GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 3:1-2
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3:1 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, at the place prepared by David. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
In verse 2, our author gives the month and year of the beginning of the construction on the temple. It was the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the second month. 1 Kings 6:1 tells us that this was also the 480th year since the Israelites “had come out of Egypt.” Solomon reigned from 970-930 BC. The fourth year would have been the spring of 966, and so it is this detail that provides an important benchmark for Old Testament chronology. It means that the exodus took place 480 years before 966 BC, which is 1446 BC. We find no reason to be skeptical of this date. This is what the Holy Spirit wants us to know by using our sanctified judgment and the details he has given to us.
Now our author moves the story along to the actual building of the temple. His pattern is going to be to touch on the more important events in each king’s reign, but with special attention given to the temple, if possible, with each successive monarch. Since the account moves along right up to the order given by Cyrus the Great to allow the Israelites to rebuild the destroyed temple (36:23), it is clear that the Holy Spirit wanted to build up the confidence of the returning exiles in their work, to resume worship as it was commanded through Moses, until the arrival of the Messiah. Here another aspect of the location is brought out by our author, something we would not know about if it weren’t for this one verse.
He takes us back to an event early in Genesis. With a single word, the name “Moriah,” he recalls for us the account of Abraham tested by God, who commanded Israel’s grandfather to offer Israel’s father as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:2). Abraham showed that he was willing to do this, and through his words to his servants, whom he left behind, he confessed his faith in the resurrection of the body. He said, “The boy and I will go and worship, and then we will come back to you.” The man was not ignorant of the command; he was not surprised by the Lord, but had been given the command to sacrifice his son ahead of time. He carried the knife and the fire himself to slaughter and burn his son’s body. But the Lord stopped him and provided a substitute. After Abraham and Isaac caught a ram that was in a nearby thicket, the mountain received a new name. The smoke from the sacrificed animal ascended to God, and the name “On this mountain of the LORD it will be provided” became the refrain, the prophecy that would be carried by Mount Moriah until a spring day in 30 AD, when it was finally and completely fulfilled for all mankind on the cross of Jesus Christ.
The word “Moriah” has more than one meaning associated with it. Some think it means “The LORD is my myrrh,” which fits the Hebrew letters perfectly, but which would only refer to the outward act of worship. But it might be derived either from the Hebrew word “teach” or another, similar word, “fear.” Either “The LORD who teaches” or “The LORD who is feared” would be an appropriate name for the place, and we must acknowledge that the name might have a double meaning, as some excellent names do. If the mere mention of the mountain would recall the story of Abraham, Isaac, and the substitute, then the name and the prophetic refrain served an excellent purpose. It meant that everything that took place there was a reminder that one day, the Lord would provide a substitute for all sin.
The worshipers at Solomon’s temple would be acutely aware that their constant and never ending cavalcade of animals going up to the altar in order to go up in smoke did not fulfill the prophecy. A substitute of blood that never seemed to end? This was not a substitute; it was a sign, a symbol, and a stopgap. As long as sin continued, the blood would continue to flow. The animals would continue to die. The priests would continue their work day upon day, year upon year, until the one sacrifice would be made that ended all the others. “The gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:9,11-12).
“It must be noted,” writes Augustine, “that Abraham had two promises: First, that his seed was going to possess the land of Canaan; but the other and far more excellent one was about his spiritual seed through which he was the father not of one nation of Israel but of all nations which would follow in the footsteps of his faith” (City of God XVI:16). It was Jesus Christ who made the one sacrifice that Abraham had been promised. He was the substitute offered on Mount Moriah in place of all mankind: for all sins, for all people, for all time.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 3:1-2 Moriah