The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 20, Solomon Builds The Temple, Part Two: The Layout Of The Temple

In today's study we'll be reading about how the temple was laid out. Solomon did not design the layout of the temple; the plans were given to him by King David to whom the Lord gave them. The Bible tells us: "Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries of the dedicated things...'All this,' David said, 'I have in writing as a result of the Lord's hand on me, and He enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.'" (1 Chronicles 28:11-12,19) 

Solomon goes by these blueprints when constructing the temple. First we learn the dimensions of it. "The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high. The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple. He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls." (1 Kings 6:2-4) In 2 Chronicles 3:3 we are told that the "cubit of the old standard" was used. By these measurements it's estimated that the temple was ninety feet long and thirty feet wide with a portico thirty feet wide and fifteen feet deep across the front of it. The temple stood about forty-five feet tall. We are told that the windows were set "high up" in the walls and I'm assuming this means their purpose was only to let light in, not to allow anyone to look out. Being able to look out the windows might have been a distraction to worshipers. We have many windows along the sanctuary in my church but the thin white blinds are always pulled down during services. This allows light in but offers no distractions. 

Below I'm inserting an artist's rendering of what the outside of the temple may have looked like.

"Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls." (1 Kings 6:5-6) I am not sure what is meant by "offset ledges" but there seems to have been some concern that items would be placed on the ledges or in between the stones of the wall if the ledges were not designed in a way to make this impossible.

"In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built." (1 Kings 6:7) The stones were cut out of the quarry and shaped and smoothed off site. This way a spirit of reverence could be maintained on the temple grounds. No loud noise of tools was heard there. 

"The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar." (1 Kings 6:8-10) The work at the temple is by no means finished at this point but it is now "under roof" or "in the dry" to use terms commonly associated with constructing a building. 

Before Solomon works on the interior of the temple and its furnishings, the Lord offers a solemn reminder. "The word of the Lord came to Solomon: 'As for this temple you are building, if you follow My decrees, observe My laws and keep all My commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.'" (1 Kings 6:11-13) Of course Solomon cannot literally keep all of the Lords laws and commandments but he can keep them in spirit. In other words, he can maintain a close relationship to the Lord, pray daily and read the Lord's word daily, and be sensitive to the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit. Doing these things will help him to make fewer mistakes and, when he does miss the mark, these things will help him to recognize it immediately so he can repent. 

The promise the Lord refers to is the promise He made to David that if David's descendants will be obedient to Him, He will see to it that there is always a descendant of David seated on the throne of Israel. Unfortunately, we will not find Solomon being as faithful to the Lord as David was. Some of David's descendants will live lives that honor the Lord and some will live in deliberate disobedience to Him. Some of the citizens of the nation will remain faithful to the Lord as time goes on and some will turn to idolatry. These inconsistencies will lead to there being no king, no throne, and no temple. But in every era there has always been a remnant faithful to the Lord and for their sake He has not abandoned anyone---Jew or Gentile---who believes in and calls upon Him. There will again be a temple in Israel. There will again be a throne and the King seated on the throne will reign forever in righteousness.