Day 147: Temple Worship

1 Kings 5:1-18 In the fourth year of his reign, Solomon commenced work on the Temple of Jerusalem. David had not been able to start the construction because of the constant warfare during his reign, but the peacetime enjoyed by Solomon allowed him to arrange for the necessary supplies and labor force to begin in earnest.

2 Chronicles 7:1-22 The solemn dedication rite shows the Levite priests as the chief ministers of the liturgy rather than Solomon. God reiterated his promise to keep the covenant as well as the punishment Israel would suffer if they disobeyed the Commandments and fell into idolatry. The Temple was a symbol of God’s protection of his people; likewise, its destruction later was a sign of Israel’s alienation from God.

Ch 8:1-18 This book serves as a hagiography (biography that idealizes its subject) of King Solomon, omitting much information reported in the two Books of Kings that might reflect poorly on his leadership or the moral rectitude of the monarchs of Israel. For example, no mention is made here of King Hiram’s dissatisfaction with the cities that Solomon gave him as payment for his assistance in the construction of the Temple. Here, the second palace built by Solomon is not a gift for his Egyptian wife, but rather was constructed out of respect for ritual purity since the royal palace was attached to the Temple and would have been defiled by the presence of a pagan woman. 

Psalm 66 The Psalmist recalls God’s history of delivering Israel from its troubles, most notably from the oppression of the Egyptians, which give him hope for his own deliverance. 

Through fire and through water: Although he “tested” Israel, the Lord remained faithful to his people. The nature of his own personal deliverance is not clear, but the psalmist clearly saw it as a continuity of God’s steadfast love for his people and the fruit of his own efforts to remain faithful to God’s covenant. (CCC 220)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• It’s day 147 :)

• We are roughly 7 days from our SECOND MESSIANIC CHECKPOINT with the Gospel of Mark

• This is AWESOME because we will get the chance to walk through this Gospel in the middle of the whole story and jump ahead to Jesus

• We will see how He is the fulfillment of EVERYTHING that God has wanted His people to know and to be

• Now....on to the next one (on to the next one 😉)

• This is one of those moments where 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles are CONNECTED but a little bit DISCONNECTED

• They are talking about some of the same things but on a slightly different timeline

• Yesterday we had King Solomon (Fr. Mike said King David but clearly he meant King Solomon, RIGHT??🤔) dedicate the great prayer

• The Temple is built and dedicated

• The Ark of the Covenant is there

• This is where they are going to be worshiping

• 1 Kings Ch 5 we are back with Solomon collecting the materials for the Temple

• So 1 Kings is a little bit BEHIND

• 2 Chronicles is a little bit AHEAD

• So it can be a bit confusing but just keep moving forward

• Solomon is still establishing the Temple in 1 Kings

• It reminds us of the IMPORTANCE and the CENTRALITY of the Temple

• WHY?

• Not only because that is where God’s presence would abide

• But in 2 Chronicles Ch 7 we get the gift of hearing the prayer of dedication by Solomon 

• AND FIRE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN

• THE SACRIFICES AND BURNT OFFERINGS WERE CONSUMED BY FIRE

• THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TEMPLE

• This demonstrates the POWER OF GOD’S PRESENCE

• The Temple is ESSENTIAL because God’s presence would abide there

• That is absolutely clear

• But it is also ESSENTIAL because that is where the PEOPLE would offer their WORSHIP

• It is so CRITICAL to understand the IMPORTANCE and the NECESSITY of worshipping God as HE HAS ASKED US TO WORSHIP HIM

• So in 1 Kings 5 we have Solomon working with Hiram, King of Tyre (Michelin or Goodyear, I wonder? 🤪)

• Hiram was good buddies with King David and he praises the Lord even though he is not a Jew

• He praises God that David had such a wise son

• He helps him out with Cedars from Lebanon (great song by U2 by the way 😉)

• He also provides laborers for building the Temple

• There are a couple of interesting things about 2 Chronicles Chs 7 and 8

• Solomon ends his prayer

• Fire comes down from Heaven

• The Glory of the Lord FILLS THE TEMPLE

• So Solomon finishes construction of the HOUSE OF THE LORD, aka the Temple and HIS OWN HOUSE

• The Lord appears a second time to Solomon at night

• He appears to him and says, “Here is what I need you to know. I need you to know that if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and seek my face, then I will hear from Heaven. I will forgive their sins. I will heal their land”

• Basically God is saying, “Whenever you are not faithful just remember I am faithful. Turn back to the Temple Worship. Turn back to this place. Turn back to my presence. Turn back to worship. Turn back to obedience of my Commandments and I will hear your prayers.”

• BUT…

• Then God says to Solomon, “AS FOR YOU, if you walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you, keeping the statutes, I will be with you as I was with your father, David.”

• And God continues, “BUT, if you turn aside and forsake my Commandments and statutes and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you from the land.”

• God is giving King Solomon a CLEAR COMMANDMENT

• God has given Solomon WISDOM

• So Solomon knows stuff, right?

• God has also given him a DIRECT WARNING

• STAY FAITHFUL TO ME

• STAY CLOSE TO ME

• AND I WILL BE WITH YOU

• What we know is that Solomon WILL NOT DO THAT

• In 2 Chronicles 8:11 “Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, ‘My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

• So Solomon is keeping it separate, right?

• He is keeping Pharaoh's daughter away because she is not part of the Covenant

• She is part of the ALLIANCE between Israel and Egypt, but not part of the Covenant belonging to the Lord

• BUT…

• When Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, he was opening himself up for IDOLATRY

• Guess what’s going to happen?

• Rather than Pharaoh’s daughter being brought into the People of Israel

• Rather than Pharaoh’s daughter being brought into the Covenant

• Rather than Pharaoh’s daughter learning about the ONE TRUE GOD, THE GOD ABOVE EVERY OTHER GOD

• Solomon thinks keeping her outside the Temple is a good thing

• Rather than let HER worship her false gods of Egypt, why didn’t he BRING HER IN TO WORSHIP THE ONE TRUE GOD, THE LORD GOD??

• Solomon DOES NOT DO THIS

• Also, we notice that Solomon has a lot of STUFF

• THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF CHARIOTS

• THOUSANDS OF HORSEMEN AND HORSES

• Solomon may be WISE 

• God even SPEAKS TO HIM in his prayers

• Solomon did what he was WARNED NOT TO DO

• Remember, the Temple was the place of God’s PRESENCE and also the place of WORSHIP

• Remember, the kind of worship and sacrifice that God desires is OBEDIENCE

• And while Solomon was wise and knows more than anybody, he is not willing to be OBEDIENT

• Maybe that is one of our downfalls as well

• Yeah, we KNOW, but we just don’t WANT to

• We know what God WANTS, we just don’t want to do what God WANTS

• We may have a “good reason” to be that way

• Solomon maybe thought there was peace now, but maybe not in the future so grab those horses

• Solomon maybe thought there were good relations with the nations around them, but maybe it won’t always be that way so marry the Pharaoh’s daughter

• This may have SEEMED wise

• But it wasn’t OBEDIENT

• If we want to LOVE God then we have to be OBEDIENT TO GOD

• THERE IS NO OTHER WAY to love God than to OBEY HIM

• The two ways we love God is through OBEDIENCE and LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR

• Here is Solomon on the road AWAY from obedience to God and AWAY from God

• Even though he was WARNED

• All of us have been taught as well

• So ask the Lord to help you to be FAITHFUL

• Ask the Lord to help you to be OBEDIENT TO HIS COMMANDMENTS even when it seems there is something wise elsewhere

• If it is not OBEDIENT, then we don’t want to do it

• We can’t do this on our own

• We have REBELLIOUS hearts

• We have DISOBEDIENT hearts 

• Sweet Mother Mcree if FR. MIKE has a REBELLIOUS, DISOBEDIENT HEART, what does that say about the rest of us??? 

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise. You do hear our prayers. God, every time we talk to you, Lord, you hear our voices. You know the longing of our hearts. You know the depth of our prayer. You also know our distraction. You know how easily we can be distracted from loving you with our whole heart, with our whole mind, with our whole strength. You know how easily it is that we are turned aside from you. And so we thank you for being able to hear through all the noise, cutting through all of the distraction, cutting through all of the turmoil that our hearts can experience because you know our hearts. You not only know the peace in our hearts, you know the troubled hearts that live in our chests. And so we ask you, please once again, let your ears be open, let your eyes be open to see who we are, to see us truly and to hear our voice and to hear our prayers this day and every day. We make this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.”