II Chronicles 2 (NIV)

Summary:

Preparations for Building the Temple
Verses 1-18

Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the Name of the Lord and for a royal palace for himself.  He took a census of the foreigners in Israel, giving these people assignments to keep them working.  He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers; 80,000 men as stonecutters; and 3,600 men as their supervisors.

Solomon sent a message to Hiram king of Tyre.  Hiram had sent cedar to David for building his palace, and now, Solomon was about to build a temple for God.  At this temple, he would burn fragrant incense for God, set out the consecrated bread regularly, and make burnt offerings every morning, evening, Sabbath, New Moon, and appointed feast.  This would be a lasting ordinance for Israel.  The temple would be great, because God is greater than any other god.  Solomon asked who was he to build a temple for God, when even the highest heavens couldn't contain Him.

This was Solomon's request to Hiram:
- a man skilled to work in gold & silver, bronze & iron, purple, crimson, & blue yarn, and experienced in engraving
- cedar, pine, algum (possibly juniper) logs from Lebanon (Tyre had skilled woodcutters)
- Solomon would send his men to help with the lumber
- payment - 20,000 cors (~ 1 million gallons) of ground wheat; 20,000 cors of barley; 20,000 baths (~115,000 gallons) of wine; 20,000 baths of olive oil

Hiram's response: the Lord loves Israel, so he made Solomon their king.  He praised God, the Creator of heaven and earth, for giving David a wise, intelligent, and discerning son, who would build God a temple and a palace for himself.  He was sending them Huram-Abi, a highly skilled artist, whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre (his ethnicity was a combo of Israelite & Tyrite).  Huram-Abi could work with all of the items Solomon had listed (a jack-of-all-arts, if you will).  Hiram asked Solomon to send the payment, and he would send the logs from Lebanon on rafts by sea down to Joppa for Solomon to take them to Jerusalem.

Lori's Thoughts:

Of all the art projects ever undertaken, I think this was greatest, hands down!  Of all the people to delve into this project wholeheartedly, Solomon was it!  David was a man after God's own heart.  He dedicated his son Solomon to also live for and love the Lord.  You can tell by how intricately detailed this magnificent temple turned out to be.  I encourage you to read I Kings, Chapters 6 & 7.  This construction was incredible!  (My favorite is the Sea.)

I wish I could have been there to witness this construction project.  Imagine lodes and lodes of timber riding down the sea on rafts!  I'm sure you've been impressed by vast numbers of ships in movies like the latest Robin Hood.  And imagine the sweet, sweet smell of hundreds of cedar logs floating down.  Now, I know Solomon was smart enough to practice sustainability and plant more trees after cutting them down.

If my siblings and I were working with them, I imagine I'd be working with the yarn to make some cool designs, my brother would be an engraver, my younger sister would paint, and my youngest sister would insist on being a lumberjack (lumberjane?).  Anway, it would have been awesome to be there.  Who says serving God isn't fun?!