1 Kings 6:1-38


Solomon set out to do what David had tried to do; he built the temple of the Lord in Israel.  It had been over 400 years since the children of Israel left Egypt and they were now ready to build this temple.  The nation had formed while enslaved for 400 years in Egypt and then it took the same period of time for the nation’s security in the land as well as their system of worship to grow to this point.  It is clear that God does things in His time and way and that He is never in a hurry.  We should not become impatient with God.

SOLOMON SPENT FOUR YEARS OF PREPARATION: The construction did not start until Solomon’s fourth year as king.  He had gathered stone and timber and many other precious materials the workmen would need and that the Lord provided for the nation to build this temple as a house of worship to the Lord.  This is made even more impressive by the fact that David had already spent a significant amount of time gathering materials for the temple before the reign of Solomon started.  This was a huge undertaking that took a great deal of planning, persistence and preparation in order to be productive.  The Lord desires for us to do His work with excellence but excellence is only achieved as we dedicate ourselves to preparing well for whatever task He may set before us.  Sometimes it is easy for us to become impatient and want to jump quickly into production.  We must be careful not to get it too big of a hurry to the point that we neglect the necessary preparation to be successful in the work of the Lord.

SOLOMON SPENT SEVEN YEARS IN PRODUCTION: The construction of the temple was a massive undertaking of a huge structure that was made out of massive amounts of stone, wood and gold.  As we read the description of the size as well as the intricate detail involved in this building it is hard to imagine the amount of work required to build this structure without the benefit of modern tools and machinery.  Besides the fact that the structure of stone was all cut and shaped off site in order to preserve the sacredness of the site on which the temple was built.  God had prepared His people for the accomplishment of this task.  There must have been a small army at work to be able to build this structure and then there were many gifted artists who had to have worked for years on all of the intricate details and design.  The amount of gold that it took to overlay all of the doors, walls and the sacred furnishings in the temple must have been astronomical.  It took a long process over a long period of time if order for the production of the temple to be accomplished; but after seven years of building the temple was completed.  I wonder if we possess the same level of dedication and determination today to be able to work together in such a large number of people over such a large period of time to accomplish a task of this magnitude.  Truly Solomon’s leadership skills were very evident in preparing and producing this project.

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