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God had been very good to David. He was with him from the days of being a shepherd over his father’s sheep, to killing the giant Goliath to being king over Israel. God had blessed David’s life enormously.
2 Samuel 7:1-2, tells us that God provided a rest for David. His enemies were finally quiet. As he rested in his fine palace of cedar, David began to think about the house of God. Up until this point the worship to God had been done through the tabernacle, a tent where God met His people. David thought that God deserved a better place, a grander palace of His own.
At first, Nathan the prophet encouraged David to go ahead. But then the Lord came to him and told him that it would be David’s son that would be the builder of that temple.
1 Chronicles tells us that David made vast preparations for the temple to be built. He planned for the labor and provided the iron for the gates. Then he called his son, Solomon, and gave him the instructions for building the house of God.
In 1 Chronicles 22:7-11 he says:
My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house to the name of the LORD my God; but the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.” Now, my son, may the LORD be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the LORD your God, as He has said to you
Solomon did build that temple in Jerusalem and it stood for almost 400 years. The site of that temple was a prominent hill to the north in Jerusalem. It was this hill that David had purchased from Araunah the Jebusite in order to make a sacrifice to God. (2 Sam. 24:18-25). 2 Chronicles 3:1 identifies this hill as the place where Abraham had been willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Mount Moriah. This was indeed a special place.
But the people were not willing to be faithful. They used the temple for idol worship and stripped the valuables from it for their own purposes. Because of their wickedness and their refusal to repent, the city of Jerusalem and the temple were plundered around the years 597 B. C. and 586 B. C.
About 50 years later the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem and the new governor, Zerubbabel, led a work to rebuild the temple. This was about the same size, but not as ornate as Solomon’s.
When Herod the Great came to power in 37 B. C., he wanted to make Jerusalem even greater than it had been before. He undertook to rebuild the temple in a larger project than before. That construction took many years, and that temple was destroyed along with the city of Jerusalem in 70 A. D.
In fact, when Jesus was speaking of His resurrection in John 2:19-20, He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” He meant His body, but they thought He meant the temple. At that point the temple was not yet complete and had been under construction for 46 years.
But today that temple is gone and in its place we have a different kind of temple. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
David had a vision of building a great temple for God. Solomon built that great and ornate place. But that temple was lost because the people forgot its purpose. Today, the spirit of God dwells not in a building on a hill in Jerusalem, but within the heart of those who believe. May we never forget its purpose in our lives.
On Our Daily Walk today, may we make choices today knowing that we are the temple of God. May we not do anything that would defile that temple.
Our thought for the day: “What greater calamity can fall upon a nation than the loss of worship.” Thomas Carlyle
May God bless you on your daily walk.
© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.
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