Savage Street Church of Christ

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Solomon’s Temple 

First Kings 6

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • August 24, In the year of our Lord, 2016

Persuasion: 

1. First Kings 6.1 – 480 Years Later
   
   1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come 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, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
   
   1. Why do the think the writer of Kings provided such information on years?
      1. As a true historian, recording true history, the writer showed when things really happened.
      2. Fairy tales do not record such information.
      3. We can now match this information up with world history.
   2. Four-hundred-eighty years from the beginning of the Exodus to the beginning of the construction of the temple is a long time.
      1. Remember that we have a view of Old Testament events that is like looking at your open hand from the side, everything seems to have happened at the same time.
      2. Whereas we should turn our hands with the palm open toward us, and see various characters and events separated by centuries.
   3. Observe how the writer gives specific information regarding when temple-construction began in relation to Solomon:
      1. It was the fourth year of his reign.
      2. It was in the second month known as Ziv.
2. First Kings 6.2–10 – The Size of the Temple
   
   2 Now the house which King Solomon built for the LORD, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. 3 The vestibule in front of the sanctuary of the house was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of the vestibule extended ten cubits from the front of the house. 4 And he made for the house windows with beveled frames. 5 Against the wall of the temple he built chambers all around, against the walls of the temple, all around the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around it. 6 The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the temple. 7 And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. 8 The doorway for the middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third. 9 So he built the temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And he built side chambers against the entire temple, each five cubits high; they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.
   
   1. What were the dimensions of the temple in feet?
   2. Other parts attached to the temple:
      1. The vestibule:
         1. Was as wide as the temple.
         2. How deep was the vestibule?
      2. The windows:
         1. Every translation has a different reading on the window frames.
         2. How does your translation give it?
      3. What would the side chambers be for?
         1. Describe their sizes.
         2. The wall of the temple was thicker on the bottom, so that each chamber fit on the ledge created.
            1. Why was this done?
            2. To keep from fastening the beams of the chambers into the walls.
   3. Why were the stones finished at the quarry?
      1. To prevent the sound of iron tools into the temple.
      2. Compare Deuteronomy 27.1–6.
   4. For what did they use cedar?
3. First Kings 6.11–13 – The Conditions for the Lord to Keep His Word Regarding the Temple
   
   11 Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: 12 “Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.”
   
   1. What promise did the Lord make?
      1. He promised to dwell among the children of Israel in the temple.
      2. He would not forsake Israel.
   2. To whom did the Lord make this promise?
      1. David
      2. 2Sa 7.12–16
   3. This is also part of The Family Promise of God that has been revealed thus far:
      1. Gen 17.7–8
      2. Gen 28.21
      3. Exo 6.7
      4. Exo 29.45–46
      5. Lev 11.45
      6. Lev 22.33
      7. Lev 25.38
      8. Lev 26.11–12, 44–45
      9. Num 15.41
      10. Deu 4.20
      11. Deu 29.12–13
4. First Kings 6.14–36 – Wood, Gold, and Stone
   
   14 So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15 And he built the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards; from the floor of the temple to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the temple with planks of cypress. 16 Then he built the twenty-cubit room at the rear of the temple, from floor to ceiling, with cedar boards; he built it inside as the inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. 17 And in front of it the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone to be seen. 19 And he prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 The whole temple he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the temple; also he overlaid with gold the entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary. 23 Inside the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub. 27 Then he set the cherubim inside the inner room; and they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 Also he overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29 Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30 And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries. 31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were one-fifth of the wall. 32 The two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. 33 So for the door of the sanctuary he also made doorposts of olive wood, one-fourth of the wall. 34 And the two doors were of cypress wood; two panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door. 35 Then he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and overlaid them with gold applied evenly on the carved work. 36 And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.
   
   1. Solomon used what woods?
      1. Cedar
      2. Olive wood
      3. Cypress
   2. What carvings did he make?
      1. Ornamental buds
      2. Open flowers
      3. Cherubim
      4. Palm trees
   3. For what did he use gold?
      1. The walls
      2. Chains
      3. The altar
   4. Could any stone be seen?
   5. The Cherubim
      1. How tall were they?
      2. Their wings must have been open.
      3. What was the length from wing tip to wing tip.
5. First Kings 6.37–38 – The Timeline of the Construction of the Temple
   
   37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.
   
   1. The historian provided the starting and ending times, including
      1. the year and the month of Solomon’s reign when the work began, and
      2. the year and the month of Solomon’s reign when the work ended.
   2. Therefore, it took 7 years and 4 months to build the temple.