Hiram picked and gifted by God

 

May 1, 2021

 

1 Kings 7:23-37

“Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.   Under its brim were gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast.   It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.  Its thickness was a handbreadth,^[h] and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

He also made the ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, 

and three cubits high.   This was the construction of the stands: they had panels, and the panels were set in the frames,  and on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.   Moreover, each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.   Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, as a pedestal is made, a cubit and a half deep. At its opening there were carvings, and its panels were square, not round.   And the four wheels were underneath the panels. The axles of the wheels were of one piece with the stands, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.  The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.   There were four supports at the four corners of each stand. The supports were of one piece with the stands.   And on the top of the stand, there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the stand, its stays and its panels were of one piece with it.  And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.   After this manner, he made the ten stands. All of them were cast alike, of the same measure and the same form.”

 

One must wonder if Hiram's dad told him what my dad told me, no shortcut, any job worth doing is worth doing right.  As you read this account of the furnishing of the temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians, much of Hiram's work was either destroyed or carried off to the King of Babylon.  One has to wonder how long it took to destroy the Temple and how much time it took to build it back. 

 

The lesson is to tear down work, it does not take long, but to restore it can take a long time.  Sin never builds, the game plan of sin is to steal, kill and destroy.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice