1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
3 Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God.
The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4 And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty:and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
(It is similar to the way Noah was given by God the exact measurements and building instructions when God told Noah to build the ark ... Genesis 6 ... God said to Noah ... 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of:The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons 'wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
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II Chronicles 3
5 And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.
6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty:and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
7 He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.
8 And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits:and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.
(a cubit is approximately 18 inches ... 20 cubits is approximately 30 ft)
9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold.
(the nails were pure gold)
And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.
11 And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long:one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house:and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. 12 And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house:and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits:and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward.
14 And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.
15 Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high (approx. 52 feet high), and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.
16 And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.
17 And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.
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Length of time in building: I Kings 6:38 ... So was he seven years in building it.
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Comments by Joan Boney
Shortly after I was born again in 1975, in the night, I was transported into heaven as I slept ...
It is similar to the following description Paul gave in II Cor. 12 ...2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell:God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
When I was taken into heaven, I was "merged into the body of Jesus" (made one with The Word) ... God and Holy Spirit witnesses ... (I saw no image of God or Jesus or Holy Spirit but I knew they were there and I knew what was happening)
A few days later, the exact same thing happened to me again. While I was sleeping, I was transported into heaven and was merged into the body of Jesus, made one with the Word of God, with God and Holy Spirit witnessing.
A year or two later, I was visiting my aunt who was Church of Christ member. I heard from Holy Spirit to tell my aunt about this. I did not want to do that for Church of Christ people do not often relate to such experiences. But I did tell her. She listened and a type of "dreamy" look came on her face and she said, "Something like that happened to me once ... and it was all golden."
When writing about Solomon's construction of the house of God where even the nails were golden, I thought about what my aunt said about heaven being "all golden" ... and I knew heaven will be even more spectacular than Solomon's golden house which was more spectacular than anything we have ever seen ... heaven will be even more!