110. The temple is completed, filled with divine glory. Why did the Holy Spirit enter the temple?

The Lord said to Solomon, “Concerning this temple you have built, if you follow my statutes, obey my statutes, and keep all my commandments, I will fulfill my promise to your father David.” ” [1 Kings 6:12]

A guard was ordered to draw a sharp blade. In the court, King Solomon was confident. Looking at the two prostitutes with tears streaming down their faces, they stopped crying, turned to look at the crying baby boy in the guard’s hands, reached out to the infant, then turned to Solomon, hoping he would allow one of them to take the child away.

But Solomon signaled them to be quiet, pointed at the guards wielding sharp blades, and loudly said to the two of them, “Since you can’t agree on who is the mother of this baby boy, I have to do this: I want the soldier to cut the baby boy in half and cut it in half, then give you half and half for you. That will be fair.” After Solomon finished speaking, he looked at the two of them meaningfully.

A woman’s voice trembled: “King, please do not do this.” Entrust this child to her alive. After saying this, she looked at the child, then at the other woman, tears streaming down her face. The other woman sneered and said, “Neither of us can get this child. My lord, please cut him in half.” ”

Solomon saw everything and said to the ministers and guards, “This first woman is the child’s mother. Return the child to her, because she cannot bear to let her child die.” He turned to the deceitful woman and said, “You have committed such a great evil, and the elders will surely punish you according to the law.” This story quickly spread everywhere. When the people heard of it, they were amazed at Solomon’s wisdom in solving this strange case, and they became even more revered by the God he believed in.

Solomon received divine wisdom and combined it with his father’s genes, composing songs and rhapsodies, writing three thousand proverbs and a thousand poems. His reputation spread throughout the nations. Countries sent envoys to establish friendly relations with Israel, paying tribute year after year and bowing their heads in submission.

Egypt and other countries even married their princesses to Solomon, forming marital alliances. Solomon also appointed priests, organized officials, and received envoys from various states. The palace was packed with people, requiring daily consumption of 6,000 jin of fine flour, 10 strong cattle, 100 fat sheep, and countless poultry, supplied monthly by twelve tribes. At this time, Israel was wealthy and powerful, with many people and plenty of food and clothing. In Solomon’s fourth year as queen, the time was ripe and everything was ready, so he officially announced to the world that construction of the temple began.

By this time, 480 years had quietly passed since Moses led Israel out of Egypt. The Lord God led Israel from a land of slaves to a prosperous kingdom. Solomon inherited 3,450 tons of gold, 34,500 tons of silver, and countless copper/iron that his father David had prepared for the construction of the temple. David also left various temple design plans with Solomon. Solomon also accumulated extra gold and silver for various expenses. He recruited 30,000 laborers, who took three shifts to go to Lebanon to log wood, transporting the best cedar and pine trees by raft to the Israeli coast. Additionally, eighty thousand laborers went up the mountain to quarry, cutting and polishing the stone into smooth finished products at the quarry.

Seventy thousand workers also transported wood and stone to the temple construction site in Jerusalem. The sanctuary was designed by David, with the outer structure tightly fitted from large stones, and the interior entirely covered with cedar wood, carved with various flowers and trees. It is nine meters wide, twenty-seven meters long, and thirteen and a half meters high, divided into three sections. The outermost southern section is a porch four and a half meters deep, decorated by two ten-meter-high copper pillars on either side. In the center of the hall is the inner hall, which is thirteen and a half meters long and high, with five golden lampstands and five tables for offering cakes on each side. At the very back is the Most Holy Hall, measuring nine meters in length, width, and height.

The interior walls of the Holy of Holies were entirely gilded, using twenty tons of gold. On each side of the ground stood a cherubim angel statue with outstretched wings, each four and a half meters wide and tall, carved from olive wood, and entirely gilded.

In this way, each cherubim touches the wall with one wing tip and the other wing tip touches the other, protecting the covenant under the wing. This ark was made by Moses at God’s command and passed down through generations. It was once taken by Eli’s two sons by the Philistines and later brought into Jerusalem by David.

At the southern end outside the hall is a bronze altar measuring nine meters in length and width, and four and a half meters high, used for rituals. On the east side of the altar is a garden bronze sea shaped like a garden altar, four and a half meters in diameter and equal in height to its radius, carried by twelve bronze oxen in four groups, capable of storing 66,000 liters of water for bathing before sacrifices. There are also ten copper basins, arranged from south to north, on the east and west sides of the hall for washing offerings. The courtyard and its walls are all paved with bluestone, divided into inner and outer courtyards, with the sanctuary located in the inner courtyard. Solomon also ordered craftsmen to craft various sacred objects for sacrifice, such as golden lamps and bowls, bronze basins and shovels, fire tongs and cauldrons, and so on, all stored in the temple storeroom under designated personnel for supervision.

Seven years after construction, on the Feast of Tabernacles in July, the temple was completed. Solomon led the priests, elders, officials, and people to bring the ark from its place of assembly into the Most Holy Place inside the temple. After all the sacred objects in the temple were properly arranged, everyone left the temple. The priests, bathed neatly, represented the people and offered sacrifices on the altar. Hundreds of musicians played cymbals, harps, harps, and trumpets on the east side of the altar, and a band sang in unison: “God’s goodness is incomparable, God’s love endures forever.” After the music ended, Solomon solemnly ascended the steps of the temple, bowed deeply, and prayed: “O Lord God, though you dwell in a secret place hidden by clouds, I have built you a magnificent temple. May you dwell there forever.” Before he finished speaking, colorful clouds spread across the sanctuary, rolling up and down and flashing dazzling light. The glory of the Lord fills the temple.