Year 3, Day 303: 2 Chronicles 2-3

Solomon Sets Out to Build the Temple

Solomon makes good on David’s instruction.  Once he is king, Solomon sets about the process of building the temple.  David had already set up many of the provisions, Solomon simply had to enact upon David’s plans.

As Solomon begins to act, he sends a letter to Hiram, the king of Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon).  Within this letter Solomon makes an incredible testimony.  Solomon says that the God of the Hebrew people is above all other gods.  For the record, remember that the Phoenicians had their own pantheon.  Imagine hearing a rival king telling you that their single God is greater than all of your own gods.  What an incredibly profound comment to put in a letter when Solomon is essentially asking for assistance!

Then, Solomon moves from incredibly testimony to profound humbleness.  Solomon professes that no temple constructed by human hands could ever hold God.  If God cannot be contained by all of the heavens, what chance would a temple made by human hands have at holding Him!  Solomon is incredibly humble in this instance.  He knows his place.  He cannot build a cage or even a home for God.  All he can hope to do is to build a structure that is pleasing to a God that knows our human limitations.

I’m going to pause here for a second and go even one more step deeper.  Solomon says that God cannot be contained by the heavens.  Step back and ponder this for just a second.  Our world is a big place.  Our solar system is an even bigger place.  Our galaxy is an even bigger place.  Our universe is an even more incredibly big place.  Yet, none of these things are big enough to contain God.  I find that a rather humbling thought.

Yet what I find even more humbling is that the God who cannot be contained by the universe wants to be in a relationship with us.  He wants me.  He wants you.  Now, that’s incredible!

The Plan Moves Ahead

Notice that Hiram responds favorably.  Hiram recognizes Solomon’s divine right to rule, although don’t confuse this with a personal faith on Hiram’s behalf.  Hiram could be responding out of a faith, but what is more likely is that Hiram is simply formulating a response that is crafted to uphold the relationship that had existed between Hiram and David.

Once the lumber resources had been promised, Solomon sets up the laborers.  Note that the laborers mentioned in chapter 2 are laborers who are not native among the Hebrew people.  Solomon conscripts foreigners from among them to work on the temple.

It could well be that Solomon is used forced labor here.  However, in earlier chapters we’ve already spoken about what else could be going on here.  Remember that the Hebrew people were originally from Ur (in Babylonia).  They spent a little while in the Promised Land before going to Egypt for several centuries.  Finally, they came out of Egypt and settled in the Promised Land.  What this means is that the Hebrew people did not have the natural skills for working with the resources of the Promised Land.  Foreigners living in the land would certainly have these skills as the native Canaanites had possessed the land for many generations before the Hebrew people moved in for good.  Solomon could certainly be conscripting labor here; Solomon might also have simply been looking for the best craftsmen available to him and willing to acknowledge that they aren’t among his own people.

Mount Moriah

Construction begins.  It begins on the site where the Lord appeared to David after his initiating a census that angered the Lord.  The temple is built upon the threshing floor where the angel of the Lord turned away from distributing the wrath of the Lord.

However, this is not the furthest we can go back in history between the Lord and His people.  If we turn back to Genesis 22 we can hear about the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.  God tells Abraham to go to Mount Moriah and sacrifice his only son.  It was upon this same site that God provided the sacrificial ram so that Isaac could live.  It is upon this holy mountain that God plants His own temple.

The Splendor of the Temple

As the temple is built, Solomon ensures that it is beautiful.  It is paneled in pine {perhaps cypress} and inlaid with gold.  Cherubim were carved into the walls.   Precious stones adorned the space.  There is a message being sent here.  The place of the Lord is a place of splendor.  God’s majesty is incredible.

We then come to the inner space – the Holy of Holies.  This space was reserved for the High Priest.  This space was reserved for the most holy artifacts.  Unlike the rest of the temple, which was paneled with wood, the Holy of Holies was paneled with gold.  I can only imagine what the space looked like as the gold glistened from every angle.

Then there are the cherubim within the room.  They were made of wood but plated with gold.  Their wings reached across the entire room.  The room would barely contain these representations of the agents of God.  Solomon’s point is fairly obvious.  The room can barely hold a worldly analog of the divine.  It has no chance of holding the actual cherubim and especially God.  His majesty is far too significant to be contained, even in such a splendid place.

In fact, so splendid is the Lord that a curtain is needed to separate the place of the Lord from the rest of the temple.  The Lord is so great that Solomon knows that we must be careful to not stray into the presence of the Lord simply on accident.  He is great indeed!

In fact, He is so great that Solomon erects two pillars and names them as a lasting testimony to God.  The pillars are named Jakin and Boaz.  Jakin means, “He establishes.”  Boaz means, “In Him is strength.”  Solomon tells us within the temple that the temple is established by God and will be maintained solely by the strength of the Lord.  This would be a powerful witness in the time of the chronicler as they are rebuilding their society.  It is a powerful witness to us who recognize that salvation and faith only come from God and are completely sustained by Him.

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