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the most holy place

2 Chronicles 3:1-17

2 Chronicles 3:1 Solomon began to build Yahveh’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2 Chronicles 3:2 He began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
2 Chronicles 3:3 These are Solomon’s foundations for building God’s temple: The length in cubits, according to the old standard was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.
2 Chronicles 3:4 The portico, which was across the front extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits wide; its height was twenty cubits ; he overlaid its inner surface with pure gold.
2 Chronicles 3:5 The larger room he paneled with cypress wood, overlaid with fine gold, and decorated with palm trees and chains.
2 Chronicles 3:6 He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was the gold of Parvaim.
2 Chronicles 3:7 He overlaid the temple — the beams, the thresholds, its walls, and doors — with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
2 Chronicles 3:8 Then he made the most holy place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple, twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold.
2 Chronicles 3:9 The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold, and he overlaid the ceiling with gold.
2 Chronicles 3:10 He made two cherubim of sculptured work, for the most holy place, and he overlaid them with gold.
2 Chronicles 3:11 The overall length of the wings of the cherubim was twenty cubits: the wing of one was five cubits, touching the wall of the room; its other wing was five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub.
2 Chronicles 3:12 The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, touching the wall of the room; its other wing was five cubits, reaching the wing of the other cherub.
2 Chronicles 3:13 The wingspan of these cherubim was twenty cubits. They stood on their feet and faced the larger room.
2 Chronicles 3:14 He made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarn, and fine linen, and he wove cherubim into it.
2 Chronicles 3:15 In front of the temple he made two pillars, each thirty-five cubits high. The capital on top of each was five cubits high.
2 Chronicles 3:16 He had made chainwork in the inner sanctuary and also put it on top of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork.
2 Chronicles 3:17 Then he set up the pillars in front of the sanctuary, one on the right and one on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.

the most holy place

Some of the things described in this chapter would have been evident for every Israelite visiting the temple area: the massive size of the temple area, the intricately detailed workmanship. But some of the items would never be seen by the general public. Only in the historical records and in the imagination would these beautiful things be appreciated. The cost and beauty of these gifts were made to be appreciated by an audience of one.

You and I can have a Most Holy Place in our lives. We can spend precious time alone with the LORD, not for any other reason but to adore him. No one else need know about these times. They are for an audience of one.

LORD, thank you for making our private lives eternally significant.