This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ – 1 Kings 9:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 4, 2016): 1 Kings 9

The natives called it “The Mountain that Moves.” The English called it “Turtle Mountain,” a peak located in the Rocky Mountain Range in Alberta, Canada; just north of the American border. The mountain contained coal, and so mining operations began in 1901. The mining operations resulted in a town called “Frank,” named after American entrepreneur Henry Frank, who had developed the first of many coal mines in the area. The Town of Frank grew quickly with the coal mine at Turtle Mountain.

But at 4:10 a.m. on April 29, 1903, “The Mountain that Moves,” moved. A piece of rock broke off of the top of the mountain. The piece measured a kilometer by just short of half a kilometer (3.300 feet by 490 feet) and it came crashing toward Frank at a very unturtle-like pace. Estimates place the speed of the rock at just over 110 km/hour or 70 miles/hour. While rumor has it that the town of Frank perished in the collision, in reality, it was only the eastern outskirts of the town that were buried in the slide. The slide killed 70 to 90 people, most of whom are still buried beneath the rubble. A group of seventeen miners was working the night shift in the mine at the time of the slide. Amazingly, they were able to dig themselves out up through a vein of coal that ran to the surface and were counted among the survivors of the slide.

But the haunting native name for the mountain remains as one of the clues to why the peak of the mountain came down in the first place. Even during the years of the mining operation, rocks falling down the mountain were not uncommon. Today we recognize that Turtle Mountain is inherently unstable, and any break in the mountain, like placing a mine into its fragile side, was likely to cause a catastrophe. The slide resulted in two peaks on Turtle Mountain – a north and a south (the slide came from the area in between.) Experts caution that the south peak of the mountain will fall. The collapse is not imminent, but at some point in the future, the south peak will come down.

Moses had argued with God in his day that God should not move against this seemingly undependable group of people known as Israel in the protection of God’s reputation (Exodus 32). And so God relented of his anger. But it is almost as if God remembered that conversation as he spoke to Solomon. God reminds him that he is “The Mountain that Moves.” He would protect Israel as long as they obeyed him. But if they disobeyed, he would reduce this temple built to house His Name to rubble, and the people of the world would not point at the unfaithfulness of God, but rather the disobedience of the nation. Even after the destruction of the Temple, God’s reputation would remain unscathed.

Less than 500 years after this moment between God and Solomon, the Temple came down. The people were unfaithful and undeserving of God, and so the God who is “The Mountain that Moves,” moved. He brought a man named Nebuchadnezzar and a fledgling Empire to the Temple and reduced it to rubble. They did it so effectively that nothing was left, not even enough evidence is left today to prove that it had ever existed.

The Mountain moved.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 2