SERIES L --- THE NATION DIVIDES --- LESSON 09

THE ARK IN THE TEMPLE

THE ARK IS MOVED TO THE TEMPLE

From 1 Kings 7:51 -8:21; 2 Chronicles 5:1 -6:11

When the temple was completed, King Solomon moved into the temple treasury all the gold, silver and other valuables which King David had contributed. Then he summoned the leaders of Israel, including the heads of tribes and the heads of clans, for a great celebration as the Ark was moved from the tabernacle at Zion, the City of David, to the temple. From all over the land, the people assembled for this great feast, gathering around their king in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim [October]. When all the leaders had arrived, the priests took the Ark and the sacred vessels and carried them from the tabernacle to the temple. Then Solomon came before the Ark with his people and their leaders and sacrificed numerous sheep and oxen, so many that people stopped counting them. The priests moved the Ark into the Holy of Holies and placed it beneath the outstretched wings of the two cherubim, which had been made in such a way that they would overshadow the Ark. The carrying poles for the Ark were so long that they could be seen from the Holy Place, just outside the Holy of Holies, although they could not be seen from the entrance. The Ark and its poles remained that way and were still in the same place at the time this was written. When the Ark was moved from the tabernacle to the temple, there was nothing in it except the two tablets of stone which YHVH gave to Moses at Mount Horeb. This was the time when Elohiym made a Covenant with the people of Israel after they had come out of Egypt. The priests prepared for this occasion by going through purification rites. After they placed the Ark in the Holy of Holies, they came forth and joined the Levite singers; Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and brothers. These singers were dressed in fine linen and stood east of the altar with their cymbals, lyres and harps. With them stood one hundred and twenty priests with their trumpets. As the priests emerged from the Holy of Holies, the singers and musicians burst forth with a great celebration of praise to Adonai, singing and playing their musical instruments. The trumpets sounded, the cymbals clanged, the harps and lyres strummed and the voices of the choir harmonized with this great symphony of praise. [He is good! His loving-kindness goes on forever!] the people sang. Then Adonai came into the temple, filling it with a bright cloud. The cloud became so bright that the priests had to go outside, for the glory of Adonai filled the temple. King Solomon offered this short prayer to Adonai. [You have said that You live in a thick cloud, Adonai,] he prayed. [But I have made for You a beautiful home where You may dwell forever.] Then King Solomon turned around and pronounced this blessing upon his people. [Praise Adonai YHVH Elohiym of Israel,] he said, as the people stood to receive the blessing. [Adonai spoke personally to King David my father and told him that never before, since He had brought our people from Egypt, had He chosen a city for His temple or a king for His people. He told my father that He had now chosen Jerusalem as that city and King David as that king. My father wanted to build the temple, but Adonai did not want him to do it, for Adonai had chosen David’s son for that work. Adonai has kept His promise, for He has placed me on the throne of my father King David and He has let me build the temple. I have built it in the Name of Adonai and have placed His Ark in it, the Ark of the Covenant which Adonai made with His people Israel.]

COMMENTARY

POTTERY IN THE TIME OF THE KINGS

Israelite pottery before the time of the Israelite kings was brightly painted with geometric designs or animal figures. But later potters used two other techniques that resulted in softer-looking, less brilliant pieces. One, called burnishing, was particularly popular. The damp clay surface was rubbed with a smooth stone or bone. Partially dried, it was placed in a kiln; the baking process turned the burnishing to a light-reflecting glossy surface, which served to deepen the dark red colour of the clay. Some vessels were coated with slip, an outside layer of creamy clay. Baked, it became a smooth delicate-coloured surface. Earlier vessels had been rounded; smooth arcs from neck to base. During the monarchy, potters added longer necks, and angular sides called shoulders. Handles, originally jutting from the sides and called ears, were formed in many different shapes and attached in a variety of places. Israelite pottery of Solomon’s period is not known for its beauty, but it was sturdy, practical, and served many different needs.

Happy Pesach! May Yah bless you in your keeping of His appointed times. Shalom!

Worshipping on your own terms and rituals. Isaiah 66:3-4 Good News Translation 3 “The people do as they please. It's all the same to them whether they kill a bull as a sacrifice or sacrifice a human being; whether they sacrifice a lamb or break a dog's neck; whether they present a grain offering or offer pigs' blood; whether they offer incense or pray to an idol. They take pleasure in disgusting ways of worship. 4 So I will bring disaster upon them—the very things they are afraid of—because no one answered when I called or listened when I spoke. They chose to disobey me and do evil.”

Happy #passover Everyone!

Check out the Torah Portion readings on our app or website as we approach the Feasts. www.triumphintruth.global/Torah

"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed in the Lord's coming."

1Cor 16

Hi Homeschooling Torah folks!
I've been following Anne and all her posts and emails for a bit now. I'm thinking about actually starting homeschooling Torah but I wanted to see..
Is anyone in the northern Arizona region that would be interested in doing a subject together? Maybe History could be together once a week...
Please let me know :-)

Q85: What did Father promise to Adam and Eve after they were expelled from the Garden of Eden?

#quiz

PS: Discussions are very welcome, but please do not give the answer away in your discussions.







Genesis 3

Tonight is the anniversary of #Yeshua's betrayal. The 11 had no idea what was about to happen, but they believed in the Son of God, and went on to be marvelous tools of #yahweh and His Son. Let's follow the 11's example and keep believing, no matter what may come. Shalom.

SERIES L --- THE NATION DIVIDES --- LESSON 08

TEMPLE VESSELS

THE TEMPLE VESSELS

From 1 Kings 7:23-50; 2 Chronicles 4:1-22

Hiram, the skilled craftsman from Tyre, began the work of making vessels for the temple. After he skilfully cast the great bronze pillars, he made a large bronze basin, called a laver. It was fifteen feet across from one brim to the other and forty-five feet around the brim, which was seven and a half feet from the ground. On the lower part of the rim were two rows of rosebuds, cast as part of the total basin. The base on which this great laver sat was made of bronze and was cast as twelve large oxen, three facing each direction; north, east, south and west. The basin itself was four inches thick, shaped like a goblet or lily blossom. It held three thousand barrels of water, about twelve to eighteen thousand gallons. Hiram also made a great bronze altar. It was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide and fifteen feet high. Next, he made ten vats which held the water which the priests used to wash the offerings. Five of these vats were placed to the right of the great aver and five to the left. When the priests washed, they used these vats instead of the laver. The ten vats were placed on ten movable stands. Each stand had four wheels and was six feet wide, six feet long and four and a half feet high. The stands had frames with panels in them. The panels were decorated with carved lions, oxen and cherubim. The frames were decorated with rosettes or wreaths. Each stand had four bronze wheels which moved on bronze axles supported at each of the four corners by bronze posts decorated with rosettes or wreaths. The wheels were like chariot wheels, with axles, rims, spokes and hubs of cast bronze. The wheels were under the framework and the axles were part of the framework, each wheel was about twenty-seven inches high. The top of each stand was about a foot and a half high and two and a fourth feet deep, round with concave centre, with rosettes or wreaths decorating its sides. A round band circled the top, about nine inches deep and was cast as part of the frame. Around it was lions, palm trees and rosettes or wreaths. The ten bronze stands were all exactly alike, cast from the same mould. Ten bronze lavers or basins were cast and placed on the ten stands, each containing between two and four hundred gallons of water. Hiram also cast the pots, shovels and basins necessary for the temple work. He cast ten golden lamp stands and put five against each wall of the temple. Then he made ten tables and placed five against each wall. He also made one hundred solid gold bowls. He constructed a court for the priests and another court for the people. He covered the doors of these courts with bronze. The great laver was placed in the southeast corner of the outer area of the temple. Here is a list of the things which Hiram [also called Huram or Huramabi] made for King Solomon:

The two great bronze pillars,
The capitals for the pillars,
Latticework for the capitals,
Pomegranates for the capitals,
Ten stands and vats for washing,
The great layer and twelve bronze oxen for its base and
Pots, shovels, basins and flesh hooks.

The bronze castings were made in the clay ground of the plain of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarthan. The total weight of the bronze castings was so great that nobody bothered to account for all of it. The vessels and furniture in the temple itself were all made of solid gold. These items included the altar, the table for the Bread of the Presence, ten lamp stands, flowers, lamps, tongs, cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, fire pans and sockets which served as hinges for the doors to the Holy of Holies and the entrance. All these things were made of solid gold.

COMMENTARY

SOLOMON’S COPPER INDUSTRY

The list of gold, silver, and bronze vessels for the temple is impressive. How was it possible? During the reign of Solomon, Israel was one of the wealthiest nations of the world. Where this wealth could be better lavished than on the temple of Adonai, Who was the source of all blessings. Where were the copper mines which provided Solomon with much of his legendary wealth? For hundreds of years that question has fascinated everyone who has read of Solomon’s copper industry. Biblical texts indicate that Solomon mined copper in the Arabah; the vast desert in southern Palestine. Ancient peoples knew of the rich mineral deposits in this area centuries before Solomon became king. In fact, Egyptian pharaohs of the fourteenth century B.C. began copper works in the Timnah Valley, their workmen included the expert Kenite smiths whose tradition of metal craftsmanship went back to prehistoric times. In copper-rich areas, lumps of the soft metal were buried just beneath the surface of the earth. In many places, lumps were visible in exposed cliff-faces or outcroppings of valley walls. Veins of the reddish-brown metal also ran deep into the earth, becoming less pure as they mixed with other materials. This copper was fairly easy to mine. Simple flint and stone hammers were capable of cracking the limestone rock embedding the metal nodules. Once the rock was loose, workmen had only to gather the lumps of raw copper ore. The task of melting ore into usable metal was not difficult either. Of all the ancient metals, copper was the easiest to work. Smiths heated the ore in charcoal burning furnaces shaped like beehives. These stone smelting furnaces focused heat around the clay crucibles holding the ore. Air holes in the bottom of the furnaces allowed smiths to pump a draft over the coals, keeping them red-hot. To make bronze, coppersmiths simply smelted copper and tin ores together. While still liquid, the molten metal could be cast into bars for shipping or laded directly into clay moulds. Clay from the Jordan Valley was of excellent quality for such moulds. Here the Phoenician craftsmen cast the bronze work for the temple. Some archaeologists believe that Solomon mined his copper near Ezion-geber and built special smelting furnaces there. Ruins of ancient furnaces, air flues and other remains exist, indicating that it was once a thriving metalworking centre. The harbour at Ezion-geber housed Solomon’s fleet of trading ships, which could have carried copper to foreign ports. Other archaeologists think these ruins are Egyptian; built and discarded long before Solomon’s time. They believe Solomon imported most of his copper from Syria. The question of Solomon’s copper industry still fascinates us today, even though we do not have all the answers!