Today, in preparation for my Sabbath school assignment on the building of Solomon’s temple, I would like to continue my series of posts dealing with the biblical stories that I will be teaching my class of 9 to 11 year old students [1]. Many people nowadays do not know what it is like to be self-consciously involved in projects that extend far beyond our own lifetime. In previous ages, this was a more common experience. People would build castles or cathedrals that would often take generations to build, but were built symbolically to last forever, or at least as long as they could be maintained without being plundered for other building projects. The construction of what is known as Solomon’s temple was one such project that spanned two generations.

The genesis of the project is in the plans by David to house the Ark of the Covenant once he had brought it to Jerusalem [2], which was itself an interesting trip. David purposed in his heart to build a temple to house the Ark of the Covenant and to represent his desire that God should dwell in a house at least as beautiful as his own. 1 Chronicles 17 (along with 2 Samuel 7) talks about David’s intent. After receiving an initial blessing to do what is in his heart by the prophet Nathan, Nathan is then told to deliver a different message through a direct revelation by God, a message that David is not to build the temple himself but rather that God will bless David with an enduring house and that David’s son will build the Lord a house. David then stockpiles materials so that the house could be completed.

When Solomon takes the throne and secures his position by taking care of unfinished business, very quickly he fulfills his father’s unfinished business in building a temple. It should be noted, perhaps cautiously, that he took nearly twice as long to build his own house as he did the house of God, but that aside, it was a monumental undertaking and it involved a great deal of cooperation with the rulers of Tyre (including some letters that are recorded in 2 Chronicles 2) as well as the labor of many Israelites and others. The result was an immensely beautiful building that lasted for hundreds of years, and that has exerted a permanent hold on the memory of the people of Judah ever since then.

There are a lot of lessons in the construction (and history) of the temple of Solomon. These lessons include the sobering one that it is easier to build pretty buildings to honor God than it is to allow God to create in us a clean heart and to let ourselves be a fitting temple to Him. It is easier to make grand dedications and prayers than it is to live changed lives in the day to day grind that we all face. It is easier to have rituals and liturgies and ceremonies than it is to have love and justice and mercy in our lives. This is not to say that such external matters as buildings and ceremonies are useless, for indeed they have a very worthwhile purpose in providing order and patterns in our lives and in our worship, but rather that the external work is far easier to do, and far more immediately rewarding, than the vastly difficult more difficult work of building the spiritual temple. Some things have not changed in the last 3000 years.

[1] See:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/young-samuel/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/i-love-to-be-the-underdog/

[2] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/1-chronicles-15-1-29-the-sons-of-korah-sing-at-the-placement-of-the-ark-of-the-covenant-in-the-tabernacle-part-one/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/1-chronicles-16-1-6-37-43-the-sons-of-korah-sing-at-the-placement-of-the-ark-of-the-covenant-in-the-tabernacle-part-two/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/2-samuel-6-9-10-1-chronicles-131-2-14-god-blesses-the-sons-of-korah-for-taking-care-of-the-ark-of-the-covenan/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/personal-profile-obed-edom/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/looking-out-my-window/