This New House
First Kings 6:1-14 and Second Chronicles 3:1-7 and 15-17
This new house DIG: Why was the building of the Temple dated in reference to Exodus? How was the Temple different from any other building in the world? Why was the Sanctuary smaller than most of the congregations of God today? Why such a large portico? Such small windows? Why side rooms? Why is no iron tool heard at the construction site? Regarding the promise in verse 12, how is this promise fulfilled?
REFLECT: Are the buildings that believers meet in today as important as the Temple was in Solomon’s time? Why? Why not? How do you balance the money going to the building where you worship and the ministry of your congregation? Is one more important than the other? If so, which one and why? Since Isra’el is a very secular society today, has God abandoned His people (see the commentary on Romans, to see link click Cy – The Jealousy of the Gentile Believers)?
Yeshua is the Promise Keeper.
True spiritual vitality depends on the living and working presence of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. With the Spirit, the congregations’ ministry of word and deed have the power to bring people to faith in Messiah, and help them grow in grace. Without the Ruach, however, nothing that is done in ministry will make any lasting difference for the kingdom of ADONAI. It all depends on having the Spirit of Messiah in the life of the congregations of God. Unless the LORD is in the house, the Church will fail.
Breaking ground: We see the vital importance of the Spirit’s presence in the story of Solomon’s Temple. As construction begins, the Bible gives precise details about the new house that Solomon built for God. But the Bible also makes it clear that the living presence of God is infinitely more important than any building that is raised in His Name. First Kings 5 told how the king wisely arranged for all the materials and labor he needed to build his Temple (to see link click Az – Materials and Labor for the Temple). Then in Chapter 6 Solomon broke ground. It was in the 480th year after the people of Isra’el had left the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Isra’el, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of ADONAI (First Kings 6:1). This verse, with its careful identification of time and place, uses the kind of formal language that people use when something important is happening. And the Temple was important. This was a new era for the people of God. Solomon was constructing sacred architecture – a new house for the living God.
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your indwelling presence in those who love You (John 14:23)! How great that You are eternal, and never get old. What a comfort it is that the One who lives within us is always Holy, All-powerful and All-wise! I can always call to You for advice and help and You are right there within me! Friends are often busy or far away, but because You live within me, we are never alone. For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” Hebrews (13:5c).
We do not ever have to fear the dark for You see right thru it. If I say: “Surely darkness covers me, night keeps light at a distance from me,” even darkness is not dark for You, and night is as bright as day – darkness and light are alike (Psalms 139:11-12). If I get on a plane and fly across the ocean, even there You are with me. If I take the wings of the dawn and settle on the other side of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me (Psalms 139:9-10). What a wonderful privilege to have you always with me to help and guide me.
It is a joy and a delight to love and to follow You, our Awesome Savior. Your word says: Delight yourself in ADONAI, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4). Thank You that as I delight in You, my heart will desire things that delight You – making a bonus of delight for both You and for me. It is such a joy to meditate on You! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
From a historical standpoint, the information in this verse is useful for determining when these events took place. That year would be around 967 to 966 BC. The chronology of this verse also provides a crucial piece of evidence for establishing the date of Isra’el’s exodus from Egypt in 1447 or 1446 BC. Taking this as a literal 480 years strengthens the case for an early, fifteenth-century date for the Exodus.
But as important as this verse is for biblical chronology, it is even more important for biblical theology. What Solomon did in building a house for God is directly connected to what God did in bringing His people out of Egypt. First Kings is part of the ongoing history of the one true people of God. As he tells the story of Solomon’s Temple, the biblical writer looks back to the historic day when His people were released from their bondage by His grace. It was a direct fulfillment of the promises of YHVH.
Going back to the days of Abraham, God had promised that He would give His people a land to call their own (see the commentary on Genesis Eg – I am the LORD, Who Brought You Out of Ur of the Chaldeans to Give You This Land). During their long bondage in Egypt, the people of God often wondered when that promise would ever come true. But eventually ADONAI brought His people out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He led them safely through the wilderness, until finally He brought them into the Promised Land.
When Solomon began building a house for ADONAI, it was clear that God had fulfilled His long-standing promise of Land for His people. Now they were not just saved from Egypt, but also settled in Isra’el. In the wilderness when they were still wandering, Ha’Shem made His residence in the Tabernacle – a portable structure suitable for that stage of Isra’el’s pilgrimage. But now it was time to settle down. Isra’el had established a permanent place of residence, and therefore YHVH would no longer dwell in a tent, but in a Temple.
This Temple was part of God’s promise (see the commentary on the Life of David Ct – The LORD’s Covenant with David). But the promise of God’s dwelling went all the way back to the days of Moshe. When Moses sang his victory song on the shores of the Sea of Reeds, celebrating God’s triumph over the horses and riders of Egypt, he prophesied that YHVH would dwell with His people: You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain which is Your heritage, the place, ADONAI, that you made your abode, the Sanctuary, ADONAI, which Your hands established (Exodus 15:17). The promise of Moses was fulfilled on the mountain of Zion, where Solomon built a Sanctuary for the worship of God.
Moshe often referred to this promise in the book of Deuteronomy. There he prophesied a time of rest for God’s people, at a place where God’s name would dwell and His people would bring their sacrifices (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Ct – The Place to Worship ADONAI). From time to time, as Moses gave instructions for Isra’el’s worship, he would mention the place where ADONAI will choose to make His name dwell there (Deuteronomy 14:23, 16:2, 6 and 11, 26:2). He was referring to Jerusalem, but more specifically, to the place of worship that God would establish there. These promises were a long time in coming, but they began to see their fulfillment in the second month of Solomon’s fourth year.
God makes a similar promise to us today. The most basic promise of His everlasting covenant is that He would come to us and be our God. When ADONAI comes to dwell with us – when He comes into our lives by the powerful presence of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh – then we have the best of all blessings, which is God Himself living within us. Yeshua said: If someone loves Me, they will keep My word; and My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home in them (John 14:23).
This is the promise of Yeshua Messiah for anyone who loves Him and believes the word of the Good News: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit of God will come and make their home in your body (First Corinthians 6:15) and in your life. They will come with forgiveness for all your sins, help for all your troubles, and comfort in all your sorrows. They will come with strength and grace for every important thing you are called to do in life. They will come to guarantee everlasting joy in the kingdom of God.118
The house that Solomon built: Solomon’s Temple was to serve as a dwelling place for God, which is why it is repeatedly called a house (First Kings 6:1). A house is a place where someone lives, so this new house was the dwelling place of God. It was the one place on the earth that YHVH chose to receive the worship of His people and make His presence known.
One sign of the Temple’s importance was the sheer number of details the Bible gives about its construction. The Bible doesn’t provide all the details needed for an exact reconstruction. At most there is enough information for an architectural rendering, we don’t have a full set of blueprints. The Ruach Ha’Kodesh is obviously not interested in the Temple from an archeological standpoint, but from a theological standpoint. However, from what the Bible says, we can easily imagine the simple beauty and stately grandeur of Solomon’s Temple (to see a video of Solomon’s Temple click here).119
Then Solomon began to build the house of ADONAI in Yerushalayim on Mount Moriah, where ADONAI had appeared to David, his father. Provision had been made for this at the place David had chosen, the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. He began building in the fourth year of his reign, on the second day of the second month. These are the foundations Solomon laid for building the house of God: the length in old-standard cubits was 105 feet long, thirty-five feet wide and fifty-two-and-a-half feet high, about double the dimensions of the Tabernacle. Then the Spirit of God provides a simple tour of the building, beginning with the porch. The length of the porch in front of the house was the same as the house’s width, thirty-five feet and 210 feet high so that its seventeen-and-a-half width extended frontward from the house. And he overlaid it with pure gold (First Kings 6:2-3; Second Chronicles 3:1-4).
After giving the Temple’s dimensions, the Bible proceeds to describe its structure. The windows he made for the house were wide on the inside and narrow on the outside. Against the wall of the house, he built an annex all the way around; it went all the way around the walls of the house, including both the Temple and the Sanctuary. Here is how the Bible describes this three-tiered structure. The lowest floor of the annex was eight-and-three-quarters feet wide, the middle floor ten-and-a-half feet wide and the third floor twelve-and-a-quarter feet wide; for he had made the outer part of the wall of the house step-shaped, so that the beams of the annex would not have to be attached to the house walls. For the house, when under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; so that no hammer, chisel or iron tool of any kind was heard in the house while it was being built. The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the house; a spiral staircase went up to the middle floor and on to the third (First Kings 6:4-8).
So, he built the house, and after finishing it, he put its roof on – cedar planks over beams, which he overlaid with fine gold and embossed with palm trees and chains. Each floor of the annex surrounding the house was eight-and-three-quarters feet high and was attached to the house with beams of cedar. He also decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvaim, overlaying the house and its beams, thresholds, walls and doors with gold and carving cherubim on the walls (First Kings 6:9-10; Second Chronicles 3:5-7).
The preparation of those stones may also remind us of the work that ADONAI is doing in our spiritual lives. The Bible says that when we come to faith in Messiah, we are like living stones that God is building into a spiritual house (First Peter 2:5). The LORD is not finished with us yet. All through our lives the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is shaping us in the quarry of sanctification, using suffering and temptation to chip away everything that is still unholy. He uses our quiet times of prayer, with the reading and meditation of Scripture, to construct our character. As we confess our sins and grow in godliness, Ha’Shem is getting us ready to be a perfect fit for our eternal home.120
As we turn and make our way out of the Sanctuary, we pass between the two free-standing pillars. In Second Chronicles 3:15-17 we learn that in front of the house, he made two pillars sixty-one-and-a-quarter feet high, with a capital of eight-and-three-quarters feet on top of each. He made chains in the sanctuary and added them to the tops of the columns, and he made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. He erected the columns in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left; the one on the right he called Jachin, and the one on the left he called Bo‘az (see Be – Two Bronze Pillars). So Solomon finished building the house (Second Chronicles 3:15-17; First Kings 6:14)
Since the Bible goes on to devote more space to the opening ceremonies (see Bk – Solomon’s Prayer) than to the building of the Temple, it is clear that the author’s real concern was with the Temple’s meaning rather than its architectural details. In other words, the Temple would be complete, not when the last stone was set in place, but when ADONAI took up residence.121 The Temple was for His glory, not for the pride of the people who built it.
If/then: Suddenly, ADONAI interrupted Solomon’s building project to make an important announcement: Concerning this house which you are building: if you (Solomon) will live according to My regulations, follow my rulings and observe all my mitzvot and live by them, then I will establish with you My promise that I made to David your father. If Solomon were obedient, then the Messiah would come from his line. But since he was disobedient (see Bx – Solomon’s Wives), the Messiah would come through the line of Nathan instead (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ai – The Genealogies of Joseph and Mary).
Then, the next verse concerned Isra’el: if you (Solomon) will live according to My regulations, follow my rulings and observe all my mitzvot and live by them, then I will live in it among the people of Isra’el, and I will not abandon my people Isra’el.” So Solomon finished building the house (First Kings 6:11-13). God was concerned with Solomon’s heart. He didn’t tell Solomon to stop what he was doing. Nor did He disapprove of Solomon’s Temple. But God wanted to make sure that as the king undertook his worthy project, that he didn’t lose sight of what should have been his top priority . . . to do everything in obedience to His will. This is an important reality check for all of us, not just King Solomon. We are often tempted to think that what really matters is what we do. Of course, what we do does matter. But what matters most is who we are – the obedience of a heart that is surrendered to God. What matters at work is not just getting the job done, but doing it with a sincere desire to honor our Savior.
If Solomon was faithful to obey, then ADONAI would be faithful to bless. God promised three particular blessings, which are some of the greatest blessings that He ever has promised to His people. The first promise was an everlasting dynasty for Solomon on the throne of his father David. If you will live according to my regulations, follow my rulings and observe all my mitzvot and live by them, then I will establish with you My promise that I made to David your father (see the commentary on the Life of David Ct – The LORD’s Covenant with David). If Solomon was obedient, then his kingdom would never fail.
The second promise guaranteed God’s presence: I will live in it among the people of Isra’el. This was the very reason Solomon was building the Temple: so that ADONAI would dwell with His people. The best gift that God can offer is the gift of himself, in all His love and grace. He made that promise to His people in the time of Moses (Leviticus 26:11-12). Now Ha’Shem was repeating His covenant promise to Solomon. The LORD’s presence with His people depended on the faithfulness of their king. If Solomon obeyed, then the whole nation would enjoy the blessed dwelling of their God among them.
The third promise was God’s perseverance. Having told Solomon what He would do, Ha’Shem also told him what He would not do. . . I will not abandon My people Isra’el. This verse cannot be avoided by those who believe in Replacement Theology (see the commentary on Acts Ag – Replacement Theology and Acts). This promise went well beyond the second promise and made it more secure. It is one thing to go and live with people; but it is quite another to live with them forever and never leave. This is something that YHVH had promised His people before (Psalm 94:1-23), and now He was promising the same thing again. As long as Solomon obeyed His statutes and ordinances (see Deuteronomy Bb – Hear and Obey), ADONAI would dwell with His people in the Temple.
The Promise Keeper: The obvious question to ask about these promises is whether Solomon kept God’s conditions or not. For as the king went, so went the country. This is why knowing the grammar of First Kings 6:12 is so crucial to understanding this whole passage. The commands in that verse are all given in the second-person singular, speaking specifically to Solomon. So how did Solomon do? Tragically, the king failed to keep God’s statutes and ordinances. We have already seen some early warning signs that Solomon’s heart was not fully devoted to the LORD. Later, we will see that for all His wisdom, his reign did not end nearly as well as it began (see By – The Fall of the House of David). He did not walk in the mitzvot that forbade the king to marry many foreign wives, to trust in horses and chariots for his national security, or to acquire excess gold and silver for his personal use (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). Nor did he obey God’s commandments about worshiping foreign idols.
As a result of Solomon’s unfaithfulness, the people of Isra’el didn’t receive the full blessing that would have been theirs if the king had kept God’s covenant with Moses (Exodus 19:3-25), which is a conditional divine pledge to be Isra’el’s God, protector, the advocate and sustainer of her blessing and destiny. Solomon’s throne did not last forever, and when he died, Isra’el became a divided kingdom (see Cz – The Divided Kingdom: The Rise of Idolatry). Although ADONAI lived with His people for a time, eventually His Sh’khinah glory departed from the Temple (Ezeki’el 8-10). Near the end of Kings we hear Him say: I will reject this City, which I chose, Jerusalem, and the house concerning which I said, “My name will be there” (Second Kings 23:27). So the Temple was destroyed (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC) and God exiled His people from Jerusalem all the way to Babylon (see Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). It was all because of the failure of their king. First Kings 6:11-13 explains most of Isra’el’s subsequent history.
As we study the TaNaKh we look in vain for a faithful king who keeps God’s covenant with Moses (Exodus 19:3-25). David and Solomon were two of Isra’el’s best kings, but both had fatal flaws. David was a murderer and an adulterer; Solomon married many foreign wives and worshiped many idols. Most of the other kings were even worse. They didn’t walk in God’s statutes, obey God’s ordinances, or keep God’s commands. The kings of Isra’el didn’t secure an everlasting dynasty for David or enjoy the permanent living presence of God in their midst.
Yet all these promises did come true, and ADONAI is with His people today, by the power and presence of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. The promises came true in Yeshua Messiah, the descendent of David and the greater Solomon of the kingdom of God. He kept all of the commandments of YHVH (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Dg – The Completion of the Torah). So, Solomon’s failure points us to the faithfulness of Yeshua Messiah.
Now we have God’s promise that Yeshua will sit on David’s throne forever, ruling heaven and earth for His Father’s glory (see the commentary on Isaiah Db – The Nine Missing Articles in the Messiah’s Coming Temple). We have God’s promise that He will live with us and be our God, that Messiah will live in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17). We also have His promise that He will never leave us or abandon us (Hebrews 13:5). Yeshua said: I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Then He sent the Ruach Ha’Kodesh to be His guiding and comforting presence in our lives. Yeshua is able to make all these promises because He has met all the conditions for our salvation. The Torah has been completed, the debt has been paid: He is the Promise Keeper. Now God is with us forever.122
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