Tag Archives: Temple of Solomon

1 Kings 9 Solomon’s Second Vision and Continued Reign

1 Kings 9: 1-9 Solomon’s Second Vision of the LORD

¹ When Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, ² the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time. ⁴ As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, ⁵ then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them; and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will become a proverb and a taunt among all peoples. ⁸ This house will become a heap of ruins; everyone passing by it will be astonished, and will hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ Then they will say, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them; therefore the LORD has brought this disaster upon them.'”

This second appearance of the LORD to Solomon echoes the covenantal themes that have recurred throughout the initial eight chapters of 1 Kings. Although the consequences for turning aside from keeping the commandments and statutes of the LORD is spoken in more ominous tones directly from the mouth of God, we’ve seen the necessity of obedience in David’s words to Solomon (2:2-4), in the LORD’s first appearance to Solomon (3:14), the word of the LORD during the construction of the temple (6: 11-13), and from Solomon’s own mouth in the extended prayer of dedication (8:22-53). The dedication of the temple and the sacrifices offered there are not enough, nor are they primary to the LORD. The timing of this divine visitation and its charge and warnings should alert us to the danger that Solomon faces as his material prosperity continues. Knowing the failures of the end of Solomon’s reign this warning at the apex of his success may help the attentive reader begin to see that Solomon, “did not fail overnight; darker strands and shadows are revealed, indicating the deep flaws that threatened the impressive national enterprise.” (Israel, 2013, p. 113)

The LORD’s response to Solomon indicates that God is listening to the prayers offered at the temple and that God continues to fix God’s vision and God’s will upon this place where the people can come to offer their petitions and their sacrifices. Yet, it is not Solomon who has consecrated the temple but the LORD. The covenant is once again restated and Solomon who earlier asked for wisdom is again offered the path of wisdom. In stark language the cost of disobedience is spelled out and the presence of the temple is not a guarantee of God’s protection if the people and their king do not practice obedience. The city, the temple and the nation of Israel are all contingent on the provision of the LORD and if they turn away they will be an example that others will ‘hiss’ at to avoid sharing their curse as they pass by.[1] Solomon is asked to navigate the uneasy tension between his consolidation of power and wealth in his ‘royal growth economy’ (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 128) and the principles of the Law of God.

1 Kings 9: 10-14 Entanglement with the Ways of Tyre and Egypt

⁰ At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house, ¹¹ King Hiram of Tyre having supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. ¹³ Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day. ¹⁴ But Hiram had sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the LORD and his own house, the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer ¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it down, had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; ¹⁷ so Solomon rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, within the land, ¹⁹ as well as all of Solomon’s storage cities, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build, in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel — ²¹ their descendants who were still left in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely — these Solomon conscripted for slave labor, and so they are to this day. ²² But of the Israelites Solomon made no slaves; they were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariotry and cavalry.

²³ These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her; then he built the Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being on the altar that he built for the LORD, offering incense before the LORD. So he completed the house.

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea,¹in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir, and imported from there four hundred twenty talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

Many readers of 1 Kings will see chapters nine and ten as a testament to Solomon’s wise management of the kingdom of Israel, but on closer inspection it is clear that something is amiss in the administration of Solomon. Solomon has become entangled in the ways of King Hiram of Tyre and the Pharaoh of Egypt. In this and the following chapter the word gold is written seventeen times and this gold standard illustrates Solomon’s focus on indulgence and extravagance. (Israel, 2013, p. 116) The arrangement with King Hiram was dependent on the continued agricultural prosperity of the land of Israel, but now Solomon has either fallen in arears in his payments to Hiram or is so desperate for gold that he hands over twelve towns in the northern part of the kingdom. The area which the displeased King of Tyre labels ‘Cabul’ is an agriculturally prosperous region, and we have no indication of why Hiram is unhappy with the transaction. It is possible that Hiram is continuing to attempt to manipulate the deal in his favor or that the recording of this being unpleasing land softens the domestic blow for Solomon. Regardless, the ceding of a portion of the land to another nation in exchange for gold (and perhaps debt relief) indicates that the land and the people are less important to Solomon than gold.

We return to the use of forced labor again, and now (in contrast to 5:27-30) the text indicates that it is only other conquered people who are used in forced labor. Yet, the scale of these projects would probably be impossible without the employment of the people of Israel in all these projects. Even if it is only the Canaanites who are now placed in forced labor, this casts Solomon in a similar light as Pharaoh. In addition to the temple and Solomon’s houses there are several other major projects listed: the Millo (likely a terrace system on the eastern side of Jerusalem), walled cities (the primary defensive structure of the time), cities for storage, and for his military garrisons. The last two again parallel Solomon and Pharaoh. The word for ‘storage cities’ (arei miskenot)[2] recalls Israel’s enslavement in Egypt, but now Solomon is the king. (Israel, 2013, p. 117) Solomon’s adoption of an army built around chariots and cavalry also is adopting the primary weapons utilized by Egypt, and this is the item a king of Israel is not to go to Egypt to acquire (Deuteronomy 17: 16). In addition we are reminded of this connection by the mention of Pharaoh’s daughter who Solomon has already constructed a house for.

Finally Solomon continues his alliance with Tyre and learning the ways of this seafaring and trading nation. It is interesting that Solomon constructs his fleet in Ezion Geber in Edom which gives him access to the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea to the south instead of the Great Sea ‘what we call the Mediterranean) in the west. Solomon may no longer be in control of the Philistine territories that his father David subdued, or it may be in Tyre’s best interest to have access to the southern passage which leads to Ethiopia (Cush) and Eastern Africa. Once again the adoption of the ways of Tyre brings Solomon additional wealth from Ophir, but Solomon’s use of wisdom for the acquisition of larger quantities of gold and other objects of luxury, his emulation of the ways of Pharaoh and King Hiram, and his continual employment of forced labor placed alongside his continued piety at the temple suggest the deep flaws in this national enterprise. Solomon seems to have gained the world but to have sold his soul of the nation for gold.

[1] This is a phrase used in Jeremiah 18:16 and 19:8 as Jeremiah attempts to warn the people of God’s coming judgment. (Cogan, 2001, p. 296)

[2] Only used here and in Exodus 1:11 (Cogan, 2001, p. 303)

1 Kings 8 The Dedication of the Temple

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James Tissot, Solomon Dedicates the Temple (1896-1902)

1 Kings 8: 1-26 The Dedication of the Temple Begins

¹ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. ² All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ³ And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. ⁴ So they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁶ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. ⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

¹² Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. ¹³ I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

¹⁴ Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵ He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ ¹⁷ My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, ‘You did well to consider building a house for my name; ¹⁹ nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ ²⁰ Now the LORD has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ²¹ There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. ²³ He said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, ²⁴ the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. ²⁵ Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ ²⁶ Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.

The Construction and dedication of the temple of Solomon covers three long chapters of First Kings and this is the high point of the royal-temple establishment. To mark the beginning of the era of the temple of Solomon we have a complex interweaving of prayer and cultic leadership bringing together multiple theological perspective in this one recorded action. The generation of scholars who looked to discern the source material could easily find distinct theological voices which were brought together in this critical moment in the history of Israel. All wrapped up within this long celebration are things reflective of Israel’s past, the celebration of the completion of this massive project under Solomon, but it also foreshadows the future that Israel will encounter as Israel begins the long decent from this moment of jubilation.

The dedication of the temple occurs almost an entire year after its completion. This likely occurs to dedicate the temple during the festival of Succoth which marks the ending of the harvest and enables the people to be away from their fields for an extended period. The leaders of the tribes are the first people listed along with the elders of Israel, but as we have seen Solomon has also been replacing the traditional tribal leadership with a different set of leaders over the twelve regions of Israel. The ark of the covenant is brought to its new home in the temple with the priests bearing it like they did in previous ages, but now instead of a tent that travels with the ark there is a ‘permanent’ resting place. However, the poles extend beyond the dimensions of the inner sanctuary and their continued presence in the ark may highlight both the inability of the sanctuary to contain the LORD the God of Israel as well as the continued mobility of the God of Israel.

Yet, there is a shift of gravity taking place in Solomon’s dedication from the time when God did not choose any city or any tribe to build a house to the location of the temple in the city of David. Jerusalem now becomes Zion, the city of David and the city of the house of the LORD. The temple is intended to be a resting place for God and Solomon at his most audacious declares that this exalted house is to be a place where the LORD can ‘dwell’ forever. Yet, even within verse twelve and thirteen there is a tension not reflected in English. The LORD has declared that God will dwell (tabernacle-Hebrew sakan) in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell (be enthroned- Hebrew yasab) forever. (NIB III:70) The subtle change in wording may not seem like much but the divine promise to tabernacle or dwell among the people in their movement where the divine freedom is preserved, and God’s dwelling is conditional upon the people’s obedience to the commandments, ordinances, and statutes God has given them. Solomon’s enthroning notion in relation to God in the temple has the connotation of sitting permanently. Yet, as we saw in God’s words to Solomon in 1 Kings 5: 11-13, God’s presence and blessing is always conditional upon the obedience to the covenant. Despite the royal claims for God to be the patron of the Davidic regime, God’s presence is never to be taken for granted. The ark of the covenant cannot contain God, only the tablets of the covenant. This costly temple cannot contain God or permanently decide God’s favor.

Yet, in the moment when the ark of the covenant is placed within the inner sanctuary of the temple the presence of God makes itself felt. The cloud which fills the space echoes the presence of God in the dedication of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40: 34-35) and now the priests, like Moses, are unable to enter in this moment. This moment marks the culmination of the priestly hope for the presence of God among the people, and the temple now replaces the tabernacle as a place where Israel and the nations can come to seek out God. Now the city of David and the temple mountain are lifted up as a place for Israel and all the world to direct their prayers and their appeals to the God of Israel.

Solomon views this moment as a culmination of the promises made to his father David and as a demonstration of the faithfulness of the LORD toward David and himself. Solomon has already been informed that this covenant faithfulness requires both the LORD and Israel to keep faith, but Solomon asks for God’s continual provision of the monarchical line of David. The temple and the monarchy are two symbols that will be important for the people of Israel (or later the people of Judah) and often Zion/temple theology and royal theology are intertwined in this era of king and temple. However, there is always a countervailing covenant/Torah tradition within Israel’s relationship with their God. No matter the beauty of the temple, or the line of the ruler covenantal faithfulness remains the continual condition for the LORD’s presence among the people. As Walter Brueggemann can aptly state, “Yahweh’s presence among Yahweh’s people is much desired, but never easy, never obvious, always a problem.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 107)

1 Kings 8: 27-53 A Forward-Looking Prayer

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! ²⁸ Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; ²⁹ that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.

³¹ “If someone sins against a neighbor and is given an oath to swear, and comes and swears before your altar in this house, ³² then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.

³³ “When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house, ³⁴ then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to their ancestors.

³⁵ “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin, because you punish them, ³⁶ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and grant rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

³⁷ “If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in any of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; ³⁸ whatever prayer, whatever plea there is from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing the afflictions of their own hearts so that they stretch out their hands toward this house; ³⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts you know — according to all their ways, for only you know what is in every human heart — ⁴⁰ so that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors.

⁴¹ “Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name ⁴² — for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm — when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.

⁴⁴ “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against you — for there is no one who does not sin — and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; ⁴⁷ yet if they come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken captive, and repent, and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly; ⁴⁸ if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies, who took them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name; ⁴⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, maintain their cause ⁵⁰ and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you; and grant them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹ (for they are your people and heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron-smelter). ⁵² Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant, and to the plea of your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to you. ⁵³ For you have separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your heritage, just as you promised through Moses, your servant, when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.”

The inauguration of the temple is a critical moment in the narration of 1 Kings and therefore it is not surprising that this moment brings together numerous theological perspectives and unites them under Solomon’s voice. This forward-looking set of prayers foreshadows the remaining narrative of First and Second Kings which has the people frequently encountering God’s judgment for their lack of faithfulness which ends in their captivity. The prayer looks to a future where the people’s lack of faithfulness leaves them with only the option of prayerful repentance and reliance upon God’s hearing and responding to their petitions gracefully.

In contrast to the previous words of Solomon desiring God to dwell in this magnificent house, now the words placed in Solomon’s prayer declare this is impossible. The house, like the ark and tabernacle before it, cannot bear God. The earth and the heavens are not enough to contain God. As Choon-Leong Seow states:

The Temple is neither God’s residence nor the place where the petitioner personally encounters the deity. Rather, it is a place at which the needs of the petitioner coincide with the willingness of the deity to respond. The Temple is not the place where the person of God is; rather it is merely the place where God’s presence may be known, where the authority of God is proclaimed. (NIB III: 75)

The list of troubles that may come upon Israel bear several similarities to the lists in Leviticus 26: 14-39 and Deuteronomy 28: 15-68. Within the Torah there is blessings for obedience and consequences/curses for disobedience. The prayer also shares several similarities to the narrative of Judges where the people continue in disobedience until they call upon the LORD for their God to deliver them. This prayer to the people dealing with famine, defeat, or exile may provide hope that their separation from God’s blessing is not permanent and that despite their unworthiness God will hear and respond in forgiveness, acceptance, and reclaim the people.

Within this prayer the expectation goes to people beyond the boundaries of Israel calling upon God’s name. The non-Israelite calling upon the LORD is the foreigner who does not reside in Israel (nokri) instead of the resident alien (ger). (Cogan, 2001, p. 286) This fits with the prophetic hope of prophets like Isaiah looking at the nations gathering around Mount Zion:

In days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all nations shall stream to it. Many people will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction. Isaiah 2: 2-3

People like Naaman, the Queen of Sheba, the sailors in the story of Jonah, and countless other foreigners are expected to see the obedience and the prosperity of the Hebrew people and want to know their God’s way. This moment of great expectations sees the dedication of the temple as the center of the story of Israel and now the city and the temple are theologically the center of the world because it is a place where God’s presence may be known. The temple may not be able to contain God’s presence, but it still remains an important space in the life of the people.

1 Kings 8: 54-66

⁵⁴ Now when Solomon finished offering all this prayer and this plea to the LORD, he arose from facing the altar of the LORD, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven; ⁵⁵ he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice:

⁵⁶ “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke through his servant Moses. ⁵⁷ The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he not leave us or abandon us, ⁵⁸ but incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. ⁵⁹ Let these words of mine, with which I pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires; ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. ⁶¹ Therefore devote yourselves completely to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

⁶² Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD. ⁶³ Solomon offered as sacrifices of well-being to the LORD twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. ⁶⁴ The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat pieces of the sacrifices of well-being, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat pieces of the sacrifices of well-being.

⁶⁵ So Solomon held the festival at that time, and all Israel with him — a great assembly, people from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt — before the LORD our God, seven days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents, joyful and in good spirits because of all the goodness that the LORD had shown to his servant David and to his people Israel.

The commemoration of the temple concludes on a note that echoes the words of Joshua to the people at the completion of the occupation of the promised land: Not one of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (Joshua 21: 45) Now God’s fidelity is linked to the completion of the temple. As mentioned earlier there is the view in 1 Kings that the completion of the temple is the high point of the story that begins with the occupation of the promised land and runs through Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings. Looking backwards upon the story from the end at the exile there is a knowledge that “the royal-temple establishment does not quite work.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 119)

The massive feast that the dedication becomes with the sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep would be a week-long indulgence for the people. On the one hand it is a communal gathering celebrating the completion of the temple and the abundance that the LORD has provided. It is easy from a modern perspective to view this as excessive and a commoditization of religion, but a gathering of the entire population for a week would involve feeding a very large congregation. The number may be an exaggeration, but we also are part of a culture that views life through the lens of scarcity. For the people of Israel who have labored and sacrificed for seven years to come to this moment this is a time of feasting.

1 Kings 7 The Halls of Solomon and the Furnishing of the Temple

1 Kings 7: 1-12 The Halls of Solomon

¹ Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.

² He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. ³ It was roofed with cedar on the forty-five rafters, fifteen in each row, which were on the pillars. ⁴ There were window frames in the three rows, facing each other in the three rows. ⁵ All the doorways and doorposts had four-sided frames, opposite, facing each other in the three rows.

⁶ He made the Hall of Pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

⁷ He made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, the Hall of Justice, covered with cedar from floor to floor.

⁸ His own house where he would reside, in the other court back of the hall, was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.

⁹ All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, from the foundation to the coping, and from outside to the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits. ¹¹ There were costly stones above, cut to measure, and cedarwood. ¹² The great court had three courses of dressed stone to one layer of cedar beams all around; so had the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the vestibule of the house.

In the middle of the narrative about the construction of the temple the narrator of 1 Kings briefly attends to the other major construction project in Jerusalem: the construction of the houses of Solomon. On the one hand this is in keeping with the rapid transition of Solomon’s reign which completed the consolidation of Israel from a group of tribes with some interconnection to a monarchy consolidated around a king and a capital city. This inclusion in the midst of the construction of the temple may serve for the narrator as an indication that Solomon’s agenda may be drifting from its devotion to the LORD the God of Israel since the collection of buildings is significantly larger than the temple and takes roughly twice the time to complete.

The House of the Forest of Lebanon by itself covers over twice the area of the temple and the Hall of Pillars is similar in area to the temple. With the exception of the Hall of Justice and the residences for himself and Pharaoh’s daughter we are not given any indication what these buildings were used for. The narrator also does not take the time to detail the construction of these buildings except to indicate that they use large amounts of cedar and costly stones. The inclusion of Pharaoh’s daughter at this point may also be a warning that Solomon is beginning to model his leadership on Pharaoh. The text is suggestive of a criticism of Solomon but it is not explicit. The narrator may be impressed by the scale of the projects that the people under Solomon are able to achieve. It would not be surprising for a monarch to use the best materials in the construction of their residence and their place of conducting the business of running the kingdom. This complex of buildings probably serves a similar function to the White House in the United States which is both a residence and a place where the leader of the nation conducts their business.

1 Kings 7: 13-51 Furnishing the Temple

¹³ Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. ¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work.

¹⁵ He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of the one, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle it; the second pillar was the same. ¹⁶ He also made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ¹⁷ There were nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸ He made the columns with two rows around each latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; he did the same with the other capital. ¹⁹ Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits high. ²⁰ The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection that was beside the latticework; there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around; and so with the other capital. ²¹ He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the south and called it Jachin; and he set up the pillar on the north and called it Boaz. ²² On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.

²³ Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely. ²⁴ Under its brim were panels all around it, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast. ²⁵ It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were toward the inside. ²⁶ Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

²⁷ He also made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. ²⁸ This was the construction of the stands: they had borders; the borders were within the frames; ²⁹ on the borders that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each. ³¹ Its opening was within the crown whose height was one cubit; its opening was round, as a pedestal is made; it was a cubit and a half wide. At its opening there were carvings; its borders were four-sided, not round. ³² The four wheels were underneath the borders; the axles of the wheels were in the stands; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast. ³⁴ There were four supports at the four corners of each stand; the supports were of one piece with the stands. ³⁵ On the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; on the top of the stand, its stays and its borders were of one piece with it. ³⁶ On the surfaces of its stays and on its borders he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, where each had space, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ In this way he made the ten stands; all of them were cast alike, with the same size and the same form.

³⁸ He made ten basins of bronze; each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits; there was a basin for each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He set five of the stands on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house; he set the sea on the southeast corner of the house.

⁴⁰ Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD: ⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars; ⁴² the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; ⁴³ the ten stands, the ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea.

⁴⁵ The pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸ So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence, ⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; ⁵⁰ the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.

⁵¹ Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was finished. Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

The introduction of the artisan Hiram from Tyre who brings the technical expertise to do the metal work used in the construction of the temple again directs us to the massive project that the construction of the temple is for the nation of Israel. Hiram possesses the skill, knowledge, and intelligence like Bezalel and Oholiab did when the constructed the tabernacle. Yet, Hiram, like many of the resources for the temple, comes from Tyre and even though he mother from the tribe of Naphtali his father is from outside Israel. Yet, the narrative of 1 Kings is more concerned with the skill and knowledge that Hiram learned from his father than the kinship he shares with the people through his mother[1].

Possible Looks of the Bronze Pillars from Encylopedia Biblia (1903)

The construction of the temple has already consumed vast resources of lumber, stone, and precious metal but now the work of Hiram utilizes an uncounted amount of bronze. The two massive bronze pillars named Jachin and Boaz[2], the bronze sea, and the ten stands and basins along with the other items necessary for the sacrificial work of the temple are massive. On the one hand they may illustrate the bringing together of the resources of the people to be committed to the devotion to the LORD the God of Israel. The surrounding of the construction of Solomon’s palace complex by the commitment of the resources to the temple may be intended to present Solomon’s devotion in a positive light. Yet, as Brueggemann points out the continual focus on bronze and gold in this final description of the construction may also lead to the commoditization of the temple where the focus becomes on the gold and costly material used in the construction of the building rather than on the worship and the covenantal fidelity the temple is to embody. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 104)

The temple built by Solomon will occupy an important place in the theological imagination of the Jewish people. This is evident when one pays attention to the vision of the throne room of God in the vision of Ezekiel and compares it to the temple. The image of oxen, lions, and cherubim play an important role in this vision. It is interesting that the temple includes several images of oxen after the golden calf and the inclusion of these animal and angelic images in the temple seems to be in tension with the prohibition of images in the ten commandments. Yet, for the narrator of 1 Kings, even if they do include some warnings in the texts, the construction of the temple is a high point in the story of the people of Israel and the reign of Solomon. The dedication of three chapter of the book to the construction and dedication of the temple while most kings entire reigns will fill significantly less space is a testament to the importance in the imagination of the people as they remember their history.

[1] In 2 Chronicles 2:14 Hiram (Huram-abi) is the child of a Danite woman and a Tyrian man, both Kings and Chronicles move over the mixed parentage of Hiram without needing to explain it.

[2] Scholars disagree on the meaning of the names for the pillars but one suggestion is “in strength” (Boaz) and “established (Jachin) (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 98)

1 Kings 5 The High Cost of Construction

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Cedar of Lebanon (Cedar of God), Lebanon By © Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92872076

1 Kings 5

¹ Now King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father; for Hiram had always been a friend to David. ² Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, ³ “You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. ⁴ But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune. ⁵ So I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ ⁶ Therefore command that cedars from the Lebanon be cut for me. My servants will join your servants, and I will give you whatever wages you set for your servants; for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed be the LORD today, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.” ⁸ Hiram sent word to Solomon, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me; I will fulfill all your needs in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. ⁹ My servants shall bring it down to the sea from the Lebanon; I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will have them broken up there for you to take away. And you shall meet my needs by providing food for my household.” ¹⁰ So Hiram supplied Solomon’s every need for timber of cedar and cypress. ¹¹ Solomon in turn gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty cors of fine oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. ¹² So the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and the two of them made a treaty.

¹³ King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them to the Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they would be a month in the Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon also had seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, ¹⁶ besides Solomon’s three thousand three hundred supervisors who were over the work, having charge of the people who did the work. ¹⁷ At the king’s command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. ¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites did the stonecutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

The reign of Solomon sets in motion dramatic changes for Israel. The mobilization to build the temple is a massive undertaking requiring international cooperation for materials. Traditionally most interpreters of these early portions of Solomon’s reign have viewed the preparation and the construction of the temple as examples of the wisdom and faithfulness of Solomon to the LORD. However, there are multiple perspectives related to the temple and the building projects of Solomon and that are woven together in the report of 1 Kings on this massive undertaking which dramatically changes the religious landscape of the people.

The tabernacle constructed during the journey from Egypt to the promised land was to be a place where God could dwell among the people, but it was a tent designed to travel with the people. Once the people entered the land of Canaan there were several worship sites throughout the land, but the worship of the LORD often was modeled after the worship of the deities of the surrounding peoples. From a perspective of unifying the worship of the LORD in a common place and with a common practice the temple has the potential to be a unifying place where the name of the LORD can dwell, and the priest can hand on the law and its interpretation to the people. Israel had never before had a permanent place to worship the LORD or a place to become a central symbol of God’s presence among the people.

Yet, even when King David wants to build the temple of God during his reign he is met with the response of a God who is flattered but who refuses to be confined to a permanent place. While God indicates that David’s son will eventually build a house of cedar for the LORD, there is a thread of discomfort within the passage about God’s presence not being able to move among the people (2 Samuel 7: 1-17). The compromise in the construction is that temple will be a house ‘for the name of the LORD my God’ and not a place where God’s presence is limited to. God’s freedom will continue to expand beyond the temple. God will deign to show God’s presence in this place, but God will not be limited to only being present in this place among the people.

In the construction of a place of worship the expectation is that people will contribute their best to the endeavor. This was the practice in the construction of the tabernacle and Moses was reported to have more than enough for the project by a freewill offering (Exodus 35). Now the temple is the first public project of the Solomon regime, and it is done by the mechanism of taxation and forced labor. The temple may be a great public good, but the question of cost is subtly raised here in the text along with the broader question of what type of nation Israel is becoming. The negotiations between King Hiram and King Solomon may be necessary to secure the materials and good relations to ensure peace during the construction of the temple. Yet, the project comes with an extremely high price tag.

King Hiram of Tyre provided lumber and people skilled in construction when David established his household in Jerusalem after he conquered it. There is no indication of the cost David paid the King of Tyre for these resources and craftsmen, but this trade agreement marks the entry of Israel onto a much broader stage. Now in negotiations with the new king, Hiram continues to provide lumber and craftsmen in exchange for the agricultural produce of the land. In addition to supplying the needs of the household of Solomon, now the land must support the burden of the household of King Hiram of Tyre. Choon-Leong Seow names this section “Shady Deals and Oppressive Policies” (NIB III: 56) and it is likely that the deal cut between Solomon and this Phoenician king well versed in international trade is more favorable to the King of Tyre than the people of Israel. Looking closely at the amount of wheat and oil given it quickly becomes apparent that the numbers here are large. Roughly twice the amount of grain collected for Solomon’s household is given annually to the King of Tyre, and if you follow the Hebrew (unlike the NRSV which follows the Greek Septuagint in its translation) the 2,000 cors (almost 7,000 gallons) of oil is a wealth of agricultural resources traded for the cedar. The cedars of Lebanon are often associated with affluence and their use by the people of Israel comes at a high annual price tag. It is possible that Israel enjoyed many years of great harvests that may have made the construction projects bearable but knowing the stresses on the population by the end of Solomon’s reign we can see the beginning of the internal strain within the nation.

In addition to the cost in agricultural production is the cost in conscripted forced labor. As mentioned earlier, the people of Israel were the forced labor for construction in Egypt and this new project which in the text mobilizes over one hundred eighty thousand men for log cutting and transport, stone cutting and transport, and construction is another strain on the population. It is possible that Judah is excluded from this conscription (NIB III: 58) like it is possible they were excluded from the provision for Solomon’s household in the previous chapter, but this is assuming a differentiation between Israel and Judah. It also is a return to the ways of Egypt where the king enslaves the people and wealth of the nation is owned by the ruler.

The construction of the temple will be a focal point for the reign of Solomon and for the worship of the southern kingdom of Judah after his death. The temple of Solomon will stand as a central fixture of Jerusalem for centuries and will be a symbol of the faith of the people. Yet, the process of construction sounds some ominous notes as it becomes a public work that is done by the taxation and forced labor of the people. The suspicious part of my mind wonders if this is like the public work projects throughout the former Warsaw Pact countries where beautiful train stations, government buildings, and public spaces were constructed while the majority of the population lived in deprivation. Solomon’s early reign is rapidly changing the city of Jerusalem and the manner in which the population of the nation is governed. This place created for the name of God will be a source of public focus for many generations, but we are primed to wonder about the cost that this great building will exact not only on the wealth of the people but also on their identity.

Sign of the Rose

Searchings: Sacred and Secular