Pastoral Writings of H.S.H. Archbishop Normal Dutton

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS REVEALED IN HIS NAMES.

At least twenty-two different names are used in the Old and New Testaments in speaking of the Holy Spirit. There is the deepest significance in these names. By the careful study of them, we find a wonderful revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

The simplest name by which the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible is simply “The Spirit.” This name is also used as the basis of other names. The Greek and Hebrew words translated Spirit literally mean, “Breath” or “Wind.” Both thoughts are in the name as applied to the Holy Spirit.

1) The Spirit as “Breath.”

And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22

The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me my life with God, His inmost life going forth in a personal form to bring us to life. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the inmost life of God Himself to dwell in a personal way in us. When we really grasp this thought, it should overwhelm us. Just stop and think what it means to have the inmost life of that infinite and eternal Being whom we call God, dwelling in a personal way in you. How solemn and how wonderful and yet unspeakably glorious life becomes when we realise this.

2) The Spirit as “the Wind.”

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:6-8.

In the Greek, it is the same word that is translated in one part of this passage “Spirit” and the other part of the passage “wind.” And it would seem as if the word ought to be translated the same way in both parts of the passage. It would then read, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Wind gives birth to wind. The full significance of this name as applied to the Holy Spirit (or Holy Wind) it may be beyond us to fathom, but we can see at least this much of its meaning:

(1) The Spirit like the wind is sovereign.

“The wind blows wherever it pleases” (John 3:8). You cannot dictate to the wind. It does as it wills. The same is true of the Holy Spirit—He is sovereign—we cannot dictate to Him. When the wind is blowing from the north you may long to have it blow from the south, but cry as loudly as you like to the wind, “Blow from the south” and it will keep blowing from the north.

But while you cannot dictate to the wind, while it blows as it will, you may learn the laws that govern the wind's motions and by bringing yourself into harmony with those laws, you can get the wind to do your work for you. You can erect your windmill, whichever way the wind blows the sails will turn and the wind will grind your grain, or pump your water.

While we cannot dictate to the Holy Spirit, we can learn the laws of His operations bringing ourselves into harmony with those laws, above all by submitting our wills absolutely to His sovereign will, the sovereign Spirit of God will work through us and accomplish His own glorious work by our participation.

(2) The Spirit like the wind is invisible but none the less perceptible real and mighty.

You hear the sound of the wind (John 3:8) but the wind itself you never see. You hear the voice of the Spirit but He'' is always invisible. (The word translated “sound” in John 3:8 is the word which elsewhere is translated “voice.”)

We hear the voice of the wind but we see its mighty effects. We feel the breath of the wind upon our cheeks, we see dust and leaves blowing before the wind, we see vessels at sea driven swiftly towards their ports; but the wind itself remains invisible.

The Spirit; we feel His breath upon our souls, we see the mighty things He does, but Himself we do not see.

He is invisible, but He is real and perceptible. None of us have seen the Holy Spirit at any time, but of His presence we have been distinctly conscious again and again and again.

His mighty power we have witnessed and His reality we cannot doubt. There are those who tell us that they do not believe in anything which they cannot see.

Not one of them has ever seen the wind but they all believe in the wind. They have felt the wind and seen its effects, similarly we, beyond any question, have felt the mighty presence of the Spirit and witnessed His mighty workings.

(3) The Spirit like the wind is mysterious.

“You cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” Nothing in nature is more mysterious than the wind. More mysterious is the Holy Spirit in His operations. We hear of how suddenly and unexpectedly in widely separated communities He begins to do His mighty work. Doubtless there are hidden reasons why He does so in this way, but often these reasons are completely undiscoverable by us.

We do not know where He comes from or where He is going. We cannot tell where the next place might be that He will display His mighty and gracious power.

(4) The Spirit, like the wind, is indispensable.

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” John 3:5

If the wind should absolutely cease to blow for a single hour, most of the life on this earth would cease to be. There are many who maintain that to live near the seaside with the tides and winds surrounding them, they live more healthier lives!

The explanation is simply this, it is the wind blowing from the lakes that has brought life and health to the cities. When the Spirit ceases to blow in any heart, any church or any community, death ensues, but when the Spirit blows steadily upon the individual the church or the community, there is abounding spiritual life and health.

(5) The Spirit, like the wind, is life giving.

“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” John 6:63

He has made us competent as priests / ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:6

Perhaps the most suggestive passage on this point is Ezekiel 37:8-10: I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live. “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet - a vast army. Ezekiel 37:8-10

Israel, in the prophet's vision, was only bones, very many and very dry (vv. 2, 11), until the prophet proclaimed unto them the word of God; then there was a noise and a shaking and the bones came together, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh came upon the bones, but still there was no life, but when the wind blew, the breath of God's Spirit, then “they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.” All life in the individual believer, in the teacher, the preacher, and the church is the Holy Spirit's work.

You will sometimes make the acquaintance of a man, and as you hear him talk and observe his conduct, you are repelled and disgusted. Everything about him declares that he is a dead man, a moral corpse and not only dead but rapidly putrefying. You get away from him as quickly as you can. Months afterwards you meet him again.

You hesitate to speak to him; you want to get out of his very presence, but you do speak to him, he has not uttered many sentences before you notice a marvellous change. His conversation is sweet and wholesome and uplifting; everything about his manner is attractive and delightful. You soon discover that the man's whole conduct and life has been transformed.

He is no longer a putrefying corpse but a living child of God. What has happened?

The Wind of God has blown upon him; he has received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind. One day you visit a church to worship. Everything about the outward appearance of the church is all that could be desired.

There is an attractive auditorium, expensive instruments, gifted vocalists, an interesting preacher. The service is well arranged but you have not been there long before you are forced to see no life there, that it is all form, there is nothing really being accomplished for God or for man. You go away with a heavy heart. Months later you visit the church again; the outward appearance of the church is the same as before but the service has not gone on long before you notice a great difference.

There is a new power in the singing, a new spirit in the prayer, a new grip in the preaching, everything about the church is teeming with the life of God. What has happened? The Wind of God has blown upon that church; the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind, has come.

You go some day to hear a preacher who you have heard great things about. As he preaches you soon learn that no one exaggerated when they praised his abilities from the merely intellectual and rhetorical standpoint. His diction is faultless, his style beautiful, logic unimpeachable, his orthodoxy beyond criticism.

It is an intellectual treat to listen to him, and yet after all as he preaches you cannot avoid a feeling of sadness, for there is no real grip, no real power, indeed no reality of any kind, in the man's preaching.

You go away, yet again, with a heavy heart at the thought of this waste of magnificent ability. Months pass-by, again you find yourself listening to this celebrated preacher, but what a change! The same faultless diction; Beautiful style, same unimpeachable logic, same skilful delivery, and sound orthodoxy, but now there is something more. There is reality, life, grip, power in the preaching.

Men and women sit breathless as he speaks, sinners bowed with tears of contrition, pricked to their hearts with conviction of sin; men, women, boys and girls renounce their selfishness, sin and worldliness to accept Jesus Christ and surrender their lives to Him. What has happened? The Wind of God has blown upon that man. He has been filled with the Holy Wind.

(6) Like the wind, the Holy Spirit is irresistible. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." – Acts 1:8

When this promise of our Lord was fulfilled in Stephen, we read: But they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. Acts 6:10

A man filled with the Holy Spirit is transformed into a cyclone. What can stand before the wind? When a cyclone years ago occurred, the wind picked up loaded goods wagons carrying them away off the track. It wrenched an iron bridge from its foundations, twisted it together and hurled it away.

When another cyclone later visited, it cut off telegraph poles a foot in diameter as if they had been pipe stems. It cut off enormous trees close to the root, it cut off the corner of brick buildings where it passed as though they had been cut by a knife; nothing could stand before it; and so, nothing can stand before a Spirit-filled preacher of the Word. None can resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he speaks.

The Wind of God took possession of Charles G. Finney, an obscure country lawyer, mowing down strong men by his resistless, Spirit given logic. One night, scores of lawyers, led by the justice of the Court of Appeals, filed out of the pews bowed in the aisles offering their lives to God.

The Wind of God took possession of D. L. Moody, an uneducated young business man, and in the power of this resistless Wind, men and women and young people were mowed down before his words and brought in humble confession and renunciation of sin to the feet of Jesus Christ, filled with the life of God they have been the pillars in the churches of Great Britain and throughout the world ever since.

The great need today in individuals, in churches and in preachers is that the Wind of God blow upon us. Amen.

KING SOLOMON’S TEMPLE

The Temple erected by King Soloman on Mount Moriah on the site selected by God and shown to King David was the first of three Temples to be built on the same site. Mount Moriah was first mentioned in the Book of Genesis, Ch. 22 verses 1 – 4. When Abraham was instructed by God ‘to go to the land of Moriah, to one of the mountains, and there sacrifice your only son’. Abraham having proved himself willing and faithful to carry out Gods command, God provided a more acceptable offering, in the form of a ram, which had been caught by its horns in a bush.

THE FIRST TEMPLE

King David, soldier, statesman, poet, composer and musician, having united the twelve tribes of Israel and subdued all his enemies, having brought peace to the land of Israel, said to Nathan the Prophet, ‘see now, I live in a palace of cedar, but the Ark of the Lord dwelleth within curtains’, Nathan said ‘go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee’. King David then from the detailed instructions given to him by God, planned the building of the Temple, to house the Ark of the Covenant, and to cater for the high Temple rituals and to act as a chapel for the Kings of Israel. However, because King David had disobeyed God, Nathan the Prophet informed the King that he was not considered worthy to build the Temple, and that the work would be undertaken after his death by his son Solomon.

Trying to imagine the Temple built by King Solomon almost three thousand years ago is not easy, however a careful study of the First Book of Kings, the Second Book of Chronicles and the last nine chapters of the Book of Ezekiel, will provide a considerable wealth of details regarding the building which took seven years to complete and was later destroyed by the Caldeans, because Israel had allowed it to become defiled. Therefore, God gave the Temple along with all its treasures and his covenant people, into the hands of their enemies.

THE SECOND TEMPLE

After a period of almost seventy years in captivity God stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus and it was under his patronage that the Second Temple was erected on the same site, this took place in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, who were both encouraged and supported by the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah.

This new Temple was inferior both in its beauty and architectural design when compared to the Temple built by King Solomon. It is stated that the old men who had seen the first Temple in all its splendour wept when the foundations of the Second Temple were being laid. This Temple continued to exist until King Herod the Great obtained permission from the Sanhedrin to have it dismantled so that a more fitting place of worship could be erected in its place.

THE THIRD TEMPLE

The Temple built by King Herod was much larger in area and greater in height than that of King Solomon’s Temple, and it took almost forty-six years to complete. This was the Temple, which was in existence at the time of Jesus, and it was his habit to frequent its outer courts, it was there that he would teach the people. This Temple was completely destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70 as an act of retribution for the Jewish rebellion against the Roman occupation of their land.

Today on the site where these Temples once stood, there is now a beautiful octagonal Mosque, which was built by ABD El-Melek in A.D. 691 it is known as the Dome of the Rock.

THE SITE CHOSEN BY KING DAVID

When King David ordered a census to be taken so that he would know how many people were living in his kingdom, he disobeyed a command of God which forbade the numbering of the people, and as a direct result the children of Israel were subjected to the consequences threatened in the Law given by Moses, that a plague would be visited upon them resulting in the deaths of over seventy thousand of then.

King David made a full confession of his sins and was commanded by the Prophet Gad to erect an Altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jesubite and there to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings.

God showed his acceptance by sending fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice.

When King David saw that God had accepted the offering he decided that on that spot he would erect a permanent Altar for the nation.

He purchased the threshing floor for fifty shekels of silver, the ransom price for one hundred souls and built his Altar.

He also purchased at the same time from Ornan (who was probably the King of Jerusalem before King David occupied the City) the area immediately surrounding the threshing floor for a further six hundred shekels of gold this was to form the permanent site for the Temple of God.

THE FOUNDATION PLATFORM

In order to raise the surrounding area to the same level as the threshing floor on its summit, King Solomon built a foundation platform; it was to from this foundation that ‘The great stones, costly stones and hewn stones’ referred to in the First Book of Kings, Ch. 5 verse 17 & Ch. 7 verse 10, were prepared. These stones varied from three feet three inches to a little over six feet in height, and some of them were twenty to thirty feet in length. This was the foundation platform on which King Solomon’s Temple was erected; in its construction a vast army of hewers, stone squares, masons and other workmen were engaged.

It is a most remarkable fact that this platform, erected almost three thousand years ago by King Solomon, remains standing to this day and is known as the Haram area.

The Dome of the Rock, now stands upon a raised platform sixteen feet in height above the surrounding ground, corresponding in its width exactly to the dimensions of the court of the priests as described by the Prophet Ezekiel. The stones are so closely fitted that not even the blade of a penknife can be inserted between them. They form a solid mass of masonry, on some of the stones the original builders marks are still visible. Each stone was fully prepared before it was delivered to the site to be placed in position; no cement was used or even required.

THE COURTS OF THE TEMPLE

The Courts of the Temple are mentioned in the First Book of Kings, Ch. 6 verse 36 and in the Second Book of Chronicles, Ch. 4 verse 9 but no details of their size or structure is given, this information is only fully documented in the Prophecy of Ezekiel.

There was first, the Great Court, or outer court. This court was five hundred cubits square, with one cubit being approximately one foot six inches in length, making the size of the Outer Court in the region of seven hundred and fifty feet square.
Then there was the Court of the Priests, three hundred cubits (four hundred and fifty Feet) square into which only the Priests and the Levites were permitted to enter.

Next came the Court of the Altar, in the centre of the courts one hundred cubits (one hundred and fifty feet) square and to the West was the place on which the Temple stood.

The Court of the Altar and the Temple it self formed what was called the Inner Court, it was surrounded by walls five cubits (seven feet six inches) thick, built of three rows of hewn stones, with cedar beams on the top.

The walls of the Outer Court and the Court of the Priests were six cubits thick, (nine feet) and six cubits high, (nine feet). There were three gates in the Outer Court, north, east and south but none in the west wall; there were three gates into the Court of the Priests in corresponding positions to those into the Outer Court. These gateways each had two porches.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE TEMPLE

The Temple was divided into three distinct sections: the Porch at the front, the Holy Place in the centre, and the Holiest of All or Holy of Holies to the West.

The internal measurements of the porch were twenty cubits long by ten cubits wide, and some twenty cubits in height. A height of one hundred and twenty cubits is given in the Second Book of Chronicles, Ch. 3 verse 4 but this would appear to be an error in translation from one of the early versions of the Bible.

The Holy Place was forty cubits long (internal measurement) twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, to a vaulted roof.

The windows were a narrow light that is broad within and narrow on the outside. The Veil of the Temple and folding doors separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.

There were also folding doors leading from the Porch into the Sanctuary.

The floor was covered with gold, on the walls and the ceiling were carved work on cedar wood, covered with gold in the form of an overlay so that the carvings could be seen and precious stones were placed into the finished work as part of the decoration.

There were ten Candlesticks, five on each side, each Candlestick had seven golden lamps, so that the seventy lamps illuminating the Sanctuary, shining upon the gold and precious stones, made it a scene of incredible beauty.

There were also ten tables of gold, five on each side, and standing in front of the Veil stood a golden Altar of Incense.

Every week immediately prior to the Sabbath, the showbread was placed upon the Showbread Table; this table had twelve compartments arranged in two rows one above the other, one loaf was placed in each compartment one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Beyond the Veil was the Holiest of All, twenty cubits in length, breadth and height, its walls were encased in cedar, carved with knots and open flowers and covered with gold and glittering with precious stones.

In the First Book of Kings, Ch. 6 verses 5 & 6 we read of the floors and the side chambers.

The walls of the House on either side were six cubits at the foundation below the surface, the beams forming the first floor took one cubit from the thickness of the walls on each side, leaving the walls on the lowest floor five cubits thick and taking another cubit on the second floor left the thickness of the walls four cubits, the third floor again further reduced the walls to three cubits. As a result of this the chambers were enlarged: those on the lowest floor were five cubits wide, on the second six cubits and on the third seven cubits. There were thirty side chambers in total on each floor, fifteen on each side of the Temple making ninety in all. The cedar wood beams, which formed the floors of the second and third storeys, continued ten cubits beyond the walls forming the galleries on each side of the Temple.

So we have five very distinct areas within the Temple structure, the Porch, the Holy Place, the Holiest of All, the Side Chambers and the Galleries.

THE BUILDING MATERIALS FOR THE TEMPLE

THE STONES FOR THE BUILDING

We read in the First Book of Chronicles, Ch. 29 verse 2 that King David provided ‘Marble Stones in Abundance’ for the House of God. The Hebrew word tells us that they were pure white.

These white stones were most probably those used by King Solomon in the building of his Temple.

In the First Book of Kings, Ch. 6 verse 7 we read that the stones were all prepared before they were taken to the site, ‘so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building’. Each stone was placed into its position one stone upon another, each having been made perfect and accurate so that it fitted exactly into the place designed for it.

PLASTERING THE WALLS WITH SILVER

In the First Book of Chronicles, Ch. 29 verses 3 – 5 we find that in addition to the thousands and thousands of talents of silver that he had provided for the building of the Temple, King David had also provided a further seven thousand talents of refined silver to overlay or plaster the walls of the House. A talent is thought to be about 114 lbs in weight. The total weight of the silver provided was ten times greater than the weight of the gold.

These tons of silver, we are told were used to plaster the walls of the House of God. The white marble blocks which were so accurately fitted together were literally plastered on each side with pure refined silver so that each stone was held steady as if it was in a vice.

THE CLADDING OF THE WALLS WITH CEDAR

Further study of the material used in the building, revels that after plastering the walls with silver they were completely covered both inside and out with cedar wood, ‘All was cedar, there was no stone seen’. Cedar wood is known to be a material, which is rot, proof and not subject to attack by woodworm.

In First Kings, Ch. 6 verse 29 we read ‘He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers within and without’. The carving on the walls is the same as those described for the carvings on the Temple doors.

THE GOLD OVERLAY

The whole temple was then completely overlaid with gold. Not just gilded or covered with gold leaf, but covered with plates of pure gold fitted upon the carved cedar wood and rubbed down into the carvings by craftsmen so that the carving was not obliterated but highlighted in all its splendour, the whole House of God, the floors, the ceiling, the walls and the dome were all covered with plates of the purest gold.

THE GARNISHING WITH PRECIOUS STONES

Finally we read in First Chronicles, Ch. 29 verse 2 that the House was garnished with precious stones ‘glistering stones and of divers colours’.

EQUIPPING THE TEMPLE

THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERINGS

The brass Altar was twelve cubits square and ten cubits high

The immense size of the Altar made it almost impossible to approach the Temple without coming into contact with the Altar steps for it filled the whole forecourt of the Temple.

We read that the altar was in continual use day and night with evening and morning offerings and that access was required on every side.

THE BRONZE SEA

In the First Book of Kings, Ch. 7 verses 23 – 39 and in the Second Book of Chronicles, Ch. 4 verses 2 – 6 we find that in place of the one brazen Laver which was used in connection with the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, that King Solomon had ten Lavers of brass and ten bases under them made for use in the Temple.

The Lavers we are told were for washing the Sacrifices, but the Bronze Sea was made especially for the priests to wash in. The Bronze Sea was placed ‘on the East Side over against the South’. Five lavers were placed on the South side of the Temple and five on the North.

Although the ten Lavers and bases are described in the First Book of Kings, we do not have any details of their size, but with regard to the Bronze Sea we know that it was ten cubits in diameter and five cubits in depth and a hands breadth in thickness. It was capable of holding about ten thousand gallons of water, sufficient for all the purposes connected to the ritual washings demanded by the Temple laws for the various services and priestly duties.

We are told in the Book of Exodus, Ch. 30 verse 19 that the priests were to wash their hands and feet whenever they approached the Altar or the Sanctuary.

The Bronze Sea was supported upon the backs of twelve bronze oxen facing outwards, three facing in each direction of the compass.

One conservative estimate puts the weight of the Bronze Sea and its supports in the region of thirty tons.

THE PILLARS AT THE ENTERANCE

Two Pillars, each twenty-six feet high and six feet in diameter were set up in the Porch way or Entrance of the Temple, these were erected between the Temple and the Court of Priests. They served no apparent practical purpose, but were placed there purely as ornaments. The detail of the design of the Pillars is given in great detail in the First Book of Kings, Ch. 7. They are described as having ‘ chequer-work, chain-work, net-work, lily- work and pomegranates in rows’ and as being cast in bright brass.

The reason for these Pillars is suggested by the names, which were given to them:

Jachin – He will establish. & Boaz – In Him is Strength.

The only possible reason for there existence could be as a constant reminder to the priests and the people that Israel was totally dependent on God for its strength and stability.

THE DOORS AND THE VEIL

A door with two folding leaves led into the Holy Place. The width of the House was twenty cubits. Quarter of its width is five cubits, thus allowing five cubits for the side posts and the upper lintel. The opening for the doors would be ten cubits wide by fifteen cubits high, there were also side posts and lintels two cubits square, reducing the opening to six cubits wide and thirteen cubits high.

In the First Book of Kings, Ch. 6 verses 33 – 35 we are told that the side posts and lintels were made of olive wood, but the folding doors were made from cypress, not fir as stated in the authorised version of the Bible. The lintels and the side posts of the entrance into the Most Holy Place were a fifth part of the internal width of the House, that is four cubits out of twenty, making an opening of twelve cubits wide by sixteen cubits high. The olive wood side posts and the lintel were again two cubits square.

The doors into the Most Holy Place were also made of olive wood.

In King Solomon’s Temple there were not only folding doors between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, but there was a Veil as well. The Veil was made of fine linen; its colours were white, blue, purple and crimson, whilst the whole curtain was decorated with cherubim. In front of this veil or curtain stood the Altar of Incense, where the High Priest made offerings for the sins of the people.

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

The Ark of the Covenant, which was originally made for the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, was a large wooded box covered with gold, it seems to have been the only item connected with the worship in the Tabernacle, which was taken into King Solomon’s Temple at the time of its dedication.

It was two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide and one and a half cubits high.

The Ark was said to contain the Tablets of the Law as given to Moses, and a quantity of the Manna which fell from heaven, sustaining the children of Israel during the forty years of their wanderings in the wilderness. On its top the Ark was decorated with two cherubim’s of solid gold facing each other.

THE WORKMEN

King David was a natural leader of men and it was he who made an agreement with Hiram King of Tyre, for the supply of timber from the forests of Lebanon, that were to be used in the building of the Temple.

Thirty thousand Israelites were despatched to assist the Phoenicians in the felling of the timber required in the mountains.

The number of men employed during the seven years it took to construct the building, in addition to the thirty thousand working in Lebanon there were some seventy thousand labourers and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains. These were not all Israelites but the three thousand three hundred officers or overseers were. The craftsman in charge of the brass and bronze work was Hiram Abiff from Tyre. It was he who supervised the casting of the Pillars, the Bronze Sea, the Lavers and all the other items of equipment for use in the Temple precinct. All the castings were made in the Jordan Valley where clay was readily available to make the moulds for the castings.

In 1940 archaeologists discovered what at first sight were thought to be the ruins of a small town. When the site was fully excavated some extremely interesting finds were made, a quantity of casting moulds and a large quantity of copper slag, but why were they found in the middle of a scorching hot plain?

In the latter stages of the excavation the reason became clear, when the remains of a blast furnace were discovered. It was here that Hiram is thought to have made the Temple furnishings.

CONCLUSION

Bible scholars tell us that two more Temples will be built before the end of the age. One of these will again occupy the original site on Mount Moriah. The other will be built on a site some fifty miles to the North. This final Temple is predicted to last for a thousand years.

However, no matter how many Temples may be constructed in the future, it is safe to say that non will in any way rival that built by King Solomon for its beauty and richness.