1 Kings 7-8

1 Kings 7-8

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 7: Solomon Builds Himself a House

                Solomon builds himself a house that takes him 13 years to complete! The construction of the palace or house of Solomon was very similar in design and elegance as the Temple of the Lord was. I won't go into detail about all the sizes of the house or the way it was built... but imagine very nice... with gold and fine carved timber throughout.

                King Solomon hired a man by the name of Huram who was very skilled with Bronze work. He came to work for the king and complete all the tasks assigned to him. Huram cast two bronze pillars with a network of interwoven chains on the tops, one was called Jakin in the south and the other was Boaz in the north. He also made a molten sea with (baptismal font) that had a radius of 7.5 feet, this "sea" is rested upon the backs of 12 oxen; 3 facing north, 3 facing east, 3 facing west, and 3 facing south. Huram also made 10 stands (carts) with wheels that had basins of water in them, and some pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls to do all of the ordinances.

                King Solomon had everything made or overlaid with Gold and once the house portion of the Temple was completed he put the rest of the Gold, Silver and other treasures his father had dedicated into the treasuries of the Temple.

Chapter 8: The Ark of the Temple

                The Ark and the two tablets of stone that are placed inside of the Ark are moved into the "holy of holies" inside the Temple. The glory of the Lord fills the Temple, like a cloud throughout the Temple, so much that the priests are unable to stand up.

                Solomon offers a dedicatory prayer and asks for temporal and spiritual blessing upon all of Israel, especially those who are repentant and follow the commandments. The people of Israel sacrifice and worship for 14 days straight.

                One verse that really caught my eye was the following;

                "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings 8:27) -There is more than just "one" heaven... something that latter-day revelation has revealed about where we go when we die. This is all part of the Plan of Salvation... and the 3 degrees of glory that exist in what most people commonly refer to as "heaven". 

1 Kings 5-6

1 Kings 5-6

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 5: Stones and Timber for the Temple

King Hiriam of Tyre sends some of his servants to go in unto Solomon to help him. King Hiriam has always loved Solomon and therefore upon discovering that he had been anointed king sent aide to build the house of the Lord.

                The first part of this chapter has two verses that really stuck out to me; "...David...could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurent" (1 Kings 5:3-4). This to me is very interesting, because like Temples of old and the modern day temples of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), evil is opposing the construction of temples since the beginning! Why? Because Satan knows that through the Temple and the ordinances performed there, it is possible for man to return to live with Heavenly Father. Thus completing the Plan of Salvation that God laid out before the foundation of the Earth and the same plan that the Devil has been trying to destroy since that time. There are currently 137 operating Temples throughout all of the world. Every single one of them has been a struggle and a sacrifice, but with so many sacrifices, come so many blessings!

                Solomon commands that the Sidonians bring in cedar and fir trees from Lebanon to start work on the Temple. In trade for this work and the trees being provided Solomon gave Hiriam; 20,000 measures of wheat and 20,000 measures of pure oil every year. Because of this, Hiriam and Solomon became great friends and formed a league (my guess was to have a stronger influence in the area and also to achieve the great task of building this temple).

                Solomon had 70,000 laborers, 80,000 stone cutters, and 9,300 overseers of the construction of the Temple. Thus the preparation of the construction began.

Chapter 6: Solomon Builds the Temple

                The construction of the Temple began 480 years after the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. This was in the fourth year of Solomon's reign as king and in the second month of the year.

                The dimensions of the Temple;

·         60 cubits long = 90 feet

·         20 cubits wide= 30 feet

·         30 cubits high= 45 feet

·         The portico at the front of the main hall extended the width of the temple (30 feet) and projected 15 feet.

·         Surrounding the temple are houses and a complete wall + compound.

                While building the temple all work that required immense noise (like chiseling) was done off site and brought in quietly (in a reverent and respectful way). The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended an additional 30 feet and then projected about 10-15 feet from there. All of the windows in the temple were narrow and tall. Against the walls of the main hall, King Solomon had a structure built around the building that had side rooms. The lower floor was 7 feet 6 inches wide, middle flower was 9 feet and the third floor was 9 feet 6 inches wide.

                The entrance to the lower floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and then onto the third floor.  The side rooms were about 8 feet tall and were attached to the temple by beams and cedar planks.

                God was pleased with the work and promised Solomon that if him and his people would worship there and follow his commandments that they would be a greatly blessed people. Solomon finishes the temple with details like lining the interior walls with cedar boards, paneling from the floor to the ceiling. At the rear of the temple Solomon sectioned off an area of about 30 sq feet for the "Most Holy Place". On the interior of the temple all was cedar so that no stone was to be seen.

                In the inner sanctuary Solomon prepared it for the Ark of the Covenant, that room was 30x30x30 feet. On top of all the cedar the entire temple was overlaid with Gold. Also on the inner sanctuary Solomon had a pair of cherubims made out of Olive wood; 15 feet tall with wings about 9 feet long. Both cheribums were identical in every way, with one wing of each touching the walls and the other wings touching each other in the middle... and of course overlaid in Gold. The entrance to the inner sanctuary was sealed off by doors made from Olive wood, 1/4 the thickness of the exterior walls (heavy duty doors) and also doors made of juniper wood, each having leaves to open the door. Each door had carvings of open flowers, palm trees and of course overlaid in Gold.

                The Temple was finally completed with all its details and specifications 7 years later.

2 Samuel 11-12

2 Samuel 11-12

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 11: David Lies with Bath-sheba

                The start of the chapter begins with David and his men going into battle to destroy the children of Ammon, and Rabbah. While in Jerusalem, David (from the roof top) notices a very beautiful woman bathing, her name; Bath-sheba.

                David decides that he really likes this woman and has her called into see him. He "lies" with her and she ends up conceiving a child. David calls for the Bath-sheba's husband and has him come to his home. There he gives him food and tells him to wait with him, until the morning. So Uriah (husband to Bath-sheba) stays with David, in the morning David has it arranged so Uriah will go back to battle and puts him on the front lines so that he will surely die in battle, and he does. Now David can be with Bath-sheba and have her, for himself!    

         

Chapter 12: Plural Marriage

                This chapter follows directly from the last chapter, where essentially David lusted after another man's life (against the 10 commandments) and took her to be his wife, after he arranged for her husband to be "killed" in battle.

                The Lord is not happy with this, so he sends Nathan to talk to David and this is what David said;

"...there were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb (a young female sheep), which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man who was come to him," (2 Samuel 12:1-4)

                So to sum it up, one rich man and one poor man. The rich man had everything and the poor man had nothing, except one lamb. So the rich man, instead of killing one of his own lambs for a feast decides to kill the one the poor man has and take everything from him.

                When David hears this, he is outraged and tells Nathan that the man who had done this must die! Nathan tells David that HE IS THAT MAN! Nathan tells David that the Lord had given him everything, the Lord anointed him King over Israel, gave him wives, cattle, sheep and a home. But he still had to go and despise God, by breaking one of his commandments and lusting after another man's wife. Not only did he lust after her, he committed adultery with her and then had her husband "killed" in battle so he could have her.

                So the Lord tells Nathan that because of this, he will take everything from David and his wives will be given to his neighbors. The Lord says that David committed adultery in secret, but he will punish him openly and publicly.

                So here is a question; Is plural marriage bad? The LDS church practiced plural marriage from about 1850 to 1890, the LDS church practiced plural marriage for about 4 decades. Many people condemned the church for this practice, but right here in the Bible it gives us an insight into plural marriage. We know that David had many wives, but he got in trouble for taking another wife. Why? Was it because of plural marriage? No. Because David already had wives, which the Lord had given him. So we learn that when God authorizes plural marriage it is ok. In the case of plural marriage in the LDS church, often times the woman (after having their husbands killed to mobs, who disliked the church) were left as widows. In the 1800's being a widow was not a good thing, because woman had very few rights. So the wealthier more prominent and righteous men took them into their own homes as their "wives", this gave them a place to live and a status in that era. Most of the time, the men still only had sexual relations with their original wife. Not all men in the church could have plural marriage, the prophet through the guidance of God would choose who could and could not have multiple wives. This was due to the fact that the Lord knew certain men would abuse this.

                So, moving on... David repents and feels really bad for having committed this sin.  But the Lord causes the child he had with Bath-sheba to come down with a sickness. So David fasts for several days and lays himself on the earth in prayer and sadness. Even with all this prayer and fasting, the Lord's will was different from David's and his son still passed away. But David arose from the earth, washed and anointed himself in the temple, changed his clothing and worshiped the Lord (2 Samuel 12:20) - this shows the importance of Temples, something that the LDS church has today.

                Bath-sheba was really upset (and rightfully so, her son had just died), but David comforts her and "lies down" with her, and she conceives another son, and they name the son; Solomon. The Lord is pleased with Solomon and blesses him. David conquers the Royal City of the Ammonites.