03.02.03. Preparations for the temple
Preparations for the Temple DAVID’S FIRST THOUGHT.
AFTER David had been established on the throne and his kingdom at peace, he set his heart on building a house for Jehovah. That which at first led David to think of building the Temple, doubtless under Divine guidance, was a desire to provide a suitable resting-place for the Ark of the Covenant, as connected with the manifestation of God’s presence with Israel. "David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah remaineth under curtains" (1 Chronicles 17:1. See also Psalms 132:1-18). But Jehovah told David that Solomon his son was to build the house to His name. THE RANSOM MONEY.
We read in Exodus 30:1-38. God’s commandment concerning the numbering of the children of Israel in the wilderness, that, when the people were taken account of, from twenty years old and upwards, each one numbered among the people of God was to bring a ransom for his soul, a bekah or twenty gerahs, the half shekel of the sanctuary (the didrachma of the New Testament, value about fifteen pence) (see Matthew 17:24-27), "that there might be no plague"; the ransom price being paid into the treasury of God, they were numbered as a ransomed or redeemed people. In Exodus 38:1-31. we find it amounted to one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels of silver, each talent being about 114 lbs. of our weight, or £ 343 3s. 9d. in value. Of these, one hundred talents of silver were cast for the sockets of the tabernacle, ninety-six for the sockets of the boards, and four for the pillars of the veil; the remainder of the silver was for the hooks, chapiters, and connecting rods of the pillars. What was all this a type of? The Spirit of God through the Apostle Peter throws the light of Heaven on this subject, in the words, "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver or gold, . . . but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19). This is "the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." "It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul" (Romans 3:21. This typical tabernacle of God in the wilderness, pitched on the sands of the desert, each board of shittim wood fixed in their sockets of silver, was founded on the redemption, foreshadowing the redemption price of God’s own spotless Lamb, on which alone our souls can rest, as builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.
DAVID’S TEMPTATION.
Acting under the instigation of the adversary, requested Joab to number the children of Israel, for, it would appear, his own gratification, "that I may know the number of the people." They were not numbered as God’s redeemed, but as the people of David, consequently judgment followed. There is no mention of the redemption price having been paid. The angel of God went forth in judgment, and seventy thousand in Israel in three days fell. On David’s confession of his sin, God, in His tender mercy and longsuffering, abundant in goodness, as well as in truth, commanded by the prophet Gad that David should build an altar to Jehovah on the threshing-floor of Oman (or Arauna) the Jebusite. David obeyed. He purchased the threshing-floor for fifty shekels of SILVER, with the oxen and implements (2 Samuel 24:24), paying its full value, the legal price; but he GAVE for the surrounding place, or land, six hundred shekels of GOLD, a place for the courts of Jehovahs’s house, a site for the Temple. David there erected an altar, offered sacrifice, a burnt or ascending offering, and a peace offering, and God showed His acceptance by answering David by fire from Heaven, accepting the sacrifice as a savour of rest to Himself. SILVER is the emblem of redemption; therefore for the site on which atonement was made silver was paid. GOLD is the emblem of Divine glory, and gold was given for the site of the Temple. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us, thus satisfying justice to the full, but He has redeemed us TO everlasting glory; and the glory which the Father gives Him He shares with His people (John 17:22). The demands of law have been met, and the atonement price fully paid in the blood of the Lamb; but, over and above all this, glory has been GIVEN in the riches of Divine grace. In Matthew 13:1-58. the FIELD was purchased for the sake of the TREASURE hid in it; the PEARL for its own preciousness and beauty.
DAVID’S PROVISION FOR THE TEMPLE.
David, in his trouble, " before his death," prepared abundantly for the house of his God (1 Chronicles 22:1-19). He considered that the house to be built to Jehovah should be "exceeding magnifical of fame ani of glory throughout all countries," and he made provision accordingly. He provided "a hundred thousand talents of gold." A talent of gold is considered to be of about 114 lb. weight, and is computed to be worth £5,475 of English money. Thus a hundred thousand talents would amount to five hundred and forty-seven millions five hundred thousand pounds sterling. And he also provided "a thousand thousand talents of silver." This, at £342 the talent, amounts to three hundred and forty-two millions of pounds. These together, GOLD and SILVER, eight hundred and eighty-nine million five hundred thousand pounds sterling! He provided also of brass and iron without weight, for it was in abundance, and timber and stone also, all manner of precious stones and marble stones! Moreover, "because he had set his affection to the house of his God," he gave of his own proper good, over and above what he had prepared, three thousand talents 5 of gold of the gold of Ophir,” amounting in value to £16,425,000, “and seven thousand talents of refined silver,” amounting to £2,394,000, “to overlay [plaster] the walls of the houses withal” (1 Chronicles 29:3-4). David in the first instance (1 Chronicles 22:1-19.) provides with all his MIGHT, in the second instance (1 Chronicles 29:1-4) because he had set his AFFECTION on the house of his God; the former we may say was a work of faith, the latter a labour of love. Faith works with all its might, Love impoverishes itself to enrich its object, provides its utmost and its best. David, not content with emptying the exchequer of his kingdom, so to speak, throws in his own private property over and above, not only gold, but gold of Ophir; not only silver, but refined silver; reminding us of Him who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor (2 Corinthians 8:9). In addition to this, the chiefs, princes, and captains of Israel contributed five thousand talents of gold and ten thousand drams, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of brass, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. "And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of Jehovah." "Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly." This was a matter of joy. "David the king also rejoiced with great joy" (1 Chronicles 29:6-22). In noticing the contributions, we may observe that the Spirit of God not only mentions the talents but the drams; so, whatever is done for God in the name of the Lord Jesus, be it ever so little in man’s estimation, has a value set upon it, Even a cup of cold water is not overlooked. The magnificence of the house consisted, not so much in its size as in its structure and material. God was its architect, so planning it that it might be a pattern of spiritual and heavenly realities; and its materials were designed to be emblematical of excellencies and glories which are spiritual, heavenly, and divine. When we consider the enormous value of the gold and silver contributed for the Temple, unbelieving atheism may ask, "To what purpose was this waste?" But that which was expended on the house of God and devoted to His glory was not wasted. There is such a thing as laying up "treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."
SOLOMON’S PREPARATION.
"Solomon determined to build a house for the name of Jehovah" (2 Chronicles 2:1). DAVID may be regarded especially as a type of Jesus in His humiliation and sufferings on earth; SOLOMON of Christ in resurrection and heavenly glory. Solomon sends to Huram or Hiram, king of Tyre, informing him of his design, in these remarkable words, "Behold, I build a house to the name of Jehovah my God, to dedicate it to Him." "And the house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build Him a house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I, then, that should build Him a house, save only to burn sacrifice [incense] before Him?" (2 Chronicles 2:1-18.). And reminding Hiram that he had sent cedars to David his father, Solomon requests him to send a skilled workman, cedar trees, fir or cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon. To this Hiram consents, promising to send the cedar and fir trees by floats to Jaffa; and Solomon was to give to the workmen wheat and oil (1 Kings 6:1-12; 2 Chronicles 2:1-18.).
SOLOMON’S WORKMEN.
He raised a levy out of Israel of thirty thousand, whom he sent to Lebanon: ten thousand a month by courses, so that they were a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was over this levy. And of the strangers that were in Israel he sent seventy thousand to be bearers of burdens, eighty thousand to be hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred officers and overseers (2 Chronicles 2:2; 2 Chronicles 2:17-18). It was under Solomon that we see this remark able combination of JEW and GENTILE in the work; so it is CHRIST JESUS, risen and glorified, of whom Solomon was a type, who builds the Temple of God, and having reconciled both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the Cross, employs those who are His own, called out from both, in His service.
Christ incarnate was God’s living Temple while He was on earth. When He spake of the Temple of God, it was "the temple of His body" (John 2:19-21). But Christ, risen and glorified, is the chief cornerstone of the heavenly Temple, uniting JEW AND GENTILE in Himself, "in WHOM all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy Temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:20-21). When the present dispensation is past, Jew and Gentile will again be recognised and dealt with separately by God; but all such distinctions are unknown in the Church, which is His body and His temple.