Solomon’s Temple was not as big as you think. We speak of the glory of Solomon’s Temple as though nothing else like it ever existed. In terms of gold-paneled walls, inlaid jewels, and precious stones, perhaps nothing else like it has existed.
But Solomon’s Temple was probably no bigger than your house.
The Tabernacle came first, a sort of holy tent for God to meet with His people in the wilderness. It was 1,800 square feet, bigger than my 3-bedroom cottage in the country, but smaller than most American houses (internet sources place the average home between 2,000 and 2,600 square feet). So the tabernacle was smaller than most American houses.
Next came Solomon’s Temple. In contrast to a tent, the temple was a building with a yard that wrapped around it. The combined footprint of the building and the yard or “outer courts” was only 7,200 square feet—again, a smaller footprint than most residential lots in the United States. Though not as impressive as Solomon’s Temple, Zerubbabel’s Temple—later expanded and re-named Herod’s Temple—was larger, with a total footprint of 135,00 square feet, or about three acres.
Finally, Ezekiel was shown a vision of the largest temple of all. Known as Ezekiel’s Temple, this edifice was never built and scholars are not sure what to make of the detailed vision stretching from chapters 40 through 44 of Ezekiel.[1] They can, however, calculate its size. Were it to be built, Ezekiel’s Temple would have a footprint of 562,500 square feet, or about 13 acres. (See Ezekiel 42:20.[1])
Why all this talk about temples?
By today’s standards, these buildings—the most important in the entire nation of Israel—were miniscule.
The Tabernacle would fit inside most houses. Solomon’s Temple would fit on your next-door neighbor’s lot. Herod’s Temple with all its courts was a little larger than a baseball field. And Ezekiel’s 13-acre temple? The entire thing could rest on the 14-acre roof of Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium.
That’s right, Mercedes-Benz stadium, home of the Passion Conference, dwarfs every temple in the Bible. In fact, the Halo, the ring-shaped video display at the roof, is almost ten times the square footage of Solomon’s Temple.[2] And God does not care. He is not in competition with American excess. Nor was He bothered by the impressive cathedrals of the European Renaissance, each one more impressive than any Old Testament temple.
God could have made the temples larger, if He had wanted to. Instead, we can only assume God finds the size of such things IRRELEVANT.
God is interested in our hearts, not the size of our houses, churches, temples, or bank accounts.
God is omnipresent—the universe cannot contain Him. The size of temples and churches is meaningless to One whose existence is infinite. God can inhabit a grain of rice as easily as He can inhabit our planet. To Him, both are infinitely small.
When Zerubbabel’s Temple was built, old people who remembered Solomon’s Temple from their childhoods were disappointed. But God rebuked them, telling them to cheer up–size does not matter.
“For who has despised the day of small things?” Zechariah 4:10.
Do you find yourself impressed with the so-called biggest and best (or newest or most expensive)? I can assure you that God is not impressed. “For the Lord looks on the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7.
In my life I have received overwhelming support and applause for some achievements that were not that impressive to me. Other times, I have accomplished things that I considered incredible, and those achievements received no attention whatsoever. How do I make sense of these things? I remember that God is looking at my heart. He is not impressed by size, by popularity, by likes, by followers.
If I could fill a stadium with 100,000 people and we spent four hours drinking beer and celebrating a sports rivalry, would that be an accomplishment in God’s eyes? By contrast, somewhere in the world right now a missionary, lonely and homesick, is giving his life away trying to win converts to Jesus, one soul at a time. No one will ever know his name. But God knows. And God will absolutely reward him.
Never despise the day of small things. The Lord looks on your heart, not the size or notoriety generated by your achievements.
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[1] Some assume Ezekiel’s Temple is a vision for a temple we will see in Heaven.
[1] There are discrepancies among translations. Eleven versions of Ezekiel 42:20 available on BibleGateway(dot)com indicate that Ezekiel’s Temple had outer walls of 875 feet square. Seven versions translate it as 500 cubits (750 feet square). However, one fact is inescapable: even the largest of these temples were small buildings by today’s standards.
[2] Have you ever wondered how tall the Tower of Babel was? I don’t know the answer, but I’m sure it would fit inside Atlanta’s famed football stadium—and every other stadium in America. And God is not challenged by that in any way. The problem at Babel was the rebellious motive of the builders, Genesis 11:1-9.
Household Words: 