Windows of Narrow Lights 1 Kings 5:1 – 6:38 ^^^^^^^ ~ King David desired with all his heart to build a house for God. However, the Word of The Lord came to Nathan, the prophet in David’s day, saying that Solomon would be the one who would build the temple. Well, that time has come in this report from our Spiritual Safari. Our last few reports have seen Solomon take the throne, establish his kingdom and execute the plans to build a house for the Ark of the Lord. I hope you have decided to make an educated, sincere and systematic study of the Word of God with us today. This seemingly dry section of Scripture reads like the plans and specifications of any contemporary construction project; but it just happens to be imperative to understanding the whole Word of God properly, correctly and completely! Unfortunately, most people totally bi-pass this part of the Bible and never really get a hold of the many wonderful spiritual truths found in it…. V 1 And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David. 2 And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. ~ Only God can give us peace and rest, friends; whether it is world peace or peace and rest in the human heart which we all desire and need so badly! Remember, when the world rejected the Lord Jesus Christ He sent out this personal, private and very individual invitation when He said, ‘’come unto Me all you that are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest.’’ That means burdened with sin and laden with iniquity, according to Isaiah. Here, God has given Solomon that rest and peace on every side of the nation Israel. It is important to note that whatever Hiram did he did out of respect for David – not because of Solomon. This entire endeavor stems from David, whom God could not permit to build the temple – mainly because of what happened with Uriah and Bathsheba. Mankind has always been one to build things from the very beginning. Remember, when Cain went out from the presence of the Lord the first thing he did was to build an entire city! The face of this earth bears great scars and huge mounds which hide the ruins of tremendous ancient cities. We all know there are splendid examples of architecture from way back when. The spade of the archeologist has penetrated the depths; judging all previous civilizations by the types of building that occurred in them! If there ever really was an age of ‘’cavemen’’ he is certainly labeled barbarian and uncivilized – because he was not a builder, obviously. The Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans are all counted as civilized ONLY from the evidence of their structures. Modern mankind’s only claim to ‘’civilization’’ is because we have built high rise hotels, apartments, office buildings and grocery stores! All we have really accomplished is building our own more comfortable caves in which to dwell and work in – sort of like an intelligent gopher. The rest of the time most of us crawl on a freeway like a worm; however, in a much more comfortable invention! Well, as long as we can push buttons and turn switches we seem to think we are even more civilized! As we know, the very first buildings of any impressive design were all temples; and all pagan peoples have had temples! There have been the temples of the kings along the Nile River; Asher of Nineveh and Mardach-Baladin of Babylon and the ziggurats in the Tiger-Euphrates valley. There is Baal of the Phoenicians and Athena of the Greeks; Jupiter of the Romans and the Aztec’s of Mexico! Those are all a direct manifestation of rebellion against the True and Living God! Some were very crude and some are elaborate expressions of beauty; the Parthenon is an example of that. Either way, all of them stem directly from the Tower of Babel – the monument to man’s gargantuan resistance to God Almighty! Pagan temples have always been impressive, rich, elaborate, enormous and ornate; but they bring the highest intellectual expression with the lowest possible spiritual level of incivility! When they knew God they glorified Him not as God but became vain in their imaginations changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made likened unto corruptible man such as birds, four-footed beasts and creeping things that creep! Man always wants to make a house for his gods to live in! Man has been trying to box God in like a Jack-in-a-Box since day one, friends! However, the temple in Jerusalem was NEVER considered a house for God to dwell in! When we get over to second Chronicles where Solomon dedicates the temple we’ll see it made abundantly clear that God simply was not there in that building! Solomon will remind them that the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain God and neither can that little stone shack called a temple. Anyone who thinks they were building a house for God to dwell in has simply missed the entire point of it! It was an approach for man to God and access for God to meet with man on a term of sacrifice that man could understand and comprehend – nothing else. We consider the conception, construction and the character of the temple in this section and it is quite important. 1 Chronicles 28:2 Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building: 3 But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood. 1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. 10 Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong , and do it. 11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, 1 Chronicles 28:19 All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern. See, the pattern and blueprint for the temple was originally given to King David – not to Solomon! That is very important to understand. David was also the one who gathered all the gold, silver and all other materials for the temple. David did everything BUT build the temple, as we can see. So, the conception is the design of David and Solomon is merely executing the will of God that was first in his father’s heart to do for the Lord…. 5 And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. 6 Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint : for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians. 7 And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. 8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. 9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household. 10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire. 11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. 12 And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together. 13 And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy. 15 And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains; 16 Beside the chief of Solomons officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work. 17 And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. 18 And Solomons builders and Hirams builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house. VI ~ So, we come now to the actual construction of the temple. Notice that quite a levy was raised on all the people to make this thing happen. Obviously, it was a tremendous enterprise. As we move along in the life of Solomon we will find that his building ambitions were just a little bit too big and the people were overtaxed as a result! The main evidence of decadence in modern man is clearly seen in the number, size and décor of our public buildings! Society is definitely overtaxed to build them, also! The buildings today might be made of steel but the men that occupy them are as weak as putty. Even the United States Navy admitted to having ships of steel with paper dolls sailing them! They had the same problem in Solomon’s day: exquisite buildings made by and used by extremely weak men – including Solomon himself! ~ 1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomons reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. 2 And the house which King Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. 3 And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. 4 And for the house he made windows of narrow lights. ~ Notice that the temple is only twice as large as the tabernacle tent was – although it is three times taller! This building was much smaller than most people realize, to be sure. In fact, it wasn’t much larger than an oversized jewelry box! It has been compared to a diamond and a straw stack – the diamond is much more valuable but much smaller! Furthermore, the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle had no light except the Shekinah Glory that filled it; here, Solomon made narrow windows in it! They didn’t let a lot of light of light in but they did allow a little light in – meaning they didn’t depend on Divine Light – they were depending on natural, worldly light outside! Also, here, the Cherubims were made of olive tress – and they are impressive – but they aren’t solid gold anymore! What this all means is more ceremony and ritual and ornate gaudiness than was intended by God; and that’s why this temple will be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar! The temple of Zerubbabel will soon replace it until it is, in turn, destroyed and replaced by the temple of Herod in the days of Christ! This speaks to the spiritual deterioration of the people and Jehovah’s condescension to it in grace! Even Herod’s temple points to Christ and Jesus says, ‘’destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’’ The disciples thought Jesus was talking about the temple but He was talking about the temple of His body! Naturally, the temple is equated with the body of Christ! I think this is all extremely remarkable, personally! The construction of the temple consisted of a cedar roof lined with gold. It had a cypress floor carved throughout with cherubims, flowers and palm trees. It is surrounded by another three story building where the priests lived during their tenure of service. Out front there was a portico that was half as long as a modern day football field. Instead of one Brazen Alter they have two very large alters. They have ten lamp stands and ten tables of showbread. What this means is a multiplication of every single article of furniture! The thirty thousand Israelites used for the labor pool were drafted into service along with one hundred fifty thousand Canaanites with five hundred and fifty supervisors! The total cost estimates in today’s dollars would be around five hundred million dollars! We’ll look closely at the meaning of the pillars in the next chapter and they have an impressive meaning. Well, you can read all the details for yourself but let me say this: this structure was more complicated, more highly detailed and ornamental than that which the tabernacle was designed to characterize and represent originally! So, we have a very definite prophetic meaning of this temple! In all of its splendor the temple is still much more inferior to that of the tent-structure of the tabernacle! First of all, it’s overly-complicated. The simplicity of the original tabernacle is just plain lost! In the New Testament the temple is bi-passed and the tabernacle is still used as the type! See, we’re living in a day when an emphasis in the church is placed on methods – and NOT on the Word of God! That is why my safari reports HIGHLY emphasize the Word of God and the Word of God ONLY! The church today is simply overly-complicated with gimmicks and rules that were never given by God – just like this temple thing we’re considering here! I hate to tell you this but people just aren’t getting saved in the churches today – don’t kid yourself! I will tell you that many people have written me and told me they have been saved by God using this little rinky-dink Spiritual Safari! That means the world to me, friends; I cannot tell you how precious that really is to hear from someone in some foreign land that has never heard the Gospel tell me they were saved by reading one of these reports! Actually, this expedition I am taking you on isn’t complicated – but people DO get saved! That’s why I simply refuse to report to any of you critics – and you know who you are – I report directly to God our Father! May I say to you – those of you condemnation based Christians on this forum on which I teach - you are simply stuck in the mud. No one has ever told you they were saved because you pointed them to Christ – don’t bother writing me and telling me otherwise because I will call you a liar! We need to get back to the Word of God and forget all your phony theologies and doctrines which are complete and abject MEANINGLESSNESS, friends! ~ 5 And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about: 6 The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. 7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. 8 The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber and out of the middle into the third. 9 So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. 11 And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying, 12 Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15 And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. 16 And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place. 17 And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long. 18 And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. 19 And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. 20 And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. 22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold. 23 And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. 24 And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits. 25 And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size. 26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. 27 And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubims with gold. 29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without. 30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. 31 And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall. 32 The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees. 33 So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall. 34 And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work. 36 And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams. 37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid , in the month Zif: 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it. ~ So our Spiritual Safari ends today in great detail and I hope you took the time to read it all very carefully. Go back and read it again now – if you really love Christ! The main idea here is the inferiority of moving away from that which is simple and making it unrecognizable! They moved away from that which had power and replaced it with that which does NOTHING for Christ! I sure hope you read this report very, very – VERY – carefully! Friends, when the church loses sight of the Word of God they always replace it with complicated rituals and methods – and other things. We need to get back to the Bible – it is what is important! The labor Solomon used was very cheap labor; although no slave labor was used in the temple. Most labor in the day in which we are studying – such as the pyramids - was slave labor. The number of people involved and the long period of construction for the pyramids tell us they were definitely government projects! Well, we’re coming back to this in the Book of Chronicles; but, remember, it was David’s idea to build this temple to house the Ark of the Lord and as a place to approach God for man. However, it was not designed as a dwelling place for God – as we have emphasized in this report. Let’s make sure we stick very close to the teachings of the Word of God now because this Book of Kings will become intricately detailed and seriously complicated as we go forward. I have seen books on the tabernacle and temple that make a comparison and they are simply impossible to read. Let’s keep this simple, friends; what is set before us on safari is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ – NOTHING else. Our expedition is ONLY to find Christ on every page of Scripture – and that isn’t easy, believe me! ~
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 07:35:13 +0000
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