The tabernacle was the elaborate tent in which God could dwell among his people as they

travelled towards Canaan, the Promised Land.

But later, once God's people reached Canaan, a permanent version of the tabernacle was

built.

The temple.

The greatest blessing of God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants is the reality

that God would be their God, and they would be His people.

To put it another way, and this is still true for us, more than any other blessing by

far the greatest blessing God gives us is Himself, His presence, the fact that He looks

at us with everlasting love and says, I will never leave you.

The temple was to be an enduring representation of the fact that God really was their God,

and they really were His people.

As they worshipped in the temple courts, the Israelites were surrounded by very tangible,

very physical signs that they truly were His people worshipping as it were in His house.

We have thought on your steadfast love of God in the midst of your temple, Psalm 48.

First Kings chapter 6 verse 1 says that the construction of the temple began on Mount

Mariah in Jerusalem in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel.

480 years after the people of Israel were delivered by God from their slavery in Egypt.

So that means construction began in the spring of 967 on 966 BC, and it was completed seven

years later.

The temple itself, not including the surrounding chambers on three sides, was 90 feet long,

30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

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