Tag Archives: Old Testament

Arts, Bible, Christianity, Culture

Preparing the way so that people can meet with God

OLD TESTAMENT

– A narrative on Isaiah 40:1–11

PICTURE two remote towns in a hilly area with only a footpath between them. Laying aside any conservation concerns, imagine the earthmovers carving a swathe through the hillside. You are building a road.

In ancient times there were only footpaths or sheep tracks outside the towns. The main caravan routes were only trodden-down earth. If a king or army wanted to get somewhere quickly, a battalion of engineers was sent ahead to clear the path of obstacles, bridge the worst ravines with rubble, lessen the steepest gradients, and tread down the path to reduce the risks of tripping.

The context of this prophecy is the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon. They faced a 900-mile trek on foot. They could not build roads, but they still had to prepare for such an arduous journey. It provided the prophet with a timeless image.

It was applied in the New Testament to the ministry of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1–3). It can be further applied to any Christian’s witness. There are boulders of prejudice and stumbling-blocks of ignorance to clear away; there are rifts in relationships to bridge, and steep uphill paths we must travel to win people’s confidence and respect.

Preparatory work is boring, as anyone who has wallpapered or painted a room will know. Stripping off the old layers is hard but essential work. If we want people to meet God, we have to prepare them to recognise and welcome him.

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Arts, Bible, Christianity, Culture, History

Solomon’s wisdom: first among equals

OLD TESTAMENT

– [1 Kings 3:16–28; 4:29–34; cf. 2 Samuel 14:2; 1 Chronicles 27:32]

Jerusalem, c. 970 BC

SOLOMON’S WISDOM is now a byword, and his intellect and breadth of knowledge are extraordinary. He is acknowledged by the academic world as a brilliant scholar. He has devised some 3,000 proverbs and over 1,000 songs, is a perceptive scientist, and a specialist in flora and fauna. Students come from all over the world to sit at his feet.

His wisdom is best displayed in his legal judgements, where his razor-sharp mind goes to the issues at the heart of the most complex cases. In a famous hearing, two prostitutes both claimed to be the mother of the same baby. One said that the other had stolen the infant from her because her own child had perished. Solomon ignored the legal pleading and sent for a sword to cut the child in half and give half to each woman.

One woman agreed to the plan, vowing that neither of them should have the child. The other begged him to let the child live, even if it meant losing it to the other woman. Solomon promptly awarded the child to the second woman, who was clearly its mother.

The king stands in a long tradition of wisdom which spans the cultures. Babylon and Egypt are equally famed for their books of wisdom, and Phoenicia and Israel have their own class of wise men and women who advise governments and arbitrate in disputes.

Many of the sayings consist of practical commonsense advice on daily living, especially in maintaining harmonious relationships and keeping out of trouble.

The Teaching of Amenemope, written in Egypt not long ago, contains many striking parallels to collections of Israelite wisdom-sayings in both style and content.

“Guard yourself against robbing the wretched,” it warns. “Don’t remove landmarks. Don’t run after riches. If you get rich by robbery, your ill-gotten gains will soon disappear. Don’t associate with hot-headed people. You’re better off with bread and contentment than with wealth and contention.”

The Babylonian Theodicy which dates from at least a century ago, is a treatise written by a priest on the problem of suffering. The hero debates with his friend as to why the many gods allow or cause people to suffer. The similarity to the Israelite story of Job ends there, however.

Solomon is also credited with writing a superb love poem in which a man courts a woman. The couple speak of their love and hunger for each other, and a chorus adds comment and advice.

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Arts, Bible, Christianity, Culture, History

Solomon’s temple: celebration as project is completed

Jerusalem, c. 970 BC

[1 Kings 5:1–9:9; 2 Chronicles 2:1–7:22]

SOLOMON’S magnificent temple has been dedicated to Yahweh with a huge 14-day celebration in which some 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats were sacrificed. Burnt, grain and fellowship offerings were made in the courtyard before the temple.

It is reported that God has appeared to Solomon and declared himself pleased with the work. He promised again that if Solomon followed his father’s example and lived in faithful obedience to Yahweh, then the royal line of David would sit on the throne of Israel for ever. But if Solomon or his sons should turn away from God by failing to honour his commands or by following other gods, he would remove Israel from the land he had given them and would reject the temple.

The temple that Solomon built, fulfilling his father David’s great desire, is both a shrine to house the ark of the covenant and a constitutional building at the centre of the nation’s life. It bears some similarities to the desert tabernacle, the mobile worship-tent which accompanied Israel through the desert and into Canaan.

The sanctuary is strongly reminiscent of the tabernacle, but it has an added entry porch and three rooms inside. Alongside the middle chamber (the Holy Place) and the Most Holy Place are storage rooms. Some aspects of the design have been influenced by the Phoenician workmen sent by Hiram, king of Tyre.

The temple is modest in size – (about 27 m [87 ft] long by 9 m [30 ft] wide) – and is not intended to hold a large congregation. It is seen as the house of God, where he promised he would dwell among his people. It has taken seven years to build, however, using a large task force of labourers. All heavy tool work was done away from the site, which was regarded as holy. The stone was cut and dressed at the quarry, probably underground to secure that the noise did not carry, and when brought to the site was worked on in silence.

Constructed from Lebanese cedar and local limestone, it has small windows set high in the roof. Its inner walls are clad with cedar planking, and gold covers almost every surface to create an unforgettable sight. But only a few selected priests will ever enter the Holy Place and fewer still will pass through the gold-plated olive-wood doors into the Most Holy Place.

The temple furnishings have been made by Hiram, a craftsman from Tyre, working under Solomon’s direction. They include bronze pillars, chains, pomegranate decorations, and lily-shaped trims. He made, among many other items, a huge bronze basin for washing, supported by 12 bulls, which stands in the courtyard.

The entry chamber is unfurnished. In the Holy Place there are golden tables holding the Bread of the Presence, five pairs of golden lampstands, and the altar of incense. In the Most Holy Place is the ark of the covenant. There are intricate decorations on walls and doors, using motifs from plant life and representations of angelic beings. Some seem to be purely decorative, with no obvious symbolic function.

As part of the opening ceremonies, Solomon brought valuable artefacts which David had consecrated to God and placed them in the Temple storage rooms.

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