A contrite heart and a repentant spirit is the need!
“I will give you wisdom and knowledge. And in addition, I will give you more wealth, treasure, and fame than any king has ever had before or will ever have again.” 2 Chronicles 1:12. Solomon make the right choice and God blessed him beyond what he has asked for. The right choice was his prayer for wisdom and knowledge so that the countless people and kingdom he inherited from his Father David can be govern and rule.
Solomon addressed the people on completion of the temple. “Praise the Lord of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David.” I have succeeded my father as king and have built a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel. The covenant box containing the stone tablets too is placed in the temple. 2 Chronicles 6:8-11.
Solomon offered burnt offerings according to the requirements of the Law of moses for each holy day: Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and the three annual festivals-the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. 2 Chronicles 8:13.
Solomon even housed her Egyptian wife away from the city of David and from the temple. A HOLY place and should not be contaminated. 2 Chronicles 8:11. Yet the temple, the Kingdom and the people were not saved but destroyed.
Why was the temple abandoned by God? Not only abandoned but was destroyed. The kingdom divided and finally annihilated. The people carried off and scattered into slavery! The answer is plain and simple. God doesn’t live in man made temple.He resides in man his own creation in his own image and likeness. David delighted him. Yet, he will not build his temple for he has killed too many peoples and has fought many wars. His hand has caused too many bloodshed. 1 Chronicles 22:8. David killed Uriah and took his wife Bathsheba as his own wife. 1 chronicles 12:9.
The temple stand built by Solomon; borned to David with Bathsheba. Why o why? Well, David repented. “I have sinned against the Lord.” He humbled himself to the Lord. And God’s assuring and enduring voices of his LOVE and Forgiveness is: your son will build my temple.
“Praise the Lord God of Israel, creator of heaven and earth! Because the Lord love his people, he has made you thier king.” 2 Chronicles 2:11-12, and 10:8. Both king Hiram and Queen Sheba has made the above observation. It is not the temple that bring out these observations. It’s the wisdom, the knowledge, the wealth, the fame, the way he carry himself, etc that’s in Solomon that bring out the greatness of God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth! Long before Jerusalem Temple came into existence, God dwells in Adam, Noah, Abraham, David and many more. In Solomon God displays his abundant blessings not because he is perfect but because he want to show us what LOVE and forgiveness can do to us all in JESUS CHRIST the perfect TEMPLE.
“Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again.”John 2:19. JESUS CHRIST is the perfect TEMPLE. In his death and sacrifice at the Cross lies out salvation.
You know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. 1 Corinthians 3:16. 2 Corinthians 6:16. I will live among them. I will be thier God, and they will be my people. These are the promises of God Almighty from ages!
During his reign silver and gold became as common in Jerusalem as stone and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycomore. 2 Chronicles 1:15. God gave him wisdom and knowledge and much more to Solomon his temple. He took many foreign wifes and worshipped thier gods and idols. Setting them asides from the city of David and the temple doesn’t absolve him of his sins and disobedience. God’s displeasure is clear and evident. What Solomon does in him HIS creation is more important and meaningful than what he does to the man made temple. Like Adam in the Garden of Eden, Solomon has failed him. Not the numerous countless subjects but the Egyptian wife has led him to strayed and ultimately led to destruction of the temple, the Kingdom and his own people into slavery.
We are God’s temple. Let’s keep Jesus Christ as the central of our life. He is the new covenant in our heart and mind. He is our God and we are his people. Our sins forgiven and non longer remember. Jeremiah 31:33-34.