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Introduction
So, last week in chapter 6 we looked at Solomon’s construction of the Temple.
David had wished to construct the Temple himself.
But God had not allowed him to do that, leaving it instead for David’s successor, Solomon.
And chapter 7 detailed the construction, giving quite a bit of detail.
But there were other buildings within the Temple area and those are given to us in the first part of chapter 7 which we’ll look at today.
The building of the Temple was first and that required 7 years.
Then Solomon built the king’s palace and the other structures and courts that made up the temple area.
The entire project took 20 years.
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We won’t go back through the nitty gritty details of the construction of the Temple tonight, but I do want to refresh your memory.
It was double the size of the original Tabernacle … so, as we saw last week, the Temple was not a huge structure.
This picture of the Temple structure without the porch gives an idea of the size.
The temple was made of cut stone, cut and shaped at the quarry and then overlayed with wood.
That wood was then overlayed with gold, and embellished with precious stones.
The fact that the stones were cut and shaped at the quarry meant that they could be silently fitted into place.
They workers were following God’s plans, given to David … so everything fit together.
This is a great example to us and a great reminder of why we approach the Bible in a verse by verse / chapter by chapter method.
Even when we get to chapters that are dense with detail, or name after name genealogies … we don’t skip over them.
That’s because God tells us that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.”
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Everything in scripture fits together just right for our learning and edification and our own fitting together into the Body of Christ.
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The Temple may have not been huge, but it was extremely elaborate.
Where the Tabernacle was a temporary tent with skins for a covering; the Temple was a magnificent stone building with a foundation to the bedrock.
It had windows and a floor made of wood and covered in gold.
The Tabernacle did not have either of those things.
In the Holy of Holies, there were two huge cherubim which lumbered over the Ark of the Covenant, which sat beneath their wings.
The Holy Place also called the Sanctuary was separated off by a large decorative veil.
In the Sanctuary were all the same furnishings that were in the Tabernacle .... table of shewbread, altar of incense, menorah and so forth … but there were also some additions and differences.
The Tabernacle had a outer court, but the Temple had a beautiful porch with multiple courtyards surrounding it.
On the porch were 2 pillars, one called Jachin meaning “He will establish” and the other called Boaz meaning “In Him is strength.”
Strength and stability belonged to the Lord and if they were faithful to the LORD and His commandments, strength and stability would belong to His people as they settled in their land.
The courtyard area immediately outside of the Temple contained those items that were found in the one courtyard of the Tabernacle … laver and altar.
However, as we’ll see tonight, instead of the small laver of the Tabernacle, they made a large “molten sea” which stood upon twelve oxen.
We are told in 2 Chron.
4:1 that the altar of brass was equal in size to the holy of holies.
Other, portable brass lavers were made to be used throughout the temple area.
2 Chronicles also tells us that there were ten candlesticks instead of the one menorah, as well as 10 tables for the bread.
We’ll look more closely at some of these things tonight.
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As we have seen in our study in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Hebrews, there is a lot of instruction given about the meaning of the Tabernacle.
But the New Testament doesn’t give as much instruction about the meaning of the Temple.
Some say that the tabernacle is a picture of Christ in His humility on the earth.
The temple then is a type of His present ministry in glory, building that “holy temple” of living stones.
Others say that the tabernacle expresses our life as pilgrims or sojourners today.
The permanent building of the temple then expresses our glorious reign with Christ when He returns.
Whatever the case, I don’t think we should make too much of it … it’s easy to get distracted and focused on the shadow rather than the spiritual reality.
In fact, Israel began to trust the presence of their temple instead of the promises of the Lord.
And in less than 500 years, this temple was destroyed as Israel went into captivity because of their sins.
Remember that in 6:11–13, God reminded Solomon that the important thing was obeying His Word, not building a great temple.
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As I mentioned earlier, this chapter brings up some other buildings that Solomon constructed … royal buildings for administration and judicial purposes.
But since the temple is the main focus of the historian’s account, less space is devoted to these buildings.
Yet the work on these buildings took almost twice as long as the construction of the Temple.
All these were within a large courtyard to which general reference is made.
2 Chronicles parallels these accounts in 1 Kings in many places and even gives us more information, but this section is not found there.
So, that’s enough introduction.
Let’s pray and dig into the chapter.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You for everyone here this evening.
Thank You that You know each of us by name and have caused us to walk with You.
Lord, we open up Your word desiring to hear from You ... not man's word or wisdom, but Your Words and Wisdom.
Please soften our hearts to receive from You.
v1
In contrast to the Temple, which Solomon built in 7 years, he took nearly twice as long to build his own palace.
Now, we read that we might think that means his own house was way more elaborate than the Temple.
But the point of the text is that Solomon was so dedicated to the building of the Temple and getting it finished that he neglected construction of his own house.
The verse uses the singular form, but the context of “all his house” speaks of all the buildings associated with his rule.
That includes the royal palace, the House of the Forest of Lebanon, and the palace Solomon built for Pharaoh’s daughter.
v2-5
The House of the Forest of Lebanon is the great assembly hall, and 1 Kings seems to indicate that it also served as an armory.
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However, those shields may also have been simply for visual impact, as gold would not make for very strong shields.
The Targum (a 1st century paraphrase of the Bible) names this building, “The house of cooling off of kings.”
With it’s many windows and doors, there would have been a cooling cross breeze blowing through the building as the king met with people there.
It was probably called The House of the Forest of Lebanon because of the many cedar pillars which came from Lebanon.
It was much larger than the temple, measuring 100 cubits by 50 cubits, but the same height of 30 cubits.
That means the structure was about 146 feet long, 73 feet wide, and 43.8 feet high.
The building had 4 parallel rows of cedar pillars, running along the outside and down the middle.
Cedar beams were laid horizontally from pillar to pillar the whole way down.
The floor may have been elevated a bit to allow air to circulate under the building as well.
The fact that there were many doors probably speaks of additional rooms, rather than just a big open building.
However, we don’t know anything more about this building than what we have here.
v6
Somewhere in the same vicinity there was a “Hall of Pillars.”
Likely this was attached or semi-attached to the Forest of Lebanon building.
It was a colonnade that served as an entrance.
The length of 50 cubits is equal to the width of the assembly hall.
It says that in front was a portico of pillars, and in front of that, a canopy … but it is unclear as to what structure is.
v7
There are differing opinions about whether the “hall for the throne” and the “Hall of Judgment” are the same place or two separate places.
I think the text in the original Hebrew makes it clear that this is the same place.
No measurements are given for this judgment hall, which suggests it was within the colonnade in front of the assembly hall.
It was paneled with cedar all over.
This was the place where the king would preside in court.
I wish I could say more about these places, but this is all the information we have here and anything else is just speculation.
v8-12
The king’s residence was in the same complex as the Forest of Lebanon building … but set off in another court … probably west of the hall.
The palace was not accessible to the public.
Instead, it has an entrance to the public court as well as the inner court of the temple.
All of these buildings were royal, and so it’s not surprising that Solomon’s palace and that of Pharaoh’s daughter were constructed like the others.
In verses 9-12, there is a special note about the costly stonework that was a part of the buildings and the courts.
It is costly because the stones are all hewn to measure inside and outside and built up from the foundation to the eaves.
The stonework extended as far as the large public court or the great court which was built with three levels of stone and a row of cedar timbers.
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