[Solomon]
adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of
Parvaim.
(2 Chronicles 3:6)
We’ve
already acknowledged the cheerful heart with which the people of Israel donated
monies and materials toward the construction of the temple. They were a
grateful people, who cheerfully gave to make the construction of the temple a
success.
Here
we have another illustration of this building project’s importance. This was no
21st century construction project where contracts are awarded to the
lowest bidders. Without proper oversight that process can lead to inferior
materials being substituted for those in the engineering specs. There was no
cutting of corners in building Solomon’s Temple. Only the best was good enough
for God.
Precious
stones were used where the substitution of cubic zirconium would never have been detected. Tyre’s best cedar was harvested and delivered to the worksite. More
cedar, along with juniper and algum wood, was brought in from Lebanon. Expert
weavers and embroiderers produced elegant tapestries and curtains. 80,000
stonecutters used incredible precision to prepare limestone blocks in the
quarry so that no tool noises would be heard in Jerusalem. And when it came to
the overlays, no one was tempted to skimp with 10-carat gold. Solomon would
accept only the gold of Parvaim, the finest gold money could buy.
When
you leave your gift at the altar (be it money, time or talent), can you walk
away satisfied you’ve given your very best?
Tim,
ReplyDeleteWhy was taking a census considered sinful and why did God allow Solomon to do it in this passage? Was it because of the intent of the knowledge?
Dear Connie,
DeleteSorry, I'm not Tim, but I happened upon this blog after reading in I Chronicles today about the building of the Temple. The same question came to my mind, and here is the answer that I believe. David's numbering of the people was simply vanity. David's numbering was simply, "that I may know the number of the people." Pride seems to have been the driving purpose behind David's desire to know how many warriors he has. God's people were not dependent upon the number of warriors to win their battles. Knowing the number of men warriors in Israel was not needed information.
Solomon, on the other hand, had a very important purpose in numbering people. Solomon numbered the strangers in the land (II Chron. 2:17) in order to decide how many to assign to different areas of work for the gathering of materials to build the temple. This was not an issue of pride or a lack of trust in God, but he numbered the foreigners in order to effectively assign them to tasks to get the work done.
Tim, if you have any input on this or a different conclusion, I would be interested in hearing. God bless.
David Gross
Connie (and David),
DeleteI thought I had responded to this, but maybe we just talked about it in Sunday School.
I think David's thoughts are legitimate, and I look at it similarly, but not wuite the same. I never thought of it as vanity - not to say David us wrong; that's just not the way I view it - but consider this: There is nothing written in Scipture about David ever losing a battle (yes, he was almost killed once after he was elderly, bu his troops wemt on to win that one too and David's general told him he had no business fighting any more), and yet here we have David counting the fighting men. I think David was taking inventory to see if he had enough military strength to defeat all challengers.
David didn't win all those previous battles because he was strongest or because he had the biggest army. He won because God was on his side and now, rather than put his trust in God, he's trusting in his own strength.
This reminds me of tithing. When we count every penny to make sure we have enough to take care of ourself and then have enough left over to tithe, that is the same principle at work. Instead, we should put our trust in God for our provision, and not lean only on our financial strength.