THE BRINGING OF THE ARK INTO THE TEMPLE AND THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S PRESENCE (1 KINGS 8:1). The moment for which Solomon had waited had eventually arrived. The Temple itself was now fully completed and stood there in its pristine glory, and all the furniture and embellishments had been made and p... [ Continue Reading ]
SOLOMON SPEAKS TO THE PEOPLE AND EXPLAINS THE BASIS FOR AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE (1 KINGS 8:12). The speech that follows is an interesting one. To quite some extent Solomon's words here read like a defence of what he was doing, and an attempt to prove that it was in line with Y... [ Continue Reading ]
“ ‘Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there, but I chose David to be over my people Israel.' ” Then he stressed the words of YHWH, words which are, however, as he cites them, nowhe... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of YHWH, the God of Israel.” Solomon acknowledged that the idea of building a physical Temple was very much that of David (see 2 Samuel 7:2; and compare 1 Chronicles 21). He was using the love that they had had for David for... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And YHWH has established his word that he spoke, for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as YHWH promised, and have built the house for the name of YHWH, the God of Israel.” Then Solomon sought to convince them that the Temple was therefore based on YHWH... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And there have I set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of YHWH, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.” He then sought to link the Temple with the deliverance from Egypt and the covenant made at Sinai. For he pointed out that the Ark which he ha... [ Continue Reading ]
SOLOMON'S PRAYER OF DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE (1 KINGS 8:22). Having, as he hoped, reconciled the people to having the Temple in Jerusalem as their Central Sanctuary, Solomon now reminded God of His covenant, and of His covenant love, admitted that the Temple that he had built could not really conta... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Now therefore, O YHWH, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, “There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.” Solomon th... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word, I pray you, be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.” Solomon then again prayed that God, as the God of Israel, would let the word that He had spoken be verified. Note the threefold progression in 1 Kings 8:24. ‘You have kept --... [ Continue Reading ]
“ But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built.” But Solomon was very much aware of the greatness and the glory of God as revealed in the Scriptures, and recognised that such a God could not be l... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Yet have you respect to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O YHWH my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day,” Yet although God was so great and so ‘wholly other' he asked that He would listen to and respond to His servant's praye... [ Continue Reading ]
“ That your eyes may be open towards this house night and day, even towards the place of which you have said, “My name shall be there,” to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray towards this place.” And his prayer was that YHWH would now accept this new Temple as he had accepted the Tab... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And hearken you to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yes, hear you in heaven your dwelling-place, and when you hear, forgive (salach).” He then conjoined Israel with himself and prayed that YHWH would not only hear Solomon's prayer... [ Continue Reading ]
“ For they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron,” Here the emphasis is not on the land as their inheritance (1 Kings 8:34; 1 Kings 8:36; 1 Kings 8:40) but on the people themselves as His inheritance (Exodus 34:9; Deuterono... [ Continue Reading ]
“ That your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.” And Solomon's hope was that because YHWH's Central Sanctuary had again been established, the prayers of he and YHWH's people might be more ef... [ Continue Reading ]
“ For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord YHWH.” For the reason why YHWH would hear them was not to be because of the Temple, but because He had separated them from a... [ Continue Reading ]
SOLOMON'S CLOSING BLESSING OF THE PEOPLE (1 KINGS 8:55). In his first blessing (1 Kings 8:14), prior to his major prayer, Solomon had been concerned to establish the credentials of the Temple. Now, however, his concern was for the spiritual life of the people in a blessing which to begin with clearl... [ Continue Reading ]
“ YHWH our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.” Solomon then expressed the heartfelt desir... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Let your heart therefore be perfect with YHWH our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.” He then called on the people to make this true by having hearts that were fully dedicated towards God and to His covenant so that they would walk in His statutes and keep... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before YHWH.' The blessing then resulted in a whole hearted response from Israel as the king and all the people ‘offered sacrifice' before YHWH. This would be done by their laying their hands on and slaughtering the animals, with the priest... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GREAT SACRIFICIAL OFFERING AND FEAST (1 KINGS 8:63). This special feast of dedication commenced seven days prior to the Feast of Tabernacles (thus incorporating the Day of Atonement). Large scale offerings were made during it, and they were of such a dimension that the bronze altar, which was ap... [ Continue Reading ]