Lesson 6: God’s Presence Removed

Getting started: read Solomon’s prayer of dedication following the building of the Temple (1Kings 8.22-53). What stands out to you in Solomon’s words?

“For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”” (Exodus 33:16, ESV)

With their worship of the golden calf (Exodus 32) Israel almost forfeited their special status as God’s special people; their sin almost resulted in God removing His presence from their midst (Exodus 33.3). However, with the intercession of Moses, God relented and promised to go with the people. The tabernacle, where He would dwell among the people (Exodus 25.8) was constructed and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40.34). However, it is significant to note that immediately following God relenting from His threat to depart from the people, He commanded Moses to make a second set of stone tablets (Exodus 34.1) as He renewed His covenant with the people (Exodus 34.27). But that covenant would still require the people to “observe what I command you this day” (Exodus 34.11). God’s presence among His people would be contingent on their faithfulness.

Israel In The Days Of The Tabernacle

Space will not allow for a full accounting of Israel’s history during the days of the tabernacle, however a couple of episodes will illustrate how the people failed to grasp the blessing of having God’s presence dwell among them. The first occurred shortly after the tabernacle was erected and the people left Mt. Sinai. The Lord instructed Moses to “send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel” (Numbers 13.1). Twelve spies were sent, but ten returned with the report that “we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” (Numbers 13.31). Only Joshua and Caleb said that they could take the land; they alone believed that they could defeat the Canaanites because “their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us” (Numbers 14.9). Alas, the people refused to trust in the Lord and as a consequence that generation was doomed to die in the wilderness (Numbers 14.26-30). They perished, even though God’s presence resided in the tabernacle.

Fast forward to the days of the Judges. The Lord had fulfilled His promise by giving the land to the people (Joshua 21.43), yet subsequent generations did not know Him (Judges 2.10) even though the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh (Joshua 18.1). In 1Samuel 4 we read how the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines at Aphek. The people didn’t understand why “the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines” so they devised a solution: “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies” (1Samuel 4.3). Not only was Israel defeated again, but the ark was captured by the Philistines (1Samuel 4.11). God’s presence was of no benefit to the people because they were not being faithful to His covenant!

The Temple

The ark would return to Israel and reside at Kiriath-jearim until the days of David (1Samuel 7.2; 1Chronicles 13.5). Once the Lord confirmed him in his kingdom, David brought the ark to his new capital, Jerusalem (2Samuel 6). However, while king David desired to build a house for God, the Lord declared that it would be his son who would “build a house for my name” (2Samuel 7.13). David would accumulate supplies for the construction of the temple and charge his son Solomon to “build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel” (1Chronicles 22.6). Solomon was faithful to the charge and the construction of the temple is detailed in 1Kings 5-6. No expense was spared in its construction and to consecrate God’s new dwelling place, and after the ark was placed in the inner sanctuary, “a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1Kings 8.10-11).

Solomon’s prayer of dedication recorded in 1Kings 8.22-53 shows that he understood the significance of God’s presence with the people. He did not presume that God could be contained by such a structure (vs. 27) and recognized that God’s presence among the people was essential to their future blessings and well-being. Significantly, Solomon reminded the people that for the Lord to “maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel,” (vs. 59) the people must have hearts “wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in His statutes and keeping His commandments, as at this day,” (vs. 61).

However, there are also indications in the text that Solomon’s temple was NOT the true fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that a son of David would build a house for His name. Consider:

• While the tabernacle was constructed from the free will offerings of the people (Exodus 25.1) and by a Spirit filled artisan (Exodus 31.2-4), the materials for Solomon’s temple were procured from a foreign king (1Kings 5.1-11) and constructed in part with forced labor (1Kings 5.13-16).
• In 1Kings 6.2 we read the dimensions of the temple (approximately 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high). Now note how Solomon’s house was even bigger (1Kings 7.2) measuring 150 feet in length, 75 feet in width and 45 feet in height!
• Finally, it may be significant that Solomon’s prayer was that when the people sinned and prayed toward the temple, the Lord would “listen in heaven” (1Kings 8.28-30), whereas the tabernacle was to be the place where God dwelt among His people (Exodus 25.8).

God’s Presence Removed

Recall Solomon’s final exhortation to the people as the Temple was dedicated: “Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”” (1 Kings 8:61, ESV) Tragically, Israel failed to keep Solomon’s charge, repeatedly violating the Lord’s covenant. 

• Solomon’s unfaithfulness to the covenant resulted in the dividing of the Kingdom after his death in ~931 B.C. (1Kings 11:9-13). 
• In 722 B.C. the Assyrian Empire removed the northern kingdom of Israel because God’s people “despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them,” (2Kings 17:15). 
• The southern kingdom of Judah, the kingdom still ruled by the Davidic line, would hang-on for 100 years longer, but ultimately God used the Babylonians to remove the majority from the land, destroying the capital of Jerusalem and the temple. As horrible as the punishment seems, it was just for the people “kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy” (2Chronicles. 36:16).

Ezekiel was God’s prophet to the Jews in captivity before Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. He was charged with speaking God’s word to a people who were rebellious (Ezekiel 2.3-5), a people who had misplaced confidence in the fact that the temple still stood in Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 7.4). However, Ezekiel had a stark message for the captives: the temple may exist, but its Glory was gone! Chapters 7-11 are significant in understanding God’s message to this stubborn people:

• Their covenant breaking, continued wickedness, was denounced in chapter 7.
• Their rampant idolatry, in the temple no less, was cataloged and condemned in chapter 8.
• God’s vengeance on the city of Jerusalem is pictured in chapter 9.
• The Glory of the Lord departs the temple (Ezekiel 10.18-19) and then the city (Ezekiel 11.23).

God’s presence cannot be with a people who disregard His word, who violate His covenant. And as is seen in the captivity, when God’s presence is not with a people, the result is disaster!