Four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv, Solomon began work on the Temple. Inside it was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The entrance room was 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide, as wide as the sanctuary itself. The walls of the Temple had openings in them, narrower on the outside than on the inside….
The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room, which was also covered with gold. The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place. (Good News Translation)
The first major accomplishment – and the crowning achievement – of King Solomon’s reign was building the Temple in Jerusalem. His father, King David, had it in his heart to erect a great Temple for God as both a place of worship, and a permanent place for the Ark of the Covenant to rest. However, the Lord clearly instructed David not to build the Temple, but stated that his son would do so. (1 Chronicles 28:1-21)
Solomon spared no expense for building the Temple. He ordered vast quantities of cedar wood from King Hiram of Tyre, and had huge blocks of stone quarried for the building’s foundation. In order to complete the massive project, Solomon imposed forced labor on all his subjects, drafting people for work shifts that sometimes lasted a month at a time. (1 Kings 5:1-18)
And there was the gold – lots of it! The inside of the Temple was completely covered with gold. Gold is physically and metaphorically one of the most malleable metals on the planet: one gram of gold can be beaten into a 1-square meter sheet, and gold has been used as a symbol for everything from religious devotion to great wealth and immense power.
As glorious and elaborate as the Temple was, the most important room was perhaps the greatest theological statement of all; it contained almost no furniture. Known as the Holy of Holies, it housed the two tablets of the Ten Commandments inside of the Ark of the Covenant. The unseen and almighty God of the universe doesn’t really need a house, and most certainly cannot be contained within one.
Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) the High Priest entered the most sacred Holy of Holies and pray to God on behalf of the Israelite nation. God’s world and God’s word are holy. It was understood that the Ten Commandments are very holy words, with the name of God being the holiest word of all. The Temple – by its sheer architecture – communicated what was most important about God.
Yet, the way in which the Temple was constructed was very different from how the earlier Tabernacle was built. The Tabernacle was a sort of mobile temple for the wilderness journey. The entire community worked together in giving their possessions and services in order to make the Tabernacle a reality.
Without the contributions of the people, the project probably would not have happened at all. But the chance to help out in all the myriad ways of making things for the sanctuary, pulled everyone together in a high degree of compliance. (Exodus 36:1-6)
Indeed, the building of the Tabernacle was a consensual enterprise; the people’s faith was the wellspring of their philanthropy. Yet, in contrast, the mode by which Solomon carried out the construction of the permanent Temple was by sheer wealth, forced labor, and strong administrative business deals.
There was no community participation in the form of voluntarism in Solomon’s financing of the Temple build. To pay for the cedar and cypress wood provided by the King of Tyre and to quarry and transport the building materials, Solomon issued a massive levy. In other words, there wasn’t any free labor and no robust public spirit animating the construction.
The Tabernacle for which the people volunteered wholeheartedly never fell victim to evil. The Temple, however, eventually and certainly did – in large part due to the evil of the kings who presided over the theocracy.
The fate of any institution is determined by how it is created in the first place. No matter what the polity and organizational structure is, it cannot long survive without popular support. Solomon’s Temple, despite all of its grandeur and gold, rested on a shaky foundation and sandy soil.
After the Temple was constructed, the sacrificial system was authorized only in Jerusalem and at the Temple. Everything was centralized under the behemoth of Solomon’s system. What’s more, practices like volunteerism and community participation were largely replaced with systems of heavy taxation and a large debt. That’s one reason the kingdom immediately split apart after Solomon’s death.
Perhaps if the selfless ethos that went into building the Tabernacle was utilized by Solomon in the building of the Temple, maybe the fate of king after king in Israel would have been quite different. For it is in the spirit of volunteerism and a concern for the public welfare that governments attentive to the common good of all persons are built. How something is built matters.
Almighty and gracious God of all, we humbly offer our gratitude for the blessing of selfless volunteers and those who participate freely in ministries of justice and service. Thank you for their tireless dedication and benevolence.
May your Spirit bless them with continual guidance as they faithfully serve others. Give them resilience, daring, and fortitude. Let joy, peace, and satisfaction be upon the good work that they do. Inspire and motivate them to persist through trying circumstances, steadfast in their dedication to aiding those around them.
Help us all to reflect the profound beauty and compassion of your divine love. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 