From the Elder's Pen "Temple" Part 1 5/5/02 Past/Future Articles

     The first construction bore the name of the builder and was known as Solomon’s Temple.  This was the Golden Age of Hebrew history.  The building of the temple was the great work of Solomon’s life.  It was patterned after the tabernacle, with the dimensions being doubled.  This was the greatest architectural production in Israel until the time of Herod who erected the third Temple.  It was the first known pre-fab building. Everything brought to the building site had already been cut and was ready to be assembled.  In I Kings 6:7 the Bible tells us the stone building was made ready before it was brought, “So that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.”
     It was a small oblong building about 45 feet high with inner dimensions of 30 X 90 feet.  An east front porch, fifteen feet wide, extended across the breadth of the building.  The Temple building was divided into two chambers by a partition of olive wood.  The chamber of the east corresponded to the Holy Place in the tabernacle.  The west chamber, called oracle, corresponded to the Holy of Holies (I Kings 6:2, 3, 20, 31).  The walls of both chambers were of cedar and the floor was overlaid gold.  Within the oracle were two giant cherubim of olive wood overlaid with gold, and about fifteen feet high.  Their outstretched wings were spread above the ark (I Kings 6:20, 22, 8:5-7).
     In the dedication of the Temple, Solomon’s prayer is one of the greatest prayers of the Bible.  (I Kings 8:22-53).  It beseeches God to fulfill His promise to David.  It anticipates those circumstances in which Israel in the future may be placed and pleads for the favor of Jehovah.  It recalls the many instances in the past when Israel went astray and God forgave them, and it petitions God that in the event of future defections, He will be as gracious in granting them pardon.  This great building was plundered and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B. C. when Babylon was used by God as an instrument for the fulfillment of every warning He had given Judah that He would punish them for their idolatrous ways.  The time had come for retribution and they were carried away into Babylonian captivity.  Read II Kings 25 to see how totally God punished Judah.
     It is well to note that “The mills of the gods may grind slowly, but they do so surely and very fine.”  However, God is faithful to fulfill His gracious promises as well as His judgments.  Jehovah is the God of nations, and has spoken in His Word to all people.  Those who heed the warning will be saved and those who do not will be destroyed forever.
(To be continued)