(10) The Temple

THE Tabernacle and the Temple differ considerably in the matter of interpretation. It has pleased the Spirit of God to give us the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews as His inspired commentary on the institutions of the former, but no New Testament book opens up for us the latter. This is the more remarkable because the Tabernacle had long passed away, and the Temple was functioning in Jerusalem. The explanation is that the position of the saints when the Hebrews were addressed answered more to Tabernacle than to Temple conditions. For the world had become a wilderness to them because of their identification with the rejected Christ. Nevertheless, as we meditate upon the Temple and its vessels as described in the Books of the Kings and Chronicles spiritual suggestions will not be lacking.
There is nothing superfluous in the Scriptures, although we are not always able to grasp the significance of its varied contents. The question may easily arise in some minds, Why have we double accounts of the reigns of David, Solomon, and other kings? Why the Books of the Chronicles seeing that there were already existent the Books of the Kings? Examination will show that the Holy Spirit had His special aim and purpose in connection with each set of books. It is observable, for example, that in the Chronicles the sins of David and Solomon are omitted, while their triumphs and glories are emphasized. Also, as we look through the divine instructions concerning the Temple, we shall find some striking variations between the two accounts. As a general statement, it may be affirmed that the teaching of the Books of the Kings is moral, and the teaching of the Chronicles is typical. In the later books David and Solomon are foreshadows of Christ, but in the earlier books we see the men as they really were in their weakness and failure. It seems suitable that the typical should be prominent in the Chronicles, for the books were written after the return from Babylon, when the Holy Spirit sought to cheer the faith of the pious remnant with the glories of the coming Christ by the ministry of Haggai, Zechariah, and others (Ezra 5:1).