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2 Kings 25:13 "And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon."

 

The pillars, stands, and the large bronze basin called the "sea" that were so lovingly crafted for the Temple are worth nothing more to the Chaldeans than the bronze of which they are made. For Solomon, the bronze was a starting point out of which his artisans created things of beauty for the Temple, but the to the Chaldeans, the bronze is the point, not the things of beauty. The Chaldeans are only interested in the raw material, so they break down the beautiful things in order to cart the bronze away.

 

A large part of the tragedy of the Babylonian conquest was the pillaging and destruction of the Temple, the focal point of Jewish faith life and a wonder of the world. To the Jews, the Temple was where God could be found, where He lived with His people. It and its contents represented the permanence with which they thought of God. But nothing made by man is permanent, all of our creations are made from the raw materials provided by God, and it is up to Him whether to allow them to survive for any period of time.

 

In the end everything, even our churches and tabernacles, will revert to the raw materials of which they are made, either slowly or suddenly, as God permits. The only things the Chaldeans can't break apart and cart back to Babylon are the things of God. Our faith, His love, His church, no one can take these from us. If we hold them in our hearts as things of permanence, we will be able to weather even the most destructive of storms, and the most devastating of seeming conquests. We will remember that God cannot be conquered; His permanent things will survive even as ours are pillaged and destroyed.