2 Chronicles 3:1-17
Q.1. How significant was the place where Solomon constructed the temple? – (2 Chr.3:1-2)
The writer of Chronicles provided us with two interesting facts about the Temple Mount – Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite (2 Chr.3:1). The location of Solomon’s temple was the same Mount Moriah on which Abraham offered his only son, Isaac (Gen.22:1-2 c.f. Heb.11:17-19). It was also the place purchased by King David from Ornan the Jebusite, in order to make an atoning sacrifice to stave off the plague that had claimed seventy thousand Israeli men (2 Sam.24:14-25). However, Jesus died outside the city of Jerusalem, not on the Temple Mount where Herod’s Temple had been built. Only the blood of animals was offered at that place (Gen.22:11-13; 2 Sam.24:25). The precious blood of Jesus was presented before the Father in Heaven – 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Heb.9:11-12). The temple held a special place in the purposes of God until Christ became the propitiation for our sins. This amazing act turned God’s wrath into a willingness to forgive and accept those who are grateful for what He did for us (Rom.3:21-26).
Q.2. How costly and beautiful was Solomon’s Temple? – (2 Chr.3:3-17)
I love the way God employed colours in His creation. I love rainbows. All the colours God uses harmonize magnificently. The colours God gave for the construction of the Temple were similarly harmonious and beautiful. We have already reviewed the mind-boggling treasures that King David had stored for the building of the Temple (1 Chr.29:1-5). Thus we read that there was the sweet smelling wood of the cedar trees, with almost everything overlaid with gold, and adorned with precious stones. Small wonder it all took the Queen of Sheba’s breath away. Best of all – The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house (2 Chr.7:2). That made the Temple the most significant piece of real estate upon earth.