2 Chronicles 3:1-17--Solomon Builds the Temple

2 Chronicles 3
English Standard Version

Solomon Builds the Temple
3 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. 3 These are Solomon's measurements for building the house of God: the length, in cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. 5 The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it. 6 He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. 7 So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8 And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold. 9 The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

10 In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold. 11 The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub; 12 and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave. 14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

15 In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. 16 He made chains like a necklace and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. 17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz.

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Solomon now actually starts construction on the Temple that David and he and others as we read about yesterday have been planning for a long time.  He begins construction on Mount Moriah (the place David bought in order to make atonement for himself and all of Israel when he made the unsanctioned census of the nation, and the LORD struck the people with a plague).  This is the same mountain range where Abraham was to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, but a ram caught in the thicket took Isaac's place, and where Jesus would eventually be offered as our substitutionary atonement.

Solomon built everything exactly to the measurements and specifications given to him and he adorned everything with the finest gold and precious stones that he could afford (and he could afford just about anything he wanted).  He started by building the Holy Place, and then the Most Holy Place.  Everything was covered in gold.

Two cherubim of wood and overlaid with gold were put in the Most Holy Place, and the Ark of the Covenant rested between their wings.  The wingspan of the cherubim was such that one wing touched the wall, and the other wing touched the tip of the wing of the other cherub.  The cherubim faced out towards the Holy Place and a thick curtain of purple and crimson fabric along with fine linen was woven with cherubim worked into it to be the veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.  This curtain was thick enough to block out all the light from the Holy Place so that the only light in the Most Holy Place would come from the Golden Lampstand when the High Priest took it into the Most Holy Place to minister there on the Day of Atonement.

Solomon also loved pillar and he made two of them in front of the Temple and adorned them with gold chains and pomegranates (why the LORD wanted the Tabernacle, the Temple and the priesthood to be associated with pomegranates is a mystery to me, but I know that's part of the design of the Tabernacle that he specified in the Law that Solomon carried over into the design of the Temple).  He gave names to these pillars--on named Jachin and the other Boaz.  I'm not sure who Jachin was for the only Jachin I know about in the Bible was someone post-Exile, but almost certainly Boaz refers to the husband of Ruth, ancestor to David and Solomon.