I KINGS 6:11
11 The word of the Lord came to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
I was listening to someone tell me about their vacation. So Many details! I want to say-Reader’s Digest Version please! Know anyone like that? They give you every last detail of an event and you start dozing off. They don’t even notice! I must say that even in my Bible reading I have encountered very detailed writers. When they give you every detail about building the temple and you feel like you could build it yourself, I have to wonder, why did our God put in so much detail. Or the way God describes the exact way the priests need to handle the animals for the sacrifice. Or the description of many of the patriarch’s attire, food, dwellings or other things that will make no difference to us in a modern world. Or will it? We know He doesn’t ever put say something that He feels is unimportant, so there must be a reason! Of course there is!
It differs in each circumstance. It is our responsibility, as the reader to find out why God gives us so many details in that particular description. I often used to skim over the details of the descriptions that I felt really had no impact on me. Then I read the description thoroughly for the creativity of building the ark. Every detail had a place on the ark, and a purpose for being there. After investigating further I realized I was missing an entire aspect of the nature of God by ‘skimming’ over the details. Now, with a fresh perspective and enthusiasm for the details, I read every word. I envision in my minds eye the actual construction of these magnificent masterpieces. I keep in mind that these people had no modern tools, factories or even knowledge of how some of the raw products would respond to their work with them. How did they know that by putting gold flecks into a fire would come melt into a liquid that could be molded into something else? Only through the inspiration of God himself giving His patterns and knowledge.
Of course there is a purpose to the detail He had written down in His magnificent Word, the Bible. Our job is to ask Holy Spirit to let us in on His frame of mind and what He wants us to learn from the descriptions.
The next time you run across a detailed description in your Bible reading, don’t jump over it! Follow every step of the details weather it’s the list of generations from Adam to Jesus, or it’s it instructions on how to build the Temple. Ask the Lord why all those details were necessary for us to read thousands of years later. I am curious to know what He told you. I got my answer!
By the way, two places that have used those details to make replicas of items in the Bible are; The Reproduction of the Tabernacle, located at the Mennonite Life Visitors Center. This is a full-size reproduction of Moses Tabernacle in the Wilderness. mennonitelife.org
The Ark Encounter, a 5 story museum replica of the Biblical Noah’s Ark.a full size ark you can walk through as the experience comes to life! Located in northern Kentucky. arkencounter.com
Both are worth the trip!
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