3292.) 2 Chronicles 10

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam

2 Chronicles 10   (NLT)

The Northern Tribes Revolt

Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king.

Thus the Davidic dynasty continues:  David, to his son Solomon, to his son Rehoboam. It is interesting that although Solomon had 1000 wives and concubines, Rehoboam is the only son of his mentioned by name in the Bible.

² When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of this, he returned from Egypt, for he had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon. ³ The leaders of Israel summoned him, and Jeroboam and all Israel went to speak with Rehoboam. ⁴“Your father was a hard master,” they said. “Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us. Then we will be your loyal subjects.”

They asked for change. But sadly, not a word for change regarding all the idolatry going on under Solomon.

⁵ Rehoboam replied, “Come back in three days for my answer.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. “What is your advice?” he asked. “How should I answer these people?”

⁷ The older counselors replied, “If you are good to these people and do your best to please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.”

⁸ But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers.

Poor Rehoboam, foolish son of the wisest man on earth! Do you know foolish people like this? They consult you and you give them sensible, wise advice. But it isn’t what they wanted to hear, so they go to someone else, and someone else again — until at last they find someone who will tell them what they want to hear, which is often neither sensible nor wise. Or another angle — have I too often been the foolish person who refuses good advice?

⁹ “What is your advice?” he asked them. “How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?”

¹⁰ The young men replied, “This is what you should tell those complainers who want a lighter burden: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!’”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Rehoboam’s decision, just as the king had ordered. ¹³ But Rehoboam spoke harshly to them, for he rejected the advice of the older counselors ¹⁴ and followed the counsel of his younger advisers. He told the people, “My father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!”

¹⁵ So the king paid no attention to the people.

Rehoboam was a fool. Ironically, his father Solomon worried about losing all he worked for under a foolish successor: Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19)

–David  Guzik

This turn of events was the will of God, for it fulfilled the Lord’s message to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh.

“Notice also, dear friends, that God is in events which are produced by the sin and the stupidity of men. This breaking up of the kingdom of Solomon into two parts was the result of Solomon’s sin and Rehoboam’s folly; yet God was in it: “This thing is from me, saith the Lord.” God had nothing to do with the sin or the folly, but in some way which we can never explain, in a mysterious way in which we are to believe without hesitation, God was in it all.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

¹⁶ When all Israel realized that the king had refused to listen to them, they responded,

“Down with the dynasty of David!
We have no interest in the son of Jesse.
Back to your homes, O Israel!
Look out for your own house, O David!”

So all the people of Israel returned home. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.

So the United Kingdom becomes the Divided Kingdom. The larger portion, the ten tribes that seceded, are from now on known as Israel, or the Northern Kingdom. The two tribes that remain with Rehoboam are smaller in geographic area and known as the Southern Kingdom. Those two loyal tribes are Judah (the family of David-Solomon-Rehoboam) and Benjamin (the land in which the city of Jerusalem is located). Since Judah was large and Benjamin was tiny, they all end up going by the name Judah.

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the labor force, to restore order, but the people of Israel stoned him to death.

A costly example of the king’s immaturity and lack of understanding.

When this news reached King Rehoboam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ And to this day the northern tribes of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David.

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Music:

What a foolish man, Rehoboam! And to go with today’s foolishness,  HERE  is “My Foolish Heart,” written in 1949, and sung by Tony Bennett with accompaniment by Bill Evans.

“There’s a line between love and fascination . . . “

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Israel rebels.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/rehoboam.jpg?w=450

King David, stained glass.    http://hiddenarchaeology.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-20-at-10.20.27-PM.png

fool.     http://www.zelzee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/april-fool.jpg

Romans 8:28.  https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/romans8-28-bible-quote.jpg

map of Israel and Judah.     https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/israeljudah775bce.jpg

3291.) 2 Chronicles 9

“Solomon and the Queen of Sheba” by Giovanni Demin (1789-1859)

2 Chronicles 9   (New Living Translation)

Visit of the Queen of Sheba

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions.

“Hard questions” may refer to riddles, which were a popular part of the entertainment at feasts and special occasions in the ancient world. We remember that Samson, in Judges 14, presented a riddle to his Philistine guests at his wedding; only his wife’s betrayal enabled them to guess the correct answer. 

Here are two more ancient riddles. Can you guess them? Answers are at the end of this blog entry!

1)   “At night they come without being fetched,
And by day they are lost without being stolen.”  

2)   “I never was, am always to be,
No one ever saw me, nor ever will,
And yet I am the confidence of all
Who live and breathe on this terrestrial ball.”

She arrived with a large group of attendants and a great caravan of camels loaded with spices, large quantities of gold, and precious jewels.

_________________________

Music:

“In 1931 Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) began the composition of the music for the epic-ballet Belkis, Regina di Saba. One of his most ambitious stage works, it employed an enormous orchestra including such unconventional instruments as sitars and wind-machines, off-stage brass, a chorus, several vocal soloists and a narrator who related the legendary story in verse. The exoticism of the biblical legend of Solomon and Sheba greatly appealed to Respighi. He emulated the melodic characteristics of ancient Hebrew songs; and stressed oriental rhythms with a vast assortment of native percussion instruments.

“The ballet tells of the journey undertaken in the year 1000 B.C. by Belkis, Queen of Sheba, in response to an imperial message from Solomon, the King of Israel. The birds and the winds had told him that he is loved from afar by this beautiful young Queen of the South so he sends for her so that he may render her great honour and homage. Belkis travels across the desert in a huge treasure-laden caravan with warriors and slaves, elephants and camels, and her union with Solomon is celebrated by tumultuous rejoicing.

“Two years later Respighi preserved the best of his opulent 80-minute score in an orchestral suite of four movements. The first movement, ‘Dream of Solomon,’ is set in Solomon’s torch-lit harem in Jerusalem. The opening music broods as he gazes at the starry skies. A solemn march, with heavy bass tread and magisterial brass and vivid oriental colouring follows. The beautiful King enters, his bearing religious and majestic, lost in profound thoughts.

“The next movement is ‘The Dance of Belkis at Dawn.’ It represents Respighi’s music at its most sensual and voluptuous — an erotic picture of Belkis, as first seen in the ballet, reclining on a ruby-studded divan of green malachite watched over by four black slaves, in the luxuriant hanging gardens of Kitor. Belkis awakens, and raising her hands to salute the light of the world, dances in barefoot honour of the newly risen sun.”

—http://www.musicweb-international.com/respighi/ballet.htm

HERE  is Movement 1 — The Dream of Solomon.

HERE  is Movement 2– The Dance of Belkis at Dawn.

_________________________

When she met with Solomon, she talked with him about everything she had on her mind. ² Solomon had answers for all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. ³ When the queen of Sheba realized how wise Solomon was, and when she saw the palace he had built, ⁴she was overwhelmed.

“Meeting between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon,” by Piero della Francesca, 1460 (Basilica di San Francesco, Arezzo, Italy)

Luke 11:31   (NIV)

The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now one greater than Solomon is here.

She was also amazed at the food on his tables, the organization of his officials and their splendid clothing, the cup-bearers and their robes, and the burnt offerings Solomon made at the Temple of the Lord.

⁵ She exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true! ⁶ I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of your great wisdom! It is far beyond what I was told. ⁷ How happy your people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom! ⁸ Praise the Lord your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne as king to rule for him. Because God loves Israel and desires this kingdom to last forever, he has made you king over them so you can rule with justice and righteousness.”

This Queen of Sheba doll features authentic Ethiopian fabric and jewelry designs.

⁹ Then she gave the king a gift of 9,000 pounds of gold, great quantities of spices, and precious jewels. Never before had there been spices as fine as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ (In addition, the crews of Hiram and Solomon brought gold from Ophir, and they also brought red sandalwood and precious jewels. ¹¹ The king used the sandalwood to make steps for the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and to construct lyres and harps for the musicians. Never before had such beautiful things been seen in Judah.)

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba whatever she asked for—gifts of greater value than the gifts she had given him. Then she and all her attendants returned to their own land.

“Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,” by Konrad Witz, 1434 (Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland)

Solomon’s Wealth and Splendor

¹³ Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold.

2 Chronicles 9:13   (English Standard Version)

Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.

This is a vast amount of gold, which came to Solomon yearly. One commentator sets the value of the 666 talents of gold at $281,318,400. This speaks not only to the great wealth of Solomon, but it also makes him the only other person in the Bible associated with the number 666.

 The other Biblical connection to 666 is the end-times world dictator and opponent of God and His people often known as the Antichrist (Revelation 13:18). In fact, the Revelation passage specifically says that the number 666 is the number of a man, and the man may be Solomon.

 This isn’t to say that Solomon was the Antichrist or that the coming Antichrist will be some weird reincarnation of Solomon. But it may indicate that the Antichrist may not be someone purely evil from the very beginning. Instead, he may be like Solomon — a good man corrupted.

–David Guzik

¹⁴This did not include the additional revenue he received from merchants and traders. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the provinces also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold, each weighing more than 15 pounds. ¹⁶ He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold, each weighing more than 7½ pounds. The king placed these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

A model of the ceremonial gold shield of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character in Homer’s “Iliad.”  Beautiful! — but only for show.  Gold is too heavy and too soft to be useful as a shield in battle.

¹⁷ Then the king made a huge throne, decorated with ivory and overlaid with pure gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, and the figure of a lion stood on each side of the throne. ¹⁹ There were also twelve other lions, one standing on each end of the six steps. No other throne in all the world could be compared with it!

²⁰ All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were solid gold, as were all the utensils in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. They were not made of silver, for silver was considered worthless in Solomon’s day!

²¹ The king had a fleet of trading ships manned by the sailors sent by Hiram. Once every three years the ships returned, loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Do you remember the first time you saw a real live peacock fan its tail feathers?  Imagine that moment for Solomon and the other Israelites!

²² So King Solomon became richer and wiser than any other king on earth. ²³ Kings from every nation came to consult him and to hear the wisdom God had given him. ²⁴ Year after year everyone who visited brought him gifts of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁵ Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his horses and chariots, and he had 12,000 horses. He stationed some of them in the chariot cities, and some near him in Jerusalem. ²⁶ He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River in the north to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt in the south. ²⁷ The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stone. And valuable cedar timber was as common as the sycamore-fig trees that grow in the foothills of Judah. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and many other countries.

King Solomon:  Wealthy?  Yes.  Important?  Yes.  Obedient to God?  No.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20   (NIV)

The King

When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”  be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own people. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.  The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.  It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees  and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Summary of Solomon’s Reign

²⁹ The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Record of Nathan the Prophet, and The Prophecy of Ahijah from Shiloh, and also in The Visions of Iddo the Seer, concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat. ³⁰ Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ³¹ When he died, he was buried in the City of David, named for his father. Then his son Rehoboam became the next king.

_________________________

Riddles:   1) stars   and   2) tomorrow.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Demin.    http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=10389&size=large

riddle – question.    http://triplecrownleadership.com/assets/Stick-Figure-in-Question-Mark.jpg

Francesca.     https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Piero_della_Francesca_-_2b._Meeting_between_the_Queen_of_Sheba_and_King_Solomon_-_WGA17498.jpg

doll.    https://thealphess.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/ethidolls1.jpg

Witz.   http://www.wikiart.org/en/konrad-witz/king-solomon-and-the-queen-of-sheba?utm_source=returned&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=referral

gold shield.     https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/achilles-gold-shield-flaxmanshield.gif

peacock.     http://www.itsnature.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/peacock-baby.jpg

Egyptian horse.  https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/horse-egypt1.jpg

3290.) Psalm 95

Psalm 95 (New International Version)

A call to exuberant praise to the Lord!

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving

Thanksgiving:  A “confession, praise” of God’s character and works. The verb is used to express one’s public proclamation or declaration (confession) of God’s attributes and his works.

–Ralph F. Wilson (and all following in green)

and extol him with music and song.

The reason to praise — the Lord’s greatness as Creator and King!

³ For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

A call to bow down in humble worship before our God our Shepherd!

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
⁷ for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.

We worship, we bow down, because we recognize both God’s ownership of us and his responsibility to care for us. As Jesus put it, he is not a hireling, but the owner of the sheep. Therefore, he is willing to lay down his life for the sheep — and did! He is the Shepherd, we are the sheep, the flock. He cares for us.

A warning and exhortation to obey the Lord!

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
⁸ “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Why did the psalmist insert this warning right after high praise and prostrate submission in Psalm 95? The topic of the psalm is worship. His point is that worship not only consists of praise, thanksgiving, and outward submission, but also submissive hearts before the Lord. This is not an outward worship, but inward. Too often our worship is empty words, rather than a submissive spirit full of faith in God and a readiness to obey him. The Apostle Paul reminds us:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)

The way we live our lives comprises our worship of God, not just what we say with our mouths on “worship days.”

_________________________

Music:

Psalm 95 is a favorite for singers and composers!

HERE  is the oldest piece offered to you today, “Venite, exultemus Domino,” by William Byrd, an English composer of the Renaissance, 1607.

HERE  the psalm is put to music by the Sons of Korah, an Australian folk band.

HERE  is John Michael Talbot and “Come Worship the Lord.”

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New International Version (NIV)   Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Psalm 95:1.   http://oneyearbibleimages.com/psalm95_1.jpg

Psalm 95:3-4.   http://kellydavenport.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-3/p587217046-3.jpg

Psalm 95:6-7.     https://mysundayblog.com/2016/09/25/sheep-worrying/

obey.    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d1/70/08/d17008d7307ad9dd79c2643b8943c582.jpg

3289.) O Give Thanks unto the Lord

Isaiah 12 (The Message)

My Strength and Song

¹ And you will say in that day,
“I thank you, God.
You were angry
but your anger wasn’t forever.
You withdrew your anger
and moved in and comforted me.

²“Yes, indeed—God is my salvation.
I trust, I won’t be afraid.
God—yes God!—is my strength and song,
best of all, my salvation!”

^3-4Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water
from the wells of salvation.
And as you do it, you’ll say,
“Give thanks to God.
Call out his name.
Ask him anything!
Shout to the nations, tell them what he’s done,
spread the news of his great reputation!

^5-6“Sing praise-songs to God. He’s done it all!
Let the whole earth know what he’s done!
Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion!
The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel.”

_________________________

Music:

Today of all days – “To God Be the Glory!”  HERE  it is at Royal Albert Hall in London.

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3288.) 2 Chronicles 8

David and Solomon at dinner when Sol was in high school .

2 Chronicles 8   (New Living Translation)

Solomon’s Many Achievements

¹ It took Solomon twenty years to build the Lord’s Temple and his own royal palace.

Bob the Builder? Not in this chapter! SOLOMON the Builder! He energetically settled new cities and built storage cities, fortifications, chariot cities, and cities of the cavalry.

At the end of that time, ²Solomon turned his attention to rebuilding the towns that King Hiram had given him, and he settled Israelites in them.

A problem comes in reconciling the mention of the cities that Hiram gave to Solomon, because 1 Kings 9:11-14 indicates that they were given by Solomon to Hiram. “While textual disturbance is possible, it seems more probable that they had been returned to Solomon, either because they were unacceptable (1 Kings 9:12-13) or because they had been collateral for a loan (1 Kings 9:14).” (Selman)

–David Guzik

³ Solomon also fought against the town of Hamath-zobah and conquered it. ⁴ He rebuilt Tadmor in the wilderness and built towns in the region of Hamath as supply centers. ⁵ He fortified the towns of Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, rebuilding their walls and installing barred gates. ⁶ He also rebuilt Baalath and other supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses could be stationed. He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout his entire realm.

⁷ There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁸ These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them for his labor force, and they serve in the labor force to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for his labor force. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, officers in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. ¹⁰ King Solomon appointed 250 of them to supervise the people.

Solomon used the people of neighboring conquered nations as slave labor in his building projects. Israelites were used in the building of the temple and the king’s palace, but usually as the overseers of the forced labor.

¹¹ Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. He said, “My wife must not live in King David’s palace, for the Ark of the Lord has been there, and it is holy ground.”

“To build a house for Pharaoh’s daughter outside the Holy City is to open its gates sooner or later to Pharaoh’s gods.”

–G. Campbell Morgan (English evangelist and scholar, died in 1945)

¹² Then Solomon presented burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar he had built for him in front of the entry room of the Temple. ¹³ He offered the sacrifices for the Sabbaths, the new moon festivals, and the three annual festivals—the Passover celebration, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters—as Moses had commanded.

¹⁴ In assigning the priests to their duties, Solomon followed the regulations of his father, David. He also assigned the Levites to lead the people in praise and to assist the priests in their daily duties. And he assigned the gatekeepers to their gates by their divisions, following the commands of David, the man of God. ¹⁵ Solomon did not deviate in any way from David’s commands concerning the priests and Levites and the treasuries.

¹⁶ So Solomon made sure that all the work related to building the Temple of the Lord was carried out, from the day its foundation was laid to the day of its completion.

After reading much in these chapters prior about the extraordinary celebration as the temple was dedicated, this portion brings us round to the on-going regular worship. No community can exist on great occasions alone. The temple was built to be the center of routine worship for Israel. Solomon is meticulous and makes sure all the ordinary, daily activities are done correctly. This orderly organization was a reflection of his great wisdom and an answer to his prayer for help in leading the kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 3).

So much of our lives is lived in the routine! Up — work — home — dinner — bed. Yet even in these “days of small things” (Zechariah 4:10), our hearts can be praising and thanking God for the blessings of the day, and we can be witnessing to those in our circle of influence about the kindness of our Lord Jesus.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
—Mother Teresa

¹⁷ Later Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Elath, ports along the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ Hiram sent him ships commanded by his own officers and manned by experienced crews of sailors. These ships sailed to Ophir with Solomon’s men and brought back to Solomon almost seventeen tons of gold.

A Phoenician ship from the general era of Solomon.

This is new for Israel. Although we think of their land as bordering the Mediterranean, ancient Israelites were not known as sailors or sea faring people. That skill belonged to the Phoenicians. Ezion-geber and Elath have often been identified as ports at the north end of the Gulf of Aqaba; from there ships could sail to the Red Sea and beyond. Modern scholars are uncertain as to the location of Ophir and all its gold.

_________________________

Music:

HERE.  This song was popular in Israel during Solomon’s building phase!  Maybe it can encourage us today!

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

most likely to succeed cartoon.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/succeed1.png

Bob the Builder.     https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/bob-the-builder.jpg

Keep on.    https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/1863-2-chronicles-8/#jp-carousel-38457

Phoenician ship.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/phoenician-ship.jpg

3287.) 2 Chronicles 7

2 Chronicles 7   (New Living Translation)

The Dedication of the Temple

¹ When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. ² The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. ³When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying,

“He is good!
His faithful love endures forever!”

“O Spirit, sent from heaven
On that day long ago,
Rekindle faith among us
In all life’s ebb and flow.
O give us ears to listen
And tongues aflame with praise,
So folk in every nation
Glad songs of joy shall raise.”

–Jane Parker Huber, 1981

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God.

This huge amount of meat would have perhaps been used in part for the people as the nation feasted together for two weeks — the dedication of the temple and the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters. What a joyful celebration!

⁶ The priests took their assigned positions, and so did the Levites who were singing, “His faithful love endures forever!” They accompanied the singing with music from the instruments King David had made for praising the Lord. Across from the Levites, the priests blew the trumpets, while all Israel stood.

⁷ Solomon then consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar he had built could not hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrificial fat.

⁸ For the next seven days Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. ⁹ On the eighth day they had a closing ceremony, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the Festival of Shelters for seven days. ¹⁰ Then at the end of the celebration, Solomon sent the people home. They were all joyful and glad because the Lord had been so good to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.

We remember that it was David’s heart and vision that started the work of the temple.

The Lord’s Response to Solomon

¹¹ So Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction of the Temple and the palace. ¹²Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said,

Commentators say this conversation with God may have occurred years after the temple was completed.

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. ¹³ At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. ¹⁴ Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. ¹⁵ My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.

Verse 14.  It’s a familiar verse and easy for us to think we know it. Plus, I have seen this verse so often with an American flag behind it that it almost sounds political. But let’s take a fresh look and examine ourselves in the light of this verse:

humble ourselves:  a change in attitude in regard to one’s self, a change from an arrogant rejection of God
Where am I still arrogantly doing what I want to do even when in my fine Christian humility I pretend I am being obedient?

pray:  to recognize the right of God over one’s life
What inadequate concept of God do I have which prevents me from fully trusting God with every detail of my life?

seek my face:  the desire to determine what God wants
Can I turn my back on my cherished hopes and dreams for myself? for my children? for my future? — and give it all to God?

turn:   the will to do what God wants
Can I say with Mary, “Be it unto me according to thy word”? Can I say with Jesus, “Yet not what I will, but what You will”?

__________________________

Music:

HERE  Avalon sings “If My People Pray.”

_________________________

¹⁷ “As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, ¹⁸ then I will establish the throne of your dynasty. For I made this covenant with your father, David, when I said, ‘One of your descendants will always rule over Israel.’

After a positive promise comes a negative promise . . .

¹⁹ “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, ²⁰ then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. ²¹ And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’
²² “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.’”

In the end, we will all have chosen one or the other:

2 Kings 17:15   (NIV)

They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.

Colossians 1:9-11   (TNIV)

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,  so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

2 Chron. 7:14 (Glacier National Park).     https://missionventureministries.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/2-chronicles-7-vs-14.jpg

flame.     https://www.ncptt.nps.gov/wp-content/uploads/fire-vector.png?7d0444

“if my people . . .”    https://mylordmyfriend.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/chron.jpg

“Only one life . . .”     https://outoftheoverflow.com/2011/10/06/wasting-your-life/

3286.) 2 Chronicles 6

2 Chronicles 6   (New Living Translation)

Solomon Praises the Lord

¹ Then Solomon prayed, “O Lord, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness. ²Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!”

A sense of fulfillment:  The temple has been built! It is a beginning as well as an end, for it not only signals a fulfillment for God’s plans for Israel, but also it becomes a reference point for the stories of subsequent kings. Will they be able to secure the blessings of God through obedience? That is the challenge for the community of Israel then — and for us as Christian believers now. If we love the Lord, John 14:15 says, we will keep his commandments.

³ Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing: ⁴ “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father, ⁵ ‘From the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. Nor have I chosen a king to lead my people Israel. ⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem as the place for my name to be honored, and I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁸ But the Lord told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good, ⁹ but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’

¹⁰ “And now the Lord has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹¹ There I have placed the Ark, which contains the covenant that the Lord made with the people of Israel.”

__________________________

Music:

HERE  is “You’re Worthy of My Praise.”

_________________________

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

¹² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire community of Israel, and he lifted his hands in prayer. ¹³ Now Solomon had made a bronze platform 7½ feet long, 7½ feet wide, and 4½ feet high and had placed it at the center of the Temple’s outer courtyard. He stood on the platform, and then he knelt in front of the entire community of Israel and lifted his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴He prayed,

The subject of this prayer is, in a sense, prayer itself (vv. 19-21). It envisages Israel, in future generations and as a matter of habit, seeking God in prayer in the Temple. Prayer is to be the essential instrument in the continuing relationship between God and his people. Notice how Solomon’s first petition is that God would keep the promises that he has already made. This says much about the role of prayer in the relationship between God and man. If we feel that prayer is not worth while on the grounds that God is sovereign and will do what he pleases in any case, we fail to perceive that it belongs fundamentally to God’s purposes for humanity that we should identify and come to desire the things which he desires for us. When Solomon pictures future generations at prayer, it is for them to be laying claim to things God promised long ago.

–J. G. McConville

Here are the words of a chorus my mother taught me when I was a small child, back in the last century:

Every promise in the Book is mine,
Every chapter, every verse, every line,
All are blessings of His love divine,
Every promise in the Book is mine.

“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. ¹⁵ You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.
¹⁶ “And now, O Lord, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow my Law as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ ¹⁷ Now, O Lord, God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David.
¹⁸ “But will God really live on earth among people?

Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! ¹⁹ Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. ²⁰ May you watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. ²¹ May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

It is as if Solomon has an intimation, or even a foreboding, that the normal behavior of future generations will be of unfaithfulness rather than obedience. Solomon knows that God will certainly keep his covenant and show steadfast love. Paul says it another way:  “If we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

²² “If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar at this Temple, ²³ then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Pay back the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.
²⁴ “If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple, ²⁵ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave to them and to their ancestors.

Drought.

²⁶ “If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, ²⁷ then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.

famine

²⁸ “If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is—²⁹ and if your people Israel pray about their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple, ³⁰ then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart. ³¹ Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

foreigners at Western Wall

³² “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands when they hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, ³³ then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.
³⁴ “If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to you by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name, ³⁵ then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.

Exile. Painting by Gunnar Bay.

³⁶ “If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far away or near. ³⁷ But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ ³⁸ If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their captivity and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name—³⁹ then hear their prayers and their petitions from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you.
⁴⁰ “O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to all the prayers made to you in this place.

⁴¹ “And now arise, O Lord God, and enter your resting place,
along with the Ark, the symbol of your power.
May your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation;
may your loyal servants rejoice in your goodness.
⁴² O Lord God, do not reject the king you have anointed.
Remember your unfailing love for your servant David.”

Let us praise God today that he DOES dwell among us as we live out our salvation in the power of our risen Lord!

Let us rejoice in his everlasting goodness and thank him for always hearing and answering our prayers!

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

To God be all the glory.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/0cc1c-heavens.jpg

Solomon’s temple.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/f134b-solomons_temple_jerusalem.jpg

Pray without ceasing.     https://www.quotemaster.org/praying+without+ceasing#&gid=1&pid=1

John 1:14.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dwelt1.jpg

Drought.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/drought.jpg

Famine.    https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2021-07-01/Pandemic-could-cause-famine-of-biblical-proportions-warns-UN-11wrh2xncSA/index.html

foreigners at Western Wall.   https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g293983-d11918557-i238128941-See_Israel_Your_Way_Asaf_Salomon_Tour_Guide_in_Israel-Jerusalem_Jerusal.html

Bay.    http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/exile-painting-by-gunnar-bay-69662223

3285.) 2 Chronicles 5

The glory of God in the temple!

2 Chronicles 5   (New Living Translation)

¹ So Solomon finished all his work on the Temple of the Lord. Then he brought all the gifts his father, David, had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the various articles—and he stored them in the treasuries of the Temple of God.

The Ark Brought to the Temple

² Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of tribes—the leaders of the ancestral families of Israel. They were to bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in the City of David, also known as Zion. ³So all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held in early autumn.

⁴ When all the elders of Israel arrived, the Levites picked up the Ark. ⁵ The priests and Levites brought up the Ark along with the special tent and all the sacred items that had been in it. ⁶ There, before the Ark, King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!

“Solomon Before the Ark of the Covenant,” by Blaise Nicholas Le Sueur, 1747.

⁷ Then the priests carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—and placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles. ⁹ These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Temple’s main room—the Holy Place—but not from the outside. They are still there to this day. ¹⁰ Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they left Egypt.

At an earlier point in Israel’s history there were three items in the ark of the covenant:  the golden pot containing manna (Exodus 16:33), Aaron’s rod that budded (Numbers 17:6-11), and the tablets of the covenant (Exodus 25:16). Too many moves! Perhaps you, too, have treasures that are gone but not forgotten!

¹¹ Then the priests left the Holy Place. All the priests who were present had purified themselves, whether or not they were on duty that day. ¹² And the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and all their sons and brothers—were dressed in fine linen robes and stood at the east side of the altar playing cymbals, lyres, and harps. They were joined by 120 priests who were playing trumpets. ¹³ The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and give thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the Lord with these words:

“He is good!
His faithful love endures forever!”

At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. ¹⁴ The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of God.

This was the cloud of glory, seen often in the Old and New Testaments, sometimes called the cloud of Shekinah glory. It is hard to define the glory of God; we could call it the radiant outshining of His character and presence. Here it is manifested in a cloud.

• This is the cloud that stood by Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22).
• This is the cloud of glory that God spoke to Israel from (Exodus 16:10).
• This is the cloud from which God met with Moses and others (Exodus 19:9, 24:15-18, Numbers 11:25, 12:5, 16:42).
• This is the cloud that stood by the door of the Tabernacle (Exodus 33:9-10).
• This is the cloud from which God appeared to the High Priest in the Holy Place inside the veil (Leviticus 16:2).
• This is the cloud of Ezekiel’s vision, filling the temple of God with the brightness of His glory (Ezekiel 10:4).
• This is the cloud of glory that overshadowed Mary when she conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).
• This is the cloud present at the transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:34-35).
• This is the cloud of glory that received Jesus into heaven at His ascension (Acts 1:9).
• This is the cloud that will display the glory of Jesus Christ when He returns in triumph to this earth (Luke 21:27, Revelation 1:7).

–David Guzik

_________________________

 “We can never expect to have God in this house, or in our own houses, or in our own hearts, until we begin to praise him.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

_________________________

Music:

HERE  is one of my most favorite hymns, sung at my wedding and I hope at my funeral, too! “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation” was written in 1680 by Joachim Neander.  It is a free paraphrase of Psalm 103:1-6.  His lyrics, including verses which do not appear in most hymnals, follow.  Neander, a German Reformed Church pastor, died at age 30 of tuberculosis. From St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Shekinah glory in the temple.    https://mudpreacher.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/shekinah-glory.jpg

Le Sueur.   https://isthatinthebible.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/blaise-nicholas-le-sueur-solomon-before-the-ark-of-the-covenant-1747-large.png?w=750&h=552

Moses and the stone tablets.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/artbook__014_014__thetencommandments_sm___.jpg

Shekinah.     https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/shekinah1.jpg

Lift up your hearts in praise.     https://bibleforslackers.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/praise_2012c.jpg

3284.) 2 Chronicles 4

A model of Solomon’s temple. Notice the huge altar on the right; the bronze sea, supported by twelve oxen, on the left; the two pillars at the doorway; the additional washing basins on either side. What a magnificent sight it must have been!

2 Chronicles 4   (New Living Translation)

Furnishings for the Temple

Solomon also made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high.

The altar is huge and high — the first thing one would see. Here the priests killed and burned the sacrificial animals.

² Then he cast a great round basin, 15 feet across from rim to rim, called the Sea. It was 7½ feet deep and about 45 feet in circumference. ³It was encircled just below its rim by two rows of figures that resembled oxen. There were about six oxen per foot all the way around, and they were cast as part of the basin.

⁴ The Sea was placed on a base of twelve bronze oxen, all facing outward. Three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east, and the Sea rested on them. ⁵ The walls of the Sea were about three inches thick, and its rim flared out like a cup and resembled a water lily blossom. It could hold about 16,500 gallons of water.

The water in the Sea is used by the priests themselves for ceremonial washing.

⁶ He also made ten smaller basins for washing the utensils for the burnt offerings. He set five on the south side and five on the north. But the priests washed themselves in the Sea.

⁷ He then cast ten gold lampstands according to the specifications that had been given, and he put them in the Temple. Five were placed against the south wall, and five were placed against the north wall.

⁸ He also built ten tables and placed them in the Temple, five along the south wall and five along the north wall. Then he molded 100 gold basins.

The tabernacle from Moses’s day had only one lampstand for light and only one table for showbread.

⁹ He then built a courtyard for the priests, and also the large outer courtyard. He made doors for the courtyard entrances and overlaid them with bronze. ¹⁰ The great bronze basin called the Sea was placed near the southeast corner of the Temple.

¹¹ Huram-abi also made the necessary washbasins, shovels, and bowls.

So at last Huram-abi completed everything King Solomon had assigned him to make for the Temple of God:

¹² the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two networks of interwoven chains that decorated the capitals;
¹³ the 400 pomegranates that hung from the chains on the capitals (two rows of pomegranates for each of the chain networks that decorated the capitals on top of the pillars);

an ancient carved ivory pomegranate found in Jerusalem

Pomegranates were used by the Israelites as a sign of the fertility of the promised land under the blessing of God. Chains of pomegrantes decorated the capitals of the pillars flanking the entrance to the temple. They also hung from the hem of the high priest’s robes (Exodus 28:33).

¹⁴ the water carts holding the basins;
¹⁵ the Sea and the twelve oxen under it;
¹⁶ the ash buckets, the shovels, the meat hooks, and all the related articles.

Huram-abi made all these things of burnished bronze for the Temple of the Lord, just as King Solomon had directed. ¹⁷ The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. ¹⁸ Solomon used such great quantities of bronze that its weight could not be determined.

¹⁹ Solomon also made all the furnishings for the Temple of God:

the gold altar;
the tables for the Bread of the Presence;
²⁰ the lampstands and their lamps of solid gold, to burn in front of the Most Holy Place as prescribed;
²¹ the flower decorations, lamps, and tongs—all of the purest gold;
²² the lamp snuffers, bowls, dishes, and incense burners—all of solid gold;
the doors for the entrances to the Most Holy Place and the main room of the Temple, overlaid with gold.

¹ So Solomon finished all his work on the Temple of the Lord. Then he brought all the gifts his father, David, had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the various articles—and he stored them in the treasuries of the Temple of God.

from Peculiar Treasures,
by Frederick Buechner

Solomon put up a Temple in Jerusalem that had to be seen to be believed. It stood three stories high, and you entered it through a soaring porch of Egyptian design that was flanked by two thirty-foot free-standing bronze columns with carved lilies on top. It had cedar ceilings, cypress floors, and olivewood doors, and the amount of gold they used to trim it inside and out would have bankrupted Fort Knox.

_________________________

Music:

God is worthy of all the gold, all the excellence, all the time and effort. I think of the magnificence of the temple — what it said to poor people like Joseph and Mary when they came to worship. Surely they were amazed and awestruck:  Our God is Mighty! Our God is Wonderful! Or as Juanita Bynum sings  HERE,   “You Are Worthy.”

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

model of Solomon’s temple.    http://www.kotipetripaavola.com/templeofSolomon2.jpg

altar.     http://thesentone.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/templebronzealtar.jpg

bronze sea.     https://www.franklinterhorst.nl/Het%20lied%20der%20overwinnaars.htm

lampstand.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/4amenorahlampstand.jpg

pomegranate.    https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/a-new-target-02.jpg

gold at Fort Knox.      http://s3.hubimg.com/u/286222_f520.jpg

3283.) 2 Chronicles 3

King Solomon supervises the construction of the temple.

2 Chronicles 3   (New Living Translation)

Solomon Builds the Temple

¹ So Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah,

The Binding of Isaac, by Avi Katz, from the “JPS Illustrated Children’s Bible.”

Genesis 22:1-2   (TNIV)

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

where the Lord had appeared to David, his father.  The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had selected.

2 Samuel 24:18  (NIV)

On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

²The construction began in midspring, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.

The delay from Solomon’s coronation to the beginning of the building project could be due to the time required to properly prepare the lumber from Lebanon. Just getting the trees from “there” to “here” was no small task! The trees had to be selected, felled, and dragged to the Mediterranean coast. Then they were loaded on rafts and floated down to Joppa. Once there, they were transported overland to Jerusalem.

³ These are the dimensions Solomon used for the foundation of the Temple of God (using the old standard of measurement). It was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide. ⁴ The entry room at the front of the Temple was 30 feet wide, running across the entire width of the Temple, and 30 feet high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

⁵ He paneled the main room of the Temple with cypress wood, overlaid it with fine gold, and decorated it with carvings of palm trees and chains. ⁶ He decorated the walls of the Temple with beautiful jewels

The reference to precious stones may suggest mosaics, inlaid in the floor.

–David F. Payne (Senior Lecturer in Semitic Studies at Queen’s University of Belfast and Academic Dean of London Bible College)

and with gold from the land of Parvaim. ⁷ He overlaid the beams, thresholds, walls, and doors throughout the Temple with gold, and he carved figures of cherubim on the walls.

Psalm 80:1-2   (NIV)

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.”

   Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
   shine forth  before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
   come and save us.

⁸ He made the Most Holy Place 30 feet wide, corresponding to the width of the Temple, and 30 feet deep. He overlaid its interior with 23 tons of fine gold. ⁹ The gold nails that were used weighed 20 ounces each. He also overlaid the walls of the upper rooms with gold.

¹⁰ He made two figures shaped like cherubim, overlaid them with gold, and placed them in the Most Holy Place. ¹¹ The total wingspan of the two cherubim standing side by side was 30 feet. One wing of the first figure was 7½ feet long, and it touched the Temple wall. The other wing, also 7½ feet long, touched one of the wings of the second figure. ¹² In the same way, the second figure had one wing 7½ feet long that touched the opposite wall. The other wing, also 7½ feet long, touched the wing of the first figure. ¹³ So the wingspan of the two cherubim side by side was 30 feet. They stood on their feet and faced out toward the main room of the Temple.

¹⁴ Across the entrance of the Most Holy Place he hung a curtain made of fine linen, decorated with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and embroidered with figures of cherubim.

Matthew 27:50-51 (NIV)

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Hebrews 10:19-22   (NIV)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,  and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

¹⁵ For the front of the Temple, he made two pillars that were 27 feet tall, each topped by a capital extending upward another 7½ feet. ¹⁶ He made a network of interwoven chains and used them to decorate the tops of the pillars. He also made 100 decorative pomegranates and attached them to the chains. ¹⁷ Then he set up the two pillars at the entrance of the Temple, one to the south of the entrance and the other to the north. He named the one on the south Jakin, and the one on the north Boaz.

These two pillars were so impressive that they were actually given names. Jachin means He shall establish and Boaz means in strength.

Every time someone came to the house of the Lord in the days of Solomon they said, “Look! There is ‘He Shall Establish.’ And there is ‘In Him Is Strength.'” It set them in the right frame of mind to worship the Lord. When the crowds gathered at the morning and evening sacrifice to worship the Lord, the Levites led the people standing in front of the temple with these two great, bronze pillars behind them. It was always before them: He Shall Establish and In Him Is Strength.

One could say that the house of God itself was Jachin and Boaz. That temple was established by God, and built by the strength of God. Every time they looked at that temple, they knew that God liked to establish and strengthen things.

The house of God was a place where people experienced what the pillars were all about. At that house, people were established in their relationship with God. At that house, people were given strength from the Lord. From this building, it should go out to the whole community: “Come here and get established. Come here and receive the strength of God.”

–David Guzik

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Music:

In reading all the details of the construction, it is important not to lose sight of the One for whom this beautiful temple is being built!  HERE  is “(Who Is This) King of Glory”  by Third Day.  The song talks about forgiveness, peace, grace, strength, wisdom — turn it up real loud!!

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New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Solomon holding the plans.    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/10/27/article-1081107-02443E7F000005DC-859_468x339.jpg

Katz.     https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/isaac.jpg

cherubim over the mercy seat.    http://www.mishkanministries.org/images/cherubimoverthemercyseat1.jpg

The blood of Jesus . . .      http://christian-wallpaper.blogspot.com/2011/04/blood-of-jesus-takes-my-sins-away-1024.html

pillars.     https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/pilar2.jpg