Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
1 Kings 8:12-21
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 YHWH's will, and with the covenant that YHWH had made with His people when He delivered them out of Egypt. They reveal his own awareness of the fact that the people were not as a whole comfortable with the transfer of the Tabernacle from its acknowledged position in ‘the great high place' in Gibeon, a recognised Israelite city, sanctified by its past as one of the first cities to become YHWH's during the conquest, when it meant that it would be moved to a city which up until the time of David had been openly Canaanite (even granted that the Temple would not actually be built within the Canaanite citadel). Thus instead of positively extolling the benefits of the Temple, he busied himself with presenting his arguments as to why they should accept it as YHWH's will, on the basis of His covenant with David. Many have suggested that he had also written the Song of Solomon, (with its message of a bride who longs for the purity of the Israel's countryside, but who finally goes up to the mountain of spices) and made it popular among the people at their feasts, with the same end in view.
It is noteworthy from this point of view that he failed to mention Jerusalem or Zion in his speech even once, and while there was a mild hint of it in the negative reference in 1 Kings 8:16, nowhere did he suggest that Jerusalem was the city chosen by YHWH for the purpose. It was almost as though he did not want to draw their attention to the fact that he had built the Temple in Jerusalem. Rather he stressed that YHWH had chosen David, and that the building of the Temple arose from that fact, and that YHWH had confirmed His agreement with David's plan on that basis, and because the purpose of his heart was right. Thus he wanted the Temple to be seen as permitted by YHWH to David, the one whom He had chosen, and then as built by his son in accordance with YHWH's wishes. (This is a good indication of the fact that these were the genuine words of Solomon, recorded at the time. No one would ever have put these words on his lips later. They would have gloried more in the Temple).
That is not to deny the important truth of what he said, an importance that lies not in what it says about the Temple, which was simply part of his ‘defence' for transferring the Central Sanctuary to the Temple and was merely his interpretation of the covenant (1 Kings 8:17), but in its vital testimony to the importance of YHWH's covenant with David (1 Kings 8:14).
Analysis.
a ‘Then spoke Solomon, “YHWH has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in for ever” (1 Kings 8:12).
b And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood, and he said, “Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying” (1 Kings 8:14).
c “ ‘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' ” (1 Kings 8:16).
d “Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of YHWH, the God of Israel” (1 Kings 8:17).
c “But YHWH said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart, nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will come forth out of your loins, he will build the house for my name' (1 Kings 8:18).
b “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” (1 Kings 8:20).
a “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” (1 Kings 8:21).
Note that in ‘a' Solomon refers to the house that he has built for YHWH to dwell in, and in the parallel declares that he has set the Ark there for that purpose. In ‘b' he speaks of YHWH having made a covenant with his father and as having fulfilled it, and in the parallel declares that YHWH had established His word as He had promised. In ‘c' YHWH stresses that since the day that they had left Egypt He had chosen no city in which to build a house, but rather had chosen David to be over His people, and in the parallel he explains that YHWH has given David permission for the house now to be built, by his son. Centrally in ‘d' this is stated to be because it was something dear to David's heart. YHWH had wanted to please David Whom He had chosen.
‘ Then spoke Solomon,
“YHWH has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
I have surely built you a house of habitation (magnificent house),
A place for you to dwell in for ever.”
The words ‘“YHWH has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness' are a preliminary statement prior to his two line dedication. We know of no actual previous example of YHWH as saying this, but Solomon may well have been referring to Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 4:11; Deuteronomy 5:2; 2 Samuel 22:10; Psalms 18:9; compare Psalms 97:2, seeing them as indicating what God had spoken through Moses and David, and interpreting them as YHWH's word on the basic grounds that what the Scripture had said, YHWH had said. The basic idea behind the picture of thick darkness is of the mysteriousness and hidden nature of God, of God as a God Who cannot reveal Himself fully to any man, because no man could bear it (see Exodus 33:20; 1 Timothy 6:16; and compare Genesis 32:30, although there God had equally been concealed in a human body; Judges 6:22, where He had been revealed through His ‘Angel'; Judges 13:22, where the same applied). It is a reminder that except as far as He reveals Himself He is the Great Unknown.
The words that follow were then Solomon's preliminary dedication to YHWH, before addressing the people:
I have surely built you a house of habitation,
A place for you to dwell in for ever.”
His idea was presumably that although YHWH dwells in thick darkness, and cannot therefore be seen in the fullness of what He is (something already expressed by the cloud which had covered YHWH's glory in 1 Kings 8:10), yet nevertheless by building the Temple with its Most Holy Place which was inaccessible to man and in total darkness, he had made it possible for YHWH to live among His people. It was ‘a house for His habitation' (i.e. a house fit for His habitation, a magnificent house. Compare the Assyrian bit zabal) and it was his intention as a result that YHWH would there be among His people into the distant future. Linking his Temple with the everlasting covenant of 2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16; he saw it as equally ‘everlasting', (which the final compiler knew to be folly, for by his day it had been destroyed). It was his pious hope that it would mean that God would be for ever with His people. (Fortunately the presence of God with His people was not dependent on there being a Temple. After all He could provide His own temple whenever He wanted. (Compare the description in Ezekiel 40 a temple which demonstrated His presence but was never intended to be built. It was ‘accessed' through the altar set up in Jerusalem, which was built).
There was undoubtedly a bit of self-glamourisation about this statement (note the ‘I have surely built you'), for the Temple was not really necessary for this purpose. The Ark itself was sufficient evidence that YHWH was among His people because it was ‘called by His Name (2 Samuel 6:2), and its unique holiness had been demonstrated by the death of Uzzah, while both the Tabernacle and the Sacred Tent had also had their own inaccessible Most Holy Places, with the cloud of YHWH certainly having fallen on the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34). It thus gives the appearance of being unwarranted self-congratulation, and almost condescension, as though YHWH was dependent on Solomon for something that He had never had before. The only thing that partly saved it from being this was the later dedication in which he admitted that his Temple could not really contain YHWH in all His fullness because YHWH is too great (1 Kings 8:27). It does, however, give an indication of the attitude that would bring about Solomon's downfall. He was rather pleased with himself, and felt that God owed him something. After all, it had cost him a lot of his wealth. It was because he was so self-satisfied that he became prey to the temptations that followed.
We, who are aware of the folly of his words from knowing what happened afterwards, and from knowing that God's everlasting dwellingplace is in the new Heaven and the new earth, need to be equally aware when we make our gifts to God that we do not see them as putting Him in our debt. For we must remember that all that we have is His, and we do but give Him what is already His own (1 Chronicles 29:14), and that the Scripture warns us that the haughty spirit comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).
‘ And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood.'
Having briefly dedicated the Temple to YHWH the king now turned to the people, many of whom were not equally convinced that this Temple was such a good thing. And from his position as priestly intercessor of his people he blessed ‘all the assembly of Israel' while they stood on their feet before him. As we have suggested above, the words of the blessing sound very much like a defence of what he was doing. He was after all bringing about a major transformation of the religion of Israel. From the people's viewpoint the ancient and revered Tabernacle in its ancient high place was being replaced by this brand new, and undoubtedly gorgeous Temple, which had, however, been built on a high place connected with what had within living memory been a pagan city, and had further pagan associations in view of its Tyrian and Sidonian input. It was foreign to their thinking, and many, especially among the more conservative countryfolk, would not have been very happy about the situation at all. It went against all their treasured traditions, and involved the ‘disappearance' of the sacred Tabernacle, which they by now probably thought of as the original. (Even David had not dared to try to establish the Tabernacle as the Central Sanctuary in Jerusalem, and when he had transferred it from Hebron, possibly in reprisal for their support of Absalom, he had transferred it to Gibeon). So Solomon was seeking to win them round to acceptance of the Temple. And he sought to do it by fixing their attention on God's choice of David, who had made them so prosperous and secure, and asking them to see it in that light. What this did do, however, was help to establish the importance of the Davidic covenant.
‘ And he said, “Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,”
He praised ‘YHWH, the God of Israel' and stressed that it was He Who had spoken directly to David their ‘father' (‘your father' being intended to make them feel a part of it) and had now by His own hand fulfilled it. Thus he wanted them to see it as all of God.