1 Kings 7:23

1 Kings 7:23 says, 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.  The next verses continue to tell us of the brasswork that Hiram made, starting with a molten sea.  Verse twenty-four adds, 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.  This molten sea was to have knops, or decorative ornaments on it.  These were all more decorative than of actual value, and some of what we do in church buildings today is the same.  Verse twenty-five continues, 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.  This molten sea stood on twelve statues of oxen.  Matthew Henry says that these served the purpose of supporting the molten sea, but also showed how worthless images of cattle were as something to worship.  We can be certain that nothing in this world is worthy of worship except Jesus Christ Himself.  Verse twenty-six states, 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 molten sea was as thick as a hand and would hold enough water for two thousand baths.  So, there was a purpose for the molten sea, but all the ornamentation was unnecessary for it to function.  I personally don't believe that we should spend a lot of resources on just making church buildings look more impressive.  Verse twenty-seven adds, 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.  Matthew Henry says these bases were pots that water could be drawn from, so that it would be easier for more people to get around to cleanse themselves.  We today are made clean through the blood of Jesus Christ and there is ample room for everyone to gather around Him.  Verse twenty-eight continues, And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:  Veres twenty-nine concludes, 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.  These bases had images of lions, oxen, and cherubims between the ledges.  These were also for ornamental purposes I believe.  Verse thirty says, 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.  These bases were on wheels so they could be moved around.  Verse thirty-one adds, 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.  I have a hard time visualizing what this looked like, but it all served the purpose of religious cleansing.  The way to spiritual cleansing today is easy to visualize, and that is faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse thirty-two continues, 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.  We have more information about how the wheels and axels were set up.  Verse thirty-three concludes, 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.  The wheels were like chariot wheels and were made of molten brass.  Verse thirty-four states, And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.  This continues to describe the support of the molten sea as it is referred to.  Verse thirty-five adds, 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.  Again, I have trouble visualizing this, but this still has to do with collecting water for purification.  Verse thirty-six continues, 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. Verse thirty-seven concludes, After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.  All ten bases were ornamented with cherubims, lions, and palm trees and were all the same size.  We today do not need this elaborate system to be made spiritually clean, but only need to put our faith in the Living Water, Jesus Christ.

1 Kings 7:13

1 Kings 7:13 says, And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.  Solomon sent for Hiram who was in Tyre.  God is likewise always going to call everyone to Himself from wherever they might be.  Verse fourteen adds, 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.  Hiram was skilled in working in brass, and Solomon needed his expertise.  As followers of Christ, we are all skilled or gifted by God in different areas, and He calls each off us to utilize our skill or gifts to advance His kingdom.   Some have more than one gift and must be willing to use them all for God.  Verse fifteen continues, For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.  Hiram made two large pillars of brass and twelve smaller ones that went around them.  Verse sixteen states, 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:  Hiram also made two chapiters, or ornamental upper parts, for the columns.  These would have been for show and not of actual value in supporting anything.  I am not going to say that we should never do anything just to make a church building look more beautiful, but I will say that we should never allow the beauty of that building to become more important than its function.  Verse seventeen adds, 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.  Hiram also made seven nets and wreaths of chain work for each chapiter.  This was also ornamental.  Verse eighteen continues, 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.  He also made pillars and two rows to go around the network to cover the chapiters, and these had pomegranates on them.  Verse nineteen states, And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits. Verse twenty adds, 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.  This is just a continuation of telling us of some of the ornamentation that Hiram was making of brass.  Verse twenty-one continues, 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.  Hiram made pillars of brass for the porch and even named them.  Verse twenty-two concludes, And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.  He made lily work for the tops of these pillars, and that completed the brass work for the pillars.   Much of what Hiram did was done to make the Temple more beautiful, but today the church building is not the Temple of God, but the life of each Christian is the temple is, so we need to do our best to make our lives beautiful to God.  

1 Kings 7:1

1 Kings 7:1 says, But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.  It took Solomon thirteen years to build his own house, which would imply that the building of the Temple took priority.  I do know that we as followers of Christ should put the priority on His work.  God will take care of our needs as long as we put Him first.  Verse two adds, 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.  Solomon also built a house in the forest of Lebanon, which I would understand to be a separate house.  There were plenty of cedars there to build with.  Matthew Henry says this was a place close enough to get back to the city easily enough and that Solomon's throne wasn't there.  Even if we build a retreat away from the busyness of the world today, we should never be too far to continue to do what God has called us to do. Verse three continues, And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.  We are then told more about the size and construction of this house, starting with this verse.  Verse four states, And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.  Of course, the house would need windows to provide light.  Since the bodies of believers are the temple ofvthe Holy Spirit, we need to let His light shine into our soul.  Verse five adds, And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.  We are told about the doors, which naturally are necessary to allow access.  We are told in the Bible that Jesus Christ stands at the door of our heart and knocks, and if we are to be saved, we must let Him in.  Verse six continues, 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.  There was a porch on this house, just as Solomon had built a porch on the Temple.  Verse seven says, 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.  Verse eight adds, 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.  It would seem that these two verses referred to both the house in Lebanon and the palace in Jerusalem, where the throne actually was.  Though the palace was where judgment was passed normally, it would seem that Solomon also had this second place of judgment.  I do know that God is not confined to one place when He judges us in this life time.  Solomon also built another house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.  Verse nine continues, 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.  The house was also constructed with costly stones that were cut to fit.  Verse ten states, And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.  We are toldcof the size of the stones used in the foundation, and our faith today must be in Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of our salvation.  There is no more costly stone than this.  Verse eleven adds, And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.  Stones and cedars were used in the overhead as well.  Verse twelve continues, 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.  The court of Solomon's house was similar to the court of the Temple.  I believe we can make the analogy that our life everyday out in the world should look the same as our life when we gather together as the church.

1 Kings 6:22

1 Kings 6:22  says, And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.  The whole Temple was overlaid with gold, including the altar.  This must have been a very beautiful and expensive building, but God was no more contained in it than He had been in the Tabernacle.  Church buildings, no matter how beautiful or expensive, are not to be worshipped.  Verse twenty-three adds, And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.  There were cherubims made of olive trees within the oracle, or speaking place.  Olive trees may have been chosen because olive branches represent peace.  I do know that we need to do all that we can to have peace in the church today and the cross should represent that peace to us. Verse twenty-four continues, And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.  The cherubim was quite large, being ten cubits from wingtip to wingtip.  Verse twenty-five states, And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size. There was a second cherubim the same size.   Matthew Henry says the cherubim were there because the Ark of the Covenant would have looked quite small in there by itself, since it had not changed.  Today, the cross of Calvary may look guite small, but we cannot add to it to make it more appealing.  Verse twenty-six adds, The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.  We are simply given more details about the size of the cherubims.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.  The cherubim reached from wall-to-wall in the inner house.  God's mercy should likewise cover the whole church today, and it does if we allow it to.  Verse twenty-eight concludes, And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.  Like the rest of the Temple, the cherubim were overlaid with gold.  Verse twenty-nine says, And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.  Solomon had cherubim, palm trees, and flowers carved in the walls of the Temple.  Though they may have made the Temple more beautiful, they were just for show.   They did not make God's presence any more or any less real, and this is true of the beauty of a church building today.  Verse thirty adds, And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.  The Temple even had a gold floor for the people to walk on.  We as followers of Christ always say that one day we will walk the streets of gold, but it should not matter what the streets of our heavenly home are made of, but all that should matter is that we are there with God, which is all that really should have mattered in the Temple.  Verse thirty-one continues, And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.  Doors were made of olive trees to be used to enter the oracle.  The doors could keep people out or let them in.  Today, the cross of Calvary serves this purpose.  By faith in what Jesus Christ did on the cross, we gain entrance into heaven, and by a lack of faith, we are kept out.  Verse thirty-two concludes, The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.  Like everything else in the Temple, these doors were made ornately beautiful, but their function didn't change.  I believe we need to be more concerned with the function of the church than with the beauty of church buildings.  Verse thirty-three states, So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall.  The next few verses tell us about the doors of the Temple itself.  Verse thirty-four adds, And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.  The doors were made of the wood of the fir tree and had two leaves or panels that folded in would be my understanding.  Jesus Christ is our access to God today, and He does not open and or close, but His access to the Heavenly Father is always open.  Verse thirty-five continues  And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.  These doors were also ornately decorated.  Verse thirty-six concludes, And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams.  We have a description of the building ofvthe inner court.  Verse thirty-seven states, In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif:  Verse thirty eight adds, And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.  It took seven years to complete the building of the Temple.  Jesus said He would destroy the Temple, though it wasn't Solomon's Temple and rebuild it in three days, and He did with His death, burial,  and resurrection, and now, the hearts of believers is His throne, 

1 Kings 6:11

1 Kings 6:11 says, And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,  Verse eighteen adds, Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: While Solomon was having the Temple built, the word of God came to him concerning it.  God's word was more about Solomon's life overall than just the Temple though.  God told Solomon if he would follow His statutes, execute judgment, and keep His commandments, that He would keep His promise that He had made to David.  If we today put our faith in Jesus Christ, Who was the fulfillment of the promise to David, we will be saved forever.  Verse thirteen continues, And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.  God said that if Solomon did these things, then He would dwell among the people of Israel and not forsake them.  If we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit will indwell us and never forsake us.  Verse fourteen states, So Solomon built the house, and finished it.  After this word from God, Solomon completed the building of the Temple.  Whatever God calls us to do today, we should not stop until the work is finished.  Verse fifteen adds, And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.  The next few verses tell us about how the Temple was overlaid wit cedar and fir.  Verse sixteen continues, And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place.  The sides of the Temple and the floors and walls were covered with cedar, even the room for the oracle and the most holy place. Verse seventeen says, And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.  We are once again told of the length of the Temple.  Verse eighteen adds, And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.  Not only were the walls within covered with cedar, but the were carved with decorations as well.  The Temple would have likely been just as functional without the cedar and certainly would have been so without the carved decorations, but I believe that Solomon wanted it to be beautiful before God and anyone who saw it.  As Christians, we should always do our best to make our life beautiful before God and the world so that He might be magnified.  Verse nineteen continues, And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.  A place was prepared within for the Ark of the Covenant.  God's word needs to have a special place in our heart today.  Verse twenty states, And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.  Not only was the inside of the Temple overlaid with cedar, part of it was overlaid with gold as well, including the altar.  We should give the best that we have to God today, and we should never refuse to do what He calls us to do just because it is going to cost us materially.  Verse twenty-one adds, So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.  We are told of even more of the inside of the Temple being overlaid with gold.  Verse twenty-two continues,  And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.  Then, we are told that the whole Temple was overlaid with gold.  The Temple was to represent God to the people of Israel and all who saw it, so it was very ornate.  Though church buildings may be seen as representing God today, it is really the people who go to the church buildings who do, so I believe we should put more resources into reaching people and meeting their needs than into the buildings themselves. 

1 Kings 6:1

1 Kings 6:1 says, And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.  It had been four-hundred and eighty years since the people of Israel had been set free from Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, that the building of the Temple began.  A lot of time had passed since God had delivered them from Egypt, but Solomon hadn't waited long to start building the Temple.  We should never wait long before starting to do what God has called us to do.  Verse two adds, And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.  We are told the size of the Temple, the house of God.  Matthew Henry points out that this was about twice the size of the Tabernacle, since the size of the nation of Israel had grown.  Verse three continues, And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.  Next, we are told of the size of the porch of the Temple.  Verse four states, And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.  The Temple had narrow windows for light.  Matthew Henry says they were broad within and narrow without, which meant that we should look inward at ourselves more than outward at others.  Verse five adds, And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:  Solomon had chambers made in the walls for use of the priests, according to Matthew Henry.  Church buildings today should be functional and not just for show.  Verse six adds, The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.  There were three chambers, which were not attached to the walls of the Temple, which Matthew Henry says could have weakened it.  Verse seven adds, And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.  The stones for building the Temple were precut so that no tool was needed to make them fit together.  When Jesus Christ destroyed the Temple, or died for our sins, He brought us salvation if we choose to accept it, and it is perfect.  We cannot reshape salvation to make it conform to our desires.  Verse eight continues, The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.  There was a door and a winding staircase to access the middle chamber which was on the right side of the Temple and you entered the third fom it.  Verse nine states, So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.  When the Temple walls had been completed, Solomon had them covered with cedar.  Verse ten adds, And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.  The chambers were also covered with cedar. I believe this would have been more to enhance the look of the Temple than to add to its strength.  I also believe that we today need to be careful that we don't become more concerned about the look of church buildings than we are about their function.

1 Kings 5:10

1 Kings 5:10 says, So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.  Hiram fulfilled his promise to Solomon by providing him with all the the cedar and fir trees he desired, just as we should fulfill our promises to other people.  Verse eleven adds, And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.  Solomon also fulfilled his promise to Hiram, providing him with wheat and oil every year.  Verse twelve continues, And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.  As pro4mised also, God gave Solomon wisdom and he lived at peace with Hiram because they had a treaty between them.  If we want wisdom, we must look to God for it.  Also, we should do our best to live at peace with those around us as long as we don't have too disobey God's laws to do so.  Verse thirteen states,  And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.  Solomon raised a levy, or more accurately drafted thirty-thousand men.  Verse fourteen adds, And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.  These men were sent to Lebanon in shifts to help with the cutting of the trees and were under the supervision of Adoniram.   We don't get drafted to do God's work, but we should willing do whatever He calls us to do.  There will always be others to share in the work.  Verse fifteen continues, And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains;  There were seventy=thousand who carried the logs and eighty thousand that cut them.  Matthew Henry says these were captives and not Israelites which is why we were earlier told about the thirty-thousand who were Israelites.  Of course,  we have no captives to do God's work today, so we as Christians must be willing to do the hard work ourselves and not just the easier tasks.  Verse sixteen says, Beside the chief of Solomon’s officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.  There were also thirty-three hundred men who supervised the work.  We need God's work to be done orderly, so we should always expect Him to place people in positions to oversee it, and if we are not a part of that supervisory group, we should do what they request.  Verse seventeen adds, And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.  In addition to the trees, Solomon had great stones brought to lay the foundation of the Temple.  We need to build our life, the temple of the Holy Spirit, on the rock, our faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse eighteen concludes, And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house. Hiram and Solomon’s men worked together to get things ready to build the Temple, and we as Christians should work together today to build God's church.  This is not a building but the people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.  Also, had there not been peace at this time, Solomon wouldn't have been able to supply the needed workers.  If Christians are a war with one another, we cannot effectively do the work of God.