THE TEMPLE, LIKE THE TABERNACLE, BUILT AFTER A PATTERN
Nevertheless to David was given, by the Spirit of God, an accurate pattern of the temple, and all things pertaining thereto, just as Moses had received the pattern of the tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai. This we find in 1 Chronicles 28:11, and onward; and in verse 19, David says, “All this the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.”STTHD 144.2
Besides thus receiving the pattern, it was permitted him to make also abundant preparation for the coming building. Its erection was committed to his son Solomon, and to him and the princes, David gave the following solemn charge concerning this work: “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord.” 1 Chronicles 22:19.STTHD 144.3
Again: 1 Chronicles 28:10: “Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.”STTHD 145.1
Mark, it was the sanctuary for which provision was thus carefully being made, the sanctuary, of which David had seen the pattern, for which he had made ready his material, and concerning which he gave this solemn charge.STTHD 145.2
The pattern is now furnished, and the material prepared. Where was the sanctuary located? The spot chosen was most significant. It was none other than the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, 1 Chronicles 21:14-18, where the angel of the Lord appeared to David, upon Mount Moriah, 2 Chronicles 3:1, which was near to Mount Zion. Upon this spot Isaac had been offered eight hundred and sixty years before, and a lamb had been provided in his place. Genesis 22:1-14.STTHD 145.3
All questions being thus decided and all preparations made, the work commences. The sacred writer thus marks this important event: “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.” 1 Kings 6:1.STTHD 146.1
A question of chronology here demands solution. Paul, in Acts 13:18-22, gives a far different reckoning of the time from the exodus to the building of the temple. He allows to the wilderness forty years, the time given to the destruction of the seven nations of Canaan, usually computed as six years (see Bliss’ Sacred Chronology), to the Judges 450 years, to the reign of Saul forty years, to that of David forty years, and to Solomon’s fourth year, three years, making in all 579 years, and bringing the building of the temple in the 580th year from the exodus, instead of the 480th as in 1 Kings 6. It is not necessary to give the long and elaborate opinions of critics upon this matter. There being a difference of just one hundred years goes far to show that a mistake of just that measure of time has somewhere been made. This could not be made in the text of the Judges, nor in the discourse of Paul, where the period is drawn out in items, so easily as in 1 Kings 6, where it is expressed in a single statement. Hence it is the opinion of chronologers that the reading in Kings is not genuine; that the building of the temple was commenced in the fourth year of Solomon, as here and elsewhere stated, but that this was the 580th year from the exode, instead of one hundred years earlier. See this question discussed at length in “Barrett’s Synopsis of Criticism,” vol. ii. part 2.STTHD 146.2
The intimate connection of the temple with its prototype, the tabernacle, is shown in the general arrangement and furniture of the building. Like the tabernacle, it had its holy, and most holy, place. But these, in all their dimensions-length, breadth, and height-were exactly double those of the tabernacle. Thus the most holy place was twenty cubits each way, instead of ten, and the holy place twenty by forty cubits, instead of ten by twenty.STTHD 147.1
Besides these apartments there was a porch of ten cubits at the entrance, and surrounding chambers for the use of the priests, besides various courts and covered porches surrounding the whole. Altogether it covered a large area, and presented an imposing and magnificent appearance. Rising from its commanding height like a mountain of marble and gold, it stood before the world a monument of splendor more gorgeous and wonderful than men had ever looked upon before. The carving of the walls of the house with figures of cherubim, the overlaying of it with pure gold within and without, the doors of olive-trees adorned with carved work and overlaid with gold fitted to the carvings, with other innumerable and costly ornaments and embellishments, were accomplished at an expense, says Dr. Clarke, which it is impossible to estimate.STTHD 147.2
Two gigantic cherubim, of olive wood overlaid with gold, each ten cubits high, were prepared for the most holy place, and put in position on either side of the spot upon which the ark was to rest. “And they stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.”STTHD 148.1
Many of the vessels of the sanctuary were also enlarged and multiplied for the temple service. Ten golden candlesticks shed their light in the holy place, and ten tables held the consecrated bread which was placed each Sabbath before the Lord. 2 Chronicles 4:7, 8.STTHD 148.2
At the expiration of seven years and six months from the commencement of the work, the building was completed, though the dedication did not take place till the following year, the twelfth of Solomon’s reign. Having all things prepared for this joyful occasion, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, to its new abode. 1 Kings 8. And King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that there assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. What a procession was that!STTHD 149.1
They also brought up the tabernacle. The original tabernacle was left at Gibeon thirty-eight years before; and it is generally supposed that David had erected a new one for the ark when he brought it to his city. Which of these was brought into the temple? Some think both;; but Dr. Clarke suggests what seems the more probable view, that the original tabernacle was brought up from Gibeon, to be preserved in the temple as a relic, and the temporary one erected by David was destroyed.STTHD 149.2
What was in the ark? 1 Kings 8:9, states explicitly that there was nothing there save the tables of stone. Paul is supposed to say, in Hebrews 9:4, that it contained also the golden pot of manna and Aaron’s rod. That these were originally laid up before the testimony is evident from Exodus 16:33, 34; Numbers 17:10; but we find no record that they were put into the ark with the tables of the law. Paul, in Hebrews 9:3, speaks of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all; and the word wherein, in verse 4, is simply the relative pronoun, “in which,” which may refer to the tabernacle as its antecedent, instead of the ark. With this view, Paul’s language would simply affirm that in the most holy, or second apartment, were placed the golden censer, the pot of manna, Aaron’s rod, the ark, and the tables of the covenant; the tables, though contained in the ark, being mentioned separately from the ark by way of emphasis.STTHD 150.1
But even if Paul means that the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod were in the ark with the tables of the commandments, it can easily be reconciled with 1 Kings 8:9; for Paul evidently speaks of the sanctuary as it was in the time of Moses; whereas the writer in Kings speaks of it as it was in the time of Solomon, about five hundred years later; and it would follow that at some time during this long period of five hundred years, the manna and rod had been removed from the ark, which might easily have occurred, so that in the days of Solomon there was nothing in it save the tables alone.STTHD 150.2
A passage similar to this in Hebrews is found in 1 Kings 8:21, which reads, “And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.” In this passage, the word, wherein, refers to the place, not to the ark. In the ark was God’s covenant which he commanded, the ten commandments. The covenant which he made with the children of Israel, which was a mutual agreement between himself and them, was written in a book, and placed in the side of the ark. Deuteronomy 31:26.STTHD 151.1
And this leads us to consider what is meant by this expression, “In the side of the ark.” Prideaux has explained it so fully in his “Connexion,” vol.. i. p. 152, that we can do no better than to give his words:—STTHD 151.2
“As to the book, or volume of the law, it being commanded to be put mitssad, i.e., on the side of the ark, those who interpret that word of the inside, place it within the ark, and those who interpret it of the outside, place it on the outside of it in a case or coffer made on purpose for it, and laid on the right side; meaning by the right side, that end of it which was on the right hand. And the last seem to be in the right as to this matter; for, first, The same word, mitssad, is made use of, where it is said that the Philistines sent back the ark with an offering of jewels, of gold put in a coffer by the side of it. And there it is certain that word must be understood of the outside, and not of the inside. Secondly, The ark was not of capacity enough to hold the volume of the whole law of Moses, with the other things placed therein. Thirdly, The end of laying up the original volume of the law in the temple was, that it might be reserved there as the authentic copy, by which all others were to be corrected and set right; and, therefore, to answer this end, it must have been placed so as that access might be had thereto on all occasions requiring it; which could not have been done, if it had been put within the ark, and shut up there by the cover of the mercy-seat over it, which was not to be removed. And, fourthly, When Hilkiah the high priest, in the time of Josiah, found the copy of the law in the temple, there is nothing said of the ark; neither is it there spoken of as taken from thence, but as found elsewhere in the temple. And, therefore, putting all this together, it seems plain that the volume of the law was not laid within the ark, but had a particular coffer or repository of its own, in which it was placed on the side of it. And the word mitssad, which answers to the Latin a latere, cannot truly bear any other meaning in the Hebrew language. And therefore the Chaldee paraphrase, which goes under the name of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, in paraphrasing on these words of Deuteronomy—‘Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant,’ renders it thus, ‘Take the book of the law, and place it in a case or coffer, on the right side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God.’”STTHD 152.1
The ark was brought into its position in the most holy place between the wings of the cherubim, and thus again became connected with the sanctuary after a separation of 136 years. God approved of all that had been done to suitably prepare for his worship as adapted to that time, and as he had taken possession of the first tabernacle, Exodus 40:34, so now he takes possession of this: “And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” 1 Kings 8:10, 11.STTHD 153.1
That was a day of joy in Israel. The thousands of offerings consuming upon the altars, the clouds of incense that rose above the temple, the sounds of the instruments of music, and the voice of the singers, the inimitable prayer of Solomon, the wisest of men, the glory of the new temple, the vast concourse of people, and above all, the crowning visitation of the shekinah, or visible glory of God, as he took possession of his dwelling, all conspired to render thisSTTHD 154.1
THE MOST IMPOSING RELIGIOUS SERVICE EVER PERFORMED IN THIS WORLD, EITHER BEFORE OR SINCE THAT TIME. STTHD 154.2
Twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep constituted Solomon’s peace-offering.-offering. Besides this there were his meat-offerings, his burnt-offerings, and his drink-offerings, besides the offerings of the assembled multitudes. Fourteen days the king and all Israel kept a feast unto the Lord, and then the people returned to their homes, blessing the king, and glad of heart for all the goodness of the Lord.STTHD 154.3
During Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, the tabernacle, as we have seen, was fifty-six times called the sanctuary. From its entrance into the holy land, till its incorporation into the temple, it is nineteen times more called the sanctuary in the following passages:—STTHD 155.1
Joshua 24:26; 1 Chronicles 9:29; 22:19; 24:5; 28:10; 2 Chronicles 20:8; Psalm 20:2; 28:2, margin; 29:2,margin; 63:2; 68:24; 73:17; 77:13; 78:54, 69; 96:6, 9, margin; 134:2; 150:1.STTHD 155.2