The Book of 2 Chronicles

Word Study

"Moriah," Hebrew Moriyyah (מֹרִיָּה), often understood as "the LORD provides" or "the LORD is seen," from the same root as Abraham's Jehovah-jireh. The Chronicler is careful to name the exact spot: "Solomon began to build the house of the LORD... in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David... in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite." Every phrase carries weight. This is Mount Moriah, the very region where God told Abraham, "Get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there" (Genesis 22:2), where Abraham offered Isaac and God provided the ram, and where Abraham named the place "Jehovahjireh: as it is said... In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" (Genesis 22:14). It is also "the threshingfloor of Ornan," where the destroying angel had halted and David built an altar that turned away the plague (1 Chronicles 21). So the temple rose on ground doubly marked by sacrifice and mercy: where a son was offered and spared, and where wrath was stayed by an altar. It was here God "appeared", where He showed Himself gracious. On this holy hill of provision and mercy, the house of God is built. Nothing about the place is accidental; God chose the mountain of sacrifice to be the place of His dwelling and worship.

Explanation

Solomon began building the temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the very place where God had appeared to his father David, at the threshing floor of Ornan that David had bought and where he had built an altar. Solomon started in the fourth year of his reign, following the plans God had given, and the Chronicler records the temple's dimensions. By naming Mount Moriah and Ornan's threshing floor, the writer connects the temple to two earlier events on that same ground: Abraham's offering of Isaac and David's altar that stopped the plague. The house of God was built on a place long associated with sacrifice and God's merciful appearing.

Gospel Focus

The location of the temple preaches the gospel. Mount Moriah was where Abraham offered his only son and God provided a substitute, saying, "In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" (Genesis 22:14), a prophetic word that on this mountain God would provide. It was where David's altar turned away the destroying angel. And it was here that Solomon's temple, the center of sacrifice for atonement, was built. Each layer points to the same truth: sinners meet God only through sacrifice, and God Himself provides the offering. All of it reaches its fulfillment near this very region at Calvary, where God provided His own Son, the true and final sacrifice, the Lamb He supplied in place of us. What Abraham foreshadowed with Isaac and the ram, what David foreshadowed with his altar, what Solomon foreshadowed with the temple, God fulfilled in Jesus, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). "In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen", and it was seen, in Christ crucified and risen. The God who appeared in mercy on Moriah has appeared to us in His Son, and made the mountain of sacrifice the meeting place between God and man forever.

Word Study

"Jachin," Hebrew Yakhin (יָכִין), "he shall establish." Two features of the temple carry rich meaning. First, "the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon", the great curtain that shut off the most holy place, embroidered with cherubim like the guardians who barred the way to Eden's tree of life. The veil declared that the way into God's immediate presence was not yet open; sinful man could not simply walk in. Second, the two bronze pillars "before the house," named "Jachin" and "Boaz." Their names are a sentence of faith. The pillar on the right hand was Jachin, "he shall establish." Standing at the entrance, it proclaimed to all who came that it is God who establishes His house and His people. The temple, and the kingdom it represented, would stand not by human might but because God establishes.

"Boaz," Bo'az (בֹּעַז), understood as "in him is strength." The pillar on the left hand was Boaz, "in him is strength." It proclaimed to all who came that in Him alone is His people's strength, and that the house stood not by human might but because God is strength. These silent pillars preached the gospel of dependence: everything rests on the LORD who founds and upholds. The veil said "not yet"; the pillars said "He will establish, and in Him is strength."

Explanation

Solomon made the veil that separated the most holy place, woven of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen and decorated with cherubim. He also made two large bronze pillars to stand in front of the temple, topped with decorated capitals, chains, and pomegranates. He set them up before the entrance, one on the right and one on the left, and gave them names: the right-hand pillar Jachin, meaning "he will establish," and the left-hand pillar Boaz, meaning "in him is strength." The veil marked off God's holy presence, and the two named pillars stood as lasting witnesses to worshippers that God establishes His house and is the source of all its strength.

Gospel Focus

The veil and the pillars both point to Christ. The veil, embroidered with cherubim, guarded the most holy place and declared that "the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest" (Hebrews 9:8); sinners could not come near. But when Jesus died, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matthew 27:51), for by His flesh He opened "a new and living way... through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Hebrews 10:20). What the veil shut, Christ opened; the barrier is torn, and we may now "come boldly unto the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16). And the pillars, Jachin ("he shall establish") and Boaz ("in him is strength"), proclaim what is fully ours in Christ: God establishes His people, and in Him is our strength. "The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you" (2 Thessalonians 3:3); "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). To the overcomer Christ promises, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God" (Revelation 3:12). So the temple's entrance and its inmost veil together tell the whole gospel: the way to God, once barred, is opened by the torn flesh of Jesus, and all who enter stand established and strengthened not by themselves but by the God who is their foundation and their strength.