Bible Reading Challenge Blog

This entire chapter, all 42 verses is a prayer of Solomon to God as he basically inaugurates the temple and asks God to be present not only in the temple but with all the people who might ask for God’s blessing by turning to the temple.  There are a number of things that I really like, but the first that I wanted to highlight is how there is no differentiation between the people of Israel and the strangers who come to the temple to bless the Lord.  Solomon asks for God to bless each equally, to hear each of their prayers, equally.  He doesn’t ask to only listen to the prayers of the people of Israel, but rather even if a stranger were to come and ask for prayers, God, please answer their prayers.

In this time in which we find ourselves I love the reference in vs.28 where Solomon prays that if there be “plague” (in 2021 read Covid-19), then: “may you hear from heaven, your dwelling place, forgive, and render to all whose heart you know, according to all their ways, for only you know the human heart.”  The appeal is that where there is plague when the people come to ask for deliverance, that God would respond.  Notice, all of this is in the context of this happening, plague, famine, drought etc., as a result of sin that the people of God committed.

This prayer of dedication from Solomon covers all of the bases in regards to recognizing that the Lord promised to Israel that the house of David would be the one to rule over Israel and that Solomon would build the temple which would be the central place of worship for all the people of Israel.  

Solomon then invites God to take residence in his dwelling place.  From there on we find that God is considered as taking His place in the temple and it is from the temple that all religious life would emanate, and all life in general, for that matter, would find its meaning and purpose through the lens of the temple.

We find for the first time in this book of the Bible the actual physical and tangible presence of the Lord.  Once the temple is finished Solomon brought into the temple all of the things that belonged in the temple which were kept elsewhere.  He began by putting those things that his father David has placed elsewhere waiting for the day when the temple would be built.  Once the stored silver, the gold and the vessels were brought in then it was time to bring in the ark of the covenant.  

He directs the priests, which would be the Levites, to prepare themselves to bring in the ark of the covenant.  They bring it in and Solomon makes so many sacrifices that they lose track of how many they have done.  Somewhat similar to the bronze that they used so much that they lost track of how much.  We find in vs.6: “Sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be numbered or counted.”  Once the ark takes its place the singers and the musicians begin to sing and play.  They do it all in unison in praise to the Lord.  We even have the words that they sing in vs. 13: “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Once they sang that then the Lord appears, shows up, and his presence is so overwhelming that the people who were present had to stop what they were doing because the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.  Can you imagine being involved in worship in such a way that you just have to stop your worship because the presence of God is so overwhelming?  Now that is what I’m talking about.

So if earlier the primary element used was gold, this chapter bronze is seen throughout the description of the building of the temple.  At one point the description reaches a point that so much bronze is used that the author states in vs.18: “Solomon made all these things in great quantities, so that the weight of the bronze was not determined.”  They basically gave up trying to figure out how much weight and how much value they were placing into the temple.  

This chapter pretty much brings to the end of the building of the temple with all of its descriptions.  I love how it describes where all of this was being made.  We find in vs.17 that the vast majority of what is described in this chapter was made in the valley of the Jordan.  Remember, when we are talking about the valley of the Jordan, it would be the Jordan river which runs from all the way up north starting in the Sea of Galilee and all the way down to the Dead Sea.  Keep in mind that the northernmost portion of the Dead Sea is pretty much parallel to Jerusalem.  Look at the map below and then we can see that the Jordan Valley was not a very long distance from Jerusalem.  It is less than 20 miles.

In the construction of the temple in this chapter you see the primary ingredient, the primary item that was used was gold.  I had never realized how valuable a temple of these dimensions and with this much gold would really be.  Below you will find the dimensions of the temple in relationship to what something that we might we familiar with might look like.

Notice the dimensions of the temple which was 150 feet long and 75 feet wide.  This is not a small structure.  Think of a church that might be that size.  St. Peter’s in Rome is actually 720 feet by 490 feet.  Okay, so that is a bit larger than the temple.  But we are talking about a structure which was built 2000 years earlier.  The pyramids, which were built right around 2000 years before that was actually bigger than St. Peter’s, so it is 756 feet by 756 feet.  Yeah, when we went to Egypt  we realized how crazy big they are.

But this structure which Solomon is building was considered the absolutely gem of its day.  This was not the case because of its size but as we read through the following chapter consider all that was included in this temple.  It is pretty impressive.

Solomon begins his work in building the temple.  The first step he takes is to reach out to an ally who had helped his father earlier in building David’s house.  King Huram of Tyre is asked for skilled craftsmen with wood.  He gathers them and then that expands until he finds himself a thousands of people who are put in the right place at the right time in order to build the temple.  This is going to be a community affair.  

Do you notice who plays a leading role in the blue collar work of the temple?  Those who were foreigners in the land.  Solomon puts 70,000 of them to work on the temple.  He doesn’t shun them or evict them from the country but rather he uses them in order to build an even more impressive residence for his God.  

Did you notice the long list of skills that Huram-abi had?  He was very good at working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, wood, all types of different fabrics.  Now that is a renaissance man if you ever saw one!

We begin our next to last book of the Bible as we make our way through Scripture.  II Chronicles is a continuation of I Chronicles.  It covers the life of Solomon in the first 9 chapters and then it looks at the kingdom as it is divided and splintered into pieces that ultimately make it weak.  But Solomon reigns over a united kingdom and his reign is one that was never seen before and never seen after.  His success is found not only in the wealth that he is able to accumulate, but also in his building of the temple and being able to provide a final resting place for the ark of the covenant, the presence of God.

This first chapter we see the transition of power to Solomon and God having a heart to heart with Solomon and telling him: ask for anything that you want and I will give it to you.  So, just take a moment to think about this question.  What would you ask?  If God said ask for anything at all and I will give it to you, what would you ask for God to provide to you?  Look at Solomon’s answer, he sets it up in light of the responsibilities that he now has been given by God.  He is put in charge of a so many people that they are not to be counted.  As a result he asks God for wisdom on how to rule over these people.

God is so pleased.  What a great request.  He didn’t ask for money or anything at all that would simply benefit Solomon.  Rather, he asks for something that would ultimately benefit the nation of Israel.  If they have a wise ruler then the kingdom could only expand and become stronger.  God not only gives him wisdom, more wisdom than anyone has ever had, but also the riches that he did not ask for.  What a great answer Solomon, way to go!

What a great ending to this book of the Bible.  Just to add to the last chapter remember David has called a national assembly so the heads of all the households are gathered and they are hearing what David has to say.  What David says is that not only will Solomon build the temple, but that Solomon will also succeed him.  This succession actually takes place in this chapter and in this place.  It almost seems like after David was finished speaking he hands the reigns over to Solomon and from there Solomon takes the throne.  Well, we know that David has to die first and then Solomon takes over, which this chapter condenses in order for us to arrive at the place where Solomon is now in charge.

Notice that David in the beginning of this chapter does two things.  First, he tells those gathered, the leaders of the houses of Israel, that Solomon is young and will need the support from everyone who is gathered there.  As a sign of their support David asks a second thing.  He gives an inventory of all the valuables that the temple already possesses.  He then says, and on top of that I am going to contribute of my own free will the following, and a long laundry list of treasures are listed on top of that.

From there he asks if anyone else wants to give a free will offering, and each tribe agrees to it.  David is ecstatic that they are willing to give without him forcing them, or taxing them.  It was their own free will.  But notice that David goes first in order to show an example of what should be done.  

As a result of this generosity on behalf of the people David addresses God and blesses the Lord and reminds himself and the people gathered of the truth in what just happened.  The truth, David states, is that all that David had, all that any of those gathered had, was actually a gift from God.  Nothing that we possess is actually our possession, but rather a possession gifted from God to us.  

At a time when David is handing over the throne, is looking at the inventory of all that he has at  the end of his life, it is good to remark and to remind ourselves that all that we have comes from the Lord.  

David wants to make public now the message that he received from the Lord privately which was that Solomon is the one who will build the temple of the Lord.  As David says in this chapter the reason why he was not chosen is because: “You are a warrior and have shed blood.”  Instead Solomon was chosen to not only build the courts but God is going to make Solomon his son and he will be a father to him.  From this time forward we find God wanting and desiring a personal relationship with His people and also wanting His people to desire a personal relationship with Him.  This closeness is unmatched in any other religion.  We serve a God who loves us and wants us to love Him.

I also find it interesting that David already has all the details worked out and the blueprints are ready to go.  Solomon really isn’t able to put his own creative spin on what the house of the Lord ought to look like because David and God have already worked it out the way that it ought to be.  David also addresses his son Solomon and tells him to be strong and to act.  Don’t be a withering violet.  I think that’s a thing, I don’t think I just made that up.  

I love vs.9 where David states: “The Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought.”  That ought to provide comfort and consolation for each of us as we look to do God’s will and be sure that we are not just doing our own will.

We continue to see how the society of Israel was directed and administered.  Here we read at the beginning of the chapter about those who had charge over the military.  Notice that David just did a nominal number of counting and did not count those under 20.  Remember when God promised Abram that the nation would be more numerous than the sand and could not be counted?  As a result God would consistently frown upon an attempt at a census for the people of Israel because it could be interpreted as if the people were trying to check on God to see if God fulfilled the promise.  Remember, this was for the nation of Israel, not for us as Americans.  God did not give us those promises either as Christians nor as Americans.  There is nothing wrong, in fact it is quite helpful, to do a census.  

From the military people he moves into describing a multifaceted political state including those who oversaw the agricultural estates.  There were storehouses that were run by members of families and that was their specific responsibility.  You found those who were responsible for the work of the field, vineyards, olive and sycamore trees, oil, herds, camels, and flocks.  It was quite extensive and so every detail mattered and if a detail was left out then inevitably that detail would suffer.

Each function had a different family that would oversee that task and now we find ourselves in the work of the gatekeepers.  Remember this is King David who assigned these positions.  The gatekeepers were basically sanctuary guards whose tasks included opening the doors of the temple in the morning, taking charge of the flour, wine, spices and oil for sacrifice, as well as other administrative duties that the king might require.

This clear separation of duties allowed there to be treasurers, regional officials and judges.  There was a vast empire that had to be controlled and that empire needed a vast number of people who were involved in the duties to which they were assigned.  We are getting a peek into the organizational structure of Israel as it took an army of people, both militarily and civilly in order to run the nation.  The same is true of a church.  We cannot function just as a few individuals offering a few programs and services.  The whole body has to pull together.