The House of the LORD (1 Ki. 6)

Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church

Why should we care about the detailed description of the temple given here? The simple reason is because in Christ you are the temple – the house of the LORD. All that is true of the temple is true of you.We heard in chapters 3-5 of the wisdom of Solomon in judging difficult cases (3:15-28) in the organization of his kingdom (4:1-19) in his expansive learning, covering the whole of creation (4:29-34) and in his dealing with the nations, especially Hiram of Tyre (5:1-12)Now in chapters 6-7 we hear of how Solomon's wisdom is manifested in building the temple - the House of the LORD - and in other building projects. We'll take two weeks to go through it – but the two chapters fit neatly together.Chapter 6 deals with the construction of the temple. Chapter 7:1-12 then moves to the construction of Solomon's house. And 7:13-51 returns to the furnishing of the temple.These chapters are bracketed by the statement in 6:1 that Solomon "began to build the house of the LORD," and in 7:51 that "the house of the LORD was finished."The word "finished" is used a total of seven times in these two chapters, as Solomon completes each stage. This is the same word used in Genesis 2:1, where it says that God finished creating the heavens and the earth; it is also the word used in Exodus 40:33 to describe how Moses finished building the tabernacle.When God created the heavens and the earth – the original building project – he finished his work with a holy dwelling place where man could meet with God...