Episode 708 Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 5:1-18 & 8:1-13)

This week we’re reading the story of Solomon building the Jerusalem temple as told in 1 Kings 5:1-18 and 8:1-13. We discuss the political alliance between Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre that makes building the temple possible, and wonder whether state-sponsored religion always exploits the poor laborers to satisfy the aims of the wealthy and powerful. We ponder whether and to what degree God resides inside of human religious structures, whether the temple of Solomon or the religious denominations of our own day. And we notice that even inside the stable structure of the temple, Solomon places the tent of the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant with its poles still attached, making us ponder what essential elements of our own traditions may need to be carried out of the reified structures of static religion and given new life beyond the status quo.