1st Kings 9 and its parallel in 2nd Chronicles 8 read like reports on building projects, yet God is communicating something extremely important that would ring true over thousands of years to our day: Something that is a great blessing — Israel and the Temple — could become a curse, yet something cursed can become a blessing.
On the surface, Paul’s message about Sarah and Hagar in Gal. 4:22-23 doesn’t make sense. After all, we all know how a man and woman come together to make a child.
Sarah symbolizes Heaven, and Hagar symbolizes the Earth. In the last days, God will glorify Jerusalem.
Yeshua gave an important message in the Temple on the Festival of Dedication — Chanukah — and the scribes and Pharisees asked Yeshua at that time an important question about His being the Messiah. What did He tell them, and why didn’t He directly answer their question? The lessons of Chanukah applied then and to the coming Day of the LORD.
The mysterious covenant God enters while Abram sleeps is prefigures a time when Israel was captive in Egypt yet not consumed by it.
Like with the names of the descendants of Noach’s son Yafet, those of his son Ham are testimonies of what God has done, is doing and will do to prepare for the coming of God’s Kingdom. That kingdom clashed with the first human kingdom, that of Nimrod.
The descendants of Noach’s son Yafet (Japheth) show up prominently in Israel’s history, particularly regarding the period leading up to the Day of the LORD.
Like with the previous passages on the design of the temple and Solomon’s palace, the design of the two pillars at the entrance of the temple reveals the prophecy by Ezekiel’s lying on one side and the other. Solomon was prophesying the number of years the temple would stand before being destroyed.