Again I did not realize that Solomon's Palace was bigger and in some ways grander than the Temple. The Temple was built in 7 years. The palace was built in 13 years (7:1). It was called the Palace of Cedars or the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It must have been pretty amazing in an area without large trees to see all that beautiful wood.
There is mention of stone but mostly in the foundation. So that may be why we do not find any remains of this palace when archaeologists dig.
He built one just like it for his Egyptian queen (7:8) So I guess she is his main queen. No mention has been made of other wives, yet. Perhaps at this time he only has one wife. One wife is God's best. A man and a woman are to join together and are to be faithful to one another. They cannot do that when there is more than one wife (or more than one husband for that matter).
All this costs money whether in food for workers or money to buy or produce the beautiful things. Solomon is a very wealthy man.
Special attention is made to the beautiful windows (7:4-5). We are to understand that there is new architecture and engineering advances being made here.
Innovation is quickly copied and spreads. I think this passage may be modestly describing innovations that spread, perhaps even to Greece and then to Rome.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
१ किंग्स ६ - लाइफ Group
1 Kings 6 - Life Group
In this chapter the author describes in detail the building of the Temple of God. It is referred to as God's house or the house several times. This is where God will live. But it is of course where God's people will come to worship. The next chapter will describe the house Solomon is building for himself. His house, by the way, is bigger than God's house. And the throwaway line, "and he built a house just like it for his Egyptian bride." Wow.
Anyway back to 6. There is a very detailed description of the stages of it being built. We can almost see it going up. First the foundation then the stone walls. Then the wood all around so that the stone can no longer be seen. Then the special floors of cypress wood. Then the walls are inlaid with gold. I think just the inner rooms are inlaid with gold but I am not sure. The doors are described, they move on pivots. If you have ever gone to Israel and seen all the stone monumental buildings at the archaeological sites you might forget that this is just the skeleton. In their day the stonework was covered. In many cases the stone was not seen. It was covered by wood paneling. It was painted or covered by tapestries. We forget that when we see the Temple wall.
The commentator takes this image of house and moves it to us today. We are God's house. God dwells in us now, instead of in a temple of stone and wood and gold. Jesus came and said no longer will you worship in Jerusalem. You will worship God in spirit and in truth.
And corporately God dwells in his church. We the body of Christ are his living stones. We are his house. Solomon's house for God took seven years. Our Body of Christ and our individual temple to God is still under construction.
A family lives in a house. We are God's family. As adopted sons we are relations. We are dependent on one another spiritually. Sometimes we help each other financially too. We give to missions to poorer parts of the family of God in other countries. We often give to each other when we are in need. He mentions the Greek word for house is oikos. This is the basis of our English word economy. The family of God is interdependent like an economy.
As our house of God is still under construction we live in expectancy that God will continue to grow us and mature us and will finally accept us into his kingdom, the heavenly mansion prepared for us. We help each other along the way and encourage each other.
We had Life Group last night. I continue to marvel. What a weird group we are! Not to say motley, this is a very gifted group. But we all have our quirks. CL is continuing to teach. I just have to open meetings and sort of move things along. CL pretty much demands that of me. But there are so many people who can pray, teach, lead prayer, act as amazing hosts. I do very little but sit back. That is how I see myself, sitting back.
We were at the Thomas' again last night. They have such a beautiful house and entertain so lovingly. We overstayed our welcome a bit I am sorry to say.
We split up to pray at the end, men and women split up. We found that there have been many answers to prayer. This includes major steps forward in my effort to close the company at work. Also our prayers for relationship healing among my siblings has been answered too. We still have some major requests so God is not finished there either.
In this chapter the author describes in detail the building of the Temple of God. It is referred to as God's house or the house several times. This is where God will live. But it is of course where God's people will come to worship. The next chapter will describe the house Solomon is building for himself. His house, by the way, is bigger than God's house. And the throwaway line, "and he built a house just like it for his Egyptian bride." Wow.
Anyway back to 6. There is a very detailed description of the stages of it being built. We can almost see it going up. First the foundation then the stone walls. Then the wood all around so that the stone can no longer be seen. Then the special floors of cypress wood. Then the walls are inlaid with gold. I think just the inner rooms are inlaid with gold but I am not sure. The doors are described, they move on pivots. If you have ever gone to Israel and seen all the stone monumental buildings at the archaeological sites you might forget that this is just the skeleton. In their day the stonework was covered. In many cases the stone was not seen. It was covered by wood paneling. It was painted or covered by tapestries. We forget that when we see the Temple wall.
The commentator takes this image of house and moves it to us today. We are God's house. God dwells in us now, instead of in a temple of stone and wood and gold. Jesus came and said no longer will you worship in Jerusalem. You will worship God in spirit and in truth.
And corporately God dwells in his church. We the body of Christ are his living stones. We are his house. Solomon's house for God took seven years. Our Body of Christ and our individual temple to God is still under construction.
A family lives in a house. We are God's family. As adopted sons we are relations. We are dependent on one another spiritually. Sometimes we help each other financially too. We give to missions to poorer parts of the family of God in other countries. We often give to each other when we are in need. He mentions the Greek word for house is oikos. This is the basis of our English word economy. The family of God is interdependent like an economy.
As our house of God is still under construction we live in expectancy that God will continue to grow us and mature us and will finally accept us into his kingdom, the heavenly mansion prepared for us. We help each other along the way and encourage each other.
We had Life Group last night. I continue to marvel. What a weird group we are! Not to say motley, this is a very gifted group. But we all have our quirks. CL is continuing to teach. I just have to open meetings and sort of move things along. CL pretty much demands that of me. But there are so many people who can pray, teach, lead prayer, act as amazing hosts. I do very little but sit back. That is how I see myself, sitting back.
We were at the Thomas' again last night. They have such a beautiful house and entertain so lovingly. We overstayed our welcome a bit I am sorry to say.
We split up to pray at the end, men and women split up. We found that there have been many answers to prayer. This includes major steps forward in my effort to close the company at work. Also our prayers for relationship healing among my siblings has been answered too. We still have some major requests so God is not finished there either.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
