Solomon Builds the Temple

2 Chronicles 3-5

            The Chronicler portrays the temple as a long-anticipated building. He references David’s (mis)adventures in bringing the ark to Jerusalem, noting that the temple site was threshing floor of Araunah, where the plague had stopped (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). But he also references Mt. Moriah, “where the Lord had appeared to his father David.” That incident is no where mentioned in the Bible. The only other Biblical mention of Moriah is in Genesis 22, where it is the site of the near-sacrifice of Isaac. The irony there is thick: the site of Isaac’s, the requested, but not desired, sacrifice becomes the site on which Israel will make sacrifice henceforth.

            All the way back in Deuteronomy 12, Moses had talked about the place where the Lord would put His place to dwell. As the 40-year wilderness wandering came to an end, Israel looked for a more permanent home, and Moses anticipated a more permanent dwelling for the Lord on earth.

            Several ideas swirl. First, in yesterday’s and in tomorrow’s readings, Solomon himself understands that the Lord’s permanent dwelling is the heavens. No earthly temple can contain Him; He condescends to dwell among His people. No matter how ‘permanent’ the temple may seem over against the tabernacle, it’s still not the Lord’s permanent home. Further, the Lord’s plan for us is that we will dwell in His presence, so the vision of Revelation 21-22 is of a new heavens and a new earth, a situation that hasn’t happened since Genesis 3, in which the dwellings of God and of humans completely and totally overlap and we dwell in His presence forever. Of this, Hebrews 12 gives a hint when it speaks of a kingdom that cannot be shaken, a permantent home, so to speak.