INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am grateful that you have called me to follow you. Please help me to testify faithfully to the mercy and grace you pour out in abundance on me.
Read 1 KINGS 5:1 – 6:10
Preparations for Building the Temple
5 [a]When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:
3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”
8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon:
“I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.”
10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, 11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors[b] of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths[c][d] of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred[e] foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
Solomon Builds the Temple
6 In the four hundred and eightieth[f] year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.
2 The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.[g] 3 The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,[h] and projected ten cubits[i] from the front of the temple. 4 He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. 5 Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. 6 The lowest floor was five cubits[j] wide, the middle floor six cubits[k] and the third floor seven.[l] He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.
8 The entrance to the lowest[m] floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. 9 So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. 10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 5:1 In Hebrew texts 5:1-18 is numbered 5:15-32.
- 1 Kings 5:11 That is, probably about 3,600 tons or about 3,250 metric tons
- 1 Kings 5:11 Septuagint (see also 2 Chron. 2:10); Hebrew twenty cors
- 1 Kings 5:11 That is, about 120,000 gallons or about 440,000 liters
- 1 Kings 5:16 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Chron. 2:2,18) thirty-six hundred
- 1 Kings 6:1 Hebrew; Septuagint four hundred and fortieth
- 1 Kings 6:2 That is, about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 27 meters long, 9 meters wide and 14 meters high
- 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 16 and 20
- 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 15 feet or about 4.5 meters; also in verses 23-26
- 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verses 10 and 24
- 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 9 feet or about 2.7 meters
- 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 11 feet or about 3.2 meters
- 1 Kings 6:8 Septuagint; Hebrew middle
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Think of any impressive buildings you have seen. The scale of Solomon’s Temple was designed to be worthy of God’s name. Let it help you praise his magnificence.I was chatting today with one of the older courtiers, who is excited about developments taking place at the moment. He told me that King David had wanted to build a temple for the Lord and had gathered supplies of fine building materials, before God told him that it was his son who would build the temple, not David himself. My friend is delighted to see Solomon embarking on that building project.
It’s typical of Solomon’s wisdom that he has noted the strengths of different countries and has made a deal to make the most of these, trading Israeli agricultural products for Phoenician construction know-how. Usually, international agreements are bound by suspicion, mistrust, and self-interest, but Solomon seems to have forged a close relationship with King Hiram that has sparked a blossoming of the forestry, quarrying, and sea freight industries, and numerous training courses in all aspects of construction.
Yet, with all the busyness, the city itself remains remarkably quiet. All the work dressing stones, shaping timber, and beating metals is being done off-site. Even in construction, this is a holy place!
Apply
Solomon was clear that he was building the temple to honor God’s name. His dealings with Hiram caused the man to praise God. What things do you do to honor God’s name or cause others to praise him?
Closing prayer
I want my words and actions to glorify you, Jesus. Help me, so that what I say and do draws others to faith in you.
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