- Dec 20, 2003
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In 1 Chronicles 22:14 we get an idea of how much wealth David stored up to build the temple.
Basically 3450 metric tons of gold - $217bn
34500 metric tonnes of silver - $34.5bn
So more than $250bn set aside for one building which while spiritually significant and furnished to the highest quality should not have cost that much.
To put this in perspective cost estimates for other buildings:
Parthenon 500 years later cost about $15m ( about 460 talents of silver)
Great Pyramid in Egypt would cost about $5bn with today's technology.
Grand mosque in mecca 1600 years later comes in around $100bn
It is possible Herods refurbishment and extension of temple created a more impressive building. But I cannot find a reliable cost estimate. The building itself stood for less than 100 years but its foundations are still there.
In fact the only other comparable mega project I can find is the Apollo missions coming in at about $300bn in today's money.
So my questions are these:
1) Since we do not spend anything like this today in an attempt to honour God have we lost our way?
2) Did Solomon get value for money in what he built or do you reckon he took some of that money for other projects?
3) Since this money was the proceeds of David's victories over numerous local kings and his conquests of territory, what effect do you think the reallocation of all this wealth on a single project had on the local economies?
Basically 3450 metric tons of gold - $217bn
34500 metric tonnes of silver - $34.5bn
So more than $250bn set aside for one building which while spiritually significant and furnished to the highest quality should not have cost that much.
To put this in perspective cost estimates for other buildings:
Parthenon 500 years later cost about $15m ( about 460 talents of silver)
Great Pyramid in Egypt would cost about $5bn with today's technology.
Grand mosque in mecca 1600 years later comes in around $100bn
It is possible Herods refurbishment and extension of temple created a more impressive building. But I cannot find a reliable cost estimate. The building itself stood for less than 100 years but its foundations are still there.
In fact the only other comparable mega project I can find is the Apollo missions coming in at about $300bn in today's money.
So my questions are these:
1) Since we do not spend anything like this today in an attempt to honour God have we lost our way?
2) Did Solomon get value for money in what he built or do you reckon he took some of that money for other projects?
3) Since this money was the proceeds of David's victories over numerous local kings and his conquests of territory, what effect do you think the reallocation of all this wealth on a single project had on the local economies?