Ethan: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 200 and 15
King Solomon then asked for a man named Hurum to come from tire.
He was half Israelite since his mother was a widow from the tribe of
NAFTA lie, and his father had been a craftsman in bronze from tire.
Hurum was extremely skillful and talented in any work in bronze, and he came to
do all the metal work for King Solomon.
Here I'm cast two bronze pillars each 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference For
the tops of the pillars, he cast bronze capitals each seven and a half feet tall.
Each capital was decorated with seven sets of lattice work and interwoven chains.
He also encircled the lattice work with two rows of pomegranates to
decorate the capitals over the pillars.
The capitals on the columns inside the entry room were shaped like water
lilies, and they were six feet tall.
The capitals on the two pillars had 200 pomegranates in two rows around
them beside the rounded surface.
Next to the latticework, Hiam set the pillars at the entrance of the temple, one
toward the south and one toward the north.
He named the one on the south jenkin and the one on the north Boaz.
The capitals on the pillars were shaped like water lilies, and so the
work on the pillars was finished.
Then Hirum cast a great round basin, 15 feet across from
rim to rim called the sea.
It was seven and a half feet deep and about 45 feet in circumference.
It was encircled just below its rim by two rows of decorative gourds.
There were about six gourds per foot all the way around.
And they were cast as part of the basin.
The sea was placed on a base of 12 bronze oxen all facing outward,
three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced
east, and the sea rested on them.
The walls of the sea were about three inches thick, and its rim flared out like
a cup and resembled a water Lily blossom.
It could hold about 11,000 gallons of water.
Hirum also made 10 bronze water carts each six feet long, six feet
wide, and four and a half feet tall.
They were constructed with side panels braced with crossbars.
Both the panels and the crossbars were decorated with carved
lions, oxen, and cherubim.
Above and below, the lions and oxen were wreath decorations.
Each of these carts had four bronze wheels and bronze axles.
There were supporting posts for the bronze basins at the corners of the carts.
These supports were decorated on each side with carvings of wreaths.
The top of each cart had a rounded frame for the basin.
It projected one and a half feet above the carts top, like a round pedestal, and its
opening was two and a quarter feet across.
It was decorated on the outside with carvings of wreaths.
The panels of the carts were square, not round.
Under the panels were four wheels that were connected to axles that had
been cast as one unit with the cart.
The wheels were two and a quarter feet in diameter, and
were similar to chariot wheels.
The axles, spokes, rims, and hubs were all cast from molten bronze.
There were handles at each of the four corners of the carts, and these two
were cast as one unit with the card.
Around the top of each cart was a rim nine inches wide.
The corner supports and side panels were cast as one unit with the cart
carvings of cherubim, lions and palm trees decorated the panels and corner
supports wherever there was room and there were wreaths all around.
All 10 water carts were the same size and were made alike for
each was cast from the same mold.
Hirum also made 10 smaller bronze basins, one for each cart.
Each basin was six feet across and could hold 220 gallons of water.
He set five water carts on the south side of the temple and five on the north side.
The great bronze basin called the sea was placed near the
southeast corner of the temple.
He also made the necessary wash basins, shovels, and bowls.
So at last, Hiam completed everything King Solomon had assigned him to
make for the temple of the Lord.
The two pillars, the two bull shaped capitals on top of the pillars, the
two networks of interwoven chains that decorated the capitals, the 400
pomegranates that hung from the chains on the capitals, two rows of pomegranates for
each of the chain networks that decorated the capitals on top of the pillars.
The 10 water carts holding the 10 basins, the sea, and the 12 oxen under it.
The ash buckets, the shovels and the bowls.
Hiam made all these things of burnished bronze for the temple of the Lord.
Just as King Solomon had directed, the king had them cast in clay molds in the
Jordan Valley between Zeth and Zhan.
Solomon did not weigh all these things because there were so many.
The weight of the bronze could not be measured.
Solomon also made all the furnishings of the temple of the
Lord, the gold altar, the gold table for the bread of the presents.
The lamp stands of solid gold, five on the south and five on the north
in front of the most holy place.
The flower, decorations, lamps, and tongs, all of gold.
The small bowls lamp, snuffers bowls, lads, and incense burners,
all of solid gold, the doors for the entrances to the most holy place
and the main room of the temple with their fronts overlaid with gold.
So King Solomon finished all his work on the temple of the Lord.
Then he brought all the gifts.
His father David had dedicated the silver, the gold, and the various articles.
And he stored them in the treasuries of the Lord's temple.
Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem, the elders of Israel and all the heads
of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites.
They were to bring the Ark of the Lord's covenant to the temple from its location
in the city of David, also known as Zion.
So all the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the
Annual Festival of Shelters.
Which is held in early autumn in the month of Es Andm, when all the elders
of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the ark, the priests and levies brought
up the Ark of the Lord, along with the special tent and all the sacred items
that had been in it there before the Ark.
King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats,
and cattle that no one could keep count.
Then the priests carried the Ark of the Lord's covenant into the
inner sanctuary of the temple, the most holy place, and placed it
beneath the wings of the cherubim.
The cherubim spread their wings over the ark, forming a canopy over
the ark and its carrying poles.
These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy
place, which is in front of the most holy place, but not from the outside.
They are still there to this day.
Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in
it at Mount Sinai where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel.
When they left the land of Egypt, when the priests came out of the holy place, a
thick cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud.
For the glorious presence of the Lord, filled the temple of the Lord.
Then Solomon prayed.
Oh Lord.
You have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.
Now I have built a glorious temple for you, a place where you can live forever.
Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing
before him and gave this blessing.
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise
he made to my father, David.
For, he told my father from the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt.
I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a
temple should be built to honor my name.
But I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.
Then Solomon said, my father, David wanted to build this temple to honor
the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
But the Lord told him you wanted to build the temple to honor my name.
Your intention is good, but you are not the one to do it.
One of your own sons will build the temple to honor me.
And now the Lord has fulfilled the promise he made for I have
become king in my father's place.
And now I sit on the throne of Israel just as the Lord promised.
I have built this temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
and I have prepared a place there for the ark, which contains the covenant
that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.
This concludes today's Immer reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.