FRAMEWORKS:
2 Chronicles 3: Solomon
builds the temple
[Introductory
Notes: As the work starts, we are given detail of this
large stone structure that will have similarities to the original
Tabernacle – see Ex 26]
v.1,2
The building work starts
v.1
Then
Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord
in Jerusalem
on Mount Moriah, where the Lord
had appeared
to his father David. It was on the threshing-floor of Araunah
the Jebusite, the place provided by David.
v.2
He
began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth
year of his reign.
v.3-7
The main features
v.3
The
foundation Solomon laid for building the temple
of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the
cubit of the old standard).
v.4
The
portico at the front of the temple was twenty
cubits long across the width of the building and twenty cubits
high.
He
overlaid the inside with pure gold.
v.5
He
panelled the main hall with juniper and covered
it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and
chain designs.
v.6
He
adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used
was gold of Parvaim.
v.7
He
overlaid the ceiling beams, door-frames, walls and doors of the
temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
v.8,9
The inner sanctum
v.8
He
built the Most Holy Place , its length corresponding
to the width of the temple – twenty cubits long and twenty
cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of
fine gold .
v.9
The
gold nails weighed fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper parts
with gold.
v.10-13
The Cherubim
v.10
For
the Most Holy Place he made a pair of sculptured cherubim and
overlaid them with gold.
v.11
The
total wing-span of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of
the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the temple wall,
while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing
of the other cherub.
v.12
Similarly
one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched
the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long,
touched the wing of the first cherub.
v.13
The
wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. They stood on
their feet, facing the main hall.
v.14
The dividing curtain between the two main areas
v.14
He
made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen,
with cherubim worked into it.
v.15-17
Two pillars at the front
v.15
For
the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were
thirty-five cubits long, each with a capital five cubits high.
v.16
He
made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He
also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains.
v.17
He
erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south
and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin [probably
means he establishes] and
the one to the north Boaz. [probably
means in him is strength]
Continue
to Ch.4