“The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.” 1 Kings 6:7, NASB.
In these chapters I am reading, there is great detail offered on the construction of Solomon’s Temple for the Lord. From the allocation of resources, to the people assigned to the build, to the decorations carved into the wood. It is (admittedly) an act of intentionality to not be lost in the details or to simply gloss over them. This verse I noted above struck me today.
All of the stone used for the structure of the of the House was prepared at the quarry and transported to the House. No modification was made to it upon arrival. It just fit. My dad taught me years ago that “framers” of houses have to do good work so a house will stand but ultimately their work is covered so if it isn’t pretty, no big deal. A trim carpenter puts final touches on stuff to make it look good, but ultimately he has a number of resources to cover mistakes. In the construction of this House…there were no mistakes. All of the stone was milled elsewhere and transported in to be laid/set and it fit perfectly. How do you do that?
It speaks of the craftsmanship and attention paid to the work before it was ever moved to the project. Every detail was considered and no imperfection was tolerated. If it wasn’t perfect, it never left the quarry. Why? Because it was God’s House and whatever went into the construction was more about the reflection of the value placed on God than on the usefulness or suitability of the construction.
Further magnifying this is the fact that all of the stone was intentionally covered by cedar. There were cedar walls within…from floor to ceiling. No stone was observed. WHAT KIND OF IMPRACTICAL PERSON PUTS SO MUCH ATTENTION INTO THE UNSEEN CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE? Answer: The WORSHIPPING kind that recognizes that God was the One watching the work and God was the recipient of the work and God was the final inspector of the work.
What if we placed as much detail into every element of our lives? What if we would only worship from pure hearts? What if we would only give our employer our very best? What if we consecrated every detail of our lives before the Lord? What if “PERFECT” was the only acceptable way to respond to God?
Now…before you give yourself an “out” and declare that we aren’t and cannot be perfect and only Christ’s “imputed” perfection matters…that was true of the stonemasons who quarried the rock…yet they worked in such a way that no hammer or tool was needed or used when the HIDDEN STONES arrived at the Temple.
Go and do likewise.
Shalom, CA.
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