The Kings Of Israel And Judah, Day 38, The Splendor Of Solomon's Kingdom

In yesterday's study we found the queen of Sheba coming to visit Solomon to hear his wisdom for herself and to see the kingdom of Israel for herself. The remainder of Chapter 10 discusses the splendor of that kingdom.

"The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories. King Solomon made two hundred shields of hammered gold; three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon." (1 Kings 10:14-16, 2 Chronicles 9:13-16) Solomon's yearly income was over a billion dollars in today's money! The origin of this income is not clear but I assume from taxation and from tribute money paid by nations subject to Israel. With some of the gold Solomon has five hundred shields made to decorate the walls of his palace. Just four chapters from now, during the reign of Solomon's son, we'll find Pharaoh Shishak of Egypt attacking Jerusalem and ransacking the temple and the palace, taking away with him the gold shields and many fine articles from the temple. This illustrates a Biblical principle written by King David, who said, "Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them." (Psalm 62:10b) In other words, money can be "easy come, easy go" and a person's sense of security is to come from the Lord, not from wealth. 

"Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days." (1 Kings 10:18-21, 2 Chronicles 9:17-20) I'm inserting an artist's rendering of the throne below to give us an idea of what it may have looked like.

Was this ostentatious display of wealth within the Lord's will? Many scholars don't think so and I have to admit that the information from today's text makes me think he's gotten carried away by his enormous wealth and power. When the Lord provided instructions for Israel's kings, He clearly stated that the king is not to "accumulate large amounts of silver and gold". (Deuteronomy 17:17b) The Lord wasn't talking about the amount of taxes and tribute necessary to run the government, supply the army, and supply the royal household. Collecting enough money for those things is not the same as a king overly taxing the people and accumulating large amounts of silver and gold for himself. We find Solomon accumulating large amounts of gold for himself and the gold he accumulates for himself is so much more than he needs that he can cover his walls in gold shields, drink from nothing but golden goblets, and sit on a gold-plated throne. Such a throne as Solomon had was unheard of in any nation of the world in his day. Even the great pharaohs of Egypt at the zenith of that nation's glory had nothing like it. A display of wealth like this indicates greed; greed is a form of idolatry. (Colossians 3:5) Another thing that indicates Solomon went too far in collecting all this gold is that, when his son and successor Rehoboam becomes king, the people will come to Rehoboam and ask for relief from the heavy taxation Solomon had levied against them during his reign. (1 Kings 12:4) 

Next we learn of the mighty fleet of trading ships maintained by Solomon along with his ally, Hiram the king of Tyre. Among some of the items brought in by those trading ships were animals that are believed to have been put on display in what may have been one of the world's first zoos. "The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons." (1 Kings 10:22, 2 Chronicles 9:21) 

Solomon may be going astray where his love of fine things is concerned but he still has the wisdom he prayed for. This wisdom causes people to come from far and wide to seek his counsel and to repay him for his counsel with lavish gifts. "King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift---articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules." (1 Kings 23-25, 2 Chronicles 9:22-24) I am not sure there is anything wrong with Solomon accepting these beautiful gifts and it may be that, just as he gave the queen of Sheba many fine gifts in return, he also gave these dignitaries gifts produced in his own nation. The Lord commanded kings, however, not to accumulate large numbers of horses for himself. (Deuteronomy 17:16a) This may have been so that the king would trust in the Lord for the security of the nation instead of in horses, chariots, and soldiers. David trusted in the Lord rather than in the army or its horses, for he said, "Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." (Psalm 20:7) 

Solomon may not be able to help it that some of his royal visitors bring horses as gifts for him. But he can help violating the Lord's commandment that kings are not to make the people return to Egypt to obtain more horses for him. (Deuteronomy 17:16b) However, Solomon does violate this rule as we'll see as we conclude the remaining verses of our segment today. "Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue---the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans." (1 Kings 10:26-29, 2 Chronicles 9:25-28) 

It appears as if the kingdom  of Israel no sooner reaches the apex of its glory than the king begins a spiritual decline. His spiritual decline very likely is related to the splendor of his kingdom, in my opinion, when he places more focus on wealth and luxury than on remaining true to the Lord. In tomorrow's passage we'll find him violating another of the Lord's rules for kings: the prohibition against taking many wives, for the Lord warned the kings of Israel that the taking of many wives would lead their hearts astray from Him.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 37, The Queen Of Sheba Visits Solomon

News of the splendor of Solomon's kingdom has spread far and wide. His great wisdom, granted to him by the Lord, is spoken about in many other nations. The queen of Sheba hears of him and comes to see him, not so much to admire the glory of his kingdom, but to find out if it's true that he possesses a level of wisdom that can only be granted by the Creator.

"When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions." (1 Kings 10:1, 2 Chronicles 9:1a) What better thing could anyone hear about any of us than that we have a relationship with the Lord? People ought to be able to tell we are children of the Lord without us even having to say so---by the way we love and serve Him and by the way we love and treat our fellow man.

We know very little about this queen or about where she was from. The majority of scholars in our day believe she was from an area in southern Arabia that was known in ancient times as Sabea but which is now Yemen. If so, she traveled about 1,500 miles to see the famous king of Israel and to view the splendor of his kingdom. She, like Solomon, is from a wealthy nation and she brings many fine gifts with which to honor the king. "Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan---with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones---she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her." (1 Kings 10:2-3, 2 Chronicles 9:1b-2) The author doesn't provide us with a list of her questions but I assume they concerned a variety of subjects such as religion, morality, laws, and political issues. Perhaps she even presented some difficult legal cases to him that were taking place in her own nation and he quickly and accurately saw through to the truth in those cases. 

It's important to note that Solomon treats this woman as his equal. He doesn't have a sexist attitude toward her because she's a woman. He doesn't look down on her because her kingdom is not as great as his kingdom, for I believe Israel was the greatest kingdom on earth in Solomon's day. He entertains her at the royal palace and has what must have been multiple discussions with her because no one traveled 1,500 miles in those times for a one-day visit. While no one on earth possessed as much God-given wisdom as Solomon (1 Kings 3:12, 1 Kings 4:29), the king does not "talk down" to the queen of Sheba. They are well-matched enough where their IQs are concerned that Solomon enjoys his conversations with her very much. He is not bored. He does not find it tiresome to answer all her questions. I believe their discussions are animated and absorbing.

I do not, however, think there's any evidence in the Scriptures that the king of Israel and the queen of Sheba had a romantic relationship. That's what the Hollywood version of their meeting might look like but there isn't the slightest hint in the Bible that any such thing took place. Solomon was a man who loved women and he legally married 1,000 women during his reign but nowhere in the Bible does it say that he ever had relations with any woman outside the bonds of matrimony. The queen of Sheba is not his wife and there's no reason to assume she slept with him during her visit to his nation. Besides there being no evidence for such a thing, we can't be sure they were anywhere near each other's age. She could be as old as his mother or grandmother. Or she could be young enough to be his daughter if the throne passed to her at a very young age. I have my doubts that she's a very young woman though, since she has enough political experience and enough life experience to be able to hold her own in complicated discussions with the wisest man on earth. I lean more toward thinking she's at least as old as Solomon and quite possibly much older. 

The splendor of Solomon's kingdom is more than the queen expected. The tales she's heard about it didn't do it justice. It's something a person has to see for himself or herself to believe. His wisdom is also something to behold. "When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed." (1 Kings 10:4-5, 2 Chronicles 9:3-4)

She knows now that everything she's heard is true. She's happy to find out it's all true. She is pleased for Solomon and for the people of Israel that the Lord has dealt so bountifully with them. "She said to the king, 'The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness." (1 Kings 10:6-9, 2 Chronicles 9:5-8) 

I don't know what religion the queen of Sheba followed but it's evident that she believes the God of Israel is real and that He has done great things for His people. It seems clear that Solomon has explained to her the Lord's covenant with the people of Israel since she makes reference to His "eternal love for Israel". At the time of her meeting with Solomon it doesn't seem as if she converts to the God of Israel since she refers to Him as "the Lord your God" but for all we know she may have converted later. Or she may not have forsaken the gods of her people for the one true God but either way we can safely assume she went back to her nation and told her people about the God of Israel and about the way He was blessing the nation of Israel.

"And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon." (1 Kings 10:10, 2 Chronicles 9:9) She brought more spices into the nation that anyone else ever did but she wasn't the only person to bring large quantities of gold into the nation. The author adds the following information in parenthesis: "(Hiram's ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones. The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)" (1 Kings 10:11-12, 2 Chronicles 9:10-11) The queen of Sheba visited the kingdom of Israel when it was at its zenith. She saw these fine imported materials and she saw how they were utilized in beautifying the temple, the palace, and the royal city. I think that, as Solomon took her on a tour of the city, she stared at it with wide-eyed wonder. 

The queen brought Solomon many valuable gifts from her own land. In exchange he gives her many valuable gifts and offers to grant her any other fine products she desires from his nation. "King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country." (1 Kings 10:13, 2 Chronicles 9:11) It's doubtful these two world leaders ever saw each other again. It was a major undertaking to travel 1,500 miles in a caravan with a great retinue of soldiers and servants. But I'd be willing to bet the queen talked of her trip to Israel for the rest of her life.

I'd like to conclude today's study with a brief look back at the queen's statement that not even half of the splendor of Israel had been conveyed to her by words. It was something a person had to see with their own eyes to believe. Someday we will reach a place that has to be seen to be believed. The Lord is preparing a place for us, and about that place the Scriptures say, "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived---the things God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9) The Bible doesn't spend much time trying to describe the splendors of heaven to us, and with good reason---no words can describe those splendors! Even if there were words for such glory, as long as we live in these frail mortal bodies we couldn't fully picture in our minds anything these words describe. We are going to have to see our home in heaven to believe the magnificence of it. And thanks be to the Lord our God who wants us to spend eternity with Him, we shall see it!

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 36, Solomon's Other Activities, Part Two: Sacrifices, Trading, And Shipbuilding

Chapter 9 concludes with a list of some of the other projects Solomon carried out during his reign after he finished building the temple and his own palace. Yesterday we learned that he built a separate palace for the Egyptian princess he had married. After he installs her in her new home, he builds the terraces that surrounded the temple complex and the area in which he built his and his Egyptian wife's palaces. "After Pharaoh's daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the terraces." (1 Kings 9:24)

We do not know whether Solomon's Egyptian wife was considered his chief wife---his queen---but it appears he may have regarded her as such since she's the only woman for whom the Bible tells us he built a palace. She's also the first woman the Bible mentions him marrying, though some scholars believe he married Naamah first. She was the Ammonite woman who was the mother of his son and successor Rehoboam. Solomon will eventually amass seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines but we are never given the names for any his wives except Naamah. I presume this is because she was the mother of his first (and perhaps only) son. We talked earlier in our study of the kings about the possibility that Solomon had fertility issues because no children other than his son Rehoboam and two daughters named Basemath and Taphath are ever mentioned in the Bible. However, we must keep in mind that it is not necessary for the authors of the Bible to mention any son of Solomon's other than his successor, especially if he had a large number of children to go with his large number of wives. The two daughters named in the Bible may not have been his only daughters but might have been named because they married two of his top officials. 

Solomon will not be obedient to the Lord's commandment that kings are not to take many wives, or that Israelite men are not to marry foreign women who don't convert to the God of Israel, or that the Israelites are to have nothing to do with idolatry. We'll find the author of 1 Kings informing us that Solomon's heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God. But in today's passage we find him being obedient to the rules regarding sacrifices and offerings. He is devoted to the Lord in many ways (building the temple, bringing the prescribed offerings) but his love for women will compete with his love for the Lord because his pagan wives will entice him into unlawful religious practices later on. "Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations." (1 Kings 9:25)

The book of 2 Chronicles adds this information: "On the altar of the Lord that he had built in front of the portico, Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord, according to the daily requirement for offerings commanded by Moses for the Sabbaths, the New Moons and the three annual festivals---the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. In keeping with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their duties, and the Levites to lead the praise and to assist the priests according to each day's requirement. He also appointed the gatekeepers by divisions for the various gates, because this was what David the man of God had ordered. They did not deviate from the king's commands to the priests or to the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries." (2 Chronicles 8:12-15) The divisions of the priests mentioned here can be found in 1 Chronicles 24.

In addition to all his building projects, Solomon engaged in shipbuilding and trading. "King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. And Hiram sent his men---sailors who knew the sea---to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men. They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon." (1 Kings 9:26-28, 2 Chronicles 8:17-18) 

Solomon becomes famous for his wealth and wisdom. In tomorrow's text the Queen of Sheba hears of his fame and pays him a visit.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 35, Solomon's Other Activities, Part One: Building Projects

The remainder of Chapter 9 deals with the other projects Solomon undertook besides building the temple and the royal palace. First we learn that King Hiram of Tyre wasn't altogether pleased one aspect of his dealings with Solomon in regard to their agreement regarding supplies for the projects. 

"At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings---the temple of the Lord and the royal palace---King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted. But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. 'What kinds of towns are these you have given me, my brother?' he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul, a name they have to this day. Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold." (1 Kings 9:10-14) The word "Kabul" means "good for nothing". 

The word translated here as "towns" means "settlements" so these were definitely not large enough to be considered cities. They were probably more like small villages. Whether Solomon expected Hiram to be pleased with them or not, we do not know, but it seems clear that Hiram considered the settlements too insignificant to be of interest to him. Another thing we don't know is why Solomon would agree to trade any of the land that the Lord gave to Israel. Some scholars suggest he knew Hiram would find the land unacceptable and that he never expected the foreign king to accept it. I'm not happy with that explanation because it suggests that Solomon did not trade fairly with King Hiram. I prefer the opinion of some of the other scholars who think the twenty settlements were used as collateral---that Hiram held a lien against them until Solomon could pay him back for the 120 talents of fine gold with which he must have plated the inner surfaces of the temple. I can't find any references to there being any gold mines in ancient Israel so Solomon had to obtain gold from outside the nation. He may have mortgaged the twenty towns to obtain the gold and then he paid Hiram back in installments over time with silver or with fine goods produced in Israel. 

Whatever the case, Solomon regains the twenty settlements according to the author of the book of 2 Chronicles. In 2 Chronicles 8:2a we learn that  Solomon "rebuilt the villages that Hiram had given him". We know by this that the settlements were given back into Solomon's possession. The fact that the villages needed rebuilding indicates that they were in poor condition and perhaps had never been settled since the Israelites took them from the tribes of Canaan when moving into the promised land. When Solomon regained sole possession of them he "settled Israelites in them". (2 Chronicles 8:2b) 

In additional to all the materials it took to build the temple, the palace, and all of the other structures Solomon constructed or rebuilt, it took a lot of labor. Next we'll begin turning our attention to studying Solomon's projects. After Solomon rebuilt the villages of Galilee, "Solomon then went to Hamath Zobah and captured it." (2 Chronicles 8:3) Also he did this: "Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord's temple, his own palace, the terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife. And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up lower Beth Horon, Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert, within his land, as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and horses---whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled." (1 Kings 9:15-19) Earlier in our study we learned that Solomon conscripted thirty thousand men of Israel into the army, other government positions, and into the temple and palace projects. He also conscripted foreigners who were living among and were subject to the Israelites. These foreigners were those whom the Israelites did not fully drive out of the promised land, for we were told previously in the Bible that they subdued them enough to make them their subjects and that they put them to forced labor but that they did not remove them from the land as the Lord instructed them to do.

Gezer, which was mentioned above, had been a major Canaanite city. It lay within the territory granted to the tribe of Ephraim but it was one of the cities the people of Israel had not attacked and captured. Pharaoh of Egypt did this instead, then he gave the city to his daughter as a wedding gift. As the husband of Pharaoh's daughter, the city is as much Solomon's as it is his wife's, so he rebuilds it and (I assume) settles people of Israel in it. We had been told near the beginning of Solomon's reign that he married an Egyptian princess. The author of 2 Chronicles tells us that when Solomon brought her up from Egypt he built a separate dwelling for her instead of having her live in King David's palace. This is because, as Solomon said, 'My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.'" (2 Chronicles 8:11) I do not know whether she ever resided in the royal palace Solomon built for himself but I assume not since she already had her own residence. Many scholars have taken his remark to mean that his Egyptian wife never converted to the God of Israel; otherwise they say he would not have felt as if her presence desecrated the location where David stored the ark in a tent before the temple was built. I feel these scholars have a valid point because we will find Solomon marrying other foreign women who don't convert. Not only won't they convert, but he will assist them in their worship of heathen gods by building worship sites for them and by dabbling in idolatrous practices himself.

Moving back to the subject of Solomon's conscripted workers, we learn that the conscripted Israelites who were not serving in the army or in the government were working in supervisory and administrative roles in regard to his building projects. It was the foreigners subject to the Israelites who were conscripted into the hard labor. "There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites.) Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these people remaining in the land---whom the Israelites had not destroyed---to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day. But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon's projects---550 officials supervising those who did the work." (1 Kings 9:20-23) 

In tomorrow's study we'll continue our look at other things Solomon accomplished during his reign---things so famous that a great queen will soon come to see these things for herself.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 34, The Lord Appears To Solomon A Second Time

The Lord appeared to Solomon near the beginning of his reign when he went up to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was at that time, to make sacrifices and offerings in 1 Kings 3. The Lord appears to Solomon a second time in our study today, approximately twenty-four years later. We can be fairly accurate about the timing because we were told that Solomon began building the temple in his fourth year as king. It took him seven years to build the temple, then he began building the royal palace which took him thirteen years to build. 1 Kings 9:10, which we won't get to until tomorrow's study, says that it took him twenty years total to build these two structures, so we know he wasn't building them concurrently. Our chapter today will open by telling us the Lord appears to Solomon for the second time after the temple and the palace have been completed. Therefore we can be pretty certain that this second visitation occurred no sooner than Solomon's twenty-fourth year as king. 

"When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he desired to do, the Lord appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him: 'I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before Me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting My name there forever. My eyes and My heart will always be there.'" (1 Kings 9:1-3, 2 Chronicles 7:11-12) The prayer He refers to is the one we studied in Chapter 8, which is the prayer Solomon made at the dedication ceremony for the temple. 

In the dedication ceremony he asked the Lord to hear the prayers of the people of Israel and to forgive their sins when they go wrong and repent of their wrongdoing. Solomon knew they would make mistakes because, as he said, "There is no one who does not sin." Solomon knew they would sin and he knew the Lord would have to take action to correct them when they go astray. He made mention of some of the methods the Lord uses to correct sin that's occurring on a national scale, such as allowing drought, famine, plague, war, defeat, and captivity. When these corrective measures achieve their intended purpose (that the people would feel convicted of their sins, feel sorry for their sins, and turn away from their sins) he asked the Lord to, "Hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants." The Lord now makes mention of Solomon's prayer and agrees to do as he asks. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that My name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will always be there." (2 Chronicles 7:13-16)

Solomon prayed for himself and for his descendants, as well as for all the people, during the dedication ceremony for the temple. He asked the Lord to remember the promise He made to David regarding the royal family of Israel. The Lord now refers to that part of the prayer. "As for you, if you walk before Me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe all My decrees and laws, I will establish Your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel." (1 Kings 9:4-5, 2 Chronicles 7:17-18) 

The Lord reminds Solomon that this promise is a conditional promise. Solomon and his descendants must remain faithful to the Lord like David was. We know David made mistakes during his life but at no time did he ever fall into idolatry. There is never even the slightest hint that David mixed any pagan practices with his worship of the Lord and he certainly never forsook the Lord in favor of the deities of any of the other nations. David committed some shocking sins but I believe the Scriptures indicate that David always loved the Lord more than anyone or anything. In his weak human form he fell prey to temptations and fears from time to time but his heart was always steadfastly true to his God. The Lord isn't asking Solomon or his descendants to live a perfect life; that would be asking the impossible of frail mortal creatures. He's asking Solomon and his descendants to be true to Him in their hearts and to be quick to repent when they realize they've done wrong, just as David remained true to God in his heart and was always quick to repent.

If Solomon and his descendants do not remain true to the Lord, and if they forsake Him in favor of other gods, He is not obligated to keep a man of the family line of David on the throne of Israel from now on until His own kingdom comes on earth. "But if you or your descendants turn away from Me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for My name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to His temple?' People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them---that is why the Lord brought all this disaster upon them.'" (1 Kings 9:6-9, 2 Chronicles 7:19-22)

The Lord issues this solemn warning at the midpoint of Solomon's reign (Solomon will rule for forty years) perhaps because there's always more danger that a person will go off course when life is prosperous and easy. Hard times drive us to our knees but we can become spiritually lazy in easy times if we're not careful. Solomon has achieved some major successes already and he will achieve many more but we don't want to forget that it was after David became king and was enjoying a life of power and prosperity that he committed his biggest sins. I believe the power and prosperity went to David's head and Solomon must guard his heart so that his power and prosperity don't go to his head too. His descendants need to do the same. Some will; some won't. Even Solomon himself will begin doing some of the things the wealthy kings of other nations do. Those things will cause him not to walk as closely with the Lord as David his father did.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 33, The Dedication Ceremony And Fire From Heaven

Solomon has been praying to the Lord as he kneels on a raised platform in the sight of the people. Now he concludes his prayer and the remainder of the temple dedication ceremony is carried out.

"When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: 'Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel just as He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He gave through His servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our ancestors; may He never leave us nor forsake us. May He turn our hearts to Him, to walk in obedience to Him and keep the commands, decrees and laws He gave our ancestors. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may uphold the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by His decrees and obey His commands, as at this time." (1 Kings 8:54-61) This is a beautiful way to conclude his speaking portion of the ceremony. 

You'll recall that the dedication of the temple was scheduled to coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles when Jerusalem would be filled with people from all over Israel. In this combined celebration Solomon makes enough sacrifices to supply food for the feast for the people gathered there. (We will learn later that instead of the usual seven-day feast, this one continues for fourteen days.) These are not burnt offerings which are wholly given up to God. These are fellowship offerings; after the Lord's portion is dedicated to Him, the priests and the people share the remainder. "Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord." (1 Kings 8:62-63, 2 Chronicles 7:4-5) 

We might find the idea of this many animal sacrifices disturbing but one of the main reasons we may feel that way is because in our day we are somewhat removed from the sight and even the thought of how our food is processed. The animals Solomon sacrificed were raised for the purpose of consumption and he offers them as a way of supplying a meal for everyone who has come to attend the dedication ceremony and the Feast of Tabernacles. The slaughtering of animals raised for consumption is happening every day on a large scale to supply our supermarkets and restaurants, only we aren't witnessing it firsthand. Those of us who aren't vegetarians are picking up our meat products after they've been processed, packaged, and priced. That's why our sensibilities can be offended when we read of the enormous amount of animals sacrificed at the dedication ceremony but, when we stop to think about it, I don't know that we have any right to feel offended by it---not if we are meat-eaters ourselves. If man had been able to keep himself from sin, there would never have been any need for animal sacrifices. Man would likely never have craved the taste of meat either. But man fell from grace and the created world suffered as a result of that fall. But, thanks be to our Creator, the created world will be redeemed along with the children of God and will share in our eternal joy: "The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:21) 

"On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings." (1 Kings 8:64, 2 Chronicles 7:7) The courtyard is temporarily consecrated for the purpose of offering so many sacrifices at one time.

At some point during the temple dedication proceedings, fire comes down from heaven and consumes what is on the altar. We were formerly told that the cloud of the glory of the Lord filled the temple when the ark had been put in place, so much so that the priests had to withdraw and could not perform any of their services at that time. But I believe the temple is filled with the glory of the Lord a second time on this day, for the author of 2 Chronicles tells us that after Solomon finishes praying, fire falls from heaven and the glory of the Lord appears. "When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, 'He is good; His love endures forever.'" (2 Chronicles 7:1-3) I could be off base in thinking the glory of the Lord makes two appearances at the dedication of the temple but I did some research on it and it appears that many Bible scholars believe there were two of these incidents on the same day. Others are not certain whether the Bible is speaking of one appearance or two, but the order in which the text of 2 Chronicles is written indicates two separate instances on the same day.

When the glory of the Lord appeared after the ark was put in place, I believe it signified the Lord's satisfaction with the work that had been done. Though no work of man can be perfect, the Lord accepted the people's work in the spirit in which they intended it: they intended to honor and worship Him with it. After the sacrifices have been made, the glory of the Lord appears again to signify His acceptance of their acknowledgment of their human weaknesses, their need for redemption, and their faith that submitting these substitutionary sacrifices will serve as atonement for their sins until a new, perfect, and eternal sacrifice is made on their behalf.

"So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him---a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for His servant David and His people Israel." (1 Kings 8:65-66, 2 Chronicles 7:8-10) The Feast of Tabernacles was to last for seven days. But since this celebration is for both the Feast of Tabernacles and for the dedication of the temple, it goes for twice as long. 

Join us tomorrow as the Lord has a private moment with Solomon to speak to him about everything he has asked for on this day.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 32, Solomon's Prayer Of Dedication, Part Three

Today we are continuing our look at the prayer Solomon prayed during the dedication ceremony for the temple.

He's been praying for the Lord's mercy on himself and on the people of Israel. He now prays for the Gentiles who convert to the God of Israel. "As for the foreigner who does not belong to Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name---for they will hear of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm---when they come and pray toward this temple, then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears Your name." (1 Kings 8:41-43, 2 Chronicles 6:32-33) The Lord intends the temple to be not only for the people of Israel but for everyone who wants to know Him. He speaks of it as the "house of prayer for all nations". (Isaiah 56:7, Mark 11:7)

Next Solomon prays for victory in battle. During his reign the nation was enjoying an era of peace but he knew this would not always be so. "When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city You have chosen and the temple I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause." (1 Kings 8:44-45, 2 Chronicles 6:34-35)

Solomon prays that even if the people fall into such sin that they are defeated and taken captive, the Lord would hear their prayer of repentance from a foreign land and bring them home. "When they sin against You---for there is no one who does not sin---and You become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with You in the land of their captors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly'; and if they turn back to You with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to You toward the land You gave their ancestors, toward the city You have chosen and the temple I have built for Your name; then from heaven, Your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive Your people, who have sinned against You; forgive all the offenses they have committed against You, and cause their captors to show them mercy; for they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace." (1 Kings 8:46-51, 2 Chronicles 6:36-39)

Earlier in the Old Testament the Lord explained the benefits of obedience and He described the correction that would be applied for disobedience. He warned the people that if they fell into sin and idolatry, and if they did not respond to less harsh methods of correction, He would "scatter you among the nations". (Leviticus 26:33) But He also said He would hear their prayer of repentance for the sake of His covenant with Israel. "But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors---their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward Me, which made Me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies---then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected My laws and abhorred My decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking My covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 26:40-45)

Solomon appeals to the promise above when he asks the Lord to hear the people's prayers of repentance from a foreign land. The Lord concluded His promise by saying, "I am the Lord"; in other words, His promise can be counted on because of who He is. He is able to make and keep promises because He has all power to make and keep promises. He cannot break a promise because He cannot lie or change His mind. "He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a human being, that He should change His mind." (1 Samuel 15:29) 

Solomon concludes his prayer with these words: "May Your eyes be open to Your servant's plea and to the plea of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they cry out to You. For You singled them out from all the nations of the world to be Your own inheritance, just as You declared through Your servant Moses when You, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt." (1 Kings 8:52-53, 2 Chronicles 6:40) "Now arise, Lord God, and come to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, may Your faithful people rejoice in Your goodness. Lord God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David Your servant." (2 Chronicles 6:41-42) 

Solomon turns the house of the Lord over to the Lord for His use. He invites the Lord to have His way in everything that happens there, which is an invitation that should be issued to the Lord in every service held in His name everywhere. This is an invitation that should be issued to the Lord by every heart. We need Him. We---the creatures---are nothing without our Creator.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 31, Solomon's Prayer Of Dedication, Part Two

Solomon is praying to the Lord in front of the assembly at the dedication of the temple. We concluded yesterday's study with this portion of his prayer: "Hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive."

Solomon asks the Lord to hear his repentant prayers and the repentant prayers of the people because he knows both he and they will sin. He knows they will sin because everyone sins. He also asks the Lord to judge the unrepentant guilty, for there is a difference between the actions of the person who loves the Lord, makes mistakes, but is sorry for them and the person who has rejected God and is living in deliberate disobedience to Him. "When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before Your altar in this temple, then hear from heaven and act. Judge between Your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence." (1 Kings 8:31-32, 2 Chronicles 6:22-23)

In the example above, a person has done some sort of harm to his neighbor and is so unrepentant of this wrong that he's willing to swear an oath at the Lord's house in the Lord's name that he did no wrong. I'm assuming the innocent party also took an oath that he's telling the truth. A human judge might not be able to tell which person is lying under oath but the Lord knows. Solomon asks the Lord to reveal the guilty party so the case can be settled fairly. This case is an example of sin on a personal level.

The next case is an example of sin on a national level. Suppose a large number of the people fall away from a close relationship with the Lord and begin to live in ways that are contrary to His laws? We saw that type of thing happening after the death of Joshua and his generation, also this type of thing happened near the end of the era of the judges; Solomon knows it could happen again. What will be the result of a widescale forsaking of the Lord? Defeat---defeat in battle, invasion by enemies, being taken as captives to enemy lands. "When Your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and give praise to Your name, praying and making supplication to You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people and bring them back to the land You gave their ancestors." (1 Kings 8:33-34, 2 Chronicles 6:24-25)

We have already seen some instances in which the Lord allowed Israel to be defeated in battle due to sin in the people's hearts. One example is the defeat of the Israelite army at Ai in Joshua 7. The Lord allowed the Israelites to be routed by the men of Ai because some of the men of Israel's army had taken for themselves the plunder that was to be devoted to the Lord. It wasn't until that sin was dealt with that Joshua and his army were able to go back and mount a successful attack on the city. 

Another example that comes to mind is that when the generation that came into the promised land with Joshua died out, the new generation began to take on a more casual attitude toward God. They had not seen the mighty things God had done in the days of Joshua. They had not witnessed the victories in battle that God gave the Israelites while they were moving into the promised land. The new generation had been born into easier, more comfortable circumstances that caused them not to cling as tightly to the Lord as their ancestors had. Instead they began adopting some of the religious practices of the tribes of Canaan, causing the Lord to discipline them by allowing enemies to rise up against them to defeat them in battle in Judges 2. What we must keep in mind is that the Lord didn't bring this discipline to destroy the people but to correct their wrong behavior. The discipline was intended to make them think, "Why is this happening to us? Why is our generation experiencing such difficulties? Joshua and the men who entered the promised land with him had success in almost everything they did, with the exception of the first battle against Ai. Why are we not getting the same results? What did they do that we aren't doing?" And they were intended to conclude, "Joshua and his men were faithful to the Lord. That's why they had success. We have not been faithful to the Lord. That's why we have had defeat."

The Lord may choose a method other than military defeat to discipline sin in instances when other methods will be more effective. He might allow crop failures or plague. "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to Your name and turn from their sin because You have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land You gave Your people for an inheritance. When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among Your people Israel---being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple---then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do since You know their hearts (for You alone know every human heart), so that they will fear You all the time they live in the land You gave our ancestors." (1 Kings 8:35-40, 2 Chronicles 6:26-31)

The people are to pray toward the house of the Lord, not because He lives in the temple (He doesn't), but because the temple represents His dwelling place in heaven. Solomon clearly demonstrates his belief that the Lord resides in the Most Holy Place in heaven, not in the Most Holy Place in the temple on earth. Some of the idolatrous cultures of Solomon's day believed their false deities came down to live within the temples erected in their honor but Solomon knows the Lord is greater than all creation. The Lord cannot be contained in an earthly dwelling. He cannot be put "in a box" to use a modern saying. He has existed eternally and is not constrained by time and space as we are. He created the universe and everything in it; therefore He is not part of the universe. He existed before it was created and, should the universe be destroyed, He still would remain. I don't know what lies outside of our universe; the observable space of of the universe itself is believed to be 93,000,000,000 light years in diameter, which is a number the human mind can scarcely contemplate. But whatever is out there I believe it's far larger than 93,000,000,000 light years across. Solomon thought so too, for he said to the Lord earlier in our chapter, "The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You!" The universe is too small for Him, in other words. I don't know what this means, for my human mind is incapable of really understanding eternity or infinite space, but I like to picture the Lord as being so great and so powerful that our entire universe fits into His hand like a snow globe fits into a human hand.

Keeping in mind that the Lord is so great, so eternal, so unfathomably holy, so infinitely wise, how can we not want to serve Him? How can we feel comfortable about sinning against Him? As frail human beings we will fall prey to weakness and sin from time to time but if we love the Lord we should never feel at ease with sin in our lives. If we begin to feel at ease He must, like any good father, take steps to correct the behavior with which we are harming ourselves. The correction is intended not to destroy us but to get us back on track, just as the correction Solomon speaks of in today's passage was intended not to destroy his people but to correct wrong behavior. So whenever hardship comes into our lives, the first thing we must ask is, "Have I done something to bring this on myself? Am I living in sin against my Lord?" The sooner we ask this important question, and the sooner we repent of any sin the Lord reveals to us, the sooner we can get back on track and the sooner our difficult circumstances may clear up.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 30, Solomon's Prayer Of Dedication, Part One

The remainder of Chapter 8 contains the prayer Solomon prayed on the day the temple was dedicated. It's quite a long prayer that will take us several days to study. We will be studying 2 Chronicles 6 along with 1 Kings 8.

"Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel." (1 Kings 8:22a) 2 Chronicles 6:13 adds this information: "Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven." He ascends a platform, about 4.5 feet high, which was constructed for this occasion. Then he kneels on the platform and raises his hands to heaven.

He said: "Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below---You who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants who continue wholeheartedly in Your way. You have kept Your promise to Your servant David my father; with Your mouth You have promised and with Your hand You have fulfilled it---as it is this day." (1 Kings 8:23-24, 2 Chronicles 6:14-15) Solomon testifies to the greatness of God and thanks Him for making a beautiful promise and fulfilling it. He gives the Lord the credit for his own kingship and for the temple. Though much expense and labor has gone into the building of the temple, if the Lord had not given prosperity and peace to Israel and if He had not blessed the workers with the health and strength to perform their work, the temple would not have been possible. The same can be said about any successes you or I may experience in this life: the successes may have taken hard work and mental effort on our part, but if the Lord had not given us able bodies and healthy minds, the success would not have been accomplished. We couldn't take our next breath without the Lord, much less do anything else.

"Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for Your servant David my father the promises You made to him when You said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before Me faithfully as you have done.' And now, God of Israel, let Your word that You promised Your servant David my father come true." (1 Kings 8:25-26, 2 Chronicles 6:16-17) Solomon says, "You promised that I would succeed my father as king and build the temple. You've kept that promise. Now please also keep the promise that a man of the line of David will always sit on the throne of Israel."

The promise that Solomon would succeed David and that Solomon would build the temple does not appear to have any conditions placed upon it. But the promise that David would never fail to have a descendant on the throne of Israel does have a condition on it---David's descendants must be faithful to the Lord. Solomon himself will not be as faithful to the Lord as David was. Only three chapters from now we'll learn that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord because he took so many foreign wives (who did not convert to the God of Israel) that he was drawn by them into dabbling in idolatry. Solomon's son Rehoboam will succeed him as king but will be a man without a heart for the people and will sit on the throne of a united Israel for only a short time before the ten northern kingdoms secede from the union. The kingdom will split in two in his day, leaving Rehoboam king only over Judah and Benjamin. From that time forward, the descendants of David will reign only over Judah and Benjamin (known as the kingdom of Judah) while men not of David's family line will reign over the kingdom of Israel. 

But there is an aspect of the Lord's promise regarding the descendants of David that will be fulfilled regardless of the fact that not all of David's descendants were faithful to the Lord. Although there is no throne in Israel right now and no descendant of David's reigning from it, this does not mean that the Lord will not bring the Promised One from David's line. The throne and the kings were removed for a season---for a very long season of several thousand years so far---due to a widescale fall into idolatry, which we'll study as we move on through the Old Testament. But there will again be a throne in Israel and there will again be a king---the King of kings---reigning from it. He will reign not only over Israel but over the whole world forever. This is a part of the Lord's promise that is not conditional. No one from the royal family of Israel has reigned as king for a long time due to the sin and idolatry that will occur later in the Bible, but at the appointed time (known only to God Himself) the Lord will place upon the throne the One who has never sinned. He will place upon the throne the One who lives forever. And because His life has no end, His kingdom will have no end. 

Solomon does not know that the nation will fall into disarray and idolatry. He does not know that invaders will someday conquer Judah and destroy the capital city and the temple. He doesn't know such things won't happen either, so he prays for the Lord to be merciful toward the nation because His temple is there. "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain You. How much less this temple I have built. Yet give attention to Your servant's prayer and His plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying in Your presence this day. May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which You said, 'My name shall be there,' so that You will hear the prayer Your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive." (1 Kings 8:27-30, 2 Chronicles 6:18-21) 

Solomon knows the Lord doesn't literally live in the temple. But the temple represents His presence with the people, His covenant with the people, and His love for the people. If they will look to Him in faith, He will forgive their sins, which is what Solomon means when he asks the Lord to hear the prayers the people pray toward "this place" (the temple). It is to the temple they will bring their sacrifices and offerings. It is at the temple, among other places, where they will pray and where they will receive religious instruction. Solomon knows he will sin and that the people will sin because everyone sins, as he will say later in this prayer. But he also knows that God hears prayers of repentance and is faithful to grant forgiveness to the penitent sinner. This portion of Solomon's prayer reminds me of the words a man will say many years later: the Apostle John. John was a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ but John wasn't a perfect man and he knew that no one is perfect. He, like Solomon, knew that believers sometimes mess up but, like Solomon, he also knew that the Lord is merciful, which is why he said: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 29, Solomon Blesses The People

In yesterday's study, after the ark of the covenant had been placed within the inner chamber of the temple, the Lord gave His blessing to the work that has been done by filling the temple with the cloud of His glory. I believe this is the same cloud that led Israel in the wilderness, the same cloud from which the Lord spoke on Mount Sinai, the same cloud from which the Lord spoke to instruct Moses how to lead the people, and the same cloud that would appear to the high priest when he went into the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle once a year. No mortal man can see the holy face of God and survive the encounter (Exodus 33:20) so He must veil Himself to keep the awesome righteousness of His presence from consuming the people. 

Solomon addresses the Lord before he addresses congregation of Israel. "Then Solomon said, 'The Lord has said that He would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for You, a place for You to dwell forever.'" (1 Kings 8:12-13) Solomon doesn't mean that the Lord will literally dwell in the temple. In his prayer of dedication later in Chapter 8 he will say to the Lord, "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" Solomon understands that the Creator of all things cannot be contained in a golden box inside a temple at one location on the map of the world. The temple is a place where the glory of the Lord will show up to meet with the people, just as the tabernacle was a place for the glory of the Lord to show up to meet with the people. Of the tabernacle the Lord said to Moses, "There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by My glory." (Exodus 29:42b-43) The site-built temple is to replace the movable tent of meeting and, to show that the Lord accepts the new house of worship and intends to meet with the people there, He consecrates it with His glory by showing up in the dark cloud that veils the light of His holy countenance from the sight of frail humans.

Solomon now turns to the people and blesses them in the name of the Lord and praises the Lord for His faithfulness. "While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then he said: 'Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with His own hand has fulfilled what He promised to my father David. For He said, 'Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that My name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule My people Israel.'" (1 Kings 8:14-16) We are not provided with Solomon's words of blessing upon the people but in pronouncing a blessing upon them he is following in the footsteps of Moses and David. Moses blessed the people after the tabernacle was completed; David blessed the people when the ark was brought to his capital city of Jerusalem. After Solomon blesses them he blesses the name of the Lord who has kept His word to David to allow David's son to build the temple. He has kept His word to David to make David's family line the royal line of Israel.

Solomon continues, "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, 'You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for My name. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood---he is the one who will build a temple for My name.'" (1 Kings 8:17-19) In 2 Samuel 7 we found David desiring to build a permanent structure to replace the tent which housed the ark at Jerusalem at that time. The Lord appreciated the desire of David's heart but told him that it was his son and successor who would build a temple. In 1 Chronicles 22 we learn that the Lord did not allow David to build the temple because David's hands had shed much blood. In speaking with Solomon about the temple, David said, 'My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the name of the Lord my God. But this word of the Lord came to me: 'You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign.'" (1 Chronicles 22:7-9)

David fought many battles for Israel during his lifetime. Because he was victorious in those battles, his son enjoyed a lifetime of peace. It would have been difficult to build the temple if Israel had not been experiencing an era of peace because most of the young able-bodied men would have been serving in the army and would not have been available to be conscripted into Solomon's temple workforce. Solomon and the people of the nation would have had to turn all their attention to defending the country instead of building a magnificent temple. The temple was to be a house of peace and prayer and the Lord wanted it built by a man who had never wielded a sword in battle.

In the passage from 1 Chronicles 22 we found David informing Solomon of the Lord's promise. Here in 1 Kings 8, Solomon and all the people are seeing the Lord's promise fulfilled. "The Lord has kept the promise He made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that He made with our ancestors when He brought them out of Egypt." (1 Kings 8:20-21) The Lord is faithful!

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 28, The Ark Brought To The Temple

Now that the temple has been built and all its furnishings fashioned and put into place, it's time to bring in the most important object of all: the ark of the covenant.

"Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord's covenant from Zion, the City of David. All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month." (1 Kings 8:1-2) We were previously told that Solomon finished building the temple in the eighth month on the Jewish calendar during his eleventh year as king of Israel. Here in 1 Kings 8 we find the ark being brought to the temple in the seventh month, after which a dedication ceremony will be held later in our chapter. From my background study it looks like the majority of scholars believe the dedication of the temple was performed the year after the temple was completed (which would be during Solomon's twelfth year as king) so the celebration would coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles. This is likely the case since I wouldn't expect Solomon to conduct the dedication ceremony a month before everything was completed. 

It seemed clear in yesterday's text that Solomon made sure nothing was left undone with the temple or its furnishings before he retrieved the ark from the tent where it had been housed ever since David brought it to Jerusalem. It makes sense to perform the dedication at a time like the Feast of Tabernacles when so many people would be traveling to Jerusalem anyway. This was one of the three feasts each year at which every male of Israel was required to appear. It was considerate of Solomon to combine the dedication with the feast so the men throughout the nation of Israel (and the family members who came with them) would not have to make an extra journey to Jerusalem. 

"When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted." (1 Kings 8:3-5) The original tabernacle had been at Gibeon for quite some time and it is not certain which tent of meeting (the one at Gibeon or the one at Jerusalem) the author is referring to when he says it was brought up to the temple location. Some Bible scholars think both were brought; others think the tabernacle at Gibeon was brought and that the temporary tent erected by David was disposed of. 

"The priests then brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles." (1 Kings 8:6-7) The ark itself had two cherubim atop it but the cherubim referenced here are the two that Solomon had constructed for the temple. These two were to stand in the Most Holy Place, one on each side of the ark, facing toward the outer sanctuary, with two of their wings touching each other above the ark. 

"These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt." (1 Kings 8:8-9) It's difficult to picture what the author means when he says he poles on the ark within the inner sanctuary could be seen from the outer sanctuary. I can't imagine how or why the space for the ark of the covenant would have been designed too small to accommodate everything that was intended to be placed inside the space. There must have been some sort of purpose for the ends of the poles being visible from the outer sanctuary.

Any theory I might be able to come up with is nothing but speculation but I'll share with you the only thing that comes to mind; I could be way off base with this though. Earlier in the Bible the Lord specifically stated that the poles were to remain at all times within the rings along the sides of the ark. The ark, since it represented the Lord's holy presence and since it was a visible symbol of the precious covenant He made with the people, was to be considered too holy for handling. It had to be carried by its poles, not by grabbing the sides of the ark itself and lifting it up. Perhaps the ends of the poles protruded from the opening to the Most Holy Place in case any need ever arose to remove it from its space. Some Bible commentators have speculated that the poles fit very tightly within the rings along the sides and it may be that, should the ark have to be moved, it would have been possible for men to stand outside the Most Holy place, take hold of the protruding ends of the poles, and pull it out of the room (if the rings fit so tightly that the poles couldn't slide out). This would prevent anyone from having to actually step inside the Most Holy Place. Once the ark was in the Most Holy Place, no one but the high priest was to enter its presence and that was only once a year on the Day of Atonement. 

On the other hand, I am not sure anyone ever anticipated a need to remove the ark from its space, so we cannot be sure the poles protruded for this purpose. I believe there was a reason and I believe the author included this information because it was significant to him. He did not explain the reason and that may be because he expected his fellow citizens to already be aware of the reason. But too many centuries have passed and the temple has been gone too long for us to do anything but make guesses.

The author lets us know that some of the items which were formerly contained in the ark are now missing. He says only the stone tablets were still in it when it was put in the Most Holy Place. At one time it also contained Aaron's rod that budded and a pot of manna from the wilderness. We do not know when or how these items disappeared. That doesn't mean the author of 1 Kings doesn't know what happened to the rod and the manna; he just doesn't supply the information to us and again I think this may be a situation where his fellow citizens knew when and where the items disappeared so he didn't feel it necessary to provide an explanation. We don't know in our day what happened to the items but the prevailing theory is that the Philistines removed them while the ark was in their possession after they captured it in battle in 1 Samuel 4. 

This seems like a reasonable theory to me because I think there can be no doubt that the Philistines looked inside it. Who would capture a chest covered in gold and not be curious about what it contains? They must have reasoned that an object of such beauty and value contained something even more beautiful and valuable inside. I imagine they were puzzled by the rod and the pot of manna and, unable to see any value in these objects, they discarded them. Perhaps they didn't discard the tablets of stone because they were aware that it was said that the finger of God wrote the words on the stones. This would explain why they placed the ark, with the tablets inside it, as an offering to their god Dagon in his temple. It would have been a way of saying that Dagon was more powerful than the God the ark represented and that Dagon's words and laws were superior to God's words and laws. (The Lord, of course, showed them who is the powerful, supreme, and only God!) It was common in ancient times to place in a temple the most valuable items taken in battle. You may recall that the sword David took from Goliath was at one time kept in the tabernacle when it was located at Nob. (1 Samuel 21:9)

Everything is finished now that the ark is in place. To signify that He considers the work completed and acceptable to Him, the Lord fills the temple with His glory. "When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled His temple." (1 Kings 8:10-11) The Lord does His work of sanctifying the temple before the priests do their work. The Lord's work is always superior to man's work! His work is perfect in every way and what a blessing it must have been to Solomon, the priests, and all the citizens to have the Lord put His stamp of approval on their work in this way.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 27, The Furnishings Of The Temple, Part Four: The Furniture And Remaining Small Articles

Today we'll conclude our segment regarding the temple and everything Solomon had constructed for it. Huram of Tyre will finish making all the objects of bronze and then we'll be provided with a list of the gold objects. 

"He also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the Lord: the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars); the ten stands with their ten basins; the Sea and the twelve bulls under it; the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls. All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined." (1 Kings 7:40-47) The bronze pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls were used in the offerings made at the temple. We don't know how many of these utensils were made but many scholars believe Solomon commissioned enough of them to stockpile quite a few in storage for the future. This way, as the utensils began to look worn, they could be replaced with new ones. 

1 Kings 7 doesn't mention the bronze altar made by Huram but it is included in the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 4. "He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high." (2 Chronicles 4:1) This is the place where the act of sacrifice would have taken place. It is by necessity large enough to accommodate the volume of offerings/the size of the offerings: approximately thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet tall. 

"Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the Lord's temple: the golden altar; the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence; the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left,  in front of the inner sanctuary); the gold floral work and lamps and tongs; the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple." (1 Kings 7:48-50) Here in Chapter 7 we find mention of only one table for bread; however, in 2 Chronicles 4:8 we find Solomon making ten tables of gold. I don't know if all ten tables were utilized in displaying the bread of the Presence or if only one table was utilized for the bread itself. The other tables may have been used for offerings of incense which were supposed to be placed beside the bread. Solomon does everything in abundance and he might have ordered incense to be offered on nine of the ten tables. 

We studied the bread of the Presence (sometimes referred to as the showbread) in Leviticus 24. It consisted of twelve loaves made with the finest of flour. Twelve fresh loaves were to be placed on the table every Sabbath day, arranged in two stacks of six. Each week as the old bread was taken up, it could be eaten by the priests, but they could only consume it at the tabernacle. I doubt there would have been more than twelve loaves in the temple since the twelve loaves represented the nation of Israel, so I can't say for certain how these tables were arranged and used to accommodate the twelve loaves. There are some things we just simply can't know about the temple since it has not been standing for so many centuries now. 

The author concludes Chapter 7 with these words: "When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated---the silver and gold and the furnishings---and he placed them in the treasuries of the Lord's temple." (1 Kings 7:51) In 1 Chronicles 29 we are given some details about the things David dedicated toward the temple that would be built not in his lifetime but in his son's lifetime. These things included gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and precious and semi-precious stones. His generosity toward the project encouraged his fellow Israelites to be generous as well by donating the same types of items David donated. These items have been kept in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite until the day came when they could be moved into the finished temple.

Join us tomorrow as the final and most important item of all is moved to its new home at the temple: the ark of the covenant.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 26, The Furnishings Of The Temple, Part Three: The Ten Movable Stands And Basins

In Sunday's study we talked about the large bronze basin known as the Sea. Today we'll be looking at ten similarly shaped basins that are much smaller than the Sea and that are on movable stands. 

Our parallel account from the book of 2 Chronicles gives us an extra verse of information regarding the stands and basins we'll be studying here in 1 Kings 7. Their purpose is that "in them the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing". (2 Chronicles 4:6b) In Exodus 30 the Lord instructed Moses to have a bronze basin manufactured and to place it between the tent of meeting and the altar. The priests were to wash their hands and feet in it every time they came to the tabernacle to go about their duties. The Sea in the temple is to be used for the same purpose, although yesterday we discussed the fact that we are not certain how they accessed the water in the Sea since it stood much taller than a man. We talked about how some scholars think there was a spigot or spigots at the base to release water for the washing of hands and feet. But this isn't the only type of washing that must be done at the temple. The sacrifices for the burnt offerings are to be washed in the ten movable basins. If I am understanding our text correctly, after the animals had been sacrificed the parts were washed in the basins before being placed on the altar for burnt offerings. This would line up with the Lord's instructions in the book of Leviticus when He said that the internal organs and the legs must be washed with water before burning the offering on the altar. References to this can be found in Leviticus 1:9, Leviticus 1:13, Leviticus 8:21, and in Leviticus 9:14. 

Now we begin our look at the description of the basins and the stands. The "he" mentioned here is Huram of Tyre who has been fashioning the objects of bronze that Solomon commissioned to be made for the temple. "He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high. This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim---and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work." (1 Kings 7:27-29) 

In yesterday's study we talked about Solomon's use of images in the temple in regard to the Lord's commandment against making an image of anything in heaven above or on earth below. If you missed yesterday's study you can scroll down below today's study to the archives and find it there. It is my feeling that Solomon did not sin in carving decorative angelic beings, animal life, and plant life because worship was not intended to be directed toward these carvings and cast-metal objects. The commandment against making images appears to deal with Idolatry (images intended for worship like a standing idol, for example, that represented a god) and not necessarily against carving, embroidering, painting, or casting images solely for use as decorative elements. However, as we noted yesterday, there are those who hold the opposite opinion and feel that the artistic representation of any living being, animal, or plant was a sin. The authors of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, in which we find the descriptions of the decorations of the temple, describe these images in a completely neutral manner that gives no indication whether the Lord or anyone else found fault with any of the designs Solomon chose.

"Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal." (1 Kings 7:30-33) I find it a bit difficult to read this description and translate it into a picture in my mind of what these stands might have looked like. Below I'm inserting an artist's perception of what they may have looked like with the basins (which we'll discuss momentarily) attached.

"Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape." (1 Kings 7:34-37) Solomon put a great deal of thought and care into designing objects of symmetry and beauty. We do not know the reasons he chose the specific design elements used in the temple and all its furnishings: the cherubim, lions, bulls, pomegranates, palm trees, lilies, wreaths of vines, and so on. But we can be certain that each of these elements meant something to him even though we might not know what each of them was intended to symbolize. I do not think Solomon just randomly chose any of these decorative touches, as in telling Huram, "Make sure there is carving on every surface. Throw in plenty of vines and palm trees." The temple was too important for Solomon to treat anything about its design or its furnishings in a casual, half-hearted manner.

Huram now makes the basins that will sit atop the stands. "He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple." (1 Kings 7:38-39) These stands and basins would have seen a lot of use as the people brought sacrifices for burnt offerings to the temple. It was necessary that there be more than one stand and basin. However, it was not necessary to have more stands and basins than the priests on hand at any one time could utilize. Ten is evidently the perfect number to handle the amount of offerings needing to be washed there. Not all the offerings brought to the temple were to be washed, just those intended for use as burnt offerings. A burnt offering was an offering for atonement but there were other types of animal sacrifices in which the offering was not offered up wholly to God. In those, the portions for God were offered up to Him, the priests would then take their allotted portions, and then the bringer of the offering could cook and consume the remainder with his family. There were offerings that did not include animals, such as offerings of grain and wine and incense. None of these required washing in the basins.

The Lord is holy and no one can stand in His presence without clean hands and a clean heart. These ceremonial washings did not literally cleanse anyone of sin but the washings were to be performed in an attitude that acknowledged man's sinfulness, man's need for redemption, man's inability to redeem himself, and the Lord's ability to do for man what man cannot do for himself. The washings were symbolic but were accepted by the Lord as an admittance of their human weakness. The burnt offerings were not capable of cleansing the bringer of his sins once and for all but were accepted by the Lord when the bringer brought them in faith and in repentance. These offerings for atonement had to be brought time after time, year after year, until the offering was made that was so holy it was capable of cleansing man of his sins once and for all. Now we look in faith to the Lamb of God and at what He has done on our behalf.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 25, The Furnishings Of The Temple, Part Two: The Bronze Sea

We are studying a list of bronze objects commissioned for the temple by Solomon and crafted by a man named Huram who was from Tyre. Yesterday we discussed the two bronze pillars that stood by the front entrance to the temple. Today we'll discuss the object known as "the Sea".

"He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it." (1 Kings 7:23) The Sea's purpose is "to be used by the priests for washing". (2 Chronicles 4:6b) Other than adding the information that the Sea is used for ritual washing, the description of the Sea in the parallel account of 2 Chronicles 4 describes it pretty much word for word as it's described here in 1 Kings 7. 

Verse 23 gave us the dimensions of the basin of the Sea. Verses 24 through 26 describes the way the Sea and its supporting stand were carved. "Below the rim, gourds encircled it---ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea. The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths." The exact measure of a "bath" is not known but from my background study it looks like the most common estimate is that the Sea held somewhere between 11,000 and 12,000 gallons of water.

Below I'm inserting a picture of what the Sea might have looked like. A rendering of one of the movable stands, which we will discuss tomorrow, is included in the picture.

How did the priests utilize the basin for their ritual washings? It stands much taller than a man. Some scholars think there must have been some steps (perhaps movable steps on wheels) that the priests used to reach the basin. Some think the bulls underneath the basin had spigots of some sort and that water could be turned on to come out of their mouths. However, the Bible doesn't tell us what method was used for filling the Sea or for conducting the ritual washings in the Sea. Back in Joshua 9:27 we learned that the Gibeonites, who were made subjects of Israel after they tricked the Israelites into making a treaty with them, were given the tasks of carrying wood and water for the house of the Lord, which was the tabernacle at that time. We can assume they were still responsible for these tasks in Solomon's day and that they carried the wood for the fires and the water for the Sea and for the ten movable stands. How they accessed the tall Sea, we do not know. 

There has been some controversy regarding Solomon's use of bulls in the stand that held the Sea. In Exodus 20:4 and in Deuteronomy 5:8 the Lord commanded: "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." The people were instructed never to make an object of worship to represent God, for on the day He spoke to them from the mountain they "saw no form of any kind". (Deuteronomy 4:15) They had no idea what God looked like and were forbidden from making anything that symbolized Him. They were also forbidden to make any object of worship "formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below". (Deuteronomy 4:16-18) So was it sinful for Solomon to fashion the twelve bulls to hold the Sea? Some scholars think so; some do not. 

The Lord's commandment against creating images was a commandment against idolatry. He was speaking of images toward which worship was being directed. There is no indication that Solomon intended for anyone to direct worship toward the twelve bulls holding up the Sea. He has used the images of other living things in the temple as well, such as the cherubim, carved pomegranates, carved gourds, and the lily-shaped capitals of the two bronze pillars. I believe all these things were intended as artwork, not as objects of worship. I am not sure that the Lord's prohibition against making any type of image extended to things like artwork and textiles. For example, there's a big difference between fashioning an image of a deity and fashioning a decorative tapestry depicting people, animals, or plantlife. Engraving a nature scene onto a metal cup or embroidering animals or plants onto cloth does not represent idolatry as long as whatever is contained in the scene does not symbolize a false god. When Solomon used the images of cherubims and plantlife in the temple and its furnishings, perhaps he was making the statement that God is God of all things in heaven and on earth. God created all things in heaven and on earth. God sustains all things in heaven and on earth. All things in heaven and on earth are to serve Him by doing and being whatever He created them to do and to be. We don't know why Solomon put these images in the temple but we know that the Lord gave David the plans for the temple and its furnishings and I can only assume decorations such as these were included in the plans or that Solomon added them. If he added them on his own, this still doesn't mean they were sinful. 

I'll share a little example with you of what I mean. The upholstery on the pews in the church I attend have a muted pattern that looks like a grapevine with leaves and grapes but we aren't worshiping grapes or grapevines. This pattern is for decorative purposes only and therefore I cannot see how the pattern can be sinful. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that the grapevine symbolizes what the Lord Jesus said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) I think the grapevines are there to remind us that we are nothing apart from the Lord and that we must depend on Him for everything and look to Him for guidance in everything. 

I believe Solomon's use of the twelve bulls was more than artistic decoration. They symbolized something, just as I think the grapevine upholstery in my church symbolizes something. I think there can be no doubt that the twelve bulls represent the nation of Israel, for the number twelve in the Bible always symbolizes Israel. It may be that the twelve bulls were holding up the basin used by the priests to symbolize that the priests are serving all Israel as they go about their duties at the temple. The bulls under the basin may be a reminder that, as the priests perform their duties at the temple, they are coming before the Lord on behalf of everyone in Israel. In the ancient world the bull was viewed as a symbol of power and strength. With that in mind, perhaps the use of these bulls underneath the Sea used for the ritual washings of the priests was meant to remind the priests that the people of the nation appreciate and support the work they do. This would have helped the priests to keep in mind that they are ministering at the temple not only on their own behalf (making offerings and sacrifices for their own sins) but on the behalf of the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Something similar to this was what was going on with the breastplate of the high priest. We were told earlier in the Bible that it contained twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. These stones lay over his heart to remind him that, as he goes into the presence of the Lord, he is symbolically taking all his fellow citizens with him. He is interceding on behalf of all the people of Israel, not just on his own behalf, and the heavy metal breastplate with its large stones lay against his heart as a continual reminder that he was interceding for his fellow man with the Lord. I think also the breastplate reminded him that he needed to love the people in order to effectively minister to them and to effectively minister on their behalf.