1 Ki. 7: Hardcastle and McSolomon

1 Kings 13:51 "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."

When I read that it took Solomon 13 years to build the palace and only 7 to build the temple, I had to wonder where the priorities were. But the temple was relatively simple, in comparison to all that had to go into the palace. And the palace wasn't just where Solomon lived. It included his throne room, the hall of justice and all kinds of stuff needed to run a kingdom. It was Solomon's command center. The seven years for the temple versus 13 years for the palace is in a way a microcosm of how man does things. It's never simple with man. God cuts it and dries it. Look at the sheer number of denominations out there. Of course it was more complex to build the temple.

Well, the temple had to be decorated. Solomon had these two pillars built out of bronze by Huram. 27 feet tall they were and 18 feet around. That seems like a sight! I wonder what they looked like...this? Or this... I found a pretty sweet video about the temple here. Turn down the scary music though. I have no idea why that first wall in the video is like 50 stories tall, I didn't read that anywhere. So take this for visual purposes only. It helped me visualize what the temple and furnishings looked like.

Huram also took care of the sea, which was a huge bronze basin, 15 feet wide and 7.5 feet tall. That would be awesome. So the outer stuff was bronze, and the inner stuff, the holy things, were gold. Also, the bronze stuff wasn't weighed.

Was the tabernacle no longer needed? Now that Israel was where they were supposed to be, God's office no longer needed to be portable.

Also, pomegranates must have some significance to the holy things. They were first mentioned as part of the priestly garb in Exodus 28, and now here again in temple deco. I don't know why they are significant, but there seems to be a health craze regarding pomegranates lately, and I love pomegranate tea, so...ponderous. Is it the shape? Is it the health benefits? Is it where they are found? Or is this because God says so?