Build!

We humans are predisposed to build.  Shelter a primary purpose of our building, followed closely by our designs for protection, e.g. walls and forts; our inventions to facilitate travel, e.g. roads and bridges; and, various infrastructural purposes, e.g. waterways, reservoirs, offices and factories.

To function we also are inclined to add aesthetic qualities, i.e. form.  This comes as no surprise for those who understand that we mirror our Creator.  The ancients were no different: witness King Solomon's design and construction of a "house", a temple, for the ark of the covenant and, thus,  a focal place for the appropriate worship rituals to the living, Creator God.  From the description of the materials, dimensions, and construction process we recognize that the result, "Solomon's Temple", would become a regional and probably global masterpiece.

And yet.  For a season the people over whom Solomon reigned apparently flourished and enjoyed national stability.  Meanwhile the king designed and built other structures, most notably a palace for himself, the scope and beauty of which actually eclipsed that of the temple.  His building projects became architectural extensions of the hugely exceptional knowledge he had acquired and been blessed with by the Almighty.  Visiting monarchs and dignitaries marveled at his store of insight, and showered gifts on him.  Wealth increased, luxury began to flaunt itself, eroding Solomon's character, while the king fed an insatiable affection for beautiful women.  The latter, an obscenely number of wives and concubines, "led him astray", and his devotion to the Almighty was irreversibly infected by idolatry.  Barely half a century of workmanship began to crumble as a result.