Through My Bible Yr 02 – October 19

2 Chronicles 3:1 – 5:1

Through My Bible – October 19

2 Chronicles 3:1 – 5:1 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

The Construction of the Temple

2 Chronicles 3

1 Then Solomon began to build the House of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. He constructed it on the site that David had specified, [1] namely, the threshing floor of Ornan [2] the Jebusite. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

The Sanctuary

3 Now these are the dimensions of the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house. The length was ninety feet and the width thirty feet. [3] 4 The porch [4] that was in front of the temple building was thirty feet wide, the same as the width of the building, and it was thirty feet high. [5]

He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5 He lined the larger front room of the building with fir paneling, [6] which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains. 6 He beautified the house with dazzling precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. [7] 7 He also overlaid the house, the beams and rafters, the thresholds and door frames, its walls, and its doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8 He made the Most Holy Place. It was thirty feet by thirty feet, the same dimensions as the width of the building, and he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold. [8] 9 The weight of the gold nails was more than a pound. [9] He overlaid the upper areas with gold.

The Cherubim

10 In the Most Holy Place he made two carved cherubim that were overlaid with gold. 11 The total wingspan of the cherubim was thirty feet. One wing of the first cherub was seven and a half feet long and touched the outer wall of the house. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long and touched the wing of the other cherub. 12 One wing of the other cherub was seven and a half feet long and touched the outer wall of the house. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long and touched the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim spread out over thirty feet. They stood upright on their feet, and they faced toward the front of the sanctuary building. [10] 14 He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson material and fine white linen, and he decorated it with cherubim.

Pillars

15 For the front of the house he made two pillars with a combined height of fifty-three feet, [11] and the capitals that were on top of each of them were seven and a half feet tall. 16 He made chains for the inner sanctuary [12] and also put them on the tops of the pillars. He also made one hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. 17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple building, [13] one on the south side and the other on the north. He named the one on the south Jakin [14] and the one on the north Boaz. [15]

The Temple Furnishings

2 Chronicles 4

1 He made a bronze altar thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet high.

2 He also made the sea of cast metal. It was round and fifteen feet from rim to rim. It was seven and a half feet high and forty-five feet in circumference. 3 Under the rim, figurines of cattle [16] completely encircled it, one every two inches, all the way around the sea. These cattle were in two rows, cast as one piece with the sea. 4 The sea stood on twelve cattle, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center. 5 The sea was three inches [17] thick. Its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held eighteen thousand gallons. [18]

6 He also made ten basins for washing and put five on the south side and five on the north. The pieces of the burnt offering were washed in the basins, but the priests washed in the sea.

7 He made ten gold lampstands according to the specifications that had been given for them, and he set them in the outer room of the temple building, five on the south side and five on the north.

8 He made ten tables and placed them in the outer room of the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made one hundred gold sprinkling bowls.

9 He also made the courtyard of the priests and the great enclosure, [19] and he made doors for the enclosure and overlaid them with bronze. 10 He set the sea on the south side of the temple building near its southeast corner.

11 Huram [20] also made the pots, the shovels, and the bowls.

So Huram finished the work that he carried out for King Solomon for God’s house: 12 the two pillars, the two globe-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two globe-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, 13 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks (two rows of pomegranates for each latticework to cover the two globe-shaped capitals that were on the pillars). 14 He also made the carts, and he made the basins on the carts, 15 one sea, and the twelve cattle under it. 16 Huram Abi also made the pots, the shovels, the meat hooks, [21] and all the vessels of burnished bronze for King Solomon, for the House of the Lord.

17 The king cast them in clay molds, in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredatha. [22] 18 Solomon made all these vessels in such great quantity that the weight of the bronze was not determined.

19 Solomon made all the furnishings that were in God’s house: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence was arranged, 20 and the lampstands with their lamps, which were to burn in front of the inner sanctuary according to the regulations. He made them of pure gold. [23] 21 He also made the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of the purest gold, [24] 22 and the snuffers, the sprinkling bowls, the small dishes, and the fire pans [25] of pure gold. For the entrances into the sanctuary, he made the gold inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the gold doors for the front room of the sanctuary.

2 Chronicles 5

1 All the work which Solomon carried out for the House of the Lord was completed, so Solomon brought the things his father David had dedicated, namely, the silver, the gold, and all the vessels and utensils, and put them into the treasuries of the House of God.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 3:1 Or prepared
  2. 2 Chronicles 3:1 In 2 Samuel 24 he is called Araunah or Aravnah.
  3. 2 Chronicles 3:3 The measurements are given in cubits of the old measure, a much disputed term. The translation uses 18-inch cubits. Using a long cubit of 20+ inches, the temple would be 105 feet by 35 feet.
  4. 2 Chronicles 3:4 Or entry hall. It is uncertain if this was an unroofed porch or an enclosed vestibule.
  5. 2 Chronicles 3:4 The Hebrew text reads one hundred twenty cubits (one hundred eighty feet), but the Greek and Syriac texts and the data concerning the height of the pillars for the porch all support a height of twenty cubits (thirty feet). Perhaps the Hebrew word amwt (cubit) was accidentally changed into the word mawt (hundred) by the inversion of two letters. The account in Kings does not give the height of the porch.
  6. 2 Chronicles 3:5 According to 1 Kings 6:15, the floor was fir and the walls were cedar. This verse in Chronicles does not mention this distinction.
  7. 2 Chronicles 3:6 The meaning or location of the Hebrew term Parvaim is unknown.
  8. 2 Chronicles 3:8 Because of widely varying estimates for the weight of a talent (68 pounds to 130 pounds) most translations retain the term talents. The smallest estimated weight of the gold would be about 20 tons. The notes of this translation use the estimate of 75 pounds for a talent.
  9. 2 Chronicles 3:9 Literally fifty shekels
  10. 2 Chronicles 3:13 It is uncertain whether this means they faced toward the front entrance of the building (what we would call the front of a church when we are standing outside) or whether they faced toward the back of the building and thus toward the Lord (what we would call the front of a church when we are standing inside).
  11. 2 Chronicles 3:15 The word combined is not in the Hebrew text, but the parallel text in 1 Kings 7:15 indicates that this is the combined height of the two pillars.
  12. 2 Chronicles 3:16 See 1 Kings 6:21, which states that the chains were across the front of the inner room.
  13. 2 Chronicles 3:17 Here the Hebrew word hekal refers to the whole temple building. Sometimes it refers only to the front room.
  14. 2 Chronicles 3:17 Jakin means he establishes.
  15. 2 Chronicles 3:17 Boaz means in him is strength.
  16. 2 Chronicles 4:3 The parallel text in 1 Kings 7:24 reads gourds rather than cattle.
  17. 2 Chronicles 4:5 Literally a handbreadth
  18. 2 Chronicles 4:5 Literally three thousand baths. In 1 Kings 7:26, it reads two thousand baths. Perhaps the two passages were using different standards for the bath or rounding off.
  19. 2 Chronicles 4:9 Not the usual Hebrew word for courtyard, but a special word ‘azarah
  20. 2 Chronicles 4:11 He is called Hiram in 1 Kings.
  21. 2 Chronicles 4:16 Or forks
  22. 2 Chronicles 4:17 Also called Zarethan in 1 Kings 7:46
  23. 2 Chronicles 4:20 Literally closed gold, also in verse 22. Most translations translate this as pure gold or solid gold, but perhaps it means gold plate in some contexts. The precise distinctions between the various terms for pure gold or solid gold are uncertain.
  24. 2 Chronicles 4:21 Literally perfection of gold
  25. 2 Chronicles 4:22 The precise identification of some of these vessels and utensils is uncertain.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.