Bible in One Year Day 149 (1 Kings 7, Ecclesiastes 1 - 3, Psalm 5)

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Day 149: All is Vanity 

Agape Bible Study 

1 Kings 7 

The Temple of Yahweh and Solomon's Palace on Mount Moriah

 

This is an artist's suggested floor plan of Solomon's Temple
and Palace complex on Mt. Moriah

Chapter 7: The Temple of Yahweh and Solomon's Palace on Mount Moriah

1 Kings 7:1-14 ~ Solomon's Palace Complex

Solomon began building the Temple of Yahweh on Mount Moriah in the fourth year of his reign and completed the Temple seven years later.  He then began building his palace after the Temple was completed, also on Mount Moriah, and completed it thirteen years later.  He spent 20 years building the Temple and his palace on Mt. Moriah.

Solomon's palace was located on Mt. Moriah, south of the Temple, and it was probably separated from the Temple by the wall of the Temple's inner court, with both the Temple and the palace enclosed by the wall of a great court. Within the palace complex there were three halls that were used for official functions:
The House of the Forest of Lebanon: The name of this building came from the many columns of cedar wood that supported the roof of the structure that gave it the appearance of a forest.  It was c. 150 feet (c. 46 meters) long, c. 75 feet (c. 23 meters) wide, and c. 45 feet (c. 13.5 meters) high.  It was much larger than the Temple and served as both a reception hall and an armory (1 Kng 10:16-17, 21; Is 22:8). 

There were three stories of windows along the long walls, with each window facing across from the window on the opposite wall.  The windows and door frames were rectangular and not arched.  The roof was made of 45 cedar beams, 15 beams to each row resting on the columns. 

The Hall (Porch) of the Pillars: In the front of the building, he made a colonnade or a porch of columns c. 75 feet (c. 23 meters) long and 45 feet (c. 13.5 meters) wide.  There is some confusion as to whether this was a separate structure of if the porch extended the length of the columned hall. The 'in front" could refer to in front of the columns or in front of the hall.

The Hall of the Throne: 
The dimensions of this hall are not given but the hall was also paneled in cedar.  Solomon's golden throne is described in 1 Kings 10:18-20a ~ The king also made a great ivory throne which he overlaid with refined gold.  The throne had six steps, a back with a rounded top, and arms on each side of the seat; two lions stood beside the arms, and twelve lions stood on each side of the six steps. 

1 Kings 7:13-14 ~ Hiram the master bronze worker
Question: What was Hiram's ethnic background and profession?

Answer: He was the son of a bronze worker from the Phoenician city of Tyre and an Israelite woman from the northern tribes of either Naphtali or Dan.  He was a master craftsman who worked in bronze.

1 Kings 7:15-22 ~ The Temple's bronze pillars

Hiram made two, hollow free standing bronze columns and placed them to the right and left of the Temple porch.  The names of the pillars are related to God's divine power/strength (Boaz) and founding/establishing (Yakin) of the Temple and the covenant people.  

1 Kings 7:23-26 ~ The Temple's Bronze Sea

See 2 Chronicles 4:2-5 for the parallel passage.  2,000 measures equate to 11,500 gallons.  The bulls represented strength and bulls were the sin sacrifice for a chief priest (Lev 4:3).  That there were twelve bull statues probably represents the twelve tribes of Israel whom the chief priests serve as God's representatives.  The "sea" was used for ritual washing of the priests' hands and feet before entering the Sanctuary or approaching the altar of sacrifice.  The original water basin made for the desert Sanctuary was much more modest.  The purpose for the basin is clearly intended for the chief priests who are the descendants of Aaron: Whenever they are to enter the Tent of Meeting, they will wash, to avoid incurring death; and whenever they approach the altar for their service, to burn an offering for Yahweh, they will wash their hands and feet, to avoid incurring death.  This is a perpetual decree for him and his descendants for all their generations to come (Ex 30:17-21; also see Ex 38:8).

Image of the Bronze Sea from the Jewish Enclyclopedia

1 Kings 7:27-39 ~ The wheeled stands and their bronze water basins
The Temple faced the east with the Holy of Holies in the west.  The basins were placed on the north and south sides of the main Temple building.  The Great Bronze Altar of Sacrifice and the Great Sea were placed in the courtyard in front of the Temple.  In the desert Sanctuary the Sea was directly in front of the entrance to the Holy Place and the Altar was directly east of the Sea (Ex 40:30), but most drawings of Solomon's Temple have these two large structures side by side or the Sea slightly to the south of the Altar.  There are no location instructions in either Kings or Chronicles and so it seems more likely that the locations of the Sea and the Altar would copy the original instructions God gave to Moses in Exodus 40:30.

1 Kings 7:40-51 ~ The summary of the bronze objects Hiram made for the Temple

See the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 4:11-18.  The sacred utensils were used for trimming the wicks of the lamps for the lampstands, scoops for collecting the ash from the sacrificial altar and the incense altar, for carrying the live coals from the sacrificial altar to the incense altar, etc.; the type of metal used identified the space where the utensils were used: gold for the Holy Place and bronze for the courtyard of the bronze altar of sacrifice with the exception of the chalices/bowls for collecting the blood of the sacrificed animal which was made of solid gold (1 Kng 7:50; 2 Chr 4:8, 16). 

the gold table for the loaves of permanent offering ...
Verse 48 and the parallel passage in the Septuagint only mentions a single golden table to hold the Bread of the Presence (Face) of God like Exodus 25:23-30 and 37:10-16.  However, 2 Chronicles 4:8 and the parallel passage in the Septuagint mentions ten tables and 1 Chronicles 28:16 and the Septuagint have the information that these ten tables were covered in silver and not gold. This presents a conundrum. Most commentators assume that there were ten tables and ten lampstands. It is possible; however, that there was one main gold covered table for the Bread of the Presence as commanded in Exodus but with additional silver tables available when hundreds chief priests served in the Temple on the pilgrim feast days and one golden Lampstand/Menorah with additional silver lampstands and lamps for lighting the larger space.

The desert Tabernacle had seven kinds of furnishings but Solomon's Temple had eight.  Summary of the types of furnishings for Solomon's Temple:

1. The Ark of the Covenant: Israel's most sacred shrine that held the covenant documents of the Ten Commandments.  It resided in the Holy of Holies.
2. The Mercy-seat: The solid golden lid of the Ark of the Covenant where God dwelled in the midst of His people between the wings of the figures of the golden cherubim.
3. Incense Altar: This shoulder high altar stood in front of the entrance to the Holy of Holies.  Its sweet smelling incense smoke carried the prayers of the people offered during the morning and afternoon liturgies of worship into the heavenly Sanctuary.  Also the fire pans for carrying the live coals from the Altar of Sacrifice and the censer for transporting the sacred incense.
4. Table of the Bread of the Presence (showbread):  1 Kings 7:48 has "table" in the singular but ten tables are mentioned in 2 Chronicles 4:8.  The original desert Sanctuary only had one (Ex 25:23). Every Sabbath twelve loaves of unleavened bread, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, were place on the gold plated table in the Holy Place.  Only the priests ate the leftover bread that was replaced (Ex 25:23; 37:10-16; Lev 24:5-9).
5. The Lamp stands: Ten lamp stands with seven bowls symbolized the seventy sons of Jacob-Israel who migrated into Egypt and Israel's role as a light to the nations of the world represented by the seventy nations in Genesis 10.  In the desert Sanctuary there was only one lampstand with seven lamps representing the light of God's spirit within His Temple.  There were also the gold implements associated with trimming the wicks and keeping the lampstand burning.
6. The Bronze Sea: This huge basin was for the priests to ritually cleanse their hands and feet.  The twelve bulls, three facing in each of the four cardinal directions, depicts the twelve tribes of Israel and recalls the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea out of Egypt when the children of Israel were purified of the sins of Egypt (1 Cor 10:1-2).
7. The Bronze Altar of Sacrifice: The altar where the covenant people offered God their sacrifices of whole burnt offerings, sin offerings and communion offerings; and the equipment that was associated with the altar like the ash scoops and the chalices for sprinkling and pouring blood out against the altar.
8. The ten moveable bronze lavers: Five movable bronze water basins were on the north and five on the south side of the Temple.  They were used for washing the blood off the sacrificial offerings before placing them on the altar fire or returning the body of the animal to the offerer for a communion sacrifice or to the priests for a sin sacrifice.  The movable lavers were not part of the desert Sanctuary.

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 149 The Nature of Luke’s Enrollment

CHALLENGE: “Luke says Jesus was born during a census (Luke 2:1–5), but he is wrong about its nature. It wouldn’t have been empire wide, Joseph wouldn’t have gone to Bethlehem, and Mary wouldn’t have accompanied him.”

DEFENSE: There are solutions to each challenge.

Augustus was emperor from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14, and he began the practice of empire-wide census taking: “Every five years, the Romans enumerated citizens and their property to determine their liabilities. This practice was extended to include the entire Roman Empire in 5 B.C.” (“Census,”  Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016 ed., emphasis added).

Because of the size of the empire, census taking was done in stages, taking place in different countries in different years. The decree of 5 B.C. thus likely wasn’t implemented in Palestine for a few years.

If the census was being done for tax purposes—as was normal—it would explain why Joseph returned to Bethlehem: He was from there and still had property there.

However, the enrollment may not have been a census. It may have been an event that took place in 3–2 B.C. when the people of the empire swore allegiance to Augustus (see Day 182 and 138). In this case, Joseph may have returned to Bethlehem because Israel was organized tribally, and the Romans may have used the tribal structure to ensure that the locals took the oath. Since Bethlehem was the ancestral home of Joseph’s clan, that is where he went.

Mary went with Joseph because she was his wife and she could be better cared for by him and other relatives in Bethlehem than if she were left at home. Contrary to popular depictions in art, we need not suppose that she made the journey to Bethlehem in the last stages of pregnancy. Luke merely says that “while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered” (Luke 2:6).

There are unanswered questions about this event, but Luke and his readers were familiar with the way such enrollments worked. They had taken part in such events themselves. Even skeptical scholar Raymond Brown notes: “It is dangerous to assume that [Luke] described a process of registration that would have been patently opposed to everything that he and his readers knew” (The Birth of the Messiah, 549).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist