This program of daily devotions is designed to take you through the Bible in three years. It is our desire to help you gain a better general understanding of God's Word.
Please understand that in a study this brief, we will be concerned with only the major emphases and context of the Scriptures.
Each day a devotion for one or two chapters is posted, beginning with chapter one of Genesis and going through chapter twenty-two of Revelation. You are free to print each page as it appears. If you miss a day, you may contact us and request that devotion. Please send your request, along with $.50 (p&h) for each page to:
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COMMENTARY ON GENESIS to the address above.
1KINGS
IKing 7:1
1 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
There is not a lot of detail given here about Solomon's own house. The Bible plainly says in verse 1 that he completed his "own" house. But take note of thetime difference in building. He spent seven years building god's house FIRST. Then he spent THIRTEEN years building his house.
2 He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
3 And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.
4 And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.
5 And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.
6 And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were before them.
7 Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.
8 And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.
9 All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.
10 And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
11 And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.
12 And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house.
To me, Solomon's "own" house was completed in verse 1. Now the writer begins to tell us of an armory. This army was built in the forest of Lebanon, and served both as a fortress and as a "vacation place" for Solomon and his wife.
13 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
14 He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.
When God calls for a task to be done, He always endows someone with the ability to perform it. Hiram (a half-Jew) from Tyre was that man in this instance. God had endowed him with incredible ingenuity of craftmanship. It would be his job to complete the "decorative" part of the temple.
15 For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.
16 And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:
17 And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.
18 And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.
19 And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.
20 And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
22 And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
First, Hiram built two huge columns (27 ft. in height, with a circumference of 18 ft.). On top of each of these columns he placed a 7 and 1/2 ft. brass crown (verse 16). Then each of the columns were decorated with chains, pomegranates and lily work.
23 And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
24 And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
This huge "bowl" (or pool) was for the priests to bathe when they were performing the sacrifices. IT was 14 and 1/2 feet across and would hold about 11,600 gallons of water!
27 And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
28 And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:
29 And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work.
30 And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.
31 And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.
32 And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
33 And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.
34 And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.
35 And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
36 For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.
37 After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.
38 Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
39 And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south.
The "bases" which are spoken of in this section, were actually carts with which to carry the "lavers" described in verses 38-39. These carts were very detailed and decorative.
40 And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:
41 The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;
42 And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars;
43 And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases;
44 And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;
45 And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass.
46 In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.
Hiram completed his task by making shovels and basins. All of the work he'd done had been molded and cast in the area of the "plain of Jordan" where there was an abundance of clay ground to use (verse 46).
47 And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.
48 And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was,
49 And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,
50 And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.
Solomon also saw to it that all the decorative utensils were made for the inside of the temple. We do not know if he used Hiram for this purpose, or if he used someone else. But we do know that Solomon himself saw to it that these were completed.
51 So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.
Notice that Solomon when completed the work, there were materials remaining which David had donated. Solomon brought ALL these to put in the treasury of the House of the Lord.
Please continue with us in daily Bible study.
CHAPTER 7
It seems that Solomon was filled with urgency to build God's house first, and to get it completed as quick as possible. However there is no sense of urgency about building his own house. He could have finished it quite quickly, but his focus (at this time) is on GOD!
Stone pillars were the basic foundation for the house, then four LONG (150ft) beams of cedar, then cross-beams of cedar which ran the width of the house (75ft) were set every ten feet. This makes a FIRM foundation!
Every Christian today is building a spiritual house. We need a FIRM foundation -- Jesus Christ.
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Ps 127:1 "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
Three rows of windows (verse 4) were placed on each side (facing each other) for light. Note that a wise architect will make use of God's light, so that little expense is necessary for artificial light. When we use GOD'S light, we don't need any OTHER light!
On the front of the house (verse 6) was a porch which ran the entire width of the armory and was 45 feet in depth. That's a BIG porch! To this porch was added a throne room , a small house for Solomon, and a small house for his wife (Pharoah's daughter). A king can never get totally away from his work, and should provide a place for business even in his vacation place.
A Christian should always make room for witnessing - even when on vacation!
Around this house was a courtyard. Three layers of huge 15 feet stones formed a great "fence" around the courtyard (verse 10). That's a 45 feet high fence!
Friends, when we let God be the center of our lives, and His will the focus of our attention, He will put a "hedge" (fence) around us to ward of Satan. And that "hedge" or fience will be unlimited in height and strength (see Job 1:10).
The names of these columns were "Jachin" and "Boaz." This is important. On one side of the temple stood a beautiful column that bore the name "Jachin" - which means "HE establishes." And on the other side of the temple was the beautiful matchin column named "Boaz" - which means "strength is in HIM."
Friends, nothing of value happens unless GOD establishes and strengthens it!
The pool was decorated with lily flowers and engraved knobs. (The Hebrew word for "knop" can be translated to knob or gourd, depending upon the context of the sentences in which it is used.)
The "sea" was held up with 12 oxen which faced outward, their backs being used to support the pool. The oxen were arranged in four sets of three. Three faced North, South, East and West.
The prophetic message there is that God is one day going to purify and cleanse ALL of this ole world!
Everything in God's ministry is DETAILED. The bases were designed to hold the lavers and to move them around. These lavers were used to wash the sacrifices. Each of the 10 lavers would hold about 240 gallons of water.
God has ONE central focus in the Christian religion - JESUS CHRIST! God also has many churches which carry that gospel around the world!
When God calls a man to a task, He not only endows the man with the ability, but also provides the "means" for the work!
Hiram completed all his work according to Solomon's designing (which he had received from David, which he had received from God). Then Hiram surrendered all to Solomon.
Friends, whatever we are called to do for our King Jesus, we should do to His specifications and then surrender it to Him for His glory!
Now that means something to me. Jesus said in John 14:2,
"..I go to prepare a place for you.."
Solomon, as king of Israel, is acting out symbolically what Jesus our Lord does for us in glory! Jesus is King of kings, Lord of lords. HE prepares Holiness, the Perfect Rigteousness, the Light of Truth, the prayers of intercession for our souls! HE prepares the entrance to the Holy of Holies, where He Himself sits enthroned in golden aura.
God provides ABUNDANT supply of all our needs. There is always MORE than we need to do any task which He assigns.