The Work of God and the Work of Man

Through the ‘sandwich technique’, in which a short record of Solomon's palace construction appears in the middle of the account of his building the temple, this passage deals with where our priorities should lie, between God's work and the work of the world. That the palace, which was larger than the temple and took longer to build, is recorded relatively briefly in the Bible shows that the center must be not human achievement but God's history of redemption.

Through the meaning and use of the temple furnishings, such as the bronze pillars and the bronze sea made by the Gentile craftsman Hiram, it also explains how believers must stand before God with a heart of purity and sacrifice. The pillars set up at the entrance of the temple lead us to confess that it was established not by human strength but by God's power, and the rite of washing with water symbolizes the process of repenting of sin and coming to God.

As the temple where God dwells, we look back on how we are building and tending our own lives. When our small lives are set within God's long history, by what name do we want to be recorded, and how should we live?