Solomon’s Temple (Week 26, Part 4/5) 2 Samuel; 1 Kings | June 20-26 – powered by Happy Scribe
Hello.
Hello.
I’m Lynn Hilton Wilson, here with the.
Book of Mormon central team for the Old Testament.
Come, follow me. And I’m excited to talk about the.
Dedication of Solomon’s Temple today. We’re in First Kings and I need.
To introduce First Kings. First of all, actually, the whole Book.
Of Kings was all one, and they.
Only divided it because of the length of the scrolls, just like Samuel was.
All one, and they had to divide it by the length of the leather or parchment, whatever they’re using. But as we look at this beautiful.
Beginning, we have the first eleven chapters, all on Solomon’s united monarchy. We have Solomon rising, securing the throne, even though there’s a little conflict there with his brothers.
We have Solomon’s wisdom, we have the.
Building of the temple, and then in verses nine through eleven, we begin Solomon’s.
Downfall, unfortunately, just as his father’s and just as his predecessor.
Kingsal tragic to see that so much power is used in prideful ways and.
They forget the ways of the Lord. Each of these three Kings, the next.
Section in the Book of Kings, from First Kings twelve, all the way through Second King 17, we have these parallel histories of Israel’s monarchies, and then the.
Southern tribes of Judah’s monarchies.
And then finally, at the very end of Second Kings, from chapters 18 to 25, we see the demise of Judah.
And Israel going either to the Assyrians or to the Babylonians, and it’s a tragic ending.
But as we step into the life.
Of Solomon in One Kings, we realize.
That he is initially a great man.
Of God, and that we see the Lord appearing to him twice.
In One Kings three, verse five.
And in One Kings nine, verse two.
We have these examples of the Lord.
Appearing to him and asking him what.
He would like and giving him his mantle of authority. When he is meek and humble, he is respected by not only the prophet, but by the Lord himself.
And he asks if he can build.
The temple as was promised to David.
And sure enough, the Lord allows it.
Now, the Tabernacle, david had brought the Tabernacle down to Jerusalem. Remember that before it was there, it was in two or three other places around Jerusalem, very close by, but for the majority of the time of the judges, since the time of Joshua, joshua brought the Tabernacle about 40 miles north of Jerusalem in Shiloh. Of course, Jerusalem was part of the Jesu bites then. And so we have a helpful map to see where Shiloh was, and that’s where Joshua brings the Tabernacle and sets it up there. And it’s there for almost 369 years is what most historians choose, before the Shiloh is taken down by the Philistines. And then it’s moved to Knob and to a few other places, Gibbon, and two or three other places for short periods of time before David says, I want it here on this threshing floor. And that’s where David has purchased this threshing floor on the top of Mount Mariah from one of the Jesus sites.
So that he can use this as a sacred space. He knows it is a sacred space. I believe, first of all, it’s where his plague stopped.
So he knows that God stopped the plague there, which is so symbolic. I’ll talk a lot more about that symbolism with our Savior on Mount Mariah and Abraham and Mount Mariah in my podcast, where I have a little bit more time. But I would like to focus my.
Time here on this little short clip.
On this temple dedication and bringing in the sacred pieces.
Solomon begins building the temple on his fourth year of raining.
He has to get things in order and immediately begins using all the supplies that his father’s gathered. He maintains the alliances with hiring of Tyre and all of his workmen. And he begins this enormous project of building a beautiful house of God in a sacred space.
And it takes him seven years from his fourth year to his 11th year.
Ironically, he takes more time to build his own palace, which is even more gorgeous. But he says in one Kings, chapter five, verse five, that I purpose to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord.
Spake unto David my father.
He wants to follow in the righteous.
Steps of his father and not in his wicked steps, but unfortunately he does both, as we know later on. One of the things that’s mentioned that’s brought into the temple is this enormous molten sea.
And in a landlocked city, you don’t have lakes and things. You have one source of water, the.
Ghost spring that David was able to.
Use to climb up to conquer the Jeb juiceite nation. And this then becomes a place of washings and anointing. It’s an enormous the diameter is about 15ft in diameter. So the size of a normal bedroom or something. Well, for some people in a normal bedroom size of a room, 15ft in diameter is the breeze. And see, and then it’s seven and a half feet high, five cubits, seven.
And a half feet high, and it.
Holds 2000 baths of water. Now, there’s a range of what a bath of water means, but it’s approximately, give or take a few gallons, 12,000 gallons.
This is an enormous hot tub or a small swimming pool and it was used for their washings. And we learned that from Dr. Covenant, section 124. The Lord taught Joseph in verses 38 and 39, quote I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was therefore verily.
I say unto you that your washings.
And your anointings and then he goes.
On and talks about them are now to be taken place in the restored Gospel as they were at the time of Moses. And so we believe that this brazen.
Sea or the molten sea was used.
As a place of washings. And this is also where future kings will be.
Anointed.
The inner sanctuary of the temple is divided into two rooms the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place is 30 x 60 x 30 is all decorated in gold and beautiful inlays of creation themes. And it’s to look like the Garden of Eden. And we know that initially in the Tabernacle there were just three pieces of furniture in this larger room, the one.
Menorah, the one incense altar and the one table of the shoe bread or.
The bread of his presence.
But now we have multiple menorah in.
This larger room, as well as the two tables.
They were very small, though just 18 inches square and 24 inches by 18 inches. But we have beautiful figures of trees and pomegranates and bushes here to make it look like a Garden of Eden.
And many artists have taken their hand to what it would have looked like.
And I’ve got just a few examples here. We do know that the Holy of Holies was accessed up to a higher level, and in the Tabernacle it was separated by a veil of fabric. But in Solomon’s temple it was made into wood and the separation was a folding wooden panel that acted as a veil in between the two rooms. And the Ark of the Covenant was.
Taken into that sacred space and placed.
Under the wings of these two enormous cherubim. Remember, the word angel is a messenger of Jehovah and oftentimes a cherubim is used as an angel of God.
Many artists choose to pick the angels as if they were from Egyptian art.
I personally don’t think that that’s what they look like. I think that they would have been following the direction of the prophet and guide in making this. But different artists have their own interpretation of how this would have looked. We just had the responsibility of going.
Back to First Kings, chapter eight, and reading verses one and two. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and the heads of the tribes, the chief of their fathers and the children of Israel, and to Jerusalem at the.
Feast in the 7th month. And remember, the year started.
Moses was commanded by the Lord to begin the year at Passover.
So that was their first month.
And on the 10th day they brought in the lamb and on the 14th day they slaughtered the lamb. Well, now we’re around to the autumn.
Time of the year in the 7th month.
And this was usually their feast of the Tabernacles, when they reenacted those 40.
Years in the wilderness and people lived in the booths. It’s very consistent with what we find at the coronation from King Benjamin to King Mosaic.
And we believe by looking at the details of what said in King Benjamin sermon, that King Benjamin was probably doing this when everyone had been gathered to the temple for the Feast of the Tabernacles, just as Solomon is here gathering.
People to Jerusalem for this dedication of the temple during the Feast of the Tabernacles.
I’ll continue reading. In chapter eight, verses three and four, all the elders of Israel came, and the priests, and they brought up the ark of the Lord and all the holy vessels. So David was allowed to make some of them, solomon was allowed to make more.
We have gold pitchers and cups and.
All sorts of instruments, and they’re brought up and in verse six, it reads that the priests brought the ark of.
The covenant of the Lord to the most holy place.
And because they’re doing it under proper.
Authority, because they’re doing it under the.
Direction of the Lord, because they have been cleansed and are purified, there is no danger in doing this. We know that the ark in the.
Book of Judges and other times when.
People had tried to steady the ark, there were catastrophes that happened and their lives were taken. But when used properly, the power and.
Authority of God can be a blessing. And that’s exactly what we see here in chapter eight.
Now, verse nine goes out of its way to say there was nothing in the ark save the two tablets of stone which Moses put there. So that means we’ve lost the other two items that were there when Moses.
First created it, and that was the golden bowl of manna and Aaron’s rod that had butted into the almonds when.
His authority was challenged.
I think this is very significant that.
Those two things have been lost because.
They are asking now for a king.
And they’ve been asking for a king with Saul and David and again with Samuel.
And the authority of God is not represented anymore in the Ark of the Covenant.
Now, Solomon is still God’s choice, but.
Solomon does not live up to God’s authority because he does not follow God’s commandments. I do not think Solomon was reading.
The book of the Law, as it was commanded that a king should do. Deuteronomy 17 describes exactly what a king.
Should do, and he does not seem to be doing that. And as a result, he’s led away over time from the God of Jehovah to worship the gods of the Egyptians and his other foreign wives. It’s absolutely tragic.
But returning back to this happy Dedicatory prayer and day, in verse ten, it reads that the cloud came over the area of the tabernacle of the temple. Quote for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And we’re taught that Solomon begins his Dedicatory prayer with his arms raised to heaven, and he has a beautiful prayer that goes on and on.
In chapter eight, we also see a similar outline and similar phrases used in.
The pattern that Joseph Smith used in.
Section 109 that he was inspired to write down and then read at the Dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland temple.
And our other temples after that have also followed the same pattern. I’ve just chosen a few of the phrases right at the beginning. Section 109, verse 123 begins thanks be.
To the name, o Lord God of Israel, who keep us the covenants and.
Show us mercy, and to all thy servants who walk uprightly before thee with all their hearts. And we see the same thing if we look at One Kings eight, verse.
23, the Lord God of Israel, there.
Is no God like thee in heaven.
Above or an earth beneath who keep.
Us covenants and mercy with thy servants that have walked before thee with all their heart.
So although it’s not word for word.
And I chose some examples that were very consistent.
You can see parallels here.
And they go on. And I’ve got another example in verse.
24 of Just the idea where Solomon.
Says in chapter eight, verse 24 that God speaks also with thy mouth to this day. And then in section 109, he says that thy servants have done according to.
Thy commandments or the messages that have come out of thy mouth. So it’s similar messages even though they’re doing different words as he goes through.
And as we continue on, there’s a few differences and a few more similarities. I’ll just point out one more similarity, but I’d encourage you to open up section 109 and open up One Kings chapter eight and find them yourselves, because it’s really a sweet and beautiful study. Verse 29 reads in Kings, chapter eight, my name shall be there that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy.
Servant shall make toward this place.
And then in verse 29, thy name shall be put in this house, O Lord, thy servants have been innocent before thy, being thy name, that they have suffered these things.
And it goes on and on. I believe that the restoration is from.
God and that we see the pattern when God is organizing in the ancient.
Texts of the Bible, and we see similar patterns in our modern restoration.
May we follow our prophet, may we follow and choose to follow our King of Kings.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. You.
Guest Author
dyejo
