Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
You and I live at a time in world history when magnificent architectural and construction accomplishments shape the skyline of great cities around the world. Hong Kong and Dubai are two of the most impressive in our day. But of course, the pyramids of Egypt and the Great Temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon are amazing building projects of millennia past. Today, join me in visiting the construction site in Jerusalem of the Great Temple in about the year 965bc. The account is found in both 1 Kings 5-7 and 2 Chronicles 2-4. It’s one of the most amazing construction accomplishments of all time! It really fascinates me, perhaps because my father was both an architect and a builder, and I often visited his construction sites when I was a boy.
While King David had spent the last years of his life accumulating a great stockpile of materials for the Temple, (1 Chronicles 22:14-16 & 29:2-9) yet much more was needed and King Solomon entered into a contract with the King of Tyre, a great city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and bordering what is now the land of Lebanon. Tyre needed food, which the farmlands of Israel were producing, and Solomon needed timber, especially the wonderful “Cedars of Lebanon”.
Solomon also needed highly skilled craftsmen, especially those trained in working with gold and precious stones, and evidently there were several in Tyre. King Hiram reigned in Tyre 43 years and was on very friendly terms with both Kings David and Solomon of Israel and there was a very robust and mutually beneficial economic trade agreement between Tyre & Israel for most of those 4 decades. That relationship enabled both Kings David and Solomon to accomplish some amazing construction projects in Jerusalem which became the envy of many world leaders at that time of history, none greater than the Temple for worship of the God of Israel.
1 Kings 6:1 records the date this great construction project began: “In the 480th year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD God.” That statement is a perfect example of how time and years were recorded for history before the terms ‘BC’ and ‘AD’ were initiated. Each nation recorded the passing of time according to major events in their history.
For Israel their deliverance by God from Egyptian slavery was a significant starting point for tracking their history. But there was no coordination of dates globally by all nations until the year we today know as AD525 when a monk named Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia introduced the BC/AD system, using what he calculated as the birth of Jesus Christ to be single most significant event in all history, for the entire world. Sadly, Dionysius had miscalculated by a few years, based on much closer evaluation of global events and dates, but the ‘BC/AD’ dating system has remained a global unifier of time calculation ever since.
If we fit 1 Kings 6:1 into the ‘BC/AD’ system of calculating dates, and if King Solomon assumed the throne in about 970bc, then construction of this magnificent temple began in the year we would know as 966bc.
While great construction projects have used various tools and mechanisms for reaching great heights or moving incredibly heavy building materials, in King Solomon’s day tools and mechanics were few. Manpower was the primary means the construction of anything was accomplished. 2 Chronicles 2:17 tells us who Solomon employed in this great Temple project: “Solomon took a census of all the aliens living in Israel…and they were found to be 153,600. King Solomon assigned 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters, with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working.”
What, you might ask, were 70,000 men carrying to the Temple construction site in Jerusalem? Well, of course, ALL the building materials needed to be hauled in from wherever they were being stored, but primarily this huge army of workers were hauling two very heavy building materials:
* First were the Cedar logs from King Hiram which were cut in Lebanon and floated down the Mediterranean Sea from Tyre to Joppa, and then transported inland by these carriers about 50 miles to Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 2:16)
Now can you envision scores of men on each huge Cedar log, carrying it 50 miles on foot to Jerusalem!? Joppa, by the way, is a modern-day suburb of Tel Aviv. You may also remember it was in Joppa where the apostle Peter had a rooftop vision in which the Holy Spirit directed him to accompany men sent by the Roman Centurion Cornelius, to proclaim the Gospel at his home in Caesarea. Peter was obedient and Gentiles in the home of Cornelius trusted the Gospel Peter proclaimed and became the first Gentile Christians! (Acts 10)
* Secondly these carriers transported the huge stone blocks which were hewn out of the quarry.
We’re not exactly sure how far that distance was, but today if you visit Jerusalem there is an excavation which has taken place along the “Western” or “Wailing Wall”. The stairway of that excavation takes you down to the foundation stones of the Temple mount laid in the days of King Solomon. I’ve been down there and one of those stones measures about 30 feet long, about 10 feet high and according to the Israeli guide I had, is estimated to weigh about 150,000 lbs. Now, what system of moving such huge stones can you imagine King Solomon’s engineers devised almost 3000 years ago?
Now I’m sure we’ve all been to construction sites, especially major, big building construction sites. They are noisy, with most workmen having ear plugs or over ear protection, and of course hard hats and eye coverings because construction sites are dangerous places.
But I am totally amazed, my friends, by this statement in 1 Kings 6:7 which describes the SILENCE King Solomon wanted at the construction site of the Temple being built for Holy God: “In building the Temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the Temple site while it was being built!” Now pause a few seconds and ponder that statement! Think of the engineering required to prepare huge stones and timbers away from the construction site, then brought in quietly and set in place without any tools or noise!
I have no doubt King Solomon was at the work site of this Temple almost every day, would you agree? One day as he was examining the work 1 Kings 6:11 says: “The word of the LORD came to Solomon: ‘As for this Temple you are building, if you follow My decrees, carry out My regulations and keep all My commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon My people, Israel.” King Solomon must have been overwhelmed with this message from God. That God Himself desired to be here on earth with His people!
Let’s pause right here friends and contemplate this desire of God. That’s why Jesus Christ came and lived among us, right? That’s why Jesus gave His life so we can be forgiven of our sin which separates us from God and have an eternal life relationship with God! That’s why God sent His Holy Spirit to live IN those people who have trusted in Jesus for their salvation from their sin!
Are you celebrating today that God’s Spirit lives in you and you have an eternal relationship with Him through Jesus? Here’s a worship song to help us reflect on that…
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 5, 6.
Choose below to read or listen.
1 Kings 5-6 1 kings 5
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1 Kings 6
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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