Solomon's Temple
HOR Book 4 Studies • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture reading: 1 Kings 6:1
Scripture reading: 1 Kings 6:1
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord.
This morning’s study comes from the fourth book of the History of Redemption Series, entitled God’s profound and mysterious providence as revealed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ from the time of David to the exile in Babylon. And in the fourth book, Rev. Abraham Park spends many pages talking about the significance of Solomon’s temple and its construction.
What’s so important about Solomon’s temple? The temple is God’s dwelling place on earth among His people. It is God among us. And that’s something that God has longed for since before creation. Fellowship. Relationship. Not from afar, but in close proximity. We want that with God right? We want Him close by. And God wants that too. God wants that so much that He even records the construction of Solomon’s temple in accordance to the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. Why? Because this was the very purpose of the exodus. To dwell with God, and for God to dwell with us. Relationship not from afar, but close by.
So let’s look at Solomon’s temple and see the process of it’s construction, and I pray that we will learn what’s the process to draw in more of God’s presence into our lives, into our families, our homes, our workplaces, and our church.
Location of Solomon’s temple
Location of Solomon’s temple
So David, after he becomes king, he brings the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem. That’s the first priority. And after that, he looks at the ark dwelling in a tent, and he asks prophet Nathan if he can build a house for the Lord. For the past 400 years since the Tabernacle was built, no one had thought to build a permanent residence for God. Everyone was content with God dwelling in a tent. But God decides that it will be David’s son who builds God’s house instead.
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
But at some point in his reign, David sins by taking a headcount of his military. Why is it a sin? You could think of it as a megachurch doing a headcount of the congregation. If the admin office requests the headcount, it’s for accounting purposes. If it’s the senior pastor, it’s for pride.
But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
So David commits the sin, and God punishes him for it. This is all at the end of 2 Samuel. And then God tells him where to repent. He sends him to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
So David goes there and purchases the land from Araunah. Araunah offers it for free, he pays for it anyway. 50 shekels. And he builds an altar and gives offerings to God on it. Now, you’re in the church. You’re worshiping God. You give a sincere offering and put the envelop into the offering basket. And all of a sudden fire from heaven comes down and consumes all the offerings. Wouldn’t you be shocked? That’s what happened at this threshing floor of Araunah.
And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.
So because of this incident, David realized that this was the place for the temple.
Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the Lord God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
And so Solomon builds the temple at the exact location. So you could even say that David was the first person to offer worship in the temple, even before it was built.
Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the Lord God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
So where is this threshing floor of Araunah? It’s in Jerusalem. And specifically, it’s at Mt. Moriah.
Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Mt. Moriah was where Abraham offered Isaac to God. And in doing so, Abraham demonstrated his faith. He believed that God would even raise Isaac from the dead in order to keep the covenant. That’s how much he trusted in God.
He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
God sends David to this location, Mt. Moriah, to repent for his sin. And now God sends David’s son Solomon to build the temple there.
So what does this tell us? It tells us that God’s temple was built on Abraham’s faith and the repentance of David. It tells us that the true temple is a place of faith and repentance.
David prepared the materials for the temple
David prepared the materials for the temple
For David said, “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.
God didn’t let David build the temple because he had killed to many people. But instead of being upset about it, David prepared all the materials for the temple. He wasn’t deterred or put off because he couldn’t serve in the way he wanted.
Sometimes we want to serve in church in a specific way, but the role doesn’t suit us, or we cannot serve in the way we want. And so sometimes we can become darkened by it. You see it in the praise team too. Someone wants to play guitar but they’re forced to play bass all the time. Someone wants to become worship leader but they’re forced to sing backup all the time.
When we feel disappointed at our roles in church, we need to focus our hearts on who instead of how we’re serving.
The process of building Solomon’s temple
The process of building Solomon’s temple
Now let’s look at how Solomon’s temple was built.
David gave Solomon the temple design
David gave Solomon the temple design
The temple design wasn’t something that David decided on. When Moses was instructed to build the Tabernacle at Sinai, he didn’t build it according to his own architectural taste. It was built according to God’s design and clear instruction. Likewise with Solomon’s temple. God gave David the design with clear instructions as to how to build each part.
Then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple, and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the mercy seat;
“All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the Lord, all the work to be done according to the plan.”
The timeline of building Solomon’s temple
The timeline of building Solomon’s temple
The construction of the temple started in Solomon’s fourth regnal year and finished in his eleventh regnal year.
In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.
Now, it says that he started building in the 4th year, 2nd month, to the 11th year, 8th month. So how long did it take? Seven years and six months. But the Bible says that Solomon spent seven years building it. To us we don’t mind because we’re okay with rounding up or down. But for the Jewish readers, it’s a problem. Why? Because they use the inclusive counting method. To them, it should be eight years. It’s the inclusive counting method.
When was Jesus crucified? On a Friday. What time? 3pm. And when did He rise? On Sunday, early in the morning. Let’s say it was 6am. How many hours is that? From Friday 3pm to Saturday 3pm, 24 hours. Saturday 3pm to Sunday 6am, 15 hours. So that’s 39 hours. But what does it say in the Bible? He rose on the third day. So it’s not even 48 hours, but because it touches on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the Bible says that Jesus rose on the third day.
So how can the Bible say Solomon took 7 years to build the temple? We have to learn how to count the months in the Jewish way.
In the Jewish calendar,
The first month is called Nisan or Abib.
The second month is called Iyyar or Ziv.
The third month is called Sivan.
The fourth month is called Tammuz.
The fifth month is called Av.
The sixth month is called Elul.
The seventh month is called Tishri or Ethanim.
The eighth month is called Marchesvan or Bul.
The ninth month is called Kislev.
The tenth month is called Tebbet.
The eleventh month is called Shabbat.
The twelvth month is called Adar.
So this is the Jewish calendar. But this Jewish calendar has two different systems. The system that begins with Nisan. They call this the religious calendar, and they celebrate the new years day on Nisan. Why? Because in Exodus, God gave them the new calendar.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
However, they were farmers. And so they had to follow the farming seasons. Their farming season began in the month of Tishri, the 7th month. And because it follows the life of the people, the Tishri calendar is also called the civil calendar. The day of atonement, where their sins are washed away, is in Tishri.
We have two new years. There’s the 1st of January, and then we have the lunar new year. So you say ‘Happy new year’ twice in one year. But are there two years going on? No. Both calendar systems overlap. It’s the same thing with the religious calendar and the civil calendar.
So let’s plot it out.
The first month of the year is called Nisan. So here is Nisan. And this would be Solomon’s fourth year as king. Now, it says that Solomon started building the temple in which month? The month of Ziv. That’s the second month. So here’s the starting point. Now, when does the construction end? It ends in Solomon’s eleventh year. Which month? The eighth month. So the timeline looks like this.
One year, two years, three years, four years, five years, six years, seven years. And from the second month to the eighth month, six months. Half a year. So seven years and six months. It took Solomon seven and a half years to build the temple.
Now, if this was the case, then the Bible would have recorded that it took eight years to build. But instead, the Bible says seven years. Why is this the case? It’s because the calendar system didn’t begin with Nisan the first month, but with Tishri, the seventh month. Why does that solve the issue? Let’s plot it out again, but this time using the Tishri calendar.
Tishri is the seventh month. So if this is the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, then when did he start building the temple? He started in the month of Bul, the second month. But because the regnal year starts from Tishri, the construction doesn’t start here. That’s Solomon’s third regnal year. Instead, it starts here. And when does it end? It ends in the eighth month of Solomon’s eleventh year. Where’s that? Over here.
So let’s count it together. One year, two years, three years, four years, five years, six years. And from the second month to the eighth month, we get another half a year. So in total, if we use the Tishri calendar, the construction of Solomon’s temple took six and a half years.
What’s the main difference? The main difference is the starting point. The month of Ziv, the second month. Why? Because Ziv in the fourth year of Tishri is in the fifth year of Nisan. So that’s why there’s a year difference. That’s why the Bible says that Solomon took seven years to build it. Because they used the Tishri calendar.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Solomon’ temple was built at the place of Abraham’s faith and David’s repentance. What does this tell us?
The temple is God’s dwelling place, and God dwells where there is true faith and repentance.
Solomon built the first temple according to the Davidic covenant. But Jesus comes a thousand years later as the true Solomon, who builds the true temple on this earth.
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
So who is the temple? Jesus Christ. And who is the body of Christ? The church.
so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
So we are the body of Christ. We are the true temple on this earth, where God dwells. Why? Because His Holy Spirit dwells within us. So what does Solomon’s temple have to do with us today? Solomon built the temple, but it was destroyed in 586BC when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem. But the temple that Jesus builds will never be destroyed. Amen? And we are that temple.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The faith of Abraham, and the repentance of David. I pray that individually and together, our Zion church members will be the place where God’s Spirit dwells.