Basic HTML Version
Unsanctified Skill, July 11
And Huram finished the work that he was to make for king Solomon for
the house of God.
2 Chronicles 4:11
.
Chosen men were specially endowed by God with skill and wisdom for the
construction of the wilderness tabernacle (
Exodus 35:30-35
).... The descendants
of these men inherited to a large degree the skill conferred upon their forefa-
thers.... For a time these men remained humble and unselfish; but gradually,
almost imperceptibly, they lost their hold upon God and His truth. They began
to ask for higher wages because of their superior skill. In some instances their
request was granted, but more often those asking higher wages found employ-
ment in the surrounding nations.... It was to these apostates that Solomon looked
for a master workman to superintend the construction of the temple on Mount
Moriah....
This master workman, Huram, was a descendant, on his mother’s side, of
Aholiab, to whom, hundreds of years before, God had given special wisdom
for the construction of the tabernacle. Thus at the head of Solomon’s company
of workmen there was placed an unsanctified man, who demanded large wages
because of his unusual skill.... The baleful influences set in operation by the
employment of this man of a grasping spirit, permeated all branches of the
Lord’s service, and extended throughout Solomon’s kingdom.... Extravagance
and corruption were to be seen on every hand. The poor were oppressed by the
rich; the spirit of self-sacrifice in God’s service was well-nigh lost.
Herein lies a most important lesson for God’s people today—a lesson that
many are slow to learn.... Those who claim to be followers of the Master Worker,
and who engage in His service as colaborers with God, are to bring into their
work the exactitude and skill, the tact and wisdom, that the God of perfection
required in the building of the earthly tabernacle. And now, as in that time and as
in the days of Christ’s earthly ministry, devotion to God and a spirit of sacrifice
should be regarded as the first requisites of acceptable service
[199]
25
Selected Messages 2:174-176
.
206