2 Chron 3 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Chron 3:1-7 / 5:1

1 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

3 The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard). 4 The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits long across the width of the building and twenty cubits high.

He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5 He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and chain designs. 6 He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim. 7 He overlaid the ceiling beams, door-frames, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

5:1 When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated – the silver and gold and all the furnishings – and he placed them in the treasuries of God’s temple.

A. Find Out:

1. Where was the temple built? v.1
2. When did he begin building? v.2
3. How big was the building? v.3
4. With what did they overlay the inside? v.4-7
5. What did Solomon eventually put in it? 5:1

B. Think:

1. Read the whole of chapters 3 & 4
2. How would you describe the structure of the temple to a friend who had never heard of it?
3. Is there anything particular that strikes you in these 2 chapters?

C. Comment:

      The temple design was basically 30 x 30 feet squares, the first being the portico or entrance, the second being the main hall and the last being the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies – other versions). It was obviously made of stone and the inside was lined with pine and overlaid with gold. When you went in, all you would see of the structure was gold – awesome!

      The fixtures of the temple were a massive altar which must have sat outside (see the sizes at the bottom of the page of your Bible), a large circular “Sea”, ten basins for washing, ten lamp stands, ten tables and a multitude of bowls, pots etc. Inside the temple was a gold altar, some tables on which bread was placed and some lampstands for the Most Holy Place. All of these, remember, were solely for the purpose of enabling the people to come and present sacrifices (offerings) to the Lord. All this is for the expressing of sacrificial worship.

      Many of us today tend not to have a high view of church architecture because we feel we shouldn’t need any help in knowing God, yet the design of the temple was quite staggering. When you went in there, you knew there was nowhere else like it; it was impressive! Here was the meeting place with the Lord!

D. Application:

1. Coming in worship. The temple spoke of effort. Are we too casual in approaching God?
2. Coming in worship. The temple spoke of holiness. Are we too casual about God?