der service to God. He served the God of this world, mammon. The very
fibers of his being were inwrought with the principles of selfishness.
Because of his unusual skill, Huram demanded large wages. Gradually the
wrong principles that he cherished came to be accepted by his associates. As
they labored with him day after day, they yielded to the inclination to compare
his wages with their own, and they began to lose sight of the holy character of
their work. The spirit of self-denial left them, and in its place came the spirit of
covetousness. The result was a demand for higher wages, which was granted.
The baleful influences thus set in operation permeated all branches of the
Lord’s service, and extended throughout the kingdom. The high wages demanded
and received gave to many an opportunity to indulge in luxury and extravagance.
The poor were oppressed by the rich; the spirit of self-sacrifice was well-nigh
lost. In the far-reaching effects of these influences may be traced one of the
principal causes of the terrible apostasy of him who once was numbered among
the wisest of mortals.
The sharp contrast between the spirit and motives of the people building the
wilderness tabernacle, and of those engaged in erecting Solomon’s temple, has a
lesson of deep significance. The self-seeking that characterized the workers on
the temple finds its counterpart today in the selfishness that rules in the world.
The spirit of covetousness, of seeking for the highest position and the highest
wage, is rife.
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The willing service and joyous self-denial of the tabernacle workers is seldom
met with. But this is the only spirit that should actuate the followers of Jesus.
Our divine Master has given an example of how his disciples are to work. To
those whom He bade, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew
4:19), He offered no stated sum as a reward for their services. They were to share
with him in self-denial and sacrifice.
Not for the wages we receive are we to labor. The motive that prompts
us to work for God should have in it nothing akin to self-serving. Unselfish
devotion and a spirit of sacrifice have always been and always will be the first
requisite of acceptable service. Our Lord and Master designs that not one thread
of selfishness shall be woven into his work. Into our efforts we are to bring the
tact and skill, the exactitude and wisdom, that the God of perfection required of
the builders of the earthly tabernacle; yet in all our labors we are to remember
that the greatest talents or the most splendid services are acceptable only when
self is laid upon the altar, a living, consuming sacrifice.
Another of the deviations from right principles that finally led to the downfall
of Israel’s king was his yielding to the temptation to take to himself the glory that
belongs to God alone.
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From the day that Solomon was entrusted with the work of building the
temple, to the time of its completion, his avowed purpose was “to build an house
for the name of the Lord God of Israel.” 2 Chronicles 6:7. This purpose was fully
