The Beautiful Temple for God

When David was king, he really wanted to build a beautiful temple—a special house for God. But God said, 'You've been a soldier and fought many wars. Your son Solomon will build my temple instead.' So when Solomon became king, he started the biggest building project ever! Solomon asked King Hiram from a nearby country to send cedar trees from Lebanon—the best, strongest, most beautiful wood in the world. He hired 30,000 men to cut trees, 70,000 men to carry supplies, and 80,000 men to cut huge stones from the mountains. The stones were cut so perfectly at the quarry that when workers put them together at the temple site, they didn't even need hammers! The temple was quiet as it went up, piece by piece. It took seven years to build. The temple was absolutely magnificent! It was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet tall. Inside, everything was covered with pure gold—the walls, the ceiling, even the floor! Artists carved pictures of angels, palm trees, and flowers into the wood, then covered it all with gold. It sparkled and shone! The most special room was the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant would go—the golden box that held the Ten Commandments. When everything was finally finished, Solomon invited all the people of Israel to come for a huge celebration. The priests carefully carried the ark into the Holy of Holies. Then something amazing happened! A cloud filled the whole temple—it was the glory of God! The cloud was so thick and bright that the priests had to stop what they were doing and step back. God's presence was so powerful! Solomon prayed a beautiful prayer and said, 'Not even the biggest heaven can contain you, God, but please be specially present in this temple.' God was pleased with Solomon's temple. It became the most important place in all of Israel!