Awesome

The outside dimensions for the main building of Solomon’s temple measured about 90ft by 30ft wide and 45ft high – A good size building, but not staggering. I imagine it to be close in length and height to the Williams Chapel at Redwood Chapel, but about half as wide. Then I read this passage:

1 Kings 6:19-22
19 He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

I think there was some gold in Solomon’s temple. Its difficult to figure out what wasn’t overlaid with gold. I count 6 references to gold overlay in the space of 3 verses. The Williams Chapel or anything else doesn’t seem to compare anymore. But it goes on:

28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.
32 And on the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with beaten gold.
35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

In the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a pair of cherubim. These were not little doll-like statues - They stood 15 feet tall and had a wingspan of 15 feet. One wing of each cherub touched opposite walls and their other wings touched each other in the middle of the room. Oh, and they were covered in gold. If that’s not awe inspiring, I have no idea what is.