Honor
the Lord
Focal Teaching Passage: 1 Kings 5:1-6:38
Preparing to Build the
Temple
(5:1-18)
Chapter five records the relationship Solomon wisely
maintained with “Hiram,” the king of “Tyre” (the capital city of
the Phoenician empire) whose thirty-year reign (969-936 BC) overlapped both
David and Solomon. When Hiram had
learned of Solomon’s anointing as king of Israel he dispatched his personal “envoys”
to him in order to continue the friendly relations between the two notions (v.
1). This move would likely preserve the peace (5:4) between the kingdoms and
would allow the two countries to “create a monopoly by exploiting Israel’s
control of the land-based trade and Tyre’s expertise in shipping” (House,
121).
Through an agreement between the two kings, cleverly
crafted by Solomon (vv. 3-6), Israel secured the timber—“all the cedar and
pine logs he wanted”—necessary to construct “a temple for the Name of
the Lord” (vv. 3,11). These
timbers, grown in the higher altitudes, along with many other essential
building components, were not otherwise available to the Israelites. The
contract called for annual payments of “twenty thousand cors of wheat”—about
125,000 bushels—and “twenty thousand baths”—some 115,000 gallons—of
premium “pressed olive oil” (v.11).
The labor force, which would be “conscripted”
by Solomon to construct the temple, consisted of 30,000 men to cut and ship the
timber, 80,000 men to cut and prepare the stone, and 70,000 men to transport
the stones to Jerusalem. A total of
3,3000 men acted as project managers under Solomon’s direction (vv.
13-18). Apparently, due to the grueling
nature of the assignment, the laborers pressed into service by Solomon only had
to work about four months of each year (v. 11).
The key theme of this section is clearly the wisdom
that God faithfully bestowed upon Solomon just as he had requested in his
prayer (3:7-9). The author highlights
this fact in verse 7 and most clearly verse 12—“The
Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised.”
Building the Temple (6:1-38)
According to verse 1, the temple project was started four hundred and eighty years “after the Israelites had come out of Egypt,” during the “fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel.” This detail serves to remind the readers that “the permanent worship center is one more proof that God has given Israel the promised land” [House, 126].
In verses 1-10 the author provides the dimensions of the structure that would serve as the “temple of the Lord.” The temple’s length was “sixty cubits,” or about ninety feet. It was designed to be about thirty feet wide and some forty-five feet in height.
This section includes the notation that all of the
events surrounding the construction of the temple were intrinsically connected
to the conditional covenant promises which David had committed to his son
(2:1-4). Here we see that Solomon was responsible before God to “follow my
decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them”
(v. 12). Such consistent and faithful obedience would serve to ensure that God
would “live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel”(v.
13). That is, both Solomon and the nation of Israel would enjoy the continual
favor and presence of Yahweh and would know the success and peace associated
with covenant faithfulness. According to Paul House, the conditional language—“if
you follow . . . .” (v. 12)—displays the fact that
Great kings and great
buildings can and will be replaced if disobedience becomes a way of life. On
the other hand, eternal blessings will result from consistent obedience.
Solomon must not forget these things in the midst of all his busy success. [128].
Verses 14-38
The interior of the temple contained the “Most
Holy Place” which measured 30 x 30 x 30 feet (v. 16). This structure, housed within the temple,
would become the very place where God would manifest His glory-presence among
His people. It was in this “inner sanctuary,” which was overlaid with “pure
gold,” that the ark of the covenant would rest and the blood sacrifices
would be offered in an act of atonement for the sins of the nation (v. 20).
Verses 23-28 describe the strange
creatures know as “cherubim,” each constructed of “olive wood.”
Their wings, spanning some thirty feet, spread out the entire width of the
inner room and touched the wall on each side (v. 27). While there is great speculation regarding the significance of
these creatures, it seems apparent that their purpose here is to symbolically
guard the ark of the covenant much in the same fashion that the cherubim
guarded the entrance to Eden [House, 129]. If this is correct their inclusion in the temple
symbolizes the fact that entrance into the presence of God requires a blood
sacrifice for atonement. In this way the pathway ultimately leading to the
cross is established.
According to verses 37-38, the entire
temple project was completed, “in all its details according to its
specifications,” in about seven years and four months.
One:
Carefully read I Kings 5:4,5 and answer the following questions:
Two:
Note I Chronicles 22:14-16. Here
we see the enormous amount of money David initially invested in the
construction of the Temple. Is there
any significance to the fact that such a large amount of money was used in the
building project? What principles of
worship and service to God are found here?
Three: Why was a temple necessary? Can we learn anything from this ancient
story of Solomon’s desire to build such a structure?
Four: Note I Kings 6:11-13. Is this promise conditional or
unconditional? If conditional, what
were the conditions? Hint: Note these three key words: “follow,” “carry out,” and “keep.”