1 Kings 5 -- Planting Bitter Seeds When Building For God

David had been setting aside some of the spoils of battle, planning to provide materials and probably financing for Solomon’s future Temple building activities, yet there is no way to comprehend what was spent on a building that would easily fit in my front yard plus the courtyards which would be built around it:

 

“4,050 tons of gold, 38,000 tons of silver, thousands of tons of bronze and iron, as well as precious stones,” my commentary said.  If he’d simply piled it all up where the Temple foundations were being placed, it probably would have been bigger than the completed Temple itself and solid to the core, with no room for worshipers!

 

Solomon also needed laborers and lumber.  For the privilege of getting the fine cedar wood from Lebanon for free, he agreed to pay Hiram’s household grocery bill annually during the process of harvesting the trees.  This amounted to 125,000 bushels of wheat and 115,000 gallons of olive oil every year (freight paid to Lebanon, of course!).  The Lebanese workers were to receive a lump sum payment of 125,000 bushels of wheat, 125,000 bushels of barley, 115,000 gallons of wine, and 115,000 gallons of olive oil for the entire project.

 

But then there were Solomon’s citizens being used besides this!  Thirty thousand Israelite men rotated out, working one month on and two months off out of county.  There’s no record of any payment to them for their salaries, but we can imagine they were provided room and board.  There were also 150,000 non-Israelites living in the land who were conscripted to cut stones from quarries and transport them to the site, plus 3,300 overseers and supervisors.  All this for one building that took seven years to complete!

 

I could see this for the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., but for a building that would fit in my front yard???

 

My commentary added:  “The Jewish people resented Solomon taking 30,000 of their men to work in Lebanon four months out of the year.  This critical attitude helped to strengthen the people’s revolt against Rehoboam and to precipitate the division of the nation after Solomon’s death.  Indeed, when it came to labor and taxes, Solomon did indeed put a heavy yoke on the people.”

 

Naturally, we would all not hesitate to agree that our God is worth whatever is spent to glorify Him, but ….  It might have been simpler, quicker, and shinier to have made stones of silver and gold onsite!

 

Father, this story has been repeated multiple times across the world and even within our own church as we have constructed and reconstructed buildings over the years, and while motives may have been good at the outset, the end product often leaves questions and quite a bitter taste, which were never intended.  I pray that You will give us proper wisdom for these types of endeavors so that seeds such as those mentioned above will never be planted as a result, for that never glorifies You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford