LESSON TWENTY
The Temple Built by Solomon
Israel has come a long way since its slavery in Egypt. The kingdom looks more and more like Eden. Like Adam and Eve, they are God’s people in God’s land and are blessed with God’s presence and good commands. By partially reestablishing for Israel the lost blessings of Eden, God creates a picture of the true kingdom he will one day restore to our world.
Solomon’s rule is the high point for Israel’s kingdom in the Old Testament. He builds a temple in Jerusalem as the symbolic place of God’s presence. It is filled with echoes of Eden: open flowers, lampstands shaped like trees, the presence of God with his people. This temple, like Eden, is where heaven and earth meet.
The temple is a symbol-filled model that reminds us of Eden and looks forward to a new creation, a new and better Eden, where God will dwell with his people in paradise.
But this is only a partial and largely symbolic restoration of God’s kingdom. The temple is a symbol-filled model that reminds us of Eden and looks forward to a new creation, a new and better Eden, where God will dwell with his people in paradise.