WWUTT 434 King Solomon Builds the Temple?

The temple that Solomon built to God was like a beautiful palace with many ornate riches.

It was meant to show us the glory of God, but there is nothing that we can build that even compares with God's glory, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We continue our Old Testament study today in the book of First Kings and we are up to chapter five as Solomon is beginning to make preparations for building the temple of God.

This is something that God would not permit Solomon's father David to do because David sinned against God by having an affair with Bathsheba and then having her husband

Uriah the Hittite murdered trying to cover it up. David was also a king of war.

There was blood on his hands and these reasons were why God did not allow David to build his temple.

However, Solomon is a king during a time of peace and so God has commissioned Solomon to build his temple and there would only ever be one temple.

Because there is one God, there was to only be one place of worship. Even at this time though, we have seen suggestions in the story that Israel is not worshipping

God in one place, they're doing their sacrifices in several places, worshipping at the high places around the promised land.

These were the altars that had been built to false gods when the Canaanites inhabited the area before the

Israelites drove them out. They were supposed to tear down those high places, but they were still worshipping from those high places.

Even Solomon has done this. So though Solomon is the wisest king on earth and would be the wisest king to reign anywhere until Christ comes to earth, we have had glimpses in the story of how

Solomon lacks wisdom. He's not an infallible man. This is not an infallible wisdom, but it has still made several mistakes.

He has married a princess from Egypt. He owns many horses and we'll read later that he has many wives.

And these things it is said in Deuteronomy 17, a king should not have and should not be doing because his interests will be divided and he won't be devoted to the

Lord, rather he will be devoted to his stuff. And so these are kind of hints at foreshadowing in the story,

Solomon's eventual apostasy, which will come up around chapters 10 and 11.

But here we are in chapter 5 as Solomon is beginning to prepare the building of God's temple.

So at this part in the story, at least, it's high times in Israel. Everybody is enjoying all of the prosperity that has been brought by the wisdom of Solomon and the way that the

Lord has blessed him. So all of Israel is benefiting from this. And so now Solomon is going to build this temple on Mount Moriah, the very place where Abraham had taken

Isaac to offer him up as a sacrifice as God had commanded him to do. But then

God spared Isaac and provided the ram that Isaac and Abraham sacrificed together there on the altar.

All of this happened at the same place where Solomon is going to build this temple. And it would be just a stone's throw from there that Christ would be crucified.

All of this happening right there on Mount Moriah. So 1 Kings chapter 5 is where we are.

Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father.

For Hiram always loved David. And Solomon sent word to Hiram, you know that David, my father, could not build a house for the name of the

Lord, his God, because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him until the

Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord, my God, has given me rest on every side.

There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And I intend to build a house for the name of the

Lord, my God, as the Lord said to David, my father, your son, whom I set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.

Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me and my servants will join your servants and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set.

For you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the

Sidonians. As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, blessed be the

Lord this day who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.

And Hiram sent to Solomon saying, I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all that you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber.

My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place that you direct.

And I will have them broken up there and you shall receive it and you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household.

So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired.

While Solomon gave Hiram 20 ,000 cores of wheat as food for his household and 20 ,000 cores of beaten oil.

Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year and the Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he promised him.

And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon and the two of them made a treaty. King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all

Israel and the draft numbered 30 ,000 men and he sent them to Lebanon 10 ,000 a month in shifts.

They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the draft.

Solomon also had 70 ,000 burden bearers and 80 ,000 stone cutters in the hill country beside Solomon's 3 ,300 chief officers who were over the work who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

At the king's command, they quarried out great costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.

So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men of Gabal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

So even though there was this treaty that was established between Solomon and Hiram, you'll note there that in verse 9,

Hiram says, my servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place that you direct and I will have them broken up there.

You shall receive it and you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household. So to some in some element of this request,

Solomon has met Hiram's wishes. He indeed blessed him with a lot of food and he was well taken care of year by year.

But he did not receive the timber the way that Hiram said that he was going to send it. Solomon had his own labor go and get the timber and bring it to him.

So he didn't follow Hiram's wishes to the letter, even though they made a treaty. And it just kind of goes to show that Solomon had the upper hand and he was acting according to his wisdom, not according to Hiram's wishes.

Also in verse 13, where it says King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all of Israel. Well, later on in chapter nine, it says that Solomon did not conscript

Israelites to work abroad. But only workers from the

Canaanite population of Israel. So these were those Canaanites that made treaties with Israel in the book of Joshua rather than be destroyed.

They asked to be spared. And so and so they were. And these are the groups of people that Solomon used as labor.

They served Israel. They were not exactly Israelites. They had just made a treaty with Israel.

So these were the people that Solomon used as forced labor to do this work for the temple, for building the temple of God.

So now we get to chapter six where Solomon builds the temple. In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel and the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the

Lord. So we know by what is stated here in first Kings chapter six that this was the year nine hundred and sixty six

B .C. and it was four hundred and eighty years before this that the people of Israel came out of Egypt.

Well, that puts the exodus at fourteen forty six B .C. That's how we date the exodus because of this passage here in first Kings chapter six verse one.

Now, I don't think that there's any question about that. I think the exodus was in fourteen forty six B .C. period.

But there are people that don't agree with that because of the archaeological evidence in the Egyptian records.

So they would say, adding in for some symbolism here and stuff like this, that the actual year of the exodus was twelve sixty

B .C. The problem with that, though, is our dating of the Egyptian calendar.

The Egyptians kept meticulous records. And in fact, they are so good at their dating system that we date other civilization finds and archaeological discoveries based on the

Egyptian calendar. But our own estimates concerning the Egyptian calendar may be off by two to three hundred years.

This is talked about in a documentary entitled Patterns of Evidence Exodus, which you can find on Netflix right now.

I would encourage you to to go and watch that. It's two hours long and it expounds on this stuff a little bit more than I'm going to have time to be able to do so here.

But I think based on what we read in first Kings chapter six, which is in nine sixty six

B .C., four hundred and eighty years before that puts the exodus at fourteen forty six

B .C. And I don't think there's any question about that. If the archaeological evidence is suggesting otherwise, it's because we've got a date wrong in there, not because the

Bible is being symbolic that this four hundred and eighty year figure is just symbolic and it's not meant to be an exact counting of years.

That doesn't really make sense. So we're trying to impose something on the text rather than trying to understand history.

According to the text, first Kings chapter six, beginning in verse two, the house that King Solomon built for the

Lord was 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.

The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was 20 cubits long, equal to the width of the house and 10 cubits deep in front of the house.

And he made for the house windows with recessed frames. He also built a structure against the wall of the house running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary.

And he made side chambers all around. The lowest story was five cubits broad, five cubits broad.

The middle one was six cubits broad and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house, he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

So you're talking about a very sacred process of what is being done here.

It was it was meant to be silent so that we would experience the presence of God.

So even in the construction of the temple, there was not to be any sound. It was supposed to be as quiet as possible.

So all the shaping of the stones would happen at another place and then they would be brought to the house of God and inserted just this just this quiet, peaceful sort of meditation about the house of God.

Verse eight, the entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house and one went up by stairs to the middle story and from the middle story to the third.

So he built a house and furnished it and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.

He built a structure against the whole house five cubits high and was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon concerning this house that you are building. If you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then

I will establish my word with you. When I spoke to David, your father and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people

Israel. Now notice that there are there are qualifications that are given there that if you walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then

I will establish my word with you and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people

Israel. That's if they are faithful. I mean, to make that distinction very clear, because there are people today who believe that the

Israelites that inhabit the sliver of the promised land, quote unquote, promised land that they are occupying right now just to the east of the

Mediterranean Sea, that these people are still the chosen people of God. But they are not because they do not know

Jesus Christ, his son, the savior of mankind. If they do not know

Christ, then they are not the people of God. There is only one people of God, and that is those who are in Christ Jesus.

Jesus himself said to the Israelites, you don't know me because you're of your father, the devil.

So they are not the people of God. And we'll take passages of scripture out of context where God makes these kinds of covenants with Israel and we'll say that, oh,

Israel, as we can look at it on a map today, this is the chosen people of God because what we read about in the

Old Testament, no. God said, I will be faithful to you if you are faithful to me.

But if you forsake me, I will forsake you. He says that plainly. It's mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy.

God says it to Solomon here in First Kings chapter six. I will establish my word with you and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people

Israel if you walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules and keep all my commandments.

And if we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, then we will do what he asks.

We will obey the commandments of God. We'll obey the commandments of Christ. Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey my commands.

Now, that doesn't mean that we will do that without sinning. Although we should not be pursuing sin, we are still going to sin.

And so that's why we have the wonderful grace of passages like 1 John 1 9. If we are faithful to confess our sins,

God is faithful and just to cleanse us of our sins, to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And a passage that we have in Second Timothy, chapter two, verse 13. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

But that does not give you permission to chase after false gods and worship them. If you love

God and you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, you won't do that. The people of Israel did. They chased after false gods.

God sent them into Babylonian exile, and though he would deliver them out of that and the temple would be rebuilt, they would fall right back into it again.

God was faithful to his promise to raise up a savior from them. And that is Jesus Christ.

And it is in Christ that we are the people of God. There's only one people of God. That's everyone who is in Christ Jesus.

And those who worship Christ will not chase after false gods. As long as we walk in the statutes of God and obey his rules and keep his commandments, he will establish his word with us and he will dwell within us and will not forsake us.

But if we chase after false gods and do not obey the commandments of Christ, we have shown ourselves that we are not of God.

Just as Jesus said to the Israelites that he was talking to, you are of your father, the devil.

Let's keep going here. Verse 14. So Solomon built the house and finished it. He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling.

He covered them on the inside with wood and he covered the floor of the houses with boards of cypress.

This is Solomon's shiplap. I'm just kidding. Anyway, he he built 20 cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls.

And he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the most holy place. The house that is the nave in front of the inner sanctuary was 40 cubits long.

The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers.

All was cedar. No stone was seen. The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house to set there the

Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. The inner sanctuary was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and 20 cubits high.

And he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar. I'm sorry.

He also overlaid an altar of cedar. And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold.

And he drew chains of gold across in front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold.

And he overlaid the whole house with gold until all the house was finished. Also, the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary, he overlaid with gold.

And all of these details are so precise that we can create accurate illustrations of what the temple looked like.

As a matter of fact, in my Bible, the ESV Study Bible, if you have that, the

English Standard Version Study Bible, there is a beautiful picture. It's on pages 604 and 605 of what this whole area would have looked like and kind of provides a cutaway section of the temple, the inner rooms and stuff that you can see how the gold overlay would have looked as it's being described here in this passage.

Verse 23 in the inner sanctuary, he made two cherubim of olive wood, each 10 cubits high.

So this is not the cherubim as we see it on the the mercy seat of the altar of the covenant.

But these are two separate cherubim that are actually quite tall. Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub.

It was 10 cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The other cherub also measured 10 cubits.

Both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. The height of the one cherub was 10 cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.

He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house and the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall and the other wings touched each other in the middle of the house.

And he overlaid the cherubim with gold around all the walls of the house. He carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers in the inner and outer rooms, the floor of the house.

He overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms for the entrance to the inner sanctuary.

He made doors of olive wood. The lintel and the doorpost were five -sided. He covered the two doors of olive wood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olive wood in the form of a square and two doors of cypress wood.

The two leaves of the one door were folding and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

On them, he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved wood.

He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

In the fourth year of the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. I'm sorry. Let me read that again.

In the fourth year, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid in the month of Ziv. And in the 11th year, in the month of Bull, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts.

And according to all its specifications, he was seven years in building it.

And so there is the explanation that we have of the temple of Solomon as it was first built there on Mount Moriah.

We will pick up with our story from there in chapter seven next week. Let us pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for the picture that you have given us in scripture of your glory and your majesty.

And there was a time when the Israelites were able to look at this temple and they were to able they were able to get a glimpse, a tangible glimpse of what the glory of God might have been like, even greater and greater than this, tens, hundreds, thousands of times greater than even the most beautiful structure that we can build on earth.

So is the temple of God in his glory in heaven, even greater than these.

So all the beauty that we could lay our eyes upon, let us remember in our hearts that you are more glorious than all of this and nothing on this world can satisfy or match or compare with the glory that we experience in Christ our

Lord. And so let us be faithful to your commands and your statutes that we might show the love that we have for God by obeying

Christ's command to love God with everything that we are and to love one another.

Keep us walking in this all the more each day and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

You can find a link to the blog through our website www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.