2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 3: Building on Mount Moriah

Begin in prayer

Before we read where Solomon built the house of the LORD, let us pray. Ask God to show us that He meets His people in the place He has appointed, and to lead us to Christ.

Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house, the place where your glory dwells.

Psalm 26:8

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You met David on Mount Moriah and that Solomon built Your house there. Help us to see Jesus. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Solomon begins to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. This is the place where the LORD had appeared to David his father, and where David had made ready. Solomon starts in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. The main room is sixty cubits long and twenty wide, with a porch in front, and its walls are covered in gold. In the most holy place he sets two carved cherubim with spread wings. He makes a veil of blue, purple, crimson and fine linen. In front of the house he sets up two tall pillars and names them Jachin and Boaz.

As you read 2 Chronicles 3, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD appeared to David on Mount Moriah, and Solomon built His house in that place.

Chronicles tells where the temple stood before it tells how big it was (verse 1). The place was Mount Moriah, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where the LORD had appeared to David (verse 1). A threshing floor was a flat, open place where grain was beaten out. David had bought it and built an altar there (1 Chronicles 21 verses 18 to 26). So Solomon built where the LORD had already met David, and David had prepared the place (verse 1). A cubit was about a man's forearm in length, and the gold and carvings made the house beautiful (verses 3 to 13). In the most holy place stood two cherubim, which were winged figures, and a veil hung before it (verses 10 and 14). The veil kept the most holy place apart, and only the high priest went in (Leviticus 16 verse 2). This shows a holy God who chooses where He meets His people, and who is not reached by guessing.

How does 2 Chronicles 3 show us that the LORD appeared to David on Mount Moriah, and that Solomon built His house in that place?

The LORD had appeared to David on Mount Moriah.

Solomon began to build the LORD's house on Mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared to David (verse 1). It was the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, a place that David had prepared (verse 1). Solomon began in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign (verse 2).

Solomon covered the house with gold and carved cherubim.

He covered the porch, the large room, the walls and the doors with gold (verses 4 to 7). In the most holy place two cherubim stood with their wings spread out twenty cubits in all (verses 10 to 13). Their faces were toward the house (verse 13). The text names no use for the gold except the beauty of the LORD's house (verse 6).

The veil in the LORD's house points to Jesus' death.

Solomon made the veil of blue, purple, crimson and fine linen, with cherubim on it (verse 14). It hung between the holy place and the most holy place (Exodus 26 verse 33). When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom (Matthew 27 verse 51). Hebrews says Jesus opened a new and living way through the veil, His flesh (Hebrews 10 verses 19 and 20).

Two tall pillars stood before the house.

Solomon set up two pillars in front of the house, one on the right and one on the left (verse 17). He named them Jachin and Boaz (verse 17). They stood thirty-five cubits high, and each had a capital five cubits tall (verse 15). The text gives only the names, so we will not guess what they mean.

Memorise

on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

2 Chronicles 3:1

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what stands between me and a holy God, and will I trust Jesus?

Solomon made a veil of blue, purple, crimson and fine linen, with cherubim on it (verse 14). When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom (Matthew 27 verse 51).

Sin stood between God and His people, and no gold or building could remove it. At the cross Jesus died for His people and carried their sin, and fully paid the price. He rose alive from the grave, and He brings His people to God.

So come to Him. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. Everyone who trusts Him will be forgiven, and He will bring that person to God.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the LORD met David on Mount Moriah, and that Jesus brought His people to God. Parents, please explain that the veil kept people out of the most holy place, and that it was torn when Jesus died. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He met His people at Mount Moriah, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

We have thought about your loving kindness, God, in the middle of your temple.

Psalm 48:9

Father, thank You that You met David at Mount Moriah and that Your house was built there. Thank You that Jesus opened the way to You by His death. Lead each of us to leave our sin and trust Him, and help us to love Your house. Amen.