4: 1 Kings 5-8:21: God's Temple

It's all about the temple today as the author of 1 Kings goes to town on describing it, and we're excited to delve into the riches of these details, ultimately showing us how it's fulfilled in Christ.

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Transcript

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Sarah: You're listening to the Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English-style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book over the course of the season and drive it to our hearts. And this season, we're in the first 11 chapters of One Kings. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we are so pleased you're here.

Felicity: We've been very much enjoying P&R's resources and in particular this series of booklets called Heart Talks. I'm sure that whether we're a mother ourselves or not, we're all rubbing shoulders with mums and the topic of parenting slips in and out of conversation. What about when someone says they feel like a failure as a mother? How do we respond in the moment, but also how do we engage in the deeper questions and assumptions that are in play behind that statement? Sarah Wallace is an experienced mother, and I really appreciate her wisdom and biblically grounded counsel in this booklet. She tackles the heart, but also considers the actual reality of what we might say, as well as practical suggestions to help. I love that she also considered what this conversation might look like with an unbeliever. Grab a copy wherever you get your books there are links in the show notes.

Sarah: Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea. My name is Sarah, I live in the UK. I'm here with my sister Felicity who lives in the States and today we're jumping into One King's chapter five through to chapter eight verse 21. So it is a big chunk today and we hope we'll be able to give you a good flavour of it of where we've got to in our conversation and thoughts on it and as ever it is just the starter of a conversation for you as well. Felicity, I'm looking forward to getting into this. Before we get there though, just in terms of how we approach such a big chunk of scripture like this, how did we get into it for ourselves? Give us a flavour of what that has looked like for you.

Felicity: Well, as ever with a narrative, then reading it and listening to it, like the repeated kind of act of that is really helpful. So the more I read it, the more I get a flavour for where the author is wanting to take us. I do try and break it up. So I'm not I'm not trying to like that's quite unwieldy, isn't it? Especially especially our portion today. So I've kind of first of all, I go with the sort of chapter headings and then I decide, is that right? Is that do I think they've they've decided divided it where I would divide it? I've been really thankful for the help of others. We're definitely not doing this on our own. There are some two or three great books out there. I've been really helped by Dig Deeper Into One and Two Kings by Andrew Sach and Alastair Henderson. And then there's also a commentary, I preach the word commentary that I found helpful as well, John Woodhouse, who just has a lot of joy in One Kings actually. He's just a really joyful kind of like expository of it. What about you? How have you got going?

Sarah: Yeah I think very similar to you. think what what Sach's book does really well is they they kind of use the tools, the Bible tools that we've been kind of using all the way through our conversations in different seasons to just help you notice things. So noticing for example that in chapter five verse five here we've got the kind of desire to build the temple for the name of the Lord and that also comes in chapter eight verse 20 so that kind of the end of the section and so it's a kind of sandwich of everything in the middle is to do with this temple that just really helped us to think actually yeah we probably should split chapter eight in half we're going to take the first half with the building of the temple and then next week we're going to do the prayer and dedicating the temple so that's why we actually just kind of split chapter eight in half like that, so those little things I think have just been really helpful and as ever the repeated words repeated phrases that's really helped me just in thinking through actually wow there's quite a lot to do here with the Exodus and Egypt and that's surprising and writing down those surprises and coming back to them as you read through and listen through again and just kind of starting to get a feel for what is the author trying to tell me here and so those kind of things. What we're gonna do, yeah.

Felicity: I think there's just, it's helpful to see that we are not finishing it. Like we're starting, like we're kind of starting where we're at and every time we get into this, there's more stuff that we come across and we're not seeking to just kind of, we're not landing it as such. There's just a lot.

Sarah: Just a lot and so yeah expect that in our conversation today for sure. So what we're to do I'm going to kind of summarize just what's happening in chapter five and then Felicity are going to read a little bit of chapter six for us. So we've just had this kind glorious picture of the kingdom haven't we in chapters three and four that we talking about last week and then we get a foreigner here I'm king of Tyre relating with Solomon about the temple being built and so preparations are made for this temple, the long awaited temple to be built and the scale of this temple is just quite extraordinary. The numbers in chapter five really kind of help us to see what is at stake here as the temple starts to be built. Felicity, you're gonna then read for us chapter six verses one to 14.

Felicity: Here we go.

In the 480th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the Temple of the Lord. The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 60 cubits long, 20 wide and 30 high. The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is 20 cubits, and projected 10 cubits from the front of the temple. He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. Against the walls of the main hall and in a sanctuary, he built a structure around the building in which there were side rooms. The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls. In building the temple only blocks dressed at the quarry were used and no hammer chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks and he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar. The word of the Lord came to Solomon, ask for this temple you are building if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father and I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel. So Solomon built the temple and completed it.

Sarah: Brilliant, okay so we've got at the beginning of this chapter a real marker in Scripture haven't we? In the sense that in the 480th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt it just kind of tells us this is something important, this is a nail in the ground of the big story of salvation.

Felicity: Yeah, think that's, so that is, this is, this is like the next big moment, isn't it? So if Exodus is all about the rescue of the people, the redemption of the people, the temple is all about, as we hear in verse 13, God living amongst his people, then actually Exodus redeemed for relationship with God and so and this is the means by which that is going to happen and like when we say temple for us you know in our context that maybe doesn't have quite the same implication as it does for the original readers because without a temple without a place where God dwells not literally dwells but where his name is then the people are unable to be in relationship with the Lord and it's been happening previously through the tabernacle that kind of makeshift tent back in Exodus in the desert and numbers as they've been making their way to the promised land. And it's been happening, as we've heard, we mentioned last week, we've had sacrifices and things happening in front of the ark, sometimes in front of the high places, which hasn't been good. But what we have here, as the temple has been built, with all the detail, all these cubits and, you know, burnished bronze and all these things, we have the means by which God is gonna meet with his people.

Sarah: Yeah, so helpful and just so helpful that distinction of, well the journey from redeemed to four relationship that is just so helpful and something to really kind of keep our, keep remembering as we go through this. I'm just still just really struck as you read that I'm just still really struck by verse seven. No hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. Like the idea of building something on this scale in silence, in real kind of hushed tones, in irreverent awe of what they were doing, of the project that they were undertaking. That just- I love those kind of details. And I love as we go on into chapter six, we see the extent, the repetition of gold, pure gold, gold, gold, gold, the cherubim, the flowers, the Eden-like picture again that we're being given of wow for man to dwell with God, for God to dwell with man, that takes us back to Eden and the beauty of that and it's fleshed out in the decoration and in the kind of actual construction of the temple here.

Felicity: Yeah, it's bigger and better than the Tabernacle has been, isn't it? So there's a kind of significance, you're right, the Edenic kind of echoes here. But also, lots of these details, there'll be a familiarity to that if you spent any time in Exodus. There's a familiarity to it, but it's bigger. And so it's kind of more significant, more, it's not permanent. If you look through Salvation history, it's not permanent in that sense, but in this moment, it's as permanent as it's ever been. This is like a well established temple and it takes seven years to build, which is understandable if you're not going to use a hammer, I think.

Sarah: Yeah, that, yeah. Yes! But then that's the jarring thing isn't it because actually you get to the beginning of chapter seven, well end of chapter six it says he'd spent seven years building it and then the next breath we read this in chapter seven verse one, it took Solomon 13 years however to complete the construction of his palace. The big thrust of all these chapters is the temple and we want to keep our focus there. But as we talk about these major and minor themes, it's just really worth highlighting the author does that for us. He takes us there and he just kind of puts in there that a little kind of uncomfortable nod to, hang on a second, you're telling me that it took Solomon twice as long to build his palace and it's actually far bigger than the temple. Whoa, that's a jarring kind of note, isn't it, in the middle of all this temple building.

Felicity: Yeah, I think that's right. But as we then, we hear that, and I think it's again, it's like one of those that are like, just jot it down on your notepad, kind of just take a note of that. That is like the minor note, but the major notes, they really dominate here. As we move into then, basically the most amazing worship service as we get into chapter eight. Should I read those chapter eight verses now?

Sarah: Yeah, so we've got just thinking through the rest of chapter 7, it's then kind of the going to town on the decorations, isn't it? And again, the amount of gold and the decorations. then chapter 8, you're going to read from verse 10, aren't you? To just describe what's going on.

Felicity: Okay, so we've got everyone being summoned into the temple. So this is it. Gather everyone. The ark is being brought in. And this is what Solomon says. 

So when the priest withdrew from the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priest could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. Then Solomon said, the Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud. I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever. While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned round and blessed them. Then he said, praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my name might be there. But I have chosen David to rule my people Israel. My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, you did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my name. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood, he is the one who will build the temple for my name. The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David, my father, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised. And I've built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. I've provided a place there for the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt. 

I think it's worth just saying there is no way that God can be contained in a temple. This is not God Himself contained in a building. I don't know whether you heard in the repetition there, the name of the Lord. So in verse 17, in my heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord, for the name of the Lord, the name of Lord. So this is like a representation of God's name that enables them people to be in relationship with Him.

Sarah: Yeah, which Solomon then in our next, as we get into next week, his first line of his prayer basically says that, doesn't he? He's like, how could you possibly dwell in something made by human hands? But I think it is really important to just kind of underline that, isn't it? And yet the glory, the wonder, the grandeur of this moment cannot be lost on us, even though it's the name rather than God himself in the sense that verses 10, when the priest withdrew from the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. The glory of the Lord filled his temple. The weight of God's glory filled the temple. Something that we saw back in Exodus, and something that you've been, you've really helped me, you've spent more time in Exodus than me recently, and you've been really helpful at just kind of showing me the significance of these things. But just that moment for the people, that moment of acknowledging God dwelling with his people. We roll it off our tongues now because we know that in Christ we have that reality fleshed out. But for the people back then, let's just stick in their shoes just for a moment longer to just appreciate the weightiness of this moment.

Felicity: I mean, it must have been terrifying. If you think back to Exodus and like the God coming to his people, like Moses was only allowed to go up onto the mountain to meet him and even then he had to hide behind a rock in order to be in the presence of God. And there's often thunder and lightning and all these kind of things. And here we have God's glory in the temple and the people, and Solomon's just gathered everyone in here. He's not said, everyone go hide behind a rock. He's like, no, no, this, so it's a huge, huge moment in terms of God's and his people and fulfilment of those promises. There's a lot of covenant fulfilment in here, isn't there? Solomon says it again and again, you said it to my father, it's happening. You said it to my father, but there's more than that. There's Genesis level kind of fulfilment here, that God will be with his people. And here we have it. Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah. And here we have it. here, and we cannot help but head to Jesus in this, we? As the one, Emmanuel, God with us. John says in John chapter one, we have seen his glory. I mean, there's so many different places that we could take this Felicity in terms of how we drive this to Jesus and then to our own hearts. But again, the sitting in the weightiness of this is God's desire from day one of creation to dwell with his people. It's being made a reality here. It was made a sure reality when Jesus came and the kind of ongoing, the ongoing nature of that promise to dwell with his people continues by his spirit. I mean, I find it quite overwhelming to know where to land here and how to kind of even have these conversations.

Felicity: I think that there's so much, we've said that to each other quite a lot haven't we, like, we could go down this line, we could go down this line. I think that Jesus himself talks about himself as the temple, doesn't he? And so in that, we have a clear indicator that as we're considering the temple being the means by which God is with his people, Jesus is that temple, the permanent temple, the one who stepped down from heaven in his glory, as he threw off his glory in order that he might dwell with us and through what he did on the cross, permanently enabling us to be in relationship with the Lord and as we see the awe and wonder here and we're wowed by just what is going on here, that is exponentially greater as we consider Jesus. And interestingly, Jesus, you know, he became man, he kind of took steps down and down. He's not temple glory in this sense.

Sarah: No, I think that really has struck me thinking about this, that actually Solomon, no expense spared here for the temple and for the glory and the grandeur of this moment, but actually Jesus, the Philippians language of he humbled himself and became nothing, he became a servant, he left the glories of heaven and lived a life that was nothing, nothing showy, there was no pomp or circumstance and yet he himself was the very glory of God in flesh and just, just, yeah, just dwelling on God's heart again, his desire to dwell with his people and that seeing that fleshed out in Jesus and I feel like we need to go back to beginning of John's Gospel and go all the way through here on seeing that but even just the moment here the moment where this happens here is the feast of tabernacles and we've explored that a little bit before in John's Gospel the kind of the kind of celebrating God dwelling with his people and this is happening in this moment here and again that fulfillment in Jesus and yeah yeah

Felicity: And I heard there's so much of servanthood as we look to Jesus in that. And we've caught glimpses of that in how Solomon has been conducting himself, haven't we? I love that, that we see Solomon wanting to serve the people as he asks for wisdom. We see him loving the prostitutes in that compassionate tenderness. We see him gathering the people here in the temple in order to, and we're going to see it more and more as he goes into the prayer. And we catch sight of that in Solomon and we love that unambiguous servanthood, glory that we see in Jesus. And we can rest in him. And as we rest in him, we rest in the presence of the Lord. And what more can we want than to be in the presence of God? Who has made himself known through that same Jesus. So we see glimpses of it in Solomon. We love the King, we love Jesus, and we love that because of him we can rest in his presence. I feel like it's like a big exhale of like, praise the Lord, this is just the biggest gift.

Sarah: And just the sweetest gospel, the gospel becomes all the more sweeter, doesn't it? Christ becomes all the more glorious as we see him fleshed out in context of what we're seeing here. Felicity, would you pray for us as we close?

Felicity: Yeah, I love to. Father, we praise you so much for your King. We praise you for how we see glimpses of that here in Solomon, but we praise you most of all for Jesus. Thank you that you are a God who not only redeems, but dwells with his people. And we pray, Father, that we would be just thrilled all over again that we through Christ can dwell with you, that we're in relationship with you, help us to run fast towards you in every area of our lives. We pray that we would delight in who we are as your people in relationship with you. And we pray this in your name. Amen.

Sarah: Amen. Well, temple done? No!

Felicity: Tick it off. no, hang on. Go back and start all over again and just learn more. There's so much. I really, we really hope, we really hope that you're grabbing a friend to do this with, we? Because these conversations are so helpful just to be talking it through with someone else.

Sarah: Yeah, yeah, teasing through what, yeah, all the things. We will be back next week for the kind of second half of chapter eight where Solomon prays the most incredible prayer and we cannot wait to get into that with you. So we look forward to seeing you then.

Felicity: See you then. This episode has been sponsored by P&R Publishing.