Solomon gets to build the temple, the very thing that was in the heart of David.
1 Kings 5: Preparations for Building the Temple
1 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David.
2 And Solomon sent word to Hiram,
3 "You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.
4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.
5 And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to David my father, 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.'
6 Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."
7 As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, "Blessed be the LORD this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people."
8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber.
9 My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household."
10 So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired,
11 while Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, and 20,000 cors of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.
12 And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
13 King Solomon drafted forced labour out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men.
14 And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft.
15 Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country,
16 besides Solomon's 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.
17 At the king's command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.
18 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house
1 Kings 6: Solomon Builds the Temple
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.
2 The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.
4 And he made for the house windows with recessed frames.
5 He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around.
6 The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.
7 When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
8 The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.
9 So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.
10 He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.
11 Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon,
12 "Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel."
14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.
15 He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.
16 He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.
17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long.
18 The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.
19 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar.
21 And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.
22 And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high.
24 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.
25 The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form.
26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.
27 He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house.
28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms.
30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.
31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.
32 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square,
34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.
36 He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.
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 parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.
Things to think about…
1. 1Kings 5 shows the great love and trust that Solomon had with Hiram king of Tyre. David had already had a good relationship with this man getting him to supply timber for his house 2Sam 5:11,1Chr 14:1. This man was a Sidonian and therefore a Gentile, but he rejoiced in the fact that the Lord had given a wise king to Israel, 1Kings 5:7. Solomon would later write “When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”, Prov 16:7. Many of those that are outside of Christ are among the most loving, gracious and humble people. To win them over we need to not only show those qualities but be single minded on building up the church just as Solomon was focussed on building the temple.
2. We see even the ancient Israelites doing shift work. I month on 2 months off, 1Kings 5:14. Not a modern phenomenon after all. Mind you it looks as if they had more time at home than away which makes sense. Let’s continue to pray for all those doing shift work or fly in fly out work that they are given an opportunity to honour the Lord and get the balance right. It is always hard on families and routines when the provider leaves the home for an extended period.
3. The temple Solomon built was not a huge structure. It was around 27 metres long, 9 metres wide and 13 metres high. Not very big at all. What made this building great was the presence of the Lord. Churches, regardless of their size are places of praise and therefore the presence of the Lord is where they gain their strength and identity.
4. The inside was overlaid with gold and was symbolic of the glory and presence of the Lord. This house was thought to be immovable by the Israelites because of 1Kings 6:13 “I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel”. This was true of course, but only as they obeyed the previous verse “if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them”.
5. All up the building program took 7 years, 1Kings 6:38. Let’s pray that the Lord blesses CBC with a healthy building program on the land the Lord has given us as a resource.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Life groups Wednesdays. 6:30pm every Wednesday. 5:30pm prayer.
Prayer Points
1. A new admin and finance officer for CBC. Pray for God’s choosing in this role.
2. Pray for the US as they enter into the final day of the election.
3. Prayer for Israel, Gaza and Lebanon for peace to descend over the region.
4. Pray for the work we have going on with site development and TMR and the development of a project team.
5. Keep praying for PlayPatch on Fridays, pray for more families to be reached.
6. Pray for Chaplaincy and Kids Hope at Karalee State School.
7. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
8. Church finances to continue to grow and expenses to be more than met.
9. Pray for Kids@Church, Life groups. Young Adults.
10. Mathys has a prayer time at church on Wednesday afternoons, 5:30pm at church. He would be happy for you to join him and to send prayer requests.
11. Pray about the possibility and planning of a Farmers Market at Chuwar Baptist Church once a month on Saturdays. Anastasia taking the lead on this. Pray for us as we plan
12. That we be bold in our witnessing for Christ. Pray for a heart to see those around you to be saved. Pray for the blessing over the new pastoral care and hosting program.
13. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to increase.
Praise Points
1. Baptisms and testimonies. Praise God for the witness of Lucy, Anna, Aron and Nathan. Pray the Lord encourages them this week.
2. More new visitors on Sunday. Pray they feel welcomed in the church
3. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Members meeting – AGM - 24th Nov after the service
2. PlayPatch Friday mornings – 9:30am. Contact Anna for details
3. Prayer meeting 5:30pm and Life Group Wednesday 6:30pm at church.
4. Carols Sunday 22nd Dec starting from 3pm.
5. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
6. Tune in again this week on our YouTube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for November...
Q. 26. Who tempted them to this sin? A. The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam.
