Extravagance and Excellence (Part A)

When he wrote to Timothy, Jesus is my Savior, so who can tell me anything about Christianity? First Kings, Chapter 7. Some extravagance and excellence is in this section of Scripture.

Not an easy read. We are about 960 years from the coming of Christ, and Solomon has built the temple, and he's now turning his attention to his palace, which is a complex. It's not only his residence, there are courtyards and residence for his wife, and the harem, and other government or kingdom buildings. There's the House of the Forest of Lebanon, the Hall of Pillars, the Hall of the Throne, the Hall of Judgment, his palace, and again the House for the Women, which specifies his wife, his Egyptian wife, but it is likely it included all of his wives. The palace has multiple functions, as the White House does, or any government building that serves a dual purpose of being a residence and holding court or taking care of the business, and this palace is large.

It is costly. Unlike the temple, there's not so much gold, but there's a lot of cedar put into it. It would have been nice to walk into one of these buildings in the fragrance of cedar, unless you don't like that. I'm sure no moths were there. What we'll get in the first section is the palace, and then we get into the furnishings for the temple.

I think it gets a little bit exciting there. Verse 1, Solomon took 13 years to build his own house, so he finished all his house. Well, it's twice the size of the temple, and a different design.

Again, there's not this gold overlay on everything. It's a 20-year building program in Jerusalem, so if you lived in Jerusalem at this time, when they started work on the temple, seven and a half years later, they start on Solomon's palace, and that goes on for 13 years, so boomtown there in Jerusalem. Verse 2, he also built the house of the forest of Lebanon. Its length was 100 cubits, its width 50, and its height 30 cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, cedar beams on the pillars. You'd like translators to translate what the number of cubits are, but they cannot, because it's not a definite number, as we've discussed, so you have to do a lot of calculating, and you might have to run two scales to come up with the sizes. We're sticking with the shorter cubit, the 18-inch one, and I'll give you some dimensions, which a large part of this chapter is still very difficult to imagine, this palace complex.

It's just not enough information for anyone to really do that. There's more with the temple. In verse 3, and it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were 45 pillars, 15 in a row. There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers. Verse 5 now, and all the doorways and doorposts were rectangular frames, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

Okay, so very difficult or heavy-duty reading, unless you're going to break out the calculator or the pad and pen and start working on the numbers. This part of the complex, Forest of Lebanon, these tall cedar columns, 150 feet long was this area, 75 feet wide, and these columns are 45 feet tall. That's over four stories wide, like a forest, probably took a forest to build. Three rows of 15 columns supported these trimmed cedar beams to support the roof, which is all cedar, decorative window frames and shutters and lattice, ventilation of course, and to see the weather stick.

Well, the weather stick is a stick, obviously, and you throw it outside and if it's dry it's not raining or snowing and if it's white it's snowing and it's how you read the weather stick. I learned that from the Mohawk Indians. Anyway, verse 7, then he made a hall for the throne, the hall of judgment, where he might judge and it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling. Well, this is an extravagant expense, not stated here, but his throne was ivory overlaid with gold. To me, that's ridiculous. That's like overlaying silver with gold.

You lose the value. I mean, why bother with, maybe it had a special look, you know, your gold leaf ivory, it has a different sheen. First Kings 10, verse 18, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. That's extravagant to me. Maybe somebody can say, no, actually it was pretty wise.

I don't think it'd be wise to take that position. Well, this is where he held court when he decided between the two mothers and the child. In chapter 3, of course, this court had not yet been built, but those are the kind of hearings he would take. When the queen of Sheba comes to town in chapter 10, she's going to be received in the king's court.

Very beautiful, I'm sure. What remains of this palace complex? Nothing. There aren't even any archaeological finds. Is there nothing they can say, well, the palace was here? I think God has veiled it. I think if you found where this palace was, you'd get an idea where the temple really was. If God had not veiled the location of the temple, the Muslims would have claimed it years ago. So when Antichrist comes, I believe the Jewish temple will be in a different place than on the temple mount. Verse 8, well, the temple mount as known today. And verse 8, and the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall of like workmanship. Solomon made a house like this hall for Pharaoh 's daughter, whom he had taken as wife. And so the king's living quarters had a courtyard in it.

That's the court inside the hall, likely where he entertained and maybe lectured. I believe the Ecclesiastes is a product of some of his lectures. When Bible teaching pastors write books, they draw from their sermons over the years. Well, when Ecclesiastes is penned, he's drawing from his lectures.

It starts off, you know, the words of the preacher, and not preacher in the sense of a pulpit preaching the gospel, but in the sense of a lecturer, one who is speaking wisdom, and people came from all over to hear him. The king's wife, again, likely included not just the Pharaoh's daughter. This is the second of five references to his marriage to the Egyptian princess, as though the writer just kind of wants his audience to understand this was not good. The alliance, as mentioned before, between Solomon and the Egyptian princess was his hope to bring peace and unity between Egypt and Israel. And it worked in his lifetime, but after he died, right after he died almost, that all fell apart.

So it really did not accomplish anything. The wisdom of man, verse 9, all these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside of the great court. We will skip some verses, but not yet. Again, this kind of writing, costly stones, you probably, we would say extravagant, you were winning us with the cedar, but now you're going a little bit overboard. But it's still difficult to envision, verse 10, the foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some 10 cubits and some 8.

So 15 foot and 12 foot blocks for foundation, a solid foundation, that makes sense. But again, the writer, he points out costly stones, because they had to quarry them, bring them in, nothing but the best. Verse 11, and above, costly stones hewn to size, the cedar wood, the great court, verse 12, was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court and the house of Yahweh and the vestibule of the temple. You say, well, why do we have to go read all of this? Well, if I had to read it all day, I thought, Lord, I'm going to punish them too.

You got me, I'm getting them. A fortune spent on this building, the whole complex basically in three parts, even though there are different parts to each side, the king's home, the palace that is the courtyard in the middle, and then the house of the women, verse 13. Now King Solomon sent and brought Huram from Tyre. Some translations use Hiram, and just an alternate spelling which is common not only in the Bible, but in those days. To this day, they find misspelled words in other archaeological finds from Egypt and Babylon and just other places, the kings spelling their names different ways, and the archaeologists do a pretty good job putting it together.

So we shouldn't be surprised by that. This master craftsman is not to be confused with King Hiram of Tyre. And so we read verse 14 of this Huram. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Neftali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker. He was filled with wisdom and understanding and skilled in working with all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.

Well, I think, you know, if you're going to be spending so much energy on something, you should have competent craftsmen and not just somebody who, you know, hey, I think I could do that. This man was an exceptional evidently, and again, his mother, she was Jewish, and the father evidently was not. But it's really not clear because he could have been Jewish and from Tyre. Anyway, verse 15, and he cast two pillars of bronze, each one 18 cubits high and a line of 12 cubits measured the circumference of each. Verse 16, then he made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars the height of one capital was five cubits, the height of the other capital was five cubits.

So there's big news back then, and the historian is saying these things were, they were enormous. The two freestanding bronze pillars just outside the temple, not attached to the building, 27 feet high, just the bronze pillar, and then you put the four foot capital on it and it is high, actually 31 feet together, using the 18 inch cubit. So, and they were four inch thick, these bronze pillars were four inch thick, and in those days that's pretty impressive. They were hollow, Jeremiah tells us this in chapter 52 of his prophecies, the capital on top, you have the pillar and then you have this ornate capital put on top of that, that was four feet by itself, and so the combined height, the 27 foot and then the four foot on top, you have a 31 foot column or pillar outside of the house of God, it will be cut to pieces by Nebuchadnezzar. Anyway, verse 17, he made a lattice network of wreaths and chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillar seven chains for one capital and seven for the other capital. So I was going to not read all of this part, but just to highlight that the skill involved, you know we tend to think of the ancients as being archaic and evidently, they weren't, and when we get to the Bronze Sea, I mean this thing is just like a water tower, just not as tall, they had to know what they were doing, structurally, that thing had collapsed, that would have been a washout, you know 17,000 gallons of water.

Anyway, more like 12, not too much. Verse 18, so he made the pillars and the two rows of pomegranate above the network all around to cover the capitals that were on top, and thus he did for the other capitals. Well, you know, 31 feet down at the base, you can't appreciate all that artwork, a practice carried out in his modern days. Look at the Chrysler Building in New York, it's got all sorts of gargoyles and hubcaps up there and other stuff, and who can see it?

I mean you got to wait for a documentary to come out to know it's there. 19, the capitals were on top of the pillars and in the hall were in the shape of lilies. Now this is going to factor in a little bit. The capitals on the pillars also had pomegranates above by the convex surface. Are you following me with this?

Is this not invigorating? Which was next to the network and there were 200 such pomegranates in rows on each side of the capitals all around. Pomegranates were an emblem of wealth, of prosperity, of abundance, probably more likely abundance, and that might be why he's got 200 of them. I mean he certainly talked with the designers and David did, and they were laying very careful about these things. We're now at the temple, incidentally, outside the temple.

We've moved away from the palace. Verse 21, then he set up the pillars by the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the right and called its name Jacob, and he set up a pillar on the left and called its name Boaz. So Jacob, he establishes and Boaz in him is strength or he strengthens and it speaks of the stability and the strength that God would lend to his people so long as they did not become idolaters. That's fine, but what value does this such imagery have for me in the New Testament? Well I think Paul may have had this in mind when he wrote to Timothy, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which presupposes that people who come to Christ don't know how to automatically know how to conduct themselves in the house of God and they must be taught. And that's what Paul is saying to Timothy. We're surprised by that because we think we get saved. I mean we know everything. Jesus is my Savior so who can tell me anything about Christianity?

Of course that's an exaggeration of what some of us do from time to time, perhaps in our past, not in the future. He says, which is the church of the living God? The pillar and the ground of the truth. And so there Paul is saying the church, we read it, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth. And he also says it's the house of God. Paul says the churches are the house of God, local churches, and they are supposed to support truth, uphold the truth. And I think that he had the Jewish temple in mind. Some forget that it is the house of God, not the house of Christians.

And this is why Paul was giving this advice. The pillars remained in front of the temple for about 375 years. That's how long it will take before Nebuchadnezzar shows up, who of course not even born at this time. His army will dismantle these pillars and carry them back to Babylon. Jeremiah 52, 17 gives us a little bit more on that. Now they stood as you face east, if you're looking out the front door of the temple, that's your left and your right. We know that from verse 39, gives us a little indication.

So the pillar Jacob was to the south, which would be to the right as you look out the temple and Boaz would be to the left. Verse 22, just think, that's a little piece of information that you'll probably never use in your life, but it takes hours to find out. So verse 22, the tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies, so the work of the pillars was finished. Well, in the Song of Solomon, the beloved Shulamite uses lilies to describe her love for the shepherd and he her.

They use it, it's no less than eight times that they refer to each other in some form, in some connection to lilies. And lilies are associated more with Solomon than anyone else in the Bible. Even the Lord, the one time he named Solomon, he associates it with lilies. Luke 12, 27, consider the lilies and how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Solomon was into botany and horticulture at the same time. Ecclesiastes 2, I made myself gardens and orchids, I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. And so yeah, this is something that excited him and if he was into UFOs, you'd have little flying saucers all around the place, but fortunately he was not.

At least we don't know of any of that. Anyway, verse 23, and he made the sea of cast bronze. Now they're going to give the measurements, I'm tired of saying cubits, seven and a half feet deep. This is where you could swim in this thing. This is a giant bowl sitting out in front of the temple as you came up to it. Actually it would be, as you're looking at the temple, it would be to the left, south, east. It's 15 feet across, so you could, seven and a half feet deep, you could swim 15 feet across.

The circumference was 45 feet. A reservoir of water for the priest and it was practical. It had a function. It was not just, you know, a centerpiece to the temple. And the priest in doing their duty, they needed water or they could be struck dead. I don't mean from thirst.

I mean from the hand of God. Exodus 30, verse 18, you shall also make a laver of bronze. That's Moses' temple.

There's only one laver. Many buckets to keep it going, I'm sure, continues with its base also of bronze for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar and you shall put water in it where Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it when they go into the tabernacle of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh. They shall wash with water lest they die.

So this was a big deal. If you're the high priest and they're doing the construction or the plan for the building, you're going to say, where's the water? How are we going to supply it? And this second temple, which is twice as large as Moses and more elaborate, really is going to help the priests out. Water, drinking water, is a picture of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. John chapter 7, you know, if anyone thirsts, let them come to me.

This he spoke of the Spirit which not had yet been given. Ephesians 5, 18. But water for washing speaks of God's word. The washing and the regeneration of the word.

Ephesians 5, John 15, 3, and Psalm 19, verse 9. Water is a large emblem for us. And aren't we glad that we are encouraged in life to take baths and showers regularly? You can take a bath and a shower together and you can play like you're in a submarine that's been hit by a death charge. And the water's coming up and you're trying to stop. Okay, some of you are too old for that now. You're missing out.

Anyway, is anybody going to try that when they get home? Verse 24. Below its brim were ornamental buds, circling it all around.

Ten to the cubit. All the way around the sea, the ornamental buds were cast in two rows. When it was cast, verse 25, it stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, the south, and the east. The sea was set upon them and all their back parts pointed inward. Well, it would have been rude to do it the other way.

It really would have been. But, of course, these are bronze oxen. They're not live and likely representing the 12 tribes because there are 12 of them.

And the oxen, so necessary in that agrarian culture, spoke of strength and labor. And together, in this picture, you have the effort necessary to uphold cleansing, which the water represented at the temple. The symbolism, the Jews would not have missed the symbolism in the design or in the use of the temple.

And we don't either. I mean, when we see three crosses, we know immediately what that means. One of the people on one of those crosses went to hell. The other two did not. And there's a whole story behind these things. And it was just that way with them also. We're not wasting our time when we look at some of these symbols that are outstanding. They're easy to see.

Some of them are not as easy for us. But this temple, it's no longer mobile. It's stationary.

It's in a fixed position. So, with Moses, God in His mercy designed the temple so it could be portable and they could move it without too much effort. I guess the Ark of the Covenant. If He had made it solid gold, they couldn't walk with that through the desert. But He overlays wood. And the planks for the temple and all the things like that, it was all manageable.

Well, now that it's stationary, they're not restricted by that. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

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