holy place — Blog — KEN D. MILLER

14 So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 16 He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. 18 The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. 19 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar. 21 And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. 30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided. 32 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it. – 1 Kings 6:14-38 ESV

According to 1 Chronicles 28, David provided his son with a full set of plans for the construction of the temple. He left nothing to chance, even leaving detailed instructions for the duties of the priests and Levites, and outlining the various utensils to be used in the worship of Yahweh.

Then David gave Solomon the plans for the Temple and its surroundings, including the entry room, the storerooms, the upstairs rooms, the inner rooms, and the inner sanctuary—which was the place of atonement. David also gave Solomon all the plans he had in mind for the courtyards of the Lord’s Temple, the outside rooms, the treasuries, and the rooms for the gifts dedicated to the Lord. – 1 Chronicles 28:11-12 NLT

It is obvious from the descriptions given in these verses that David was modeling the temple according to the plans of the tabernacle that God had given to Moses. The tabernacle, while a beautiful and ornate structure, was actually little more than a glorified tent designed for easy tear down and set up, so that it could transported from one place to the other. Yet David had designed the temple to be a permanent building that would stand as a perpetual monument to the greatness of God.

Solomon spared no expense in creating this “house” for the God of Israel. He lined the walls and ceiling with imported cedar wood. He had the floors adorned with hand-crafted planks made from the finest cypress. He commissioned skilled craftsmen to carve doors made from olivewood. And following the pattern of the tabernacle and the plans provided by his father, the Solomon ensured that the temple featured a Holy Place and a Most Holy Place, sometimes referred to as the Holy of Holies. Each of these rooms had special significance and purpose, and they were designed to mirror the glory and greatness of God. Eight separate times the author mentions the prominent use of solid gold in the construction. The entire building was filled with intricately carved reliefs featuring cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

This entire structure was meant to be a feast for the eyes. It was designed to create a virtual overload on the senses, drawing the attention of the onlooker upward and inward, into the inner recesses of the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat of God would be located. Everything about the building was meant to be symbolic or representative of a greater reality. This was intended to be the dwelling place of God on earth, and Solomon did everything in his power to ensure that this building, though built with human hands, declared the incomparable greatness of God.

For nearly seven-and-a-half years, Solomon oversaw and underwrote this ambitious project. He poured countless hours into its planning. He spent endless days orchestrating all the details surrounding its construction and allocated vast sums of money to see that it would be without equal when finally completed. This was not a side project for Solomon. While he still had a kingdom to run, he never allowed the temple to become a second-tier priority. And though he must have delegated many of the responsibilities related to its construction, he always maintained control over every aspect of its creation.

This was a labor of love that reveals Solomon’s determination to honor the God of his father. But it also displays Solomon’s own commitment to glorify the God of Israel by creating the finest temple that money and manpower could provide. Solomon wanted this to be a showplace, not to stroke his own ego, but to exalt his Yahweh as the one true God. It was to be a house fit for a King – the King of the universe. And Solomon’s unwavering determination to spare no expense in its construction reflects his grasp on the unparalleled greatness of God. Ultimately, he knew that his efforts to construct a house worthy of God would prove woefully inadequate because, like the psalmist, he understood the incomparable nature of its occupant.

O Lord my God, how great you are!
    You are robed with honor and majesty.
    You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
    you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariot;
    you ride upon the wings of the wind.
The winds are your messengers;
    flames of fire are your servants. – Psalm 104-1-4 NLT

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.