“Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers, whom my father David provided.


2 Chronicles 2:5-7, 11-12

5 “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? 7 “Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers, whom my father David provided.
11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:
“Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.”
12 And Hiram added:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

Today’s title is “Building Together Worshipping Together”

God uses certain people and nations for His kingdom during certain periods. But God’s eyes are always on the whole world because He created the whole world. There is no nation and people that have been made apart from Him. No wonder Jesus declared, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son”. He chose Abraham and his descendants as the vessel of His blessings and salvation for the world. God has established a special relationship with Israel for this purpose. But God’s love and care were never confined to Israel. No nations were out of His divine care and love. We see such global care of care in many places of the Bible. We saw God did not forget the nation of Nineveh who forget God completely and was determined to send Jonah to save them. We also see God’s prophecies regarding many nations such as Egypt and Babylon through the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah chapters 13-23). Occasionally, we also see some people and nations outside Israel express surprisingly biblical faith in God. We have no idea of how they got to have such knowledge of God outside Israel. Mostly, they might have heard about God through the contacts with Israelites. We see a good example of such godly gentiles in today’s passage. Hiram king of Tyre praises God as the God of Israel who has made heaven and earth. From his intimate relationship with David, we can reasonably assume that David had told him about His God. Hiram might have even read some of David’s psalms. So he is gladly consenting to the request of Solomon to send skilled workers of jewels and steels as well as fabrics for the temple. It seemed that the workers of Hiram played a very essential role in building the temple. The temple was built not only through the collaboration of different generations but also through the cooperation of multiple nations. No wonder when Solomon dedicated the temple, he clearly states that this temple is for them too as much as it is for Israelites (2 Chronicles 6:32-33). So why are we happy about David and Solomon building the temple? We are happy because it is the temple that all nations and all people worship God who had made heaven and earth together. We are happy because it is the shadow of Jesus the living temple through whom the whole world, Jews and Gentiles, will be saved.