2 Chronicles 3:1–17

Read the passage.

The Chronicler gives the final results of Solomon’s building project. Solomon followed the building plan that was given to his father David who received it from God when he was told his son would be the one to build the temple. Just as Moses received the design of the tabernacle from God, the plan for the temple also came from heaven and we can presume that it reflects the layout of the temple there. Compared to the parallel account in 1 Kings, we are given more details on the ornamentation that decorated the temple. The returning exiles would not be able to reconstruct the full majesty of Solomon’s temple because they did not have the resources, so I have a bit of a hard time understanding why there is so much emphasis on them. On one hand, it gives the people a goal to reach towards, but on the other, it was also discouraging that they could not attain it.

By modern standards, the temple wasn’t a terribly large building: 120 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet tall. (Verse 4 says the vestibule, the front part of the temple was 120 cubits, or 180 feet, high, but that seems like a copy error or a misunderstanding of what is being measured, somehow.) However, it was covered with gold inside, the walls, the floor, the beams, and the doors. The Most Holy Place alone, the smallest section of the temple, was covered in 45,000 lbs of gold. (v. 8) Using today’s price for gold, that amount is worth over $1.8 billion. The rest of the temple had even more gold than that.

In complement to the two cherubim on the top of the ark of the covenant, the Most Holy Place also had two large cherubim made of wood. Their wings were stretched out so that each touched one of the walls with one wing and met in the middle with their other wing. They stood guard over the ark and represented the beings that attend the Lord in His heavenly court and worship Him continually.

May we remember Your glory and majesty through physical reminders of the true spiritual reality.