1 Kings, Chapter 6 - Faithfullness to God | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] >> Shalom friends, welcome to the Prophets of Israel daily. This is the book of First Kings chapter 6. My name [music] is Jeremy Gimpel. I am here with my dear friend and Chavruta, Ari Abramowitz, bringing you the Torah [music] from Zion from the holy sunny beach city of Ashkelon, brought to you by the Land of Israel Network at the landofisrael.com. All right, friends. This is the chapter the entire Bible has been building toward. From the moment God brought Israel out of Egypt, from the Tabernacle in the wilderness, through the wars of Joshua, and the judges, and Samuel, and Saul, and all of David's longing, everything has been moving toward this one moment, the building of the Bet Hamikdash, the holy temple in Jerusalem. And the Tanakh marks the moment with a date it wants us to never forget. Verse 1. Vayehi bishmonim shana ve'arba me'ot shana letzet benei Yisrael me'eretz Mitzrayim. And it came to pass in the 480th year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, that he began to build the house of the Lord. 480 years after the Exodus. The Tanakh dates the building of the temple from the moment of the redemption from Egypt. >> Yeah, Jeremy, I don't want anyone to just, uh, you know, glide [clears throat] past that that opening date because it's doing something really profound here, at least I believe that. You know, of all the ways to mark when the temple was built, the text could have said, "In such and such a year of Solomon's reign." You'd expect that, you know, and just leave it there. Instead, it reaches all the way back and says, "480 years since we left Egypt." And that tells us what the temple actually is. The Exodus was never the finish line, it was the starting gun. God didn't take us out of Egypt just to be free. He took us out to bring us somewhere, to build something. Freedom was the means, the Beta Migdash, the Holy Temple, creating an abode for God in this world was the goal. When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, he said, "When you bring the people out, you shall serve God on this mountain." The whole point of the redemption was always to arrive at a place where God could dwell among his people. So, by dating the Temple from the Exodus, the Tanakh is telling us that these two events are one single arc, that the coming out of Egypt only reaches its purpose here 480 years later when Israel finally builds a home for God's presence in the world. The Temple is the destination, and the Exodus was always pointing towards that. >> That's exactly it, Ari. And the chapter walks us through the building in the most loving details. It just goes all the way down to we could really build it based on what we have recorded. The dimensions of the house, the porch out front, the windows, the chambers built along the walls. But, then it stops to tell us something very specific that you know the text wants us to pause on. Verse seven. V'ha bayit b'hibanoto even shlema. And the house, when it was built, was built of stone ready at the quarry, so that neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. Every stone was cut and finished far away at the quarry, so that on the Temple Mount itself not a single hammer, not an axe, not an iron tool was ever heard. The holiest building in the world rose in complete silence. >> And Jeremy, there's so much to say about this. I'm going to try not to take up too much time here. You know, but the sages saw enormous meaning in that silence and I think it's one of the most beautiful ideas in the whole chapter. What Why no iron? Why not even the sound of a tool? So, our tradition gives a really beautiful answer. Iron is the material of the sword. Iron is what weapons are made of. It's the the substance of war, of killing, of destruction. And the temple, the Beta Migdash is a house of peace, a house of life. So, there's a deep wrongness in using the instrument of death to build the dwelling place of God. You know, as we learn, iron shortens life and the altar was made to lengthen it. You do not bring the tool that destroys into the making of the thing that gives life. The house of shalom cannot be built with the metal of the sword. But I think there's an opportunity here for us to go even deeper. It's not It's not just that they avoided iron, it's the silence. The The greatest, most magnificent building project in Israel's history, in world history, and on the mountain itself, there was no clanging, no banging, no noise of construction at all. Think about what that teaches us about building something holy. You know, cuz our world associates greatness with noise, with loud and the visible, the announced, and how much you're in people's faces and the clicks and the the noise. You know, but the holiest thing ever built rose in stillness. The real work, the cutting, the shaping, the hard labor was done quietly away from the site, so that the holy place itself remained a place of peace. And I think that's a lesson for how we build anything sacred in our own lives. The deepest, holiest things are often built quietly without fanfare, with the noise and the struggle happening off to the side, so that what stands in the end is pure peace. >> You know, Ari, that is just a gorgeous teaching, and that speaks to me so loudly. >> I didn't mean for it to be loud. >> I am just such [laughter] a show-off. I mean, it's my job. Look at the Arugot Farm that we built. Look at Beit Mordechai, that house of prayer we built. Look at the largest ecological pool in Israel. There's just nothing quiet about my work. It's my job to teach about Judea and the importance of the land of Israel. So, I really take to heart that the most important things in my life, my wife Tehilla, my kids, I keep almost totally private and quiet. I almost never have people over for Friday night dinner. That's my sacred quiet time that's just me and my family, and I want to keep it quiet. And so, I just love that teaching. What a thing to point out. It was so quiet when the temple was being built. All right, anyway, back to the real temple. Right in the middle of all this construction, right in the middle of the blueprints and the cedar and the gold, Hashem interrupts, and he speaks to And he what he says sort of reframes the entire project from this international house of prayer to a personal relationship between Hashem and Hamelech. Verses 12 and 13. Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, "Concerning this house which you are building, if you walk in my statutes, execute my judgments, keep all my commandments, and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you which I spoke to your father David, and I will dwell among the people of Israel and will not forsake my people, Israel. >> Yeah. And Jeremy, in some ways, that's the heart of the whole chapter because Hashem, in the middle of the most glorious building project in history, gently corrects a misunderstanding that I think many of us may be prone to. Right? Solomon is pouring everything into this magnificent structure, cedar from Lebanon, gold overlaying every surface, um you know, the the fine craftsmen in the world, and and it would be so easy to think that the building is what brings God down to Earth. That if you just make it grand enough, beautiful enough, golden enough, God will just have to dwell in it. And right there, mid-construction, Hashem says, "This house you are building, and here's the condition, if you walk in my statutes, then I will dwell among the children of Israel." Notice he does not say, Jeremy, "I will dwell in the house." He says, "I will dwell among the people." I will dwell within them. The building is not what brings God down. The faithfulness is. The gold and the cedar are beautiful, but they're not the point. The point is a people who walk with God. And friends, I think this is the most important thing the temple has ever taught. And by the way, I also think it's why the loss of the temple was survivable. Because if God's presence depended on the building, then when the building was destroyed, God would be gone. But God told us from the very first day of construction, "I don't dwell in the stones. I dwell among a faithful people." So, even when the temple fell twice, God did not leave because the real dwelling place was never architecture. It was always Israel's heart turned towards him. The magnificent house is only ever as holy as the people who keep the covenant inside of it. >> You know, Ari, that's the whole message. The chapter then reaches its climax in the innermost room, the Dvir, the Holy of Holies. Verses 19 through 28, Solomon overlays the entire inner sanctuary with pure gold, and inside it, he places two great cherubs carved from olive wood, each 15 ft tall. Their wings stretched out until they touched wall to wall and met in the middle. In the whole house, every wall, he carves with cherubim, with palm trees, open flowers, and overlays it all in gold. A garden of gold blooming in silence around the dwelling place of God. And verse 38, in the 11th year of Solomon's reign, the house was finished in all its details. Seven years to build, and the temple stood. And friends, here's what I take away from this glorious era. This is a window into the Messianic era. 11 of the best years in all of Israel's history. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out, it's one of the only times in the whole Bible that Israel isn't fighting and squabbling with each other when they're building together. That's so powerful. But another lesson, this chapter is really a meditation on how we build the sacred. It teaches us that the holiest things rise quietly. The real work happens away from the noise, without the fanfare, so that peace can stand in the center. And it teaches us the deepest truth of all, that God does not live in buildings, however beautiful they might be. He lives among people who walk faithfully with him. And so, we can build magnificent things, careers, homes, even beautiful synagogues, but if we think the structure itself is holiness, we've missed it. The presence of God is drawn down not with grandeur. It's a life that's lived in a relationship with him is what brings Hashem into your life. Build your life quietly. Build it in the peace, and build it on emunah, on faithfulness, and God will draw not only in what you build, but in you. And the second lesson is for Israel today. I mean, friends, we are the generation that has come back to the mountain. That mountain where the house of the Lord once stood. 2,000 years our people have prayed toward that spot, and here we are, back in Jerusalem with the Temple Mount at the center of the world's attention. And this chapter is our anchor and our hope. It reminds us that the Temple was always the destination, that the entire journey from Egypt was always meant to arrive at a dwelling place for God in Jerusalem. And every war against Jerusalem is exactly against God coming back and dwelling in Jerusalem. And it reminds us how to get there, not through stone and gold alone, but through people who walk in God's ways. And so, may we be the generation that keeps building Israel, building the kingdom faithfully enough to see God's house rise again, or come down from above on that holy mountain. And may his presence dwell openly among us once more. Hazak u'matz, my friends. Ooh, and before we go, I just want to say this one thing. I went across America for 7 weeks, and I know that the Prophets of Israel is touching a lot of people's hearts. If it's a blessing in your life, I want to personally invite you to come deeper. And by now, you have I'm sure you've heard. We have a global community called the Land of Israel Fellowship. Families from all over the world, from all backgrounds, literally a virtual house of prayer for all nations, learning together every single week, connected to the land of Israel and to each other, a network. And right now, you can try it completely for free for a full month. One month, no cost to experience it yourself. Just click on the link below, go to the landofisrael.com, start your free trial today. We're meeting live from more than 35 countries this Sunday. You can do it right now. Come and [music] build something holy with us. And be as rough as you can. We will see you tomorrow for 1 Kings, chapter 7 with Ari.