So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.
Here the temple's outer shell is complete: Solomon roofs the building and lines it with cedar, and the record adds that he finished it. Two details matter — the word "finished," and the choice of cedar for every surface the eye would meet.
A work carried through to completion
The word "finished" is the point. One writer sets it against builders who start without counting the cost.
Leslie M. GrantThough they were long in building, both the temple and the house of Solomon were eventually finished. The work was not in vain, as is sometimes the case with those who have not first counted the cost, but what God builds is always perfectly finished.
No builder can promise a finish without the materials in hand. Another writer applies that to the stones, and to God's foreknowledge of them.
C. StanleyYes, he would be a foolish builder who began to build and did not know whether he had materials to finish. And what a blessing to remember that God is the great master builder. He foreknew every stone, chosen and precious, that is built and shall be built in the heavenly temple.
The roof of beams and boards
The Hebrew word behind "beams" points to the shape of the roof. One writer then compares that roof with the tabernacle — the tent that housed God's presence in the wilderness. (Older translations render the verse "covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.")
The TempleThese vault-beams, as the Hebrew word informs us (gebim, from gab, an arch), were semi-circular, so forming a dome for the covering. The vault-beams and the ceiling boards were of cedar, both for the Holy and Most Holy house... These domed roofs, covered with cedar and cypress, match the heavenly character of the Temple. They stand in contrast with the acacia wood and flat badger-skin covering of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle in the Wilderness pictures the Church of God on earth. The Temple pictures the redeemed, called with a heavenly calling and perfected in heavenly glory.
Cedar, not acacia
The tabernacle was framed with acacia, a desert wood. One writer reads the change of material as a move from the desert to the Father's house.
Leslie M. GrantThe temple inside was panelled with beams and boards of cedar. The tabernacle was built of acacia boards (Ex. 26:15). Acacia is a hard, desert wood and speaks of humanity in temporary circumstances of desert experience. Those boards picture believers as they are seen even now "in Christ," for they were covered with gold. But the cedar of the temple is an unusually enduring wood. It speaks of believers in glory, in the Father's house. They too are clothed with gold, the symbol of divine glory, and they reflect the beauty of Christ for eternity, not only on earth.
The same source explains what it is about cedar that carries this meaning:
The TempleCedar, because it does not decay, is an emblem of the incorruptible resurrection body. A piece of worm-eaten cedar was never seen. The sap of the cedar is death to the worm; so that, instead of the worm destroying the cedar, the cedar destroys the worm.
Nothing left uncovered
The cedar did not stop at the ceiling. One writer follows it down to the floor.
H. L. RossierThe innermost sanctuary, as well as the holy place, was covered with cedar wood. In the Word cedar represents majesty and height, durability and firmness. No part of the walls within was left uncovered. Nowhere did the stone appear. But the cedar wood itself, and even the planks of cypress of which the floor was made, were entirely covered with gold. In the Word gold always represents divine righteousness and glory... Man cannot dwell with God except according to divine righteousness.
The stones had no say in any of it — and that is the lesson one writer presses home:
C. StanleyYou observe all was done to these stones. Not one bit did they do. They were hewn, they were drawn out, they were built into the temple, they were covered with cedar. The pure gold was put upon them. It is so with the poor sinner. Salvation from beginning to end is all of God.
What the finished house pointed to
The house Solomon completed was not an end in itself.
W. W. FeredayThe days of Solomon were unique in the history of Israel and of the world; and the house that he built to the name of Jehovah was also unique. It was all a bright foreshadowing of days of glory and blessing yet to be brought in by the Lord Jesus.
Summary
- Finished. What God builds is always perfectly finished. He never starts a house without the material to finish it.
- Foreknown. God knew every stone of the heavenly temple, chosen and precious, before a single one was laid.
- Cedar. The desert acacia of the tabernacle gives way to cedar. Cedar's sap kills the worm instead of feeding it — a picture of what cannot decay.
- Covered. Cedar over every wall, gold over the cedar, no bare stone in sight. No one dwells with God except on the ground of divine righteousness.
- All of God. The stones were hewn, moved, built in, covered with cedar and gilded — they did nothing. Salvation is all of God, from first to last.