1 Kings 7 – 8 part 5
Last week we finished up looking at many of the details of the temple and tonight we are going to examine more of Solomon’s building projects and more additions in association in the temple. Now for the sake of time instead of reading through all these measurements in chapter 7 I will summarize what he built with a brief description.
2 – 5 He builds
the house of the
6 – 10 He built a Hall of Pillars that was 85 feet long and 50 feet wide 4250 sq feet. It also had a porch in front of it which had pillars and some sort of canopy. We also learn that he makes 2 more halls for judgment one outside and one inside his home. He also makes a very similar structure for the Pharaohs daughter. All of the halls were made costly stones and cedar.
Next Solomon brings in Hiram from
15 – 22 This man makes two very large and extravagant pillars made from bronze for the temple. These were just for looks. The pillars themselves were 26 feet high and around 18 feet in circumference. That would be 3 times as big as the circle I can make with my arms. Then on top of these pillar was a decorated topping that was made to look like a lily that added another 7 feet in height. These 2 pillars would be a quite the site.
23 – 26 Here we learn about a laver so huge that its referred to as a Sea. Although it’s this picture not very sharp it gives you general idea of what this massive laver looked like. It was round and it was roughly 14 feet from one rim to the other. It was 44 feet in circumference and 7 feet high and around 4 inches thick. Now based upon the measurement of a bath which is 6.05 gallons this Laver held around 12,100 gallons of water. To give you a comparison most septic tanks hold about 1000 gallons of waste so it would take around 12 septic tanks to hold this same amount of water. This laver was decorated all around with ornamental buds. They set this massive laver upon 12 bronzed oxen which faced outwards. 3 each faced the north, east south and west. This was the Laver that the priest would cleanse themselves in before entering the temple.
27 – 39 The verses talk about 10 carts that held 10 lavers as you can see depicted in the picture. The cart itself was 7 feet wide, 7 feet long and 5 feet tall. Of course these were made of bronze as well and they were highly decorated. The laver held around 242 gallons of water. These lavers were used to clean the sacrifice that was made for a burn offering which makes sense of why they had them on carts they could move around. We are given more information about this in,
2 Chronicles 4:6 He also made ten lavers, and put
five on the right side and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as
they offered for the burnt offering they would wash in them, but the Sea was
for the priests to wash in.
Now the remaining verses just summarizes what
Solomon has done and want to read this starting in,
1 Kings 7:40 Huram made the lavers and the
shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing all the work that he was to do
for King Solomon for the house of the LORD: 41 the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped
capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two networks covering
the two bowl-shaped capitals which were on top of the pillars; 42 four hundred pomegranates for
the two networks (two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two
bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the pillars); 43 the ten carts, and ten lavers
on the carts; 44 one Sea, and
twelve oxen under the Sea; 45
the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. All these articles which Huram made for
King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of burnished
bronze. 46 In the plain of
Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds, between Succoth and Zaretan. 47 And Solomon did not weigh all
the articles, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was
not determined. 48 Thus
Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of the LORD: the altar of
gold, and the table of gold on which was the showbread; 49 the lampstands of pure gold,
five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner
sanctuary, with the flowers and the lamps and the wick-trimmers of gold; 50 the basins, the trimmers, the
bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both
for the doors of the inner room (the Most Holy Place) and for the
doors of the main hall of the temple. 51
So all the work that King Solomon had done for the house of the LORD was
finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had
dedicated: the silver and the gold and the furnishings. He put them in the
treasuries of the house of the LORD.
Now Chapter is a very long chapter that deals with bringing the ark into the temple and thankfulness to God for this temple. For the sake of time I will only make a few comments as work away through this chapter.
1 Kings 8:1 Now
Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the
chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that
they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David,
which is Zion. 2
Therefore all the men of
So the temple was ready for the ark and we can see that they began sacrificing more sheep and oxen than could be counted for this occasion.
6 Then the priests brought in the ark
of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the
temple, to the
Here us another hint that
Solomon left out the veil that was to cover the holy of hollies because it says
that the poles could be seen from the holy place. Now for whatever reason the
gold pot that had manna in it and Aarons rod that budded were no longer in the
ark.
10
And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that
the cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11
so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for
the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. 12 Then Solomon spoke: "The
LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud.
13 I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for
You to dwell in forever."
This is the same thing
God had done before in the tabernacle in the wilderness in Exodus 40 34-35. He
was giving his approval of what Solomon built in his name.
14
Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of
Solomon proclaims a
blessing on his people and reminds them that God keeps His word.
Next we will see Solomon
praying to God with his hands reached out toward heaven.
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar
of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his
hands toward heaven; 23 and
he said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on
earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your
servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 24 "You have kept what You
promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and
fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 25 "Therefore, LORD God of
Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, 'You
shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if
your sons take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked
before Me.' 26 "And now
I pray, O God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your
servant David my father.
We see the words coming
right out of Solomon’s mouth that God promises are conditional on whether or
not David son’s walked in his commandments. It is real shame that Solomon
didn’t keep this in his thoughts throughout his entire reign as king. Next
Solomon wisdom reveals that the temple could never literally house the Lord.
27
"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of
heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 28 "Yet regard the prayer of
Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the
prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: 29 "that Your eyes may be
open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, 'My
name shall be there,' that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes
toward this place. 30
"And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people
This is why see many
times throughout the OT when someone prayed they prayed toward this temple and
we also see that Solomon recognizes that heaven is God’s true home. Now Solomon
is going to give different circumstance that he would like God to hear people’s
prayers and to forgive them or to take action.
1st
31
" When anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath,
and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 32 "then hear in heaven, and
act, and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his
head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his
righteousness.
2nd
33 " When Your people Israel are
defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they
turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You
in this temple, 34 "then
hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back
to the land which You gave to their fathers.
3rd
35
" When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have
sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and
turn from their sin because You afflict them,
36 "then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your
servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which
they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your
people as an inheritance.
4th
37
" When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew,
locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of
their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 38 "whatever prayer, whatever
supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each
one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this
temple: 39 "then hear in
heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone
according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts
of all the sons of men), 40
"that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You
gave to our fathers.
5th
41 " Moreover, concerning a
foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far
country for Your name's sake 42
'(for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your
outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 "hear in heaven Your
dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You,
that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your
people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is
called by Your name.
6th
44 " When Your people go out to
battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the
LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built
for Your name, 45 "then
hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their
cause.
7th
46 " When they sin against You
(for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them
and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the
enemy, far or near; 47 "yet
when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive,
and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them
captive, saying, 'We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness'; 48 "and when they return
to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their
enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You
gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I
have built for Your name: 49
"then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their
supplication, and maintain their cause, 50
"and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their
transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and grant them
compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on
them 51 "(for they are
Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out of the
iron furnace), 52 "that
Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication
of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. 53 "For You separated them
from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You
spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord
GOD."
So we see these 7
different scenarios given by Solomon that God hear his people plea when they
are really seeking God with their whole heart. I also like how Solomon points
out that no person is without sin and shows that we must rely upon God to be
forgiven of those sins.
54
And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and
supplication to the LORD, that he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from
kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55 Then he stood and blessed all
the assembly of
Now that was excellent
speech and it one is one that we can take to heart today because we have also
been blessed by God’s promises and we have seen the results that he has kept
his Word. He truly is the only God that there is. It imperative that we take to
heart verse 61.
62
Then the king and all
Certainly we can see that
this was joyous occasion for Solomon and the children of
Romans 15:4 For
whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we
through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.