Study Desk

Yet no one can really build a temple for God, because even all the vastness of heaven cannot contain him. How then can I build a temple that would be anything more than a place to burn incense to God?

As provisions for your lumbermen, I will send you 100,000 bushels of wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil."

Praise the Lord God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, full of understanding and skill, who now plans to build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

His mother was a member of the tribe of Dan and his father was a native of Tyre. He knows how to make things out of gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood. He can work with blue, purple, and red cloth, and with linen. He can do all sorts of engraving and can follow any design suggested to him. Let him work with your skilled workers and with those who worked for your father, King David.

King David, Solomon's father, had already prepared a place for the Temple. It was in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David, at the place which Araunah the Jebusite had used as a threshing place. King Solomon began the construction

twenty ounces of gold were used for making nails, and the walls of the upper rooms were also covered with gold.

A curtain for the Most Holy Place was made of linen and of other material, which was dyed blue, purple, and red, with designs of the winged creatures worked into it.

They also made ten basins, five to be placed on the south side of the Temple and five on the north side. They were to be used to rinse the parts of the animals that were burned as sacrifices. The water in the large tank was for the priests to use for washing.

They made an inner courtyard for the priests, and also an outer courtyard. The doors in the gates between the courtyards were covered with bronze.

Huram also made pots, shovels, and bowls. He completed all the objects that he had promised King Solomon he would make for the Temple: The two columns The two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the columns The design of interwoven chains on each capital The 400 bronze pomegranates arranged in two rows around the design of each capital The ten carts The ten basins The tank The twelve bulls supporting the tank The pots, shovels, and forks Huram the master metalworker made all these objects out of polished bronze, as King Solomon had commanded, for use in the Temple of the Lord .

King Solomon also had gold furnishings made for the Temple: the altar and the tables for the bread offered to God;

the lamp snuffers, the bowls, the dishes for incense, and the pans used for carrying live coals. All these objects were made of pure gold. The outer doors of the Temple and the doors to the Most Holy Place were overlaid with gold.

Now I have built a majestic temple for you, a place for you to live in forever."

And Solomon continued, "My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel,

but the Lord said to him, ‘You were right in wanting to build a temple for me,

"Now the Lord has kept his promise: I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel.

"When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you and then when they turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness,

"When you command your people to go into battle against their enemies and they pray to you, wherever they are, facing this city which you have chosen and this Temple which I have built for you,

If in that land they truly and sincerely repent and pray to you as they face toward this land which you gave to our ancestors, this city which you have chosen, and this Temple which I have built for you,

Lord God, do not reject the king you have chosen. Remember the love you had for your servant David."