2 Ch. 6: Solomon's Prayer

2 Chronicles 6:18 "But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!"

Solomon prays to God in this chapter, and its a prayer laden with wisdom and humility. His requests are not selfish. He asks for correction and healing and restoration for Israel's people when they blow it. Because it was bound to happen (we already know it will) and Solomon was a man who knew his history, and knew his people were prone to miss God's mark.

I like how Solomon himself is in awe of the sort of oddity that God has wrought. A temple, a place on earth where he would dwell. He would come and be among these unholy people, despite the fact that the highest heavens could not contain him. And here we have this little patch of property, tiny in comparison even to the city of Jerusalem in which it was built. Solomon doesn't really dwell on the fact, and is more concerned about what God will do in spite of this ungraspable concept of God on Earth.

Solomon covers a lot in his prayer, pre-emptively praying for numerous situations that may arise that could be painful for Israelites, and would require God's grace in restoration.

They include wronging one's neighbor (first and foremost), defeat by an enemy, times of famine and drought, and sin and repentance, including the idea that there is no one who does not sin.

If that is true, every single person stands under judgment.

An interesting read, and a little more detailed than what was in 1 Kings 8.

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?