A TEMPLE FOR MY NAME
1King 5:1-18
Key verse 5
I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
Introduction
God has established the throne of King Solomon, and gave him a wisdom that was known all over the world. God had given rest and peace to Solomon on every side. All of Israel’s external and internal enemies were conquered. Many nations from the River Euphrates to the border of Egypt paid tribute to Solomon. God had also given King Solomon wealth and honor, as he promised. Solomon could have enjoyed fame, honor and wealth. He could have taken it easy at this point. But he remembered his father, David’s heart desire and prayer topic to build a temple for the Lord. He wanted to serve God, and glorify his name. This was a good time for Solomon to make a good name for himself. In contrast, King Herod the Great had built the temple and the fortress to have a political stability and ultimately for himself. But Solomon did not do it for himself, or for his own name. As stated clearly in v.5, Solomon intended to “build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God.” Praise the Lord!
Read 2Sam 7:1-29 (12,13); 1Chron. 22:1-18 (6-10), 28:11-12. What had David in mind to do? What promises did God reveal to David and his son, Solomon? What preparation did David make for his son to build a temple?
1-1, Read 2Sam 7:1-29 (12,13); 1Chron. 22:1-18 (6-10), 28:11-12.
***2Sam 7:1-29 (12,13)
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
3 Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders[a] over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me[b]; your throne will be established forever.’”
17 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:
“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human![c]
20 “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.
22 “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?[d] 24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.
25 “And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight.
27 “Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.28 Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”
***1Chron. 22:1-18 (6-10)
Then David said, “The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
2 So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God. 3 He provided a large amount of iron to make nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, and more bronze than could be weighed. 4 He also provided more cedar logs than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David.
5 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death.
6 Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. 8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon,[a] and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
11 “Now, my son, the Lord be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the Lord your God, as he said you would. 12 May the Lord give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the Lord gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
14 “I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents[b] of gold, a million talents[c] of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. 15 You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work 16 in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you.”
17 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. 18 He said to them, “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subject to the Lord and to his people. 19 Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”
***1 Chronicles 28:11-12.
11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. 12 He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.
1-2, What had David in mind to do?
1-3, What promises did God reveal to David and his son, Solomon?
As a background, David had in mind to build a temple for the Lord. However God revealed his promises to him and his son, Solomon that instead of him, his son would do it at God’s time.
1-4, What preparation did David make for his son to build a temple?
David could have been disappointed because of God’s disapproval of his heart desire. But he prepared a lot by faith. He believed that God’s time would surely come and his son would build God’s temple.
It may remind us of John 2 that Jesus’ mom prepared the heart of servants in the wedding in Cana. Then Jesus performed a miracle based on her prayer and preparation.
Preparation is very important for any God’s work. Our church key verse in 2021 is based on 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” We are to prepare ourselves as Bible teachers and be ready to preach the word.
In this pandemic, we may run across a young man who has a desire to study the Bible. One person went out to a nearby park in Downey and noticed a young man who was meditating the Bible and writing his personal reflection under the tree like Nathaneal in John 1. He wanted to study the Bible at the park. Praise the Lord!
In our times, engaging in one to one Bible study is to build up a holy temple in each person. May the Lord help us continue preaching the word!
Read verses 1-6. What did Hiram, king of Tyre, do and why? (1, 2 Chronicles 2:1-16) What message did Solomon send Hiram? (2-6) What does it mean to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God? (5)
2-1, Read verses 1-6.
When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:
3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lordmy God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
2-2, What did Hiram, king of Tyre, do and why? (1, 2 Chronicles 2:1-16)
When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David.
Hiram, King of Tyre, sent envoys to congratulate Solomon. Hiram was close to King David. Just as he had a good relationship with him, he wanted to build a relationship with the son. Solomon also.
2-3, What message did Solomon send Hiram? (2-6)
2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: 3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lordmy God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’ 6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
In return, Solomon replied to him by telling him how God has given him rest on every side, and mentioned the building of the temple. Hiram, being well acquainted with David, may have also been familiar with David’s desire to build the temple, and he seemed ready and willing to help.
From verse 6, Solomon cut to the chase by asking him to give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for him. He also promised to pay the wages.
What Solomon needed on top of what his father had already prepared a lot of things (1 Chron 22-28) was more wood, so he made arrangements with the King of Tyre to purchase wood for food. It was a win-win situation.
Solomon needed high quality wood, and the Cedars of Lebanon were the best money could buy. They were rare in the Judean countryside, but abundant in Tyre and Sidon. In Tyre, they did not have large fields for growing wheat or corn, so they needed additional food supplies. Praise God who provides all we need!
2-4, What does it mean to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God? (5)
5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
Why didn’t Solomon just say a temple for God? In almost every place the temple is referred to as the temple for the Name of the Lord. What’s the difference?
God and King David had called the temple as the temple for the Name of the Lord. The temple is different from the pagan nations around it.
In pagan nations, it was thought that their gods actually lived in those temples. It contained them. But a temple cannot contain God.
Solomon even said in 2 Chron 2:6, “But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?”
The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain God. God is everywhere – he is omnipresent. But he can manifest himself in the temple. He can be everywhere and dwell in the temple at the same time.
God is everywhere, so he’s not confined to any space. But the temple is for his name. His name is his character, his very essence.
So while God is everywhere, we can come to know him through the temple. His name dwells there, so he reveals himself to us in the temple.
The name of God refers to his attributes. So in the temple, we will see God, and learn of all his names. But it does not mean that we find his name in the buildings.
Rather we can find his names in the Bible and come to know who God is because he revealed himself fully in the Bible.
When Solomon wants to build a temple for the name of the Lord, Solomon intends to glorify the name of the Lord. So another purpose of the temple is to glorify the name of the Lord.
The temple gives glory to the name of God. This temple would be the greatest temple ever built. Solomon even said himself, “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other Gods (2 Chron 2:5).”
Read verses 7-18. How did Hiram respond? (7-12) Describe the labor force. (13-18) What can we do to build a holy temple for the Name of the Lord our God in our times?
3-1, Read verses 7-18.
When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”
8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon:
“I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.”
10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted,11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors[b] of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths[c][d] of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred[e] foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
3-2, How did Hiram respond? (7-12)
7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.” 8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.” 10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted,11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors[b] of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths[c][d] of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
Look at v. 7, “When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, ‘Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.’”
Hiram may have also believed in other gods, as was common in that area, but nonetheless, he, a Gentile, did praise the God of Israel.
Through Solomon’s wisdom, given by God, God was glorified. The work around building the temple gave glory to the name of God.
3-3, Describe the labor force. (13-18)
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred[e] foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
There were 30,000 Israelites, who worked 6 months out of the year in this hard labor. There were also 70,000 carriers and 80,000 stone cutters. These were probably Canaanite slaves, who had to work all year.
In addition, there were workers from Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. Both Israelites and non-Israelites worked together on the building of the temple.
They pulled high-grade stone and dressed it for the foundation. Every aspect of the temple was to be done with great quality and care.
3-4, What can we do to build a holy temple for the Name of the Lord our God in our times?
Jesus built the temple of God by his death and resurrection. “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days (John 2:19).”
Jesus was referring to his body, which is the temple of God. Jesus became the cornerstone of the temple of God through his death and resurrection.
It was through his death that he took the punishment for our sins. It was through the resurrection that God accepted his sacrifice, made atonement for our sins.
God's temple today is made of the people of every nation who know Jesus as their Savior and the Lord by believing in his death and resurrection for their sins.
I Pet 2:4-5 says, “As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
We are made part of the temple of God, the spiritual house through Jesus Christ. It’s not about a temple here, or a temple there, we are the very temple of God, living stones to build the spiritual house for God’s name.
God wants each of us to do a work of deep, strong foundations instead of a work a mile wide but an inch deep.
Many wish-wash believers merely professing their faith, but having no energetic life, may not have enough strength to make solid believers.
We earnestly pray that each believer means business to grow as Jesus’ committed disciples to build a temple for the name of the Lord.
One word: A temple for the name of the Lord!
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