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2 Chronicles Chapter 3 (ESV)
1 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. 2 He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. 3 These are Solomon’s measurements for building the house of God: the length, in cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. 5 The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it. 6 He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. 7 So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8 And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold. 9 The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
REFLECTION:
- Solomon built a permanent temple on Mount Moriah to replace the tabernacle at Gibeon which had followed the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. On Mount Moriah, God stopped Abraham from killing Isaac as a sacrifice. The land was originally a threshing floor and David bought it to build an altar. Jesus Christ once said, “the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (Jn. 4:21-23). According to Jesus’ saying, reflect on where the temple should be built today?
- Why did Solomon build and decorate the temple in glorious splendor? Although no one could build a dwelling place that is worthy of God, Solomon wanted the temple to have the most honoured design. The process of construction and the work of the skilled worker is itself an act of worship. Although people could encounter God and pray to God in a simple church, it is not wrong to build a beautiful worship place. Reflect on what principle Solomon employed in justifying the large cost in building the temple? What choices we have to make in building our church building today?
PRAYER:
Quiet before God with a fearful heart. Express your deepest thank and praise to God in spirit and in truth. Ask the Holy Spirit of truth to guide you and give you wisdom so that you can see the grace of God in your daily life; and that everything you do will become actions that worship and glorify God.
