How important was the temple of God to the people of the Old Testament? They did not leave Mount Sinai to go to the promised land until they had built and set up the Tabernacle of the Wilderness (also called the Tent of Meeting). The tabernacle was the place where the presence of the Lord would dwell with his people (Exodus 25:8; 25:17-22). The tabernacle was surrounded by a courtyard half a football field long. Inside the people made sacrifices. Inside the courtyard stood the holy place where only the Levites were allowed to go. At the innermost part of the tent stood the Most Holy place where the Ark of the Covenant rested beneath cherubim wings and the Spirit of God Almighty met with the children of Israel.
The Most Holy Place was separated from the rest of the tabernacle by a veil of fine blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. Only one man was allowed to enter the place where the Spirit of God dwelt. The High Priest made atonement for the sins of the people once a year. He offered sacrifices and burned so much incense he would be unable to actually see God’s glory (Leviticus 16:1-34).
God guided the Israelites by a cloud in the daytime and his fiery presence served as a nightlight when it was time to stop and camp during their 40-years of wandering (Exodus 40:34-38).
Roughly 400-years later, king David conquered the city of Jerusalem where God had said his presence would dwell (I Kings 11:32). But the honor of building a permanent temple for the Lord God was not given to David, but his son Solomon. God replaced a tent with a temple so grand it would be difficult to replicate even with modern technology. How beautiful God’s temple must have been. In one of the rare moments of heartfelt obedience. The Israelites gave willingly and with a whole heart; first to Jehovah and then king David to prepare Solomon to build (I Chronicles 29:3-9).
As spectacular as the gold, cedar, fine furnishings, purple thread, cherubim, stone, and ceremony were. Nothing compared to the coming of the presence of God. “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.”-I Kings 8:10-11.
This was the apex of the nation of Israel. Within 40-years, the children of Israel would be broken in two. The golden calves at Dan and Bethel cemented the sins of the Northern Kingdom (I Kings 12:28-30) until they were taken into Assyrian captivity (II Kings 17:22-23). Judah fared only slightly better. The southern kingdom of Judah carried David’s name and the temple of God another 100-years or so before falling to Nebuchadnezzar and captivity in Babylon (II Kings 25:8-17). The sin of Israel was greater than God’s grace and love for the land he promised to Abraham.
God used the Babylonians as a tool to punish Israel. They carried off the grand temple in pieces, “And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service,”-II Kings 25:13-14.
The presence of God seemed to be a thing of the past. -JS
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