“For he built the House of the L’vanon Forest 175 feet long, eighty-seven-and-a-half feet wide and fifty-two-and-a-half feet high, on four rows of cedar posts, with cedar beams on the posts.” – 1 Kings 7:2
The colossal palace complex we were discussing yesterday consisted of four structures.
The first one described in verse 2 was called the “House of the Forest of Lebanon.”
Now, here’s where scholarly homies get tripped up.
They think this is referring to some summer house that Solomon constructed up north in the country of Lebanon.
However, a quick look at other passages will reveal that ain’t the case at all.
It was just another section of Solomon’s massive palace compound.
In fact, it became so well-known that over time it just came to be called “Lebanon.”
I know talk is cheap.
So lemme prove it to you.
Check out these verses from the Book of Isaiah:
“The Lord, the Lord Almighty, will carry out
the destruction decreed upon the whole land.
Therefore this is what the Lord,
the Lord Almighty, says:
“My people who live in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
who beat you with a rod
and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.
Very soon my anger against you will end
and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.”
The Lord Almighty will lash them with a whip,
as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb;
and he will raise his staff over the waters,
as he did in Egypt.
In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,
their yoke from your neck;
the yoke will be broken
because you have grown so fat.[a]
They enter Aiath;
they pass through Migron;
they store supplies at Mikmash.
They go over the pass, and say,
“We will camp overnight at Geba.”
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul flees.
Cry out, Daughter Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Poor Anathoth!
Madmenah is in flight;
the people of Gebim take cover.
This day they will halt at Nob;
they will shake their fist
at the mount of Daughter Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.
See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
will lop off the boughs with great power.
The lofty trees will be felled,
the tall ones will be brought low.
He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;
Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.“
So, do you see the last verse of this passage where it says…
“He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;
Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.“
Now, the reason I provided all the verses before for context is that I just knew there were gonna be some homies out there…
And maybe you’re one of them…
Who would assert that…
“Hey man, this ain’t talking about Solomon’s palace.
This is referring to Lebanon, the nation, man!”
My pushback response is to go back and take a good look at the previous verses leading up to the part where it says “Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.”
Ask yourself this question.
Where does the passage say all of this action is taking place?
It says it’s taking place in “the land,” homies!
And what is the land called?
It’s called Zion.
Then, the passage proceeds to list a bunch of cities.
And you wanna know where every one of the cities listed is located, homie?
In the land of Israel, man!
This case is so closed, it’s ridiculous.
The passage then gets quite vivid in describing how all of the high and proud wealthy aristocrats and leaders will be cut down.
And then speaks of the Lebanon being toppled like Humpty-Dumpty on his worst day.
Again, I’m telling you that Lebanon here is metaphorically referring to a section of Solomon’s palace.
Solomon’s “Lebanon” was world-famous and a historical landmark the Hebrews were mighty proud of.
Israel’s national pride was well-deserved in this case.
The Forest of Lebanon was an amazing, if not miraculous, work of construction.
Picture walking into a building that’s basically a forest indoors.
Cedar beams and posts are everywhere you look.
All that cedar came from Lebanon, so calling it the House of the Forest of Lebanon made sense.
And this place was massive.
We’re talking 175 feet long, 88 feet wide.
So about 15,400 square feet.
In comparison, the Temple was only around 3,700 square feet.
That’s 4 times bigger.
Here’s what’s really impressive, though.
It was built entirely out of wood.
No stones or bricks were used.
That’s why nobody’s ever dug it up.
On top of that, unlike stones which were cheap and abundant…
Wood was rare and expensive.
So this building wasn’t just impressive.
Solomon was flexing his greatness to the entire ancient world.
Building a massive building out of wood from wall to wall and floor to ceiling was so far beyond rich that folks who heard about it probably thought it was some fictional Peter Pan story or something.
This was the ancient world equivalent of building a skyscraper out of solid gold.
Nobody did that.
Let me rephrase.
Nobody even thought about doing that.
Until Solomon did.
It was like the homie showed up to school in a Lamborghini.
So what takeaway can we extract from this?
Here’s what I want you to chew on.
Solomon built the most insane structure the ancient world had ever seen.
And God blessed him with the resources to do it.
But the very same landmark that made Israel so proud…
The thing they bragged about to every nation around them…
Isaiah later uses as a symbol of what gets chopped down when God decides it’s time to humble the proud.
Are you feeling me here?
There ain’t nothing wrong with being blessed.
God loves showering us with His blessings.
But there’s a razor-thin line between being grateful for God’s blessing…
And being proud of the blessing itself.
Israel crossed that line.
And God noticed.
So ask yourself this.
What’s your Lebanon?
What’s that thing in your life that started out as a gift from God…
But somewhere along the way became the thing you started flexing on people with?
Because if Solomon’s world-famous, jaw-dropping, nobody-ever-did-this palace can end up as Isaiah’s metaphor for pride getting cut down…
Trust me, man.
So can yours.
Ya feel me?
Done.
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