The
House of God
By Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
In this study I would like to examine the House of God and its meaning to the righteous. The first place we find the house of God is in:
Bereshit (Genesis) 28:16-22 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely HaShem is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven“. Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear So that I return safely to my father’s house, then HaShem will be my God And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
This next time is obviously different than the previous time, but, there must be something that causes them both to be called the house of God.
Shemot (Exodus) 23:17-19 “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign HaShem. “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. “The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning. “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of HaShem your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
The same two words are used here.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 23:17-18 No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of HaShem your God to pay any vow, because HaShem your God detests them both.
Yehoushua (Joshua) 9:22-23 Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We live a long way from you,’ while actually you live near us? You are now under a curse: You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”
Shoftim (Judges) 18:30-31 There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.
II Shmuel (Samuel) 7:22-27 “How great you are, O Sovereign HaShem! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel--the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O HaShem, have become their God. “And now, HaShem God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, So that your name will be great forever. Then men will say, ‘HaShem Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established before you. “O HaShem Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer.
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 6:48 Their fellow Levites were assigned to all the other duties of the tabernacle, the house of God.
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 9:9-11 The people from Benjamin, as listed in their genealogy, numbered 956. All these men were heads of their families. Of the priests: Jedaiah; Jehoiarib; Jakin; Azariah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the official in charge of the house of God;
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 9:13 The priests, who were heads of families, numbered 1,760. They were able men, responsible for ministering in the house of God.
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 9:22-27 Altogether, those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds numbered 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. The gatekeepers had been assigned to their positions of trust by David and Samuel the seer. They and their descendants were in charge of guarding the gates of the house of HaShem--the house called the Tent. The gatekeepers were on the four sides: east, west, north and south. Their brothers in their villages had to come from time to time and share their duties for seven-day periods. But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries in the house of God. They would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key for opening it each morning.
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 21:29-22:2 The tabernacle of HaShem, which Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of HaShem. Then David said, “The house of HaShem God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.” So David gave orders to assemble the aliens living in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God.
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 22:5-11 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for HaShem should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death. Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for HaShem, the God of Israel. David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of HaShem my God. But this word of HaShem came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ “Now, my son, HaShem be with you, and may you have success and build the house of HaShem your God, as he said you would.
The temple is the house of God!
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 23:28 The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the temple of HaShem: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God.
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 25:6 All these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of HaShem, with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king.
I Divre Hayamim (Chronicles) 26:19-20 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers who were descendants of Korah and Merari. Their fellow Levites were in charge of the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries for the dedicated things.
Ezra 1:5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites--everyone whose heart God had moved--prepared to go up and build the house of HaShem in Jerusalem.
Ezra 2:68 When they arrived at the house of HaShem in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site.
Ezra 3:8-9 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of HaShem. Jeshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers--all Levites--joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.
Ezra 4:23 - 5:2 As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.
Ezra 5:13-17 “However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. “Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, And he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’ So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.” Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.
Ezra 6:3-8 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be ninety feet high and ninety feet wide, With three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God. Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you, their fellow officials of that province, stay away from there. Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site. Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop.
Ezra 6:15-17 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Then the people of Israel--the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles--celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.
Ezra 6:22 For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because HaShem had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.
Ezra 7:24 You are also to know that you have no authority to impose taxes, tribute or duty on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants or other workers at this house of God.
Nehemiah 6:10 One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you--by night they are coming to kill you.”
Nehemiah 8:16 So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim.
Tehillim (Psalms) 42:4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.
Tehillim (Psalms) 52:7-8 “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!” But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.
Here believers will be planted in the house of the lord:
Tehillim (Psalms) 92:12-13 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; Planted in the house of HaShem, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 2:2-4 In the last days the mountain of HaShem’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of HaShem, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of HaShem from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Here we see others had rooms in the house of God:
Yeremyahu (Jeremiah) 35:1-5 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from HaShem during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “Go to the Recabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of HaShem and give them wine to drink.” So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons--the whole family of the Recabites. I brought them into the house of HaShem, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the men of the Recabite family and said to them, “Drink some wine.”
Yoel (Joel) 1:13-6 Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of HaShem your God, and cry out to HaShem. Alas for that day! For the day of HaShem is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes--joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Micah 4:1-2 In the last days the mountain of HaShem’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of HaShem, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of HaShem from Jerusalem.
Haggai 1:14-15 So HaShem stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of HaShem Almighty, their God, On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.
Yeshua called it the house of God:
Matityahu (Matthew) 12:1-5 At that time Yeshua went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread--which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?
Yeshua is a priest over the house of God:
Bereans (Hebrews) 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Yeshua, By a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, And since we have a great priest over the house of God, Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Luqas (Luke) 2:46-50 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Yochanan (John) 2:13-17 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Yeshua went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Our room or “mansion” will be in the House of God!
Yochanan (John) 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
God’s house will be our workplace:
Zechariah 3:1-10 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of HaShem, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. HaShem said to Satan, “HaShem rebuke you, Satan! HaShem, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.” Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of HaShem stood by. The angel of HaShem gave this charge to Joshua: “This is what HaShem Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here. “‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says HaShem Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. “‘In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,’ declares HaShem Almighty.”
The overcomers will never leave the house of God:
Revelation 3:11-13 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Eventually the temple will be replaced by Mashiach:
Revelation 21:22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
This study was written by
Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be submitted to:
Rabbi Dr. Greg Killian
12210 Luckey Summit
San Antonio, TX 78252
Internet address: gkilli@aol.com
Web page: http://www.betemunah.org/
(360) 918-2905
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