By: Tyler Montgomery
In 2 Sam 7:12–16, David is being spoken to by God, saying that his son (Solomon) will have the Seed established through him, and that he will also be the one to build God’s House. Jesus’ life is the aftermath of this. While Solomon was to have the Seed established through him, Jesus is the Seed that would go through Solomon’s lineage; and when Jesus ascended to Heaven after He spent a little more time on Earth, He was going to make a place ready for us in His Father’s house (Hint, hint: Heaven). While Solomon isn’t building the “mansions” for us in heaven (John 14:2-4), he played a key role not only in bringing forth our lord, but also foreshadowing this very thing. In 2 Kings 25:8-10 and 2 Chron 36:14-19, Solomon’s Temple is destroyed by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar around 586 BC; however, the eternal, everlasting Temple of the Lord will never be destroyed by earthly or spiritual armies of evil. If we go to 1 Corinthians 6 beginning at verse 12 where it says “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Goods for the stomach and stomach for foods, but God will destroy it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and turn them into a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two” he says, “shall become one flesh” but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.” When WE as THE CHURCH, SIN against our God. Does that make us any better than a harlot within a marriage? Throughout the New Testament we are given examples of how we as the body of Christ are joined to Christ, the head of our body, in the same way a marriage is. Two parts, one body. Now in 1 Chron 22:7–10 & 14–19, verses 7–10 discuss God telling David his son will build the Temple. In verse 9, Solomon will give rest to the enemies of David, just as Jesus will give rest to our enemies when the Judgment Day comes. In verse 10, he shall build a house in the Lord’s name; He will establish the throne of Israel through Solomon forever (this can be used for the example given in 2 Sam 7:12–16). Then, in verses 14–19, David prepares for the building. In verse 14, David is preparing the way for Solomon to establish the Lord’s house. This could correlate with Solomon as Jesus, and David as John the Baptizer. While John the Baptizer (David) cannot be the one to prepare Heaven for Judgment Day (or build the Temple), he can prepare the way for Jesus (Solomon) to build God’s kingdom and prepare His house through teachings (or to prepare the building of the Temple through gathering building material). For us now in the New Testament Christ built for us our kingdom in the same way. Ephesians 5 beginning in verse 22 shows us those “building materials” and the layout for our kingdom now! “Wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and He is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to Himself a glorious Church. Not having spot or wrinkle, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” So now us in the church, Christs body, are we not the temple of today? Back in 1 Corinthians 6, we are described now as the “Temple of the Holy Spirit!” We, collectively, are the body Christ. And hence, when we sin, we are hurting the entirety of the body. Now, if we jump back to Exodus 19 starting in verse 5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me among all people, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” What is this talking about? Obviously, the entirety of Israel wasn’t a group of priests? But in the same way, weren’t they supposed to be a beacon to the rest of the world? Wasn’t Israel supposed to be a light among this world in order to bring more and more to our God? Is that beginning to sound familiar? Over in 1 Peter 2:4-10, we as the church are called to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood in this world, to bring others to Christ. We as the church can now “bring acceptable spiritual sacrifices to our God” because of our Lord! In Ezra 1–4, I have broken down the chapters into sections. Starting in Chapter 1, the prophecy of Jeremiah is being fulfilled (King Cyrus allowing them to go back and rebuild—this is prophesied in Jeremiah 25:12 and 29:10, Isaiah 44:28–45:13, and 2 Chron 36:22–23). Chapter 2 is mainly just a list of those who went back to help rebuild the Temple (which, long story short, was a lot). In Chapter 3, the rebuilding of the Second Temple will be most commonly known as “Zerubbabel’s Temple,” followed by a short retelling of what sacrifices they have to give and when. We should be thankful and grateful for the fact that the new Law does not come with such bloodshed and physical properties of worship as the building of the new Temple did. Next, the people who had seen the old Temple (Solomon’s Temple) wept that the new Temple’s foundation was laid (as they were reminiscing and mourning the loss of their magnificent First Temple). The newer/younger people were shouting with joy, since they had only heard—and not seen—the old Temple. They were excited to see Temple worship restored through the building of the new one. While the older generation was thankful for their Temple being rebuilt, they still wept at the loss of it, since they had lived through that period of time where it was used for worship. The newer generation had only the stories the older generation gave of this Old Temple, but rejoiced in the building of the new, since this would be their first time worshipping in a Temple. The stories of the Old Testament will be there for our teaching, but we must rejoice in the New Temple that is being prepared for us in heaven. And lastly, in Chapter 4: When people who were not part of Israel/The Tribes offered to help build, Israel denied, which made the people (of the land) unhappy—leading The Tribes to be harassed from the point of King Cyrus of Persia (around 540–535 BC) to King Darius of Persia (around 520 BC). The people of the land sent a letter to King Artaxerxes, requesting that the rebuilding be stopped (basically throwing a hissy fit over not being able to help—the attitude of “if we can’t help, then you can’t do it either”). King Artaxerxes sent a letter back, allowing the people of the land to stop The Tribes from rebuilding the Temple and the city. From the time range given, it was around 20 years before they could start rebuilding again, causing the building to be stopped up until King Darius received a letter from a local governor asking if they could, who then allowed the people to continue the rebuilding of the Temple.*History lesson on Tattenai’s (the local governor) Opposition* When Zerubbabel and Jeshua resumed work on the Temple in 520 BC, local opposition reappeared. Tattenai, one of the Persian Empire’s many local officials, tried to halt the work through intimidation—taking down the names of those doing the work. When that failed, he wrote an official letter to King Darius, reporting the Jewish settlers’ insubordination. To Tattenai’s probable surprise and dismay, his letter had an opposite effect from what he intended. Darius discovered that the Jews did indeed have royal permission for their work, and he commanded Tattenai to help the Jews and to pay their expenses from Tattenai’s own regional tax collections.