May 3 - 1 Chronicles 23:1-25:31

Good morning everyone,

Today is one of those days of reading where I find myself struggling. I struggle over each of the names, and there are a lot of them today, I struggle to put it into a visual in my head, therefore I struggle to “get it”. However, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” It is with those words I will today and everyday push forward knowing that though I may feel like a cripple stumbling through this text, God’s got a plan, so here I go.

Up to this point we know that David loved God so much, he wanted to build him a temple, someplace to permanently house the ark of the covenant; some place to praise God, to give sacrifices to God, a house for God. We also know that God wanted Solomon, David’s son to be the one to build it and while David couldn’t actually build the temple he could and did set about the task of getting everything ready for the temple to be built. 

As I read through the text, I was scratching my head over the many people David assembled, clearly, I was not comprehending the magnitude of this project. To get a better understanding of why so many people were going to be necessary I needed get a visual. What did the temple look like, so I asked around (the webpages in my computer, that is) and this is what I found out;  

The gold and silver alone, according to present value, would amount to about three billion dollars! That takes my breath away. It took three years just to prepare the material and seven years to build. The porch was 210 feet high, and the rest of the building was 52½ feet high. It was situated due east and west, the holy of holies being the westward side, and the porch or entrance toward the east. The whole length, from east to west, was 122½ feet. The width, not including the side chambers was 35 feet; the height of the holy place and the holy of holies was or 52½ feet. I read it resembled a modern church, with this difference, that the steeple, which was placed over the porch, was situated at the east end. Then, around the north and south sides and the west end were built chambers, three stories high, joined to the outside wall of the house. Interestingly, the windows, were placed in the wall of the Temple that was above the roof of the side chambers. Whew!! Got all that??

The stones that were used and these were a  whole lot larger than your average, run of the mill stones, red brick or even the grey cinderblocks. The Largest stone is estimated to have been nearly 38 ft. long. For those of us who need a visual, that would be the length of two 2002-2006 Chevy Suburbans in a line, which have an average length of 18.5 ft. each. If that doesn’t impress you, how about the fact that they weighed between 500 to 600 tons and friends they were meticulously carving these stones from a cave and then hauling them out without the use of a tractor or dump truck. Oh no! And when you think about how tall the temple was even in it’s shortest area, you have to appreciate the physical strength as well as the incredible minds with the genius level calculating to get these huge stones to stack and not lean or tumble  as they were all laid without cement. Also, the precision of the work done was equal to any pyramid the Egyptians built, with the craftsmanship being so right on, it is said you could not slide even a piece of paper between the stones. 

I just want to add one more thing, apparently the plans called for a cornerstone to be laid where there was a sharp decline. Since that cornerstone formed the support for two walls, a strong foundation was necessary, we all know that. Right? However,the temple builders were equal to the task! Archaeologists have found a unique stone, cut and placed in position. It was fourteen feet long and four feet high. The builders buried that stone into natural rock which provided solid support for the temple. This stone beautifully pictures our great cornerstone, our Lord Jesus. Isaiah 28:16 says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation”. 

I would encourage you to go on line and look at the pictures of Solomon’s Temple. We are going to be talking about it for some time and if you are like me, you will totally appreciate the image to go with the teaching. I want to give a shout out to ancient-wisdom.com,  iblicalarchaeology.org, and of course, en.wikipedia.com, for their help today.

If we learned nothing else this morning, we learned that our God is a God of order. Even Gandhi knew that and I quote, “There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives.” That’s our God. He knows all, He sees all and He has perfect orderly control over all. You, me and everyone and thing we come into contact with. Even when we are, ESPECIALLY when we are, upside-down lost, God’s got our back. He is there in his perfect order to get us headed in the right direction. Let Psalm 119:133-135 (kjv) be your prayer today, “Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.” Amen?

Have an awesome day, to God be the glory.

God bless you all …