BLOG

The filet mignon of the word, part 10, The temple

David was a man of war; Solomon was a man of peace. David was allowed to make preparations for the temple of God, and Solomon was allowed to build it.

First and foremost, this tells us that the temple of God must be built through peace, not through war. Those who currently plan to build the third temple in Jerusalem have done so through a state of war, including the plan to demolish the Al Aqsa mosque that now sits on the temple site. This plan is an attempt to break the prophetic type by reconstructing an Old Covenant Jewish temple.

The third temple is actually a spiritual temple described in Ephesians 2:19-22,

¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household, ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

The context shows that the dividing wall, which excluded non-Jews and women from the inner court of the temple has been abolished by Christ (Ephesians 2:14, 15). This wall created “enmity” between Jews and non-Jews, based on the belief that the Jews were “chosen” while the rest of humanity could not enjoy a close relationship with God. Enmity is a lack of peace between two groups of people.

Yet even Solomon’s temple was to be a house for all mankind to worship God. We see this in Solomon’s prayer of dedication (1 Kings 8:41-43). It is reinforced by the prophet in Isaiah 56:6-8, where he reminds us that “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” This did not prophesy of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem but of a universal temple unifying mankind under the New Covenant leadership of our high priest, Jesus Christ.

There are many who are deceived into thinking that peace comes at the point of a gun. If that were so, Solomon’s temple would have been built under those circumstances. But it was not. As history has unfolded in the 20^th century since 1948, it is abundantly clear that there is no peaceful way to build a physical temple in Jerusalem. And if it were possible, the dividing wall would be reconstructed with it, creating both enmity and inequality in violation of the prophetic type.

It is one thing for a Jew to disagree with this; it is quite another for a Christian to support such a plan. Jews have some modicum of excuse, having rejected Jesus as the Christ; Christians have no excuse at all, unless we excuse them on the grounds of spiritual blindness.

So let us trace the history of David’s purchase of the site of the temple.

Israel’s Time Debt

I have shown how God instructed Israel to begin keeping Sabbath years and Jubilees when they entered the land of Canaan (Leviticus 25:2). The nation as a whole failed to keep a single Sabbath year or Jubilee, although perhaps a few did so as individuals in their own capacity. Every sin is reckoned as a debt. Hence, every Sabbath year that Israel failed to observe was reckoned as a time debt. Every Jubilee year that Israel failed to observe was reckoned as another debt that the nation owed God—as mandated by the law.

In the 38^th year of David, Israel’s time debt reached 70 years. They had failed to keep 62 Sabbaths and 8 Jubilees. How do we know this? First, we read in 1 Kings 6:1,

¹ Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign … that he began to build the house of the Lord.

I showed in my book, Secrets of Time, that Israel left Egypt at Passover 2448 years from Adam. So Solomon began constructing the temple 480 years later in the year 2928. Three years earlier was the first year of Solomon (2925). Backing off two years brings us to the 38^th year of David (2923).

Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness under Moses from 2448-2488, so it was in the year 2488 that Israel became responsible to start keeping their Sabbath years. Their first rest year occurred 7 years later in the year 2495. If you count the rest years up until the 38^th year of David, we see that Israel failed to keep 62 rest years and 8 Jubilees. Their time debt then totaled 70 years.

God then foreclosed on Israel’s debt in order to balance the account. The story is told in 2 Samuel 24 and in 1 Chronicles 21.

2 Samuel 24:1 tells us,

¹ Now the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

1 Chronicles 21:1 words it differently,

¹ Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.

There is no contradiction here. It is plain that God allowed Satan to inspire David to number the people in order to judge Israel. The real question is why, because Scripture is silent about this. Yet it was at this point that Israel owed God 70 years. This was the occasion of God’s wrath, and it was for this reason that 70,000 Israelites died in the judgment. 1 Chronicles 21:14 says,

¹⁴ So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel; 70,000 men of Israel fell.

Essentially, a thousand Israelites died for each year that was owed on their time debt.

The Law of Census

Some have taught that the wrath of God was kindled because of David’s pride in conducting a census—as if it was a sin to conduct a census. But Moses conducted a census when Israel left Egypt (Numbers 1:2) and again 40 years later (Numbers 26:2). The wrath of God was not kindled either time.

When a census was taken, all the men of military age were supposed to redeem themselves with a half-shekel of silver to be donated to the temple (Exodus 30:12-14). This is often called the soldier’s ransom, but the biblical reason given is “so that there will be no plague among them when you number them” (Exodus 30:12). The ransom money was effective until the next time a census was taken.

As a result of David’s census, 70,000 men died in a plague (or pestilence). Hence, it is logical to assume that he failed to collect the half-shekel soldier’s ransom and that this was the cause of the plague. In order for God to bring judgment upon Israel, He caused David to number the people but blinded him in regard to the soldier’s ransom. This exposed Israel to the plague, allowing divine judgment to strike the nation on account of their time debt.

Purchasing the Temple Site

The census began on the east side of the Jordan (2 Samuel 24:5), proceeding north, then west, then south to Beersheba. In each location, the census was followed by divine judgment. The census concluded at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 24:8). David then saw the angel of the Lord hovering above Jerusalem, holding a great sword in his hand (2 Samuel 24:17), and he was led to purchase the threshing floor of Araunah for 50 shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24:24) and to build an altar there (2 Samuel 24:18-25).

“Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel” (2 Samuel 24:25). This later was the site of the temple in Jerusalem. He purchased it with a downpayment of 50 shekels of silver and later gave him the “full price” of 600 shekels of gold (1 Chronicles 21:24, 25). Fifty speaks of Pentecost and Jubilee. The number 600 is the numeric value of the Greek term cosmos, “the world, or world order,” which is fitting for a universal temple.

God Spares His Sons

Not every tribe was affected by this plague. This is because two tribes were not numbered in the census. We read in 1 Chronicles 21:5, 6,

⁵ Joab gave the number of the census of all the people to David. And all Israel were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword; and Judah was 470,000 men who drew the sword. ⁶ But he did not number Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab.

The tribe of Levi was dedicated to God as a substitute for all the firstborn sons among the other tribes of Israel. Numbers 3:12, 13 says,

¹² Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. ¹³ For all the firstborn are Mine…

Joab’s refusal to number the tribe of Levi protected them from the plague, for they remained under the protection of the soldier’s ransom in the last census in the plains of Moab under Moses. Joab also refused to number the tribe of Benjamin. We are given no reason for this, but it is clear that God arranged this.

Benjamin means “son of my right hand.” His name points to the Son of God seated at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Colossians 3:1) as well as to the sons of God in general.

Therefore, both Levi and Benjamin, in different ways, represent the sons of God. In the midst of divine judgment, God spares His sons, the overcomers.

We have now come to the year marking the 70^th Jubilee since Israel’s Jordan crossing. This suggests a connection between David’s census and the year 2024. I believe it is a time of divine judgment, in which the sons of God will again be spared. The purpose of this 70-Jubilee cycle is for the restoration of the 70 nations, represented by the sons of Noah in Genesis 10.

Hence, we cannot limit our thinking to divine judgment alone but to the purpose of judgment. The law of God is corrective in nature with a view of restoration, not ultimate destruction. The sons of God will be spared from this judgment, even if they see and feel the effects of the judgment being meted out upon the nations as a whole. We are, after all, God's temple. As individuals, we are living stones in that temple, awaiting that greater infilling of the glory of God that was manifested in Solomon's temple at the feast of Tabernacles.

And so, as Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:18,

¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words.