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Weekly Devotional

March 16, 2009

God’s Peace be with you all.

Yesterday we had one of Jesus’ most famous quotes in our Gospel reading.  Jesus said “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  Now the elders, priests, and other Jews gathered around thought Jesus was talking about THE Temple, the house of God.  Our Gospel said that it had been under construction for many years, but it is probably a better assumption that it was having routine repairs made to it.  After all, this was the 2^nd Temple, because the first one (the one built by Solomon) had been destroyed at the time of the Babylonian Captivity (2^nd Chron. 36).  While we know that this was not the temple Jesus was talking about, those gathered around did not.  They were thinking about this great structure.  To give you an idea of just how big the Temple really was, I looked up all the original texts about it.  As you read this below, keep in mind that a cubit is the length of the king’s forearm (from elbow to tip of middle finger), so roughly anywhere from 18-22”.  2’ is a good approximation 

1 Kings 6:1-38  In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.  ² The house which King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.  ³ The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.  ⁴ And he made for the house windows with recessed frames.  ⁵ He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running round the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary; and he made side chambers all around.  ⁶ The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.  ⁷ When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry; so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple, while it was being built.  ⁸ The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house; and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.  ⁹ So he built the house, and finished it; and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.  ¹⁰ He built the structure against the whole house, each story five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.  ¹¹ Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon,  ¹² "Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my ordinances and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.  ¹³ And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel."  ¹⁴ So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 

If you want to pull out your Bible and continue reading, you will find that it took seven years (coincidence with 7?  It is God’s favorite number after all) to build the Temple.  It was lined with Cedar planks and overlaid with gold.  What a magnificent sight, and no wonder the people thought Jesus was a fool for saying what he did.  Oh, if they had only been able to see the rest of the story, perhaps things might have turned out a little differently on that day.

In our prayers this week: 

Ann, Doris and her mom, Norm, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Joseph, Rhonda Foster

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson