Furnishings of The Temple

Did you ever hear of a man named Donald Wyman? You may have, but it’s been some years ago when he made the national news. Donald Wyman is from Pennsylvania and he was out in the woods, cutting trees and a tree fell on his leg, pinning him under it. Wyman laid there for an h … More

Purpose

We now move from a description of Solomon’s palace to a description of the temple and its’ furnishings. Bronze was used for the furnishing on the outside but the furniture on the inside was made of gold. The description of the bronze work of the temple makes it apparent that great quantities of this metal were used. Archaeologists have discovered several mines dating back to this period in the Jordan Valley about 35 miles north of the Dead Sea and east of the Jordan River. The smelting was carried out by making use of the strong winds blowing in that area. Droughts were built that led into the furnaces and research shows that the refining process was done in a highly technical manner.

We find two different Hiram’s in the history of Solomon. The first was the King of Tyre mentioned in 5:1. The second is the one we read about in these verses. He was a skilled craftsman who had a special talent in working with the bronze (a copper alloy) furnishings of the temple.

As mentioned above, the furnishings inside the temple were made of gold. The golden altar, the table of show bread, the 10 lampstands, and various pieces of furniture were all made of gold. Even the door sockets were gold. Added to this were the furnishings King David had prepared and dedicated for temple service (II Sam. 8:11; I Chron. 29:1-9).

Application

Hiram’s items of bronze would look strange in our churches today. At the same time, stained glass window, crosses, or a communion table from our churches would have looked strange in the temple.  We need to keep in mind the items of worship may change, but the purpose of our worship should never change, but always give honor and praise to God.

I Kings 7:27-51 (English Standard Version)


Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »