May 13-14

Solomon builds the temple. These are actually pictures of a model of the Second Temple which built after the Isrealites came out of captivity in Babylon and then it was enlarged and improved upon by King Herod to impress/placate the Jewish people. But it was built very much in the pattern of what Solomon's temple would have been like and it gives you an idea what they mean when they talk about the porticos around the temple.

Anyone who has ever seen a picture of the skyline of Jerusalem knows that the most impressive and recognizable building/feature is the Dome of Rock. This was certainly not always the case. This temple was 3 times taller than the Dome and was where you see the gold color- that was REAL gold, not some fake alloys like used in the Dome.

I have a scrapbooking/photo editing ambition to use a photo of the skyline of Israel and superimpose the temple on it. I have a book that does just that and it is quite impressive. I suppose I could scan it, but that would no doubt be a copywrite violation. But trust me, it  makes that Dome look like nothing.

The passage we read talks about God writing his name on Jerusalem. The Jewish people believe that this is literally what he did- the 3 valleys that surround the Temple Mount area, they say, form the Hewbrew letter shin. ש This stands for the one of God's names- Shaddai (as in El Shaddai).

I was also fascinated by how it kept talking about building a temple for the Name. I am going to investigate this a little further when I get time. My instinct is that this is "I am", but I'll see what I come up with. Later in the passage, it talks about the name of God without capitalizing the Name. Perhaps this is also "Yaweh" the sacred name of God. But that is usually written all caps LORD. My guess is going to still be "I Am" because that directly relates to Jesus as He said, before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58). The modern reader can skim the NT and say "Jesus never claimed to be God" but this and many other statements left NO doubt in His Jewish audiences mind what He was claiming.