The hill stood with two sides steep, detached, and precipitous; another more easy of approach towards the country; the fourth, separated from Jerusalem by a ravine, which the king proposed to bridge over. The more Mount Moriah is examined, the more Solomon's skill in engineering and careful foresight are apparent.

LESSON CXXXIII.

THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.

E.C. 1012.-2 CHRON. iii. and 1 KINGS vi. vii.

(abridged).

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,

Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:

And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

And the oracle* he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.

And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

:

And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree.

And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.

* The place where the Lord spake, the Holy of Holies.

And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.

And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.

And he made a molten sea: it stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he had made king Solomon for the house of the Lord.

In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay. ground between Succoth and Zarthan.

And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.

And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread

was,

And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,

And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.

So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.

In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif :

*

And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul,+ which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

COMMENT.-Only a few verses have been here given from the description of the building of the Temple, as it may be easier to understand the account of it which diligent students have gathered from the Scripture narrative and other testimony, and put into words and measurements of the present day. The Temple was begun in the fourth year of Solomon's reign (B.C. 1012). It took seven years to build, and was finished B.C. 1005. The huge stones of which it was built had all been shaped in their own * The flower month, about May. The fruit month, about October.

quarry, so that no crashing axe or thundering hammer broke the silence of the building.

"Then in awful state

The Temple reared its everlasting gate.

No workman's steel, no ponderous axes rung;
Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung.
Majestic silence! then the harp awoke,

The cymbal clanged, the deep-voiced trumpet spoke."

It reminds us how we, the living stones of God's holy Temple, are shaped and moulded here below, to be built up silently, one by one, in heaven.

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For the brazen work within, Solomon obtained the services of another Hiram, who is thus described by his namesake the king of Tyre, when he sent him at Solomon's request :-" The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.” (2 Chron. ii. 14.) His mother, then, was of the tribe of Dan, the same from which had come Aholiab, one of the artificers of the old Tabernacle; his father a Naphtalite, on whose death she had married a Tyrian, so that her son had been brought up among the skilful Phoenician craftsmen-thus consecrating the art and ability that reigned there to God's service. His work was done on the other side of the Jordan, near Succoth, for the sake of the clay soil which was required to make the moulds for casting the brass, which was provided in abundance beyond all reckoning, while all the lesser implements for the service of the Sanctuary were of pure gold.

The general plan and system of the Tabernacle, according to the pattern given to Moses in the Mount, were followed out, they being the shadows or emblems of eternal truths; and, indeed, every vision of heaven of which we have the record reveals itself to the eye of man as an intensely glorified tabernacle or temple; as if the framework, if such a word may be used, were always the same, and the model of that of the Sanctuary "made with hands." So

the Temple was an enlarged Tabernacle, with solid walls instead of curtains, and a roof overlaid with gold instead of seal and ram skins. The size of the building of the Temple was not great, however. It was not wanted to contain worshippers; they were in the courts outside. It was to be the shrine of the Ark with the Mercy Seat, and no great space was needed for this. So the Holy of Holies--the Oracle, as it is here called-was only twenty cubits every way, a perfect cube of nearly thirty feet, with a doorway of five sides, leading into the Holy Place, of the same width as the Oracle, but twice the length, and raised ten cubits higherjust double the size it had been in the Tabernacle. It was due east and west, the Oracle to the east. Beyond it lay a porch, or hall, of the same width and height, but ten cubits in length. Above this porch and Holy Place were two stories of chambers, raising the height to one hundred and twenty cubits, or one hundred and eighty feet. This was the Sanctuary itself, the only covered part, scarcely so large as many of our village churches, though very lofty when seen from without; and there were side chambers added at the basement story, so that the outline was of stages gradually narrowing-a remembrance of the sloping sides of the tent, and of the aspiring of all true religion to heaven. This stood in the midst of a

court for the priests, with a low wall of separation, and raised above the outer court for the congregation, which was parted again by another wall to form a court, lower down and further off, for worshippers from other nations. The outer walls of these courts had a deep shady cloister, supported on pillars, running round them, with an upper story of chambers which served for the lodging of the priests, Levites, and others employed in the service of the Temple. Within the court of the priests stood the great brazen sea, or laver, a huge vessel of brass, measuring forty-five feet round the rim, and supported on the backs of twelve brazen oxen, three looking to each point of the compass; and ten lesser lavers, mounted on wheels, for the priests to wash in, were around. A great brazen altar for burnt-offerings, fifteen feet high and thirty long, stood exactly where David had offered his sacrifice. Behind, close to the porch, were two great pillars of brass, their capitals ornamented with pomegranates and a network of chains, and

called Fachin, "He will establish," and Boaz, “ strength." Inside the Holy Place was the altar of incense, overlaid with gold, the shewbread table, also golden, and the candlesticks of seven branches, ranged five on each side. It was wainscoted with cedar, laid over on all sides with gold, worked in patterns of cherubim and pomegranates. There were folding cedar doors towards the porch, but the pentagonal opening to the Holy of Holies was crossed with chains of gold, and hung with a curtain of the richest texture of blue, scarlet, and white, worked with gold. Two colossal figures of cherubim of olive wood covered with gold were there, the tips of their wings meeting, so as to shadow over the empty space beneath them. The walls of the courts were of stone, the pavements of polished marble, the steps from one court to another rose up like terraces, and rising above all was the Sanctuary, with the entire roof glittering with gold, all coming up from the steep precipitous mountain, which it entirely covered and crowned. Truly nothing so wonderful for "glory and for beauty," or so exceeding “magnificial” could ever have been seen! (For the typical meaning refer to Lesson XXXV. Book II.)

LESSON CXXXIV.

THE DEDICATION.

B.C. 1005.-2 CHRON. V.

Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month.

And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up.

Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude.