FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, NOW THAT YISHARAL ENJOYED PROSPERITY, WEALTH AND POWER (NEVER ATTAINED BEFORE OR SINCE), THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK OF SOLOMON'S REIGN WAS READY TO BE ADDRESSED. THIS WAS THE BUILDING OF A HOUSE FOR THE NAME OF YAHUAH. AND SURPRISINGLY THE GENTILE NATIONS PLAY A WILLING AND PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. AND THE MOST PROMINENT NAME AMONG THOSE GENTILES IS KING HIRAM.
TEMPLE (1 KINGS 5-7)
Hiram was the King of Tyre and had always been David’s friend. So when Hiram heard that Solomon had become the new King, he sent his servants to Solomon, who sent them back with this message, “You remember that my father, King David, had to fight many wars all around him, and was never able to build a Temple for the Name of YAHUAH his Alahim. King David was waiting until YAHUAH allowed him to defeat all his enemies. But now YAHUAH has given me peace along all the borders of my country. I have no enemies, and my people are in no danger. YAHUAH made a promise to my father David, saying, ‘I will make your son King after you, and he will build a Temple for My Name.’ So now, I plan to build that Temple for YAHUAH my Alahim. And so I ask you to help me. Send your men to Lebanon to cut down cedar trees for me. My servants will work with yours. I will pay you any price that you decide as your servants’ wages, but I need your help. Our carpenters are not as good as the carpenters of Sidon.”
THE TERRITORY THAT FORMS SOLOMON’S YISHARAL IS GENERALLY THE LAND TO THE WEST OF THE EUPHRATES, NOT TOWARDS THE EAST, AND IT'S SPEAKING OF LAND IN RELATION TO THE PROMISED LAND. SO SOLOMON’S YISHARAL GENERALLY CONTROLLED THE LAND ALONG BOTH SIDES OF THE JORDAN RIVER (AND WHAT IS MODERN DAY SYRIA, JORDAN, AND ISRAEL INCLUDING THE SO-CALLED WEST BANK). WHAT SOLOMON’S YISHARAL DID NOT CONTROL WAS LEBANON AND PHOENICIA (BUT THEY HAD EXCELLENT DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH THOSE COUNTRIES), AND THEY DID NOT CONTROL PHILISTINE TERRITORY (WHAT WE THINK OF AS GAZA AND THEN A FEW MILES NORTH), ALTHOUGH THERE WAS PEACE. YISHARAL’S BORDER WITH EGYPT IS ALMOST IDENTICAL TO THEIR BORDER WITH EGYPT TODAY THAT ENDS AT THE SINAI.
Hiram was very happy when he heard what Solomon asked, and he said, “I praise YAHUAH today* for giving David a wise son to rule this great nation!” Then Hiram sent this message to Solomon: “I heard what you asked for, and i'll give you all the cedar trees and fir trees you want. My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. Then I'll tie them together and float them down the shore to the place you choose. The logs will then be seperated, and you can take them from there. As payment for this, you will give food to all those who live in my palace.” So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and fir logs that he wanted. Solomon gave Hiram about 120,000 bushels of wheat and about 120,000 gallons of pure olive oil every year for his family. And YAHUAH made Solomon wise as he had promised. Hiram and Solomon made a Covenant between themselves and were at peace with one another.
*THE FACT THAT HIRAM 'PRAISED YAHUAH’S NAME' NO WAY MEANT THAT HE WORSHIPPED THE ALAHIM OF YISHARAL - HE SIMPLY RESPECTED THEIR CHOICE TO WORSHIP HIM.
King Solomon forced 30,000 men of Yisharal to help in this work. He chose a man named Adoniram to be in charge of them. Solomon divided the men into three groups with 10,000 men in each group. Each group worked one month in Lebanon and then went home for two months. Solomon also forced 80,000 men to work in the hill country cutting stone. There were also 70,000 men to carry the stones. There were 3300 men to supervise the workers. King Solomon commanded them to cut large, expensive stones for the foundation of the Temple. Then Solomon and Hiram’s builders and the men from Gebal carved the stones and prepared them and the logs for use in building the Temple. The stones were completely finished before they were brought into the Temple area, so there was no noise of hammers, axes, or any other iron tools in the Temple.
BY ORDERING HIS PEOPLE INTO FORCED LABOR SOLOMON WAS BEHAVING LIKE A TYPICAL PAGAN GENTILE MONARCH AND NOT LIKE THE RIGHTEOUS SHEPHERD THAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE (JUST LIKE THE MANY HORSES HE'D AMASSED FROM EGYPT). IN MANY WAYS THIS WAS A FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHETIC WARNING SAMUEL GAVE THE PEOPLE WHEN THEY DEMANDED A KING. SAMUEL HAD TOLD THEM THEY WOULD LOSE THEIR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS AND THEIR SONS WOULD BE ENLISTED IN WARS AND SEND OUT TO BE WORKERS etc etc . . . SOLOMON WAS UTILISING EVERY FORM OF RESOURCE AND MAN-POWER IN HIS NEW KINGDOM . . .
The entrance to these rooms was on the bottom floor at the south side and inside were stairs that went up to the 2nd floor and from there to the 3rd floor. Solomon finished building the main part of the Temple and then covered it inside with cedar boards, then finished the rooms around the Temple. Each story was 2.5m high and the cedar beams in these rooms rested on a ledge of the Temple wall.
So in the 2nd month of the year during Solomon’s 4th year as King, he began work on the Temple (480 years after Yisharal left Egypt). ABOUT 690 BC The Temple was 30m long, 10m wide, and 15m high. The porch was 10m long and 5m wide, running along the front of the main part of the Temple (its length was equal to the Temple width). Narrow windows were in the Temple, smaller on the inside of the wall than the outside. Solomon built a row of rooms around the main part of the Temple, 3 stories high with the rooms built one above the other. The rooms touched the Temple wall, but their beams were not built into that wall. The Temple wall became thinner at the top, so the rooms on the upper floors were larger than the ones below them. The rooms on the bottom floor were 2.5m wide, 3m wide on the middle floor, and 3.5m wide on the top floor.
YAHUAH said to Solomon, “If you obey all My Laws and Commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David. I will live among the children of Yisharal in this Temple that you are building, and I will never leave the people of Yisharal.”
THERE'S A SUDDEN INTERRUPTION IN THE NARRATIVE OF THE TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION AND SOLOMON IS GIVEN AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YAHUAH (PROBABLY THROUGH THE PROPHET AHIYAH THE SHILONITE). THIS DIVINE ORACLE CARRIES A MEANING THAT WE ALL NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO. YAHUAH ESSENTIALLY WARNS SOLOMON THAT WITH ALL THE CARE AND EXPENSE AND FOCUS THAT HE'S LAVISHING ON THIS TEMPLE PROJECT, THAT HE NEEDS TO REMEMBER THAT TRUSTING HIM AND FOLLOWING HIS TORAH COMMANDS IS WHAT WILL BRING ABOUT THE DIVINE PROMISE MADE TO HIS FATHER DAVID (HAVING YAHUAH DWELL AMONG HIS PEOPLE YISHARAL AND NOT ABANDON THEM). THE IMPLICATION IS UNMISTAKABLE: YAHUAH IS NOTICING THAT SOLOMON WAS BEGINNING TO COUNT MORE ON HIS INDUSTRIOUS WORKS AND HIS MERITS AND THE SPENDING OF HIS (AND HIS PEOPLE’S) WEALTH IN ORDER TO IMPRESS THE NATIONS. SOUNDING RIGHTEOUS, LOOKING RIGHTEOUS, BUILDING A GRAND STRUCTURE THAT SOLOMON WOULD GET ALL THE CREDIT FOR - REQUIRING THOUSANDS OF HIS CITIZENS TO SACRIFICE THEIR PERSONAL TIME, SKILLS, AND MONEY FOR HIS GRAND PLAN. HOW MUCH OF THIS WAS ABOUT YAHUAH AND HOW MUCH WAS ABOUT SOLOMON BECOMING ENVIED AND FAMOUS THE WORLD OVER? BUT EVEN MORE, AFTER SPENDING ALL THIS TIME AND EFFORT WOULD SOLOMON NOW EXPECT THAT THIS IS WHAT WOULD CAUSE YAHUAH TO CONTINUE DAVID'S ROYAL DYNASTY AND FAVOR HIS NATION? I MEAN HOW COULD YAHUAH POSSIBLY REFUSE TO DO SO AFTER SOLOMON HAS SPENT SUCH GREAT ENERGY FOR HIS NEW HOUSE? ... WE'VE ALL THOUGHT LIKE THIS ... AND WE'VE ALL BEEN PAINFULLY WRONG!
Solomon finished the inner room in the back part of the Temple, which was for the Ark of the Blood-Covenant, and this room was a gold covered cube 10x10x10m. (NEW YERU ALSO A CUBE) Solomon also covered the cedar altar and the inside of the Temple with pure gold and wrapped gold chains around it. The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and the altar in front of the Most Set-Apart Place was covered with gold. The workers made two statues of Olive Cherubim with wings and put them in the Most Set-Apart Place, each 5m tall, and both Cherubim were the same size and built the same way.
Then they made the two doors from olive wood with carved pictures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers on them. Then they covered them all with gold. There were two doors made from pine and each door had two parts that folded together. They carved pictures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers on those doors also. Then they covered them all with gold. Then they built a wall around the inner yard. Each wall was made from three rows of cut stones and one row of cedar timbers.
When Solomon finished the stonework on the Temple, the stone walls inside the Temple were covered with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. Then the stone floor was covered with pine boards.
They built an inner room 10m long in the back part of the Temple, called the Most Set-Apart Place. They covered the walls in this room with cedar boards, from floor to ceiling.
In front of this room was the main part of the Temple (20m long), and they covered the walls in this room with cedar boards, so none of the stones in the walls could be seen. Then they carved pictures of flowers and gourds into the cedar.
Each had two wings 5m wide and from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing was 5m wide. These were placed in the Most Set-Apart Place with their wings touching each other in the middle of the room and the other two wings touching each side wall. These two Olive Cherubim were also covered with pure gold. The walls around the main room and the inner room were carved with pictures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers and the floor of both rooms was covered with pure gold. The workers made two doors from olive wood and put them at the entrance of the Most Set-Apart Place. The frame around the doors was made with five sides.
They started working on YAHUAH’S Temple in the second month of the year, during Solomon’s 4th year as King of Yisharal and the Temple was finished in the 8th month of the year, in Solomon’s 11th year as King.
SO IT TOOK 7 YEARS TO BUILD THE TEMPLE OF YAHUAH, AND IT WAS BUILT EXACTLY AS PLANNED.
King Solomon also built a PALACE for himself and it took 13 years to build. He also built the house called the 'Forest of Lebanon.* It was 50m long, 25m wide and 15m high and had 4 rows of cedar columns with a cedar capital on each. There were cedar beams going across the rows of columns, 15 beams for each section of columns (45 in total). On top of these beams were cedar boards for the ceiling. There were 3 rows of windows across from each other on the side walls and 3 doors at each end. All the door openings and frames were square. Solomon also built the 'Porch of Columns' 25m long and 15m wide and along the front of the porch was a covering supported by columns. He also built a Throne-Room 'The Judgment Hall', where he sat in right-ruling, and this room was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling also.
* IT WAS CALLED THE FOREST OF LEBANON IS BECAUSE OF HOW IT LOOKED AND HOW IT WAS CONSTRUCTED. IT WAS A MAZE OF CEDAR BEAMS AND POSTS, AND SINCE THE CEDARS CAME FROM LEBANON, NO DOUBT IT’S NAME WAS BOTH A EUPHEMISM AND HONORARY NAME THAT WOULD COMMEMORATE LEBANON’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE TEMPLE AND TO THE PALACE.
All these buildings were made with expensive blocks of stone, cut to the right size with a saw and then smoothed front and back. These expensive stones went from the foundation all the way up to the top layer of the wall. Even the wall around the yard was made with expensive blocks of stone. The foundations were made with large, expensive stones. Some of the stones were 5m long and the others were 4m long. On top of these stones there were other expensive stones and cedar beams. There were walls around the palace yard and around the yard and porch of the YAHUAH’S Temple. The walls were built with three rows of stone and one row of cedar timbers.
Then Huram melted bronze and poured it into a huge mold to make a tank, which was called 'The Sea.' The tank was about 15m around, 5m across and 2.5m deep. There was a rim around the outer edge of the tank and under this rim there were two rows of bronze gourds all around the tank. The bronze gourds were made in one piece as part of the tank. The tank rested on the backs of 12 bronze bulls and all 12 of the bulls were looking out, away from the tank. 3 were looking north, 3 east, 3 south, and 3 west. The sides of the tank were 3 inches thick. The rim around the tank was like the rim of a cup or like the petals on a flower and the tank held about 11,000 gallons of water. Then he made 10 bronze carts.
Behind the Judgment Hall was a courtyard and the Palace where Solomon lived was built around that courtyard and looked just like the Judgment Hall. He also built the same kind of palace for his wife, the daughter Egypt's Pharaoh.
King Solomon sent for a man named Huram who lived in Tyre and brought him to Yerushalim. Huram’s mother was an Yisharalite from the Tribe of Naphtali and his dead father was from Tyre. Huram made things from bronze and was a very skilled and experienced builder. So King Solomon asked him to come, and Huram accepted. King Solomon put him in charge of all the bronze work, and Huram did all the work he was given to do. Huram made two bronze columns for the porch. Each column was 9m tall and 6m around. The columns were hollow and their metal walls were 3 inches thick. He also made two bronze capitals that were 2.5m tall. He put these capitals on top of the columns. He made two nets of chain to cover the capitals on top of the two columns, then he made two rows of bronze pomegranates and put them on the nets of each column to cover the capitals at the top of the columns. The capitals on top of the columns were shaped like flowers, above the bowl-shaped net. There were 200 pomegranates in rows all around the capitals. Huram put these two bronze columns at the porch of the Temple, one column (called Jachin) was on the south side of the entrance and the other (called Boaz) on the north side. They put the flower-shaped capitals on top of the columns, and the work on the two columns was finished.
LIVING WATER FOR CLEANSING THE PRIESTS WAS SIMPLY WATER THAT WAS FRESH AND MOVING. IN EZEKIEL'S MILLENIAL TEMPLE (THE NEW YERUSHALIM MADE UP OF LIVING STONES) THERE IS NO MOLTEN SEA, AND IN REVELATION 21:
"I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had passed away, and the sea was no more".
THIS ISN'T SPEAKING ABOUT THE OCEANS BUT ABOUT THE MOLTEN SEA FOR PRIESTLY CLEANSING ... FOR IN THE NEW CITY THERE WILL BE NO NEED OF A CLEANSING LAVER - ALL PRIESTLY SERVICES (WITHIN OUR HUMAN BODIES) ARE DONE! AND THERE'S NO NEED OF ANY SUN OR MOON EITHER, OR EVEN A TEMPLE ... FOR YAHUSHA'S COMPLETE RADIANT MAGNIFICENCE SUSTAINS EVERYTHING !!
There was a frame around the top with an opening for the bowl, 0.5m tall, and 1.5m in diameter. There were designs carved into the bronze on the frame, which was square (not round). There were 4 wheels under the frame which were 1.5m in diameter. The axles between the wheels were made as one piece with the cart and the wheels were like chariot wheels.
Each cart was 2x2x2m and made with square panels set in frames with bronze bulls, lions, and cherubim on them. There were designs of flowers hammered into the bronze above and below the bulls and lions also. Each cart had 4 bronze wheels with bronze axles and at the corners there were bronze supports for a large bowl, which had designs of flowers hammered into the bronze.
The sides of the cart and the frames had images of cherubim, lions, and palm trees carved into the bronze, carved all over the carts—wherever there was room. And there were flowers carved on the frame around the carts also. Huram made 10 carts, and they were all the same, each made from bronze (melted and poured into a mold). Huram also made 10 bowls, one for each of the carts. Each bowl was 2m across and could hold about 230 gallons. He put 5 carts on the south side of the Temple and five carts on the north side. He also put the large tank in the south-east corner of the Temple. Huram also made pots, small shovels, and small bowls.
Huram made everything King Solomon wanted, all from polished bronze, and Solomon never weighed the bronze that was used to make these things. There was way too much to weigh. So the total weight of all the bronze was never known. The King ordered these things to be made near the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan. They made them by melting the bronze and pouring it into molds in the ground. Solomon also commanded that the golden altar, the golden table that held the showbread, the lampstands of pure gold, the gold flowers, lamps, tongs, the pure gold bowls, lamp snuffers, small bowls, pans and dishes for carrying coals, the gold hinges for the doors to the inner room (the Most Set-Apart Place) and for the doors to the main room of the Temple ... to be all made from pure gold for the Temple.
So King Solomon finished all the work he wanted to do for YAHUAH’s Temple. Then he took everything his father David had prepared for this special purpose and put them in the Temple. He put the silver and gold in the special storage rooms in YAHUAH’S Temple also.
Through Scripture we see the progressive revelation of the Divine Temple that originally began in Heaven (ADAM & EVE HAD OPEN HEAVENS) and in time it became a physical object built by men’s hands (A SHADOW) beginning with altars, then Moses Tabernacle, David's Tent, Solomon's Temple. Then YAHUSHA came in the flesh as the Living Temple, declaring that "YOU ARE THE TEMPLE" and finally at the time of a New Heaven & Earth, this revelation comes full circle, returning to the total spiritual substance in which YAHUSHA Himself is that completed Temple, in a New City made up of His Living Bridal stones, who have also become individual Temples for His Portal and have used the power sown within them to become perfected and `marriage-ready'.
IN THE TEMPLE YAHUAH USED ACTUAL MATERIALS TO BUILD HIS HOUSE, BUT TODAY HE USES PEOPLE TO BUILD HIS NEW-BLOOD COVENANT TEMPLE. TO BECOME WASHED CLEAN, DIVINELY OPERATED ON AND HAVE THE SEED OF IMMORTALITY SOWN WITHIN THEM (TO TRANSFORM THEIR BEHAVIOUR, MAKING THEM QUALIFY FOR HIS NEW LIVING DWELLING) ... THIS IS AN OFFER AVAILABLE TO ANYONE FROM ANY KINDRED, TONGUE, TRIBE AND NATION - SO THAT THEY MAY SURRENDER, DIE TO THEIR FLESH AND LET YAHUSHA SHINE THROUGH THEM AS PRIESTS & TEMPLES, JUST AS HE DID !
