.

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Yes, sir? Yeah. I'm not as familiar with Hebrew math as Hebrew measurements is what

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I should be as far as that goes, but yeah. That seems perfectly reasonable to me. I mean, I wondered if maybe if you add both of the 18 cubits together, you get 36 and maybe you have some kind of rounding error or something like that.

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So I was wondering if part of me was wondering if that was what was happening. Another part of me was wondering if maybe they were accounting for everything, the pillar and everything on it and above it and everything else.

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And so I think that makes as good of an explanation as any, but yeah, I'll leave it to people who study some of these things a little bit more.

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What do you guys think about the significance of the dimensions of the pillars?

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Yeah. So I mean, yeah, normally the cubit is like that, right?

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And so you have 18 inches, maybe depending on how high it is. And then you times that by 18 cubits and you get something pretty significantly high in that way.

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Yeah. I think a lot of these things you probably shouldn't really overthink all that much. Meaning, what's the significance of the dimensions?

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Really high seems to be a perfectly acceptable answer. If you want to put it in a bit of a -

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Is it very tall? It's tall. Yeah, it's tall. It's imposing. It obviously demonstrates the grandness of the temple.

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So I think a lot of these things, they aren't really meant to be like most of these measurements and they really aren't that significant unless you compare them with other things.

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So as another example, he gives the dimensions of, let's see, the dimension of the altar, that would be in question number five.

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This one seems relatively straightforward in terms of the dimension of the altar. So what's the significance of the dimension of the altar?

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Well, so part of what's happening is the altar is outside of the most holy place. So but then the most holy place is how big?

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20 by 20, right? And so then when you're reading the dimensions of the altar, it says he made the bronze altar 20 cubits and 20 by 20 by 10, right?

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Now the most holy place is what shape, which is what shape?

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A cubit. Yeah, so this would be half the height essentially, right, half the height of that. So altar is obviously incredibly large in modern units that's nearly 20 square feet or nine square meters in area and about 15 feet or 4 .5

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meters in height. So obviously the most holy place has the same dimensions as this, although it's twice as tall essentially.

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Some have suggested the measurements only refer to a pedestal the altar's on, but why place a small altar on such a large pedestal?

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There seems to be no reason to deny it refers to the altar itself. Yes, Emmanuel, you had something.

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All right, so if you picture the temple, you have the most holy place, which is 20 by 20 by 20, right?

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20 by 20 by 20. So you have the most holy place outside of the temple, you have the altar, or outside the most holy place right in front of it, you have the temple, or you have the altar essentially.

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How did this compare with the Exodus measurements, do you guys have any idea? Proportional, okay, all right, so five sounds like 20,

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I guess, right? No, I know, I know. It's similar in that it's square shaped, right?

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Well, five by five is square, right? Five by five by three would be heavy square shaped, it wouldn't be cubed.

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Square but not cubed, right? The top is square shaped, yes, then it's three, yeah, not a cube, not a cube, not a cube.

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Five by five by three is not a cube, but parallelogram. Is it a rectangular prism?

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I mean, wouldn't that be a parallelogram too? No, I guess that's only 2D, 2D, yeah. It's been too long, it's too long, it's been too long.

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We'll give up on that line of thinking. Yes, sir, no, no, you didn't, all right.

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So, yeah, the altar is not small. This is not, so the altar supplies the dimensions not only to inform but to make it clear the altar was not small.

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First Kings describes the altar as being too small for all and explains the altar was too small for all the sacrifices made by Solomon.

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So this is surprising now that we see how expansive its dimensions are, but it makes sense given the quantity of the sacrifices.

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So some operating only from history of First Kings might be under the impression that the bronze altar was small.

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Later the chronicler will remove the mention of its size, so there's that. Yeah, obviously the altar in Second Chronicles, it has the same dimensions as the

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Most Holy Place except it's halved essentially. So it's made of acacia wood, it's overlaid with bronze.

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What do the horns represent in the altar on Exus? Does anyone know? Do you guys, have you ever thought about what horns typically mean in the

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Bible? It means salvation. More specifically, there's something more specific, what?

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There's a lot of horns, yeah, there's a horn. So typically, as you read through, you're going to find that horns mean strength basically.

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Horns mean strength. So like strength or power. And so you can see this in a variety of ways, but yeah, typically they symbolize the strength of God.

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There's these two pillars. You guys learn anything about the pillars? Okay, yeah?

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Yeah, Jachin means he establishes, Boaz means he will strengthen, right? Some people think that the

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Boaz reference is related to David's lineage essentially making a head nod to David's paternity at that point.

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So in Matthew, in the opening of Matthew, you have the genealogy, so you have Boaz, the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David.

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So Boaz would be David's, I guess, great -grandfather at that point.

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But yeah, or let's see, Solomon, David is his father,

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Jesse is his grandfather, Obed is his great -grandfather,

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Boaz would be his great -great, would be Solomon's great -great -grandfather and David's great -grandfather. Yes? I'm not sure that's the purpose of the pillars though,

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I mean, that would be the purpose of the veil. Sure, sure.

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Yeah, they're a show of strength. You guys have any thoughts about the lattices that you see in there with the chains, chains atop the pillar with the pomegranates?

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Great goal, sure. Yep, I think, yeah,

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I think it. I would think that a lot of the imagery in the temple is

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Edenic imagery. It may, my first impulse is to say yes, but I think pomegranates are primarily spoken in the context of the promised land, essentially.

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So there's a lot of Edenic imagery, particularly in the most holy place.

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This may symbolize the promised land more specifically, so some passages to think about would be

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Numbers 13 .23. Let me see if I can find where we're at here.

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Numbers 13 .23, they came in the valley of Eskol, from there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes and they carried it on a pole between two men with some of the pomegranates and the figs.

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So there's Numbers 13 .23, there's

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Deuteronomy 8 .8. Sometimes if you don't know the significance, you can just do like a

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Bible word study and see where some of these concepts show up in other places and that may give you some kind of indication.

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So Deuteronomy 8 .8, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey.

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That seems clear enough, I suppose. So the chains on the pillars, they decorate the pillars, they demonstrate the beauty of God.

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This word for chains is only found in the context of the tabernacle temple. Pomegranates do the same, but specifically they show the blessings of God, essentially.

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The beauty and the blessings of God. Pomegranates are fruit primarily spoken in the promised land or that which represents the blessing of love in the

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Song of Songs. So it seems like you have blessings, the concepts of the lattice work which

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Kings tells us with the chains and the pillars. It seems like pillars represent strength, obviously.

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The chains seem to represent glory, beauty. The pomegranates seem to represent blessing.

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So you put it all together, I think you have a passage about the blessing of strength and beauty in this passage, if that makes sense.

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So any other last thoughts related to that?

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Yeah, so what role does beauty, the beauty of God, have in your life? Any thoughts? What did you put for your reflection question there?

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Sure. Any other thoughts? It is interesting that we are so drawn to beauty in so many ways.

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I mean, whether you're male or female, you seem to be drawn to beauty in, I mean, in different ways, certainly, but God does seem to make the world in such a way that He didn't just make it a boring and an ugly place.

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He has created the world with a capacity for beauty and certainly it is a marvelous place in certain ways.

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Yes? Sure. Yeah, I mean, certainly

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He is the source of all that is truly beautiful, truly is magnificent in that way.

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As compelling as human beauty is at times, as compelling as natural, the beauty of creation is at times, it's nothing really in comparison to His glory that we should be longing for.

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So what role does strength, the strength of God have in your life? Sure, right.

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Every earthly picture of strength that you see that is compelling in certain ways is ultimately a picture of His strength, which is much greater than anything that we can possibly imagine.

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He is unlimited in His power in a way that when we consider our own limitations, we certainly have put a lot of limitations as human beings.

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Some of those limitations are shown to us every night when we go to sleep, we're reminded that unlike God, we are creatures who don't have an unlimited supply of strength and we desperately need to recharge our batteries in that kind of way.

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Everything that seems awesome and great and powerful in life ultimately is very pitiful in comparison to God in terms of His strength.

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The might of the entire world may be arrayed against you in certain ways. Sometimes life feels that way, even though that's probably you being dramatic, but the issue is that for God, whatever powers are arrayed against you, they're literally nothing in comparison to Him.

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Whatever power that exists in the world, He's ordained it, He's established it for His glory and for our good.

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It's amazing to think that when you consider the sin that's in your own heart and your own life, how powerless at times you feel to fight it.

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The good news of the gospel is the good news that God's given you complete and total forgiveness for all your sins, but then it's also given you the power to say no to this sin, which feels like it is wanting, like your flesh is wanting to say it's impossible, but it's not.

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God has given you powerful good news that is able to set you free from whatever struggles you have.

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I'm sure. How can you help your church pursue right worship? By knowing

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God's will, that's right, by doing God's will, so knowing it in His Word and following what

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God has to say. If you want to know what right worship is, look to the

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Word for it, you're not looking to human techniques, you're not really looking to pragmatism, you're not looking for your sense of what might work, you're looking to the

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Scriptures to see what God has commanded. I mean, He put such detail in the tabernacle, the tent of meeting,

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He's put such detail into the temple because He cares about how He's worshipped. Every one of these passages should remind us how much

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God cares about His own worship, and He cares about it infinitely more than what we do, and to whatever degree that we can be careful is generally a good thing.

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I know that you're obviously living in a culture society right now that seems to think that care which is taken in worship and the holy things of God, in the way that we arrange our affairs, we live in a society that typically resents any kind of care taken towards those things and has embraced more of a posture of almost unlimited freedom.

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At times, I mean, just think about all the megachurches that are out there in the world that have turned their services into people flying into the service on their tightropes and driving monster trucks into the sanctuary or whatever.

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I mean, at the extreme level, I mean, that's, the thing is, like that may seem, those examples may seem kind of extreme to us in our circles, but you have to understand that's mainstream

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Christianity. The people with influence, the people with power seem to take so little care at times for the things of God.

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I mean, we just had a bunch of Super Bowl themed services throughout our nation in churches today, and a lot of that,

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I mean, we are exporting out into the world in a variety of ways. And so, I mean, I think in our circles, those things may feel like they're distant kind of things, things that maybe we don't struggle with, but these are big influential churches that have tens of thousands of people at them.

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This is set forward as an example for even a lot of smaller congregations in that way.

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I think, Sebastian, Psalms 8,

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Psalm 8, the whole psalm? Yep, amen.

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I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the sun, the moon, the stars, which you have established. What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him, that you've made him a little lower than the angels you crown him with glory and majesty?

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You make him to rule over the works of your hands. You put all things under his feet, all sheep, oxen, and also animals of the field, the birds of heaven, the fish of the sea, whoever passes through the paths of the sea.

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Oh, Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Yeah, it's a good reminder that God has created such a majestic place that glorifies him and demonstrates his power in all the earth, and he has given us responsibilities and allowed us to be representatives for him, and we should take that very seriously, for sure.

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All right, let me close this in prayer, and then we'll get started on our prayer time in a minute. Let's pray.

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Lord, we do thank you for the opportunity we have to think about these great things. We know that you are a good God, that you are crowned with strength and beauty.

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We pray that you help us to learn the right lessons that we need to learn from who you are, and we pray that you would help us to remember those things as we govern our affairs, that you are the

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God who sees, and that your power is not shortened, and that you will accomplish all your purposes on the earth.

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Thank you for the good gifts that you've given us, we thank you for the blessings that you've given us in Jesus. We pray that you bless our time here tonight in prayer, in your son's name we pray, amen.