Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

The Israelites were instructed by God to build a tabernacle. (Exodus 25& 26) As they traveled and set up camp, there was a tent called the tabernacle (Numbers 7:1). David desired to build a temple for the Lord as he had a grand house built by Hiram out of cedar (2 Samuel 5:11). However, because of the shedding of blood, as David was a great warrior, he was forbidden by God. (2 Samuel 7:1-17 & 2 Chronicles 22:5-8) God promised David that a temple would be built by his son, and there would be peace and quiet during his days of reign (1 Chronicles 22:9-10).

So, David started gathering contributions together to build the temple (1 Chronicles 22:1-4). And so, David's son, Solomon, started construction by hiring Hiram, the same man from Tyre who built his father's David house "Then Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre, saying, 'As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house to dwell in, so do for me. Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, dedicating it to Him, to burn fragrant incense before him, and to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on Sabbaths and on new moons and on the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, this being required forever in Israel. And the house which I am about to build will be great; for greater is our God than all the gods. But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?'" (2 Chronicles 2:3-6).

That brings us to our question, "What king burned the temple in Jerusalem?". The temple of God, which housed the ark of the covenant (1 Kings 8:1-9), took seven years to build and was filled with God's glory (1 Kings 6:38 & 8:10-11). It was dedicated by Solomon (2 Chronicles 3 & 4) and was a magnificent structure with cedar lined with gold and great stones prepared at the quarry as no sound of hammer or iron tool was heard in the temple as it was built (1 Kings 6:7) with two cherubim 15 feet high of olive wood, each with a 15 foot wingspan and overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:23-28) and carvings of palm trees, cherubim, open flowers all overlaid with gold (1 kings 6:29-35).

But kings, like Manasseh, desecrated the temple and turned from His ways to follow after the nations around them, "And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made Asherah, as Ahab the king of Israel had done, and worshipped the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, 'In Jerusalem I will put my name.' For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his sons pass through fire, practiced witchcraft and used divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord provoking Him to anger." "Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord." (2 Kings 21:2-6 & 16) The Lord promised to be with Israel as they heeded His ways, but also said if they slipped into the ways of the world around them, He would not be with them, but He would allow other nations to subdue them which took place during the reign of king Zedekiah over Judah (Leviticus 26:1-33 & 2 Kings 25:1-7).

So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read, "Now on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the Lord, the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire. So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. The rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile." (2 Kings 25:8-11).

So there we have the answer to our question, as the one who burned the temple of Jerusalem was none other than king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon!

May we remember the word of the Lord both in good times as well as those difficult ones and stand fast with Him until our very last breath upon this earth to receive the promise, eternal life (1 John 2:24-25)!