It was 480 years from when they left Egypt that the temple started to be built (v1). This was one of the main purposes of their deliverance and yet it took a very long time for this great place of worship to begin. I wonder are there projects that the Lord desires to be done today which are unnecessarily slow because of the actions or inactions of God’s people?

How the temple was built is described in great detail (v2-11, 14-38). This echoes the construction of the tabernacle and how God’s worship is not to be determined by man’s ideas but by God’s will.

The insuring that no tools would be used to create loud banging (v7) speaks of the reverence with which this task was carried out. There is a great lesson here of how God’s people should do the Lord’s work without unnecessary and distracting clamour.

Solomon is given this wonderful promise of the Lord being among His people to bless them (v11-13). The temple was the symbol of God’s presence and it was pointing forward to Jesus who today, is not just the symbol but the means of God dwelling among and in His people now.