Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion. All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. They brought up Yahweh’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings.
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Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion. All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. They brought up Yahweh’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings. For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled Yahweh’s house, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for Yahweh’s glory filled Yahweh’s house. Then Solomon said, “Yahweh 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 forever.”
Parallel Translations
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Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.
All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark.
They brought up Yahweh’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up.
King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings.
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Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up.
And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.
And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims.
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Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these did the priests and the Levites bring up.
And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.
And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto its place, into the Sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.
Cross-references (65)
- Leviticus 23:34 (v2) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to Yahweh.
- 2 Samuel 6:13 (v5) When those who bore Yahweh’s ark had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.
- 1 Kings 3:4 (v4) The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
- 2 Chronicles 1:3 (v4) So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for God’s Tent of Meeting was there, which Yahweh’s…
- 2 Chronicles 5:2-10 (v1) Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of…
Show all 65 cross-references
- Deuteronomy 31:9 (v3) Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and to all the elders of…
- Joshua 3:6 (v3) Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the…
- 2 Samuel 6:17 (v6) They brought in Yahweh’s ark, and set it in its place, in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt…
- 1 Kings 6:19 (v6) He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of Yahweh’s covenant there.
- 1 Kings 6:27 (v6) He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall,…
- 1 Chronicles 15:25 (v1) So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring the ark of Yahweh’s covenant up out of the house of…
- 2 Chronicles 7:8-10 (v2) So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the…
- Exodus 26:33-34 (v6) You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring the ark of the covenant in there within the veil. The veil shall separate the…
- Numbers 4:15 (v3) “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after…
- Joshua 3:3 (v3) and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of Yahweh your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then…
- 2 Samuel 6:12-17 (v1) King David was told, “Yahweh has blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that belongs to him, because of God’s ark.” So David went and…
- Exodus 25:20-22 (v6) The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces…
- Exodus 37:9 (v6) The cherubim spread out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the…
- Exodus 40:2-33 (v4) “On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. You shall put the ark of the covenant in it,…
- Exodus 40:20-21 (v6) He took and put the covenant into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark. He brought the ark into…
- Numbers 7:2-3 (v1) the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, offered. These were the princes of the tribes. These are they who were over…
- Numbers 7:9 (v3) But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them; they carried it on their shoulders.
- Numbers 29:12-40 (v2) “ ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to…
- Deuteronomy 16:13 (v2) You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press.
- Joshua 3:14-15 (v3) When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, and…
- Joshua 4:9 (v3) Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood;…
- Joshua 6:6 (v3) Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of…
- Joshua 23:2 (v1) Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, “I am…
- Joshua 24:1 (v1) Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their…
- 1 Samuel 4:4 (v6) So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the…
- 2 Samuel 5:7-9 (v1) Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. This is David’s city. David said on that day, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him go up…
- 2 Samuel 6:1-2 (v1) David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David arose, and went with all the people who were with him,…
- 2 Samuel 6:2 (v6) David arose, and went with all the people who were with him, from Baale Judah, to bring up from there God’s ark, which is called by the…
- 2 Samuel 6:6 (v1) When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached for God’s ark, and took hold of it; for the cattle stumbled.
- 1 Kings 3:15 (v1) Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and offered up burnt…
- 1 Kings 8:4 (v6) They brought up Yahweh’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought…
- 1 Kings 8:62-63 (v5) The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh. Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered…
- 1 Kings 8:65 (v2) So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt,…
- 1 Chronicles 11:7 (v1) David lived in the stronghold; therefore they called it David’s city.
- 1 Chronicles 13:1-5 (v1) David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it…
- 1 Chronicles 15:2 (v3) Then David said, “No one ought to carry God’s ark but the Levites. For Yahweh has chosen them to carry God’s ark, and to minister to him…
- 1 Chronicles 15:3 (v1) David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up Yahweh’s ark to its place, which he had prepared for it.
- 1 Chronicles 15:11-15 (v3) David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, and said to…
- 1 Chronicles 15:29–16:1 (v1) As the ark of Yahweh’s covenant came to David’s city, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and…
- 1 Chronicles 16:1 (v5) They brought in God’s ark, and set it in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt offerings and peace…
- 1 Chronicles 28:1 (v1) David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, the captains of the companies who served the king by division, the…
- 2 Chronicles 5:3 (v2) So all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.
- 2 Chronicles 5:5-8 (v3) and they brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; these the Levitical priests brought up.…
- 2 Chronicles 5:7 (v6) The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under…
- 2 Chronicles 30:1 (v1) Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to Yahweh’s house at…
- Ezra 3:1 (v1) When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to…
- Ezra 3:4 (v2) They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty…
- Nehemiah 8:14-18 (v2) They found written in the law how Yahweh had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the…
- Psalms 9:11 (v1) Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done.
- Psalms 80:1 (v6) Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- Psalms 99:1 (v6) Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.
- Psalms 102:21 (v1) that men may declare Yahweh’s name in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
- Isaiah 28:16 (v1) Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure…
- Isaiah 37:16 (v6) “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the…
- Isaiah 46:13 (v1) I bring my righteousness near. It is not far off, and my salvation will not wait. I will grant salvation to Zion, my glory to Israel.
- Ezekiel 10:5 (v6) The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
- Zechariah 14:16-19 (v2) It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King,…
- John 7:2 (v2) Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand.
- John 7:37 (v2) Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!
- 1 Peter 2:6 (v1) Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious: He who believes in him will not be…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6 For David brought it from Obed-edom, and placed it…
For David brought it from Obed-edom, and placed it in the Tabernacle which he had made for it, 2 Sam. 6:17.
Hebrew, Solomon.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–6 1Ki 8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel,…
1Ki 8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which [is] Zion.
Ver. 1. Then Solomon assembled, &c.] "Then," when he had finished all the work for the house of the Lord. {1Ki 7:51} Solomon decked and garnished his temple before he prayed in it: so, saith one, before thou prayest prepare thy heart, which is the true temple of him who is greater than Solomon. And as that woman that sought her groat, swept over all the whole house, so when thou seekest anything of God, sweep over the whole house of thy heart; sweep it by repentance, wash the pavement of it with tears, beautify it with holiness, perfume it with prayers, deck it with humility, hang it with sincerity.
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Out of the city of David, which is Zion.] Into Mount Moriah: for there stood the temple. {2Ch 3:1}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–6 The elders of Israel; the senators, and judges, and…
The elders of Israel; the senators, and judges, and rulers.
The heads of the tribes; for each tribe had a peculiar head or governor.
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The chief of the fathers; the chief persons of every great family in each tribe.
Unto king Solomon; unto himself; the antecedent noun being put for the relative and reciprocal pronoun, as is frequent with the Hebrews.
In Jerusalem, where the temple was built, and now finished.
That they might bring up the ark to the top of this hill of Moriah, upon which it was built; whither they were now to carry the ark in a solemn pomp, that by this their attendance they might make a public profession of that service, and respect, and obedience which they owed unto that God who was graciously and gloriously present in the ark.
Out of the city of David, where David had placed the ark, 2Sa 6:12,17. See Poole "1Ki 2:10; 3:1".
Which is Zion; which is called Zion, because it was built upon that hill.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 The temple, though richly beautified, yet while it was…
The temple, though richly beautified, yet while it was without the ark was like a body without a soul, or a candlestick without a candle, or (to speak more properly) a house without an inhabitant. All the cost and pains bestowed on this stately structure are lost if God do not accept them; and, unless he please to own it as the place where he will record his name, it is after all but a ruinous heap. When therefore all the work is ended (Kg1 7:51), the one thing needful is yet behind, and that is the bringing in of the ark. This therefore is the end which must crown the work, and which here we have an account of the doing of with great solemnity.
I. Solomon presides in this service, as David did in the bringing up of the ark to Jerusalem; and neither of them thought it below him to follow the ark nor to lead the people in their attendance on it. Solomon glories in the title of the preacher (Ecc 1:1), and the master of assemblies, Ecc 12:11. This great assembly he summons (Kg1 8:1), and he is the centre of it, for to him they all assembled (Kg1 8:2) at the feast in the seventh month, namely, the feast of tabernacles, which was appointed on the fifteenth day of that month, Lev 23:34. David, like a very good man, brings the ark to a convenient place, near him; Solomon, like a very great man, brings it to a magnificent place. As every man has received the gift, so let him minister; and let children proceed in God's service where their parents left off.
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II. All Israel attend the service, their judges and the chief of their tribes and families, all their officers, civil and military, and (as they speak in the north) the heads of their clans. A convention of these might well be called an assembly of all Israel. These came together, on this occasion, 1. To do honour to Solomon, and to return him the thanks of the nation for all the good offices he had done in kindness to them. 2. To do honour to the ark, to pay respect to it, and testify their universal joy and satisfaction in its settlement. The advancement of the ark in external splendour, though it has often proved too strong a temptation to its hypocritical followers, yet, because it may prove an advantage to its true interests, is to be rejoiced in (with trembling) by all that wish well to it. Public mercies call for public acknowledgments. Those that appeared before the Lord did not appear empty, for they all sacrificed sheep and oxen innumerable, Kg1 8:5. The people in Solomon's time were very rich, very easy, and very cheerful, and therefore it was fit that, on this occasion, they should consecrate not only their cheerfulness, but a part of their wealth, to God and his honour.
III. The priests do their part of the service. In the wilderness, the Levites were to carry the ark, because then there were not priests enough to do it; but here (it being the last time that the ark was to be carried) the priests themselves did it, as they were ordered to do when it surrounded Jericho. We are here told, 1. What was in the ark, nothing but the two tables of stone (Kg1 8:9), a treasure far exceeding all the dedicated things both of David and Solomon. The pot of manna and Aaron's rod were by the ark, but not in it. 2. What was brought up with the ark (Kg1 8:4): The tabernacle of the congregation. It is probable that both that which Moses set up in the wilderness, which was in Gibeon, and that which David pitched in Zion, were brought to the temple, to which they did, as it were, surrender all their holiness, merging it in that of the temple, which must henceforward be the place where God must be sought unto. Thus will all the church's holy things on earth, that are so much its joy and glory, be swallowed up in the perfection of holiness above. 3. Where it was fixed in its place, the place appointed for its rest after all its wanderings (Kg1 8:6): In the oracle of the house, whence they expected God to speak to them, even in the most holy place, which was made so by the presence of the ark, under the wings of the great cherubim which Solomon set up (Kg1 6:27), signifying the special protection of angels, under which God's ordinances and the assemblies of his people are taken. The staves of the ark were drawn out, so as to be seen from under the wings of the cherubim, to direct the high priest to the mercy-seat, over the ark, when he went in, once a year, to sprinkle the blood there; so that still they continued of some use, though there was no longer occasion for them to carry it by.
IV. God graciously owns what is done and testifies his acceptance of it, Kg1 8:10, Kg1 8:11. The priests might come into the most holy place till God manifested his glory there; but, thenceforward, none might, at their peril, approach the ark, except the high priest, on the day of atonement. Therefore it was not till the priests had come out of the oracle that the Shechinah took possession of it, in a cloud, which filled not only the most holy place, but the temple, so that the priests who burnt incense at the golden altar could not bear it. By this visible emanation of the divine glory, 1. God put an honour upon the ark, and owned it as a token of his presence. The glory of it had been long diminished and eclipsed by its frequent removes, the meanness of its lodging, and its being exposed too much to common view; but God will now show that it is as dear to him as ever, and he will have it looked upon with as much veneration as it was when Moses first brought it into his tabernacle. 2. He testified his acceptance of the building and furnishing of the temple as good service done to his name and his kingdom among men. 3. He struck an awe upon this great assembly; and, by what they saw, confirmed their belief of what they read in the books of Moses concerning the glory of God's appearance to their fathers, that hereby they might be kept close to the service of the God of Israel and fortified against temptations to idolatry. 4. He showed himself ready to hear the prayer Solomon was now about to make; and not only so, but took up his residence in this house, that all his praying people might there be encouraged to make their applications to him. But the glory of God appeared in a cloud, a dark cloud, to signify, (1.) The darkness of that dispensation in comparison with the light of the gospel, by which, with open face, we behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. (2.) The darkness of our present state in comparison with the vision of God, which will be the happiness of heaven, where the divine glory is unveiled. Now we can only say what he is not, but then we shall see him as he is.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel,.... The judges…
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel,.... The judges in the several cities, or senators of the great sanhedrim, as others; though it is a question whether as yet there was such a court:
and all the heads of the tribes; the princes of the twelve tribes:
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the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel; the principal men of the ancient families in every tribe:
unto King Solomon in Jerusalem; these he summoned together to himself there where the temple was built:
that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion; whither David brought it, when he had taken that fort, so called, and dwelt in it; and from this mountain Solomon proposed to bring it up to the temple, on a higher mountain, Moriah, not far from one another.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–6 The chief men of Israel called together, ver. 1,…
The chief men of Israel called together, ver. 1, 2. The ark fixt in the most holy place, ver. 3-9. God takes possession of it by a cloud, ver. 10-12. Solomon tells the people the occasion of their meeting, ver. 13-21. The prayer of dedication, ver. 22-53. He dismisses the assembly with a blessing and an exhortation, ver. 54-61. Offers abundance of sacrifices, ver. 62-66.
Elders - The senators, and Judges, and rulers. Heads - For each tribe had a peculiar governor. Chief - The chief persons of every great family in each tribe. Jerusalem - Where the temple was built. Bring the ark - To the top of Moriah, upon which it was built; whither they were now to carry the ark in solemn pomp. City of David - Where David had placed the ark, which is called Zion, because it was built upon that hill.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4 Solomon assembles the elders of Israel, and brings up…
CHAPTER VIII
Solomon assembles the elders of Israel, and brings up the ark,
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and the holy vessels, and the tabernacle, out of the city of
David, and places them in the temple; on which account a vast
number of sheep and oxen are sacrificed, 1-8.
There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which
Moses put there at Horeb, 9.
The cloud of God's glory fills the house, 10, 11.
Solomon blesses the people, 12-21.
His dedicatory prayer, 22-53.
Afterwards he blesses and exhorts the people, 54-61.
They offer a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one
hundred and twenty thousand sheep, 62, 63.
He hallows the middle of the court for offerings; as the brazen
altar which was before the Lord was too little, 64.
He holds the feast of the dedication for seven days; and for
other seven days, the feast of tabernacles; and on the eighth
day blesses the people, and sends them away joyful, 65, 66.
NOTES ON CHAP. VIII
Verse 1. Then Solomon assembled] It has already been observed that Solomon deferred the dedication of the temple to the following year after it was finished, because that year, according to Archbishop Usher, was a jubilee. "This," he observes, "was the ninth jubilee, opening the fourth millenary of the world, or A.M. 3001, wherein Solomon with great magnificence celebrated the dedication of the temple seven days, and the feast of tabernacles other seven days; and the celebration of the eighth day of tabernacles being finished, upon the twenty-third day of the seventh month the people were dismissed every man to his home. The eighth day of the seventh month, viz., the thirtieth of our October, being Friday, was the first of the seven days of dedication; on the tenth day, Saturday, November 1, was the fast of expiation or atonement held; whereon, according to the Levitical law, the jubilee was proclaimed by sound of trumpet. The fifteenth day, Friday, November 6, was the feast of tabernacles; the twenty-second, November 13, being also Friday, was the feast of tabernacles, which was always very solemnly kept, 2Ch 7:9; Le 23:36; Joh 7:37; and the day following, November 14, being our Saturday, when the Sabbath was ended, the people returned home.
"In the thirteenth year after the temple was built, Solomon made an end also of building his own house, having spent full twenty years upon both of them; seven and a half upon the temple, and thirteen or twelve and a half upon his own."-Usher's Annals, sub. A.M. 3001.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–6 1Ki 8:1. Solomon assembled the elders of Israel —…
1Ki 8:1. Solomon assembled the elders of Israel — The senators, and judges, and rulers. And all the heads of the tribes — For each tribe had a peculiar head or governor. The chief of the fathers — The principal person of every great Family in each tribe. Unto King Solomon, in Jerusalem — Where the temple was built, and now finished. That they might bring up the ark — With solemn pomp to the top of Moriah, (upon which mountain the temple stood,) in order that by this their attendance they might make a public profession of the respect, obedience, and service which they owed unto that God, who had been graciously and gloriously present with the ark. Out of the city of David, which is Zion — That is, called Zion. Thither David had brought the ark from the house of Obed-Edom, and had made a tabernacle for it, (2Sa 6:12; 2Sa 6:17,) until a fixed house should be prepared.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–4 There seems to be a contrast here between the…
There seems to be a contrast here between the more popular proceedings of David 2Sa 6:1, and the statelier system of his son, who merely summons the chief men as representatives of the nation. The rest of the people “assembled themselves” 1Ki 8:2, and were mere spectators of the solemnity.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Ethanim was afterwards called Tisri. (Haydock) --- Usher places…
Ethanim was afterwards called Tisri. (Haydock) --- Usher places the dedication on Friday, 30th October, the 8th of the seventh month. The people continued at Jerusalem till the 23rd. The feast of expiation fell on the 10th, (Haydock) during the octave of the dedication. After this, the feast of tabernacles commenced on the 15th, for other seven days. This was the year of jubilee; and Solomon had waited on purpose, that the people might have more leisure to attend on such a solemn occasion. (Calmet) --- But on this we cannot rely. There might be other reasons for the delay; (See chap. vi. 38.) and one of the chief might be, a desire to perform this ceremony in the seventh or sabbatical month, which was honoured with more festivals than any other. It had just elapsed, before the temple was finished, in the preceding year. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 B.—The Consecration of the Temple
B.—The Consecration of the Temple
1Ki_8:1-66
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11Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief2 of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah] out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4And they brought up the ark of the Lord [Jehovah], and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. 5And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 6And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah] unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims. 7For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves3 thereof above. 8And they drew out4 the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen 9without: and there they are unto this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord [Jehovah] made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord [Jehovah], 11so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord [Jehovah] had [omit had5] filled the house of the Lord [Jehovah]. Then spake 12Solomon, The Lord [Jehovah] said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.6
14And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood; 15and he said, Blessed be the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel,7 which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16Since 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 an house, that my name might be therein;8 but I chose David to be over my people Israel. 17And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel. 18And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto David my father, Whereas it was9 in thine heart to 19build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was9 in thine heart. Nevertheless, thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name. 20And the Lord [Jehovah] hath performed [established10] his word that he spake, and I am risen up [established10] in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord [Jehovah] promised, and have built an house for the name of the Lord 21[Jehovah] God of Israel. And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah], which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
22And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord [Jehovah] in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: 23And he said, Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants11 that walk before thee with all their heart: 24who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst [spakest to11] him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. 25Therefore now, Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst [spakest to12] him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children [sons] take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. 26And now, O13 God of Israel, let thy word,14 I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. 27But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? 28Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord [Jehovah] my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to-day: 29that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. 30And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in15 heaven thy dwelling-place: and when thou hearest, forgive. 31If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: 32then hear thou in16 heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring17 his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give17 him according to his righteousness. 33When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house: 34then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. 35When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: 36then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them [when thou teachest them (by affliction)] the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. 37If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew,18 locust, or if there be caterpillar [if there be consuming locust19]; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; 38what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart,20 and spread forth his hands toward this house: 39then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) 40that they may fear thee all the days that 41they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. Moreover, concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;21 42(for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched-out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;22 43hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name. 44If thy people go out to battle against their enemy,23 whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord [Jehovah] toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name: 45then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.24 46If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, 47far or near; yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, 48we have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name: 49then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, 50and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may 51have compassion on them: for they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: 52that thine eyes may be open25 unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. 53For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord [Jehovah] God.26
54And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord [Jehovah], he arose from before the altar of the Lord [Jehovah], from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud 56voice, saying, Blessed be the Lord [Jehovah], that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. 57The Lord [Jehovah] our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us: 58that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 59And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord [Jehovah], be nigh unto the Lord [Jehovah] our God day and night, that he maintain the cause27 of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:28 60that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord [Jehovah] is God, and that there is none else. 61Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord [Jehovah] our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
62And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord [Jehovah]. 63And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord [Jehovah], two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord [Jehovah]. 64The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord [Jehovah]: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar that was before the Lord [Jehovah] was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the Lord [Jehovah] our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. 66On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord [Jehovah] had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.
Exegetical and Critical
1Ki_8:1-7. Then Solomon assembled, &c. The section 2Ch_5:2 to 2Ch_6:42, which is for the most part like it, may be compared with this whole chapter. The little word אָזtime denotes, like 1Ki_8:12 (comp. Jos_10:12; Exo_15:1), the point of time which immediately follows what is above related, and means, what indeed the context infers, namely, that as soon as all the vessels were finished (1Ki_7:51), Solomon proceeded to dedicate the temple. In accordance with the great importance of the temple-building to the whole theocracy, he called together the elders, i.e., the presiding officers of communities, and also the heads of the tribes and the families, that the entire people might thereby be represented. The solemnity took place at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. The usual interpretation of הָאֵתָנִים, month of the flowing rivers (rainy season), is more acceptable than that of Thenius, gift (fruit) month, or that of Böttcher, suspension of the equinox. This month was called Tisri in our writer’s time and later; upon this account he expressly says that Ethanim was the seventh. The feast of tabernacles occurred on the 15th of this month (Lev_23:34); it was the greatest and best observed of all the three yearly festivals, and was especially called “the feast” by the Jews (Symb. des Mos. Kult. ii. s. 656). Solomon therefore very fitly solemnized the dedication of the temple at the time of this feast. Although the text gives here only the month and the day, and not the year, it is of course to be understood that it was the first feast of tabernacles that occurred after the completion of the temple in the eighth month (1Ki_6:38); consequently it fell in the following year. The opinion that the dedication took place in the seventh month of the same year, in the eighth month of which the temple was finished (Ewald), needs no refutation. The assertion of Thenius, with which Keil also now agrees, appears more probable. He thinks that the temple was not dedicated until twenty years from the commencement of the building, i.e., thirteen years after its completion; because the divine answer to the dedication prayer, according to 1Ki_9:1-10, did not come till the temple of Jehovah and the king’s house were both finished (1Ki_6:38; 1Ki_7:1), and in the Sept. chap. 9 begins with these words: “And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king’s house (after twenty years), he assembled, &c.;” but the passage, 1Ki_9:1, certainly does not say that the dedication did not take place for twenty years, or that Jehovah immediately thereafter appeared to Solomon; it speaks not only of the completion of both those buildings, but of all the others besides, which Solomon had begun (1Ki_9:19), so that we must in that case place the dedication much later than twenty years (see below, on 1Ki_9:1). As to the words of the Sept., they are unmistakably a gloss from 1Ki_9:1; 1Ki_9:10, inserted here, and such as is found nowhere else, either in a MS. or in any other ancient translation, and therefore can never be regarded as the original text. When we consider how very desirous David was to build an house unto the Lord, that when he was not permitted to do so, he pressed the task as a solemn duty upon his son, that Solomon then, as soon as he had established his throne, began the building and continued it with great zeal; it seems utterly incredible that he should have left the finished building thirteen years unused, and delayed its dedication until the twenty-fourth year of his reign. The weightiest reasons alone could have induced him to do so, but we hear nothing of any such. Even if we suppose the vessels not to have been finished as soon as the building, but to have been commenced after its completion, still it could not have taken thirteen years to make them; and there was no reason why the dedication of the temple should have been put off until the palace was finished, the latter requiring no solemn dedication, while the speedy dedication of the central sanctuary was an urgent necessity if the restoration of the unity of worship, commanded by the law, was to be established.
To bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord. In the march through the wilderness, the ark was covered with some cloths, and carried by the levites (Num_4:5; Num_4:15), but on special occasions, the priests themselves carried it, as here and in Jos_3:6; Jos_6:6. Not only the ark, but the tabernacle, which had hitherto stood at Gibeon (2Ch_1:3-4), with all its vessels, was brought out from Zion into the temple. While the priests carried the ark, the levites (1Ki_8:4) carried the other things pertaining to the tent, all of which were doubtless preserved in the rooms of the side-structure. When the procession reached the temple (1Ki_8:5), the ark was laid down in the outer court before the entrance to the holy place, and a great and solemn sacrifice offered; then the priests bore the ark to its appointed place. For 1Ki_8:6-7 see above, on 1Ki_6:23 sq.
1Ki_8:8-9. And they drew out the staves, that the ends, &c. 1Ki_8:8, which has had the most various interpretations put upon it, is nothing but a parenthesis following the concluding words of the preceding verse, explaining how it happened that the great cherubim-statues, with their wings stretched across the entire width of the sanctuary (1Ki_6:27), not only overshadowed the ark itself, but even its staves. As it says in Exo_25:15, the staves were never to be removed, but were to belong inseparably to the ark. If the cherubim-statues then were to overshadow the ark, they should also cover the staves inseparably united to it. Now as the ark lay lengthwise north and south in the holy of holies, and the wings of the cherubim-statues stretched from the southern to the northern wall of the holy of holies, the staves which they overshadowed with their wings must have been placed north and south, i.e., on the longer sides of the ark, as Josephus (Ant.iii. 6, 5) expressly states. Therefore, their heads or ends could be seen from the sanctuary (great space) only close before the holy of holies (Debir). The reason why the staves were so long (וַאֲרִכוּ is to be understood as intransitive, as Keil remarks; as in Exo_20:12; Deu_5:16; Deu_25:15, and not to be translated: they made the staves long, as Kimchi and Thenius make it, for thus אֵתּ should stand before הַבַּדִּים) was in consequence of the weight of the ark, which must have been considerable, because the stone tables of the law were inside of the ark; and it was carried by more than four, perhaps by eight priests, who did not touch it, as was commanded in Num_4:15. And as the holy of holies was only intended for the ark of the covenant (1Ki_6:19), and the latter was only two and a half cubits long, with its long staves inseparable from it, it took up nearly the whole space. The oldest interpretation of our verse was borrowed from the Rabbins; it says that the staves were drawn so far forward that their ends touched the veil of the most holy place, and caused visible protrusions on the outside; but this is disproved by the fact that the staves were placed on the longest side of the ark, and pointed south and north, not east and west, consequently could not have touched the curtain. Thenius, with whom Merz and Bertheau agree, explains the simple sentence in 1Ki_8:8 “by optical laws: when a person at the entrance of the holy place (he makes מִן־הַקֹּדֶשׁ mean that) could have seen through the open door the ends of the staves of the ark which was in the middle of the holy of holies, these staves must have been, according to the laws of perspective, seven cubits long.” This highly ingenious explanation rests, as Keil justly remarks, on ill-founded suppositions, comp. Böttcher Aehrenl. ii. s. 69. The words עַל־פְּנֵי הַדְּבִיר cannot be translated: “from the great space before the debir,” but mean, from the sanctuary, “when a person stood close before the dark holy of holies” (Ewald), or “near the most holy” (Merz). It is certain that the writer of these books had not the remotest thought about the laws of optics and perspective. The addition, and there they are unto this day, means: though the ark now had its fixed resting-place, the staves were left, according to the command Exo_25:15, in order to signify that it was the same ark, which dated from the time when Israel was chosen to be a covenant people. The expression “unto this day,” also occurring, 1Ki_9:21; 1Ki_12:19; 2Ki_8:22, shows that the writer drew from a manuscript written before the destruction of the temple, and did not deem it necessary to deviate from its words.
1Ki_8:9. There was nothing in the ark, &c. 1Ki_8:9 returns to the ark itself, and emphasizes the fact that it was brought into the holy of holies (1Ki_8:6) because it preserved the original document of the covenant which God made with Israel, which consisted of the “ten commandments that the Lord spake unto them” (Deu_10:4). By virtue of this document, the ark was the pledge of the covenant relation; and at the same time was the fundamental condition of the religious and political life of Israel; it naturally formed the heart and central point of the sanctuary or dwelling-place of Jehovah in the midst of His chosen people (compare Symb. des Mos. Kult., i. s. 383 sq.); “there would have been no temple without the ark of the covenant, that alone made it a sanctuary” (Hengstenberg). According to Heb_9:4, the ark contained, besides the tables of the law, the golden pot with manna (Exo_16:33), and Aaron’s rod (Numb. 17:25). The endeavor has been made to reconcile this passage with the one under consideration, by the supposition that those two additional objects were no longer in the ark in Solomon’s time, having only been there when Moses lived, the latter period being the one in the mind of the writer to the Hebrews (Ebrard, Moll, and others). But the passages quoted only say they were laid “before Jehovah” or “before the testimony;” not in the ark. The Jewish tradition alone renders it in (Schöttgen, hor. Hebr. p. 973), and this tradition, with which the reader of this epistle may have been familiar, was probably in the writer’s mind, for he was not desirous of giving an exact archæological description (comp. Tholuck and Bleek on Heb_9:4). V. Meyer’s opinion, which Lisco also adopts, that the manna and rod were not in the ark any longer because “the direct theocracy, with its spiritual sceptre, and its blessings, had departed, and the people had an earthly king who was now to guide and watch over them,” is in the highest degree erroneous. Horeb is not the highest summit of the mountains of Sinai, but a general name for the mountain-range of which Sinai is only a part: comp. Thenius on the place.
1Ki_8:10-13. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, &c. Exo_40:34-35, is almost the same as 1Ki_8:10-11; “then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon (שָׁכַן) and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” It is plain that the author meant, what once happened at the dedication of the tabernacle took place again at the dedication of the house. The cloud, not a cloud (Luther), but that, in and with which, as once at the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord came down, though naturally not the same cloud as at that time. What 1Ki_8:10 says of the cloud, 1Ki_8:11 says of the glory of the Lord; it filled the house, not only the most holy place, but the whole dwelling, so that the priests were prevented for a moment from performing their functions in the sanctuary. We cannot possibly conceive this to have been the cloud of smoke “which, rising from the burning offerings on the altar, veiled the glory of the Lord” (Bertheau on 2Ch_5:14); for in this case the priests themselves would have been prevented from officiating. Nor can we, on account of the כְבּוֹד־יְהוָֹה, think as Thenius, of the “bright and streaming cloud” which the Rabbins name שְׁכִינָה, for Solomon could not have said, on beholding it: Jehovah dwells בָּעֲרָפֶל; this word denoting, as Thenius himself rightly says, “exactly the black darkness;” and he takes an unwarrantable liberty when, as the Chaldee, he reads בִּירוּשָׁלַםִ for it. It is admitted that the “darkness must refer to the cloud” just also as that which in Exo_19:9 is named צָנָן is called עֲרָפֶל in Exo_20:21; and in Deu_4:11; Deu_5:9; Psa_97:2, both words are conjoined as synonymies. Keil, too, thinks the עָנָן is the shekinah, for he says: “the glory of the Lord, which is like a consuming fire, manifested itself in the cloud.” But this also is contradicted by the words of Solomon, that the Lord dwells in the (thick) darkness; the text has not a syllable about a fiery appearance; and certainly a consuming fire cannot be thought of here, where the subject is the gracious presence of the Lord. Abar-banel indeed thinks that the fire of the cloud burst forth from it, after Solomon’s prayer, and consumed the burnt-offering, 2Ch_7:1; but it expressly says in this passage, that fire came “from heaven” (and therefore not out of the cloud). Keil further remarks: “This wonderful manifestation of the divine glory only took place at the dedication; afterwards, the cloud was visible in the holy of holies only on the great day of atonement, when the high-priest entered there” (Lev_16:2). This, however, is quite contrary to the rabbinical belief, which was that the shekinah hung constantly above the ark of the covenant; and it also presupposes that the wonderful manifestation was regularly repeated on that solemnity of atonement, although neither the text nor the Jewish tradition mentions such a thing; and this would have no analogy with God’s miracles, which never recur regularly on a particular day. Our text only mentions a dark cloud, which, as it filled the whole house, must necessarily have only been a passing phenomenon; it served to show that the Lord, as once in the tent, would now henceforth dwell in the house built for Him. כְבוֹד־יְהוָֹה stands, as Solomon’s phrase in 1Ki_8:12 shows, for Jehovah himself, and is the standing Old Testament designation of the being (majesty) of God [like the δόξα of the New Testament.—E. H.], raised absolutely above all that is creaturely, yet stooping (שָׁכַן, Exo_40:35), i.e., concentrating himself, in order to manifest and assert himself, either blessing and saving as here, or punishing and destroying, as for instance, in Psalms 18. The Lord said. Because there is no passage showing that the Lord spoke those words, Thenius translates אָמַר “the Lord proposeth to dwell in the thick darkness: or, He has made known that He will dwell in the thick darkness;” but just because the Lord had said so, Solomon beheld in the cloud a sign that he had come down to dwell in the temple (שָׁנַן); he remembered the plain declaration Exo_19:9; Lev_16:2. “Overpowered by that sublime moment, and filled with joy that he was counted worthy of the favor of being allowed to build a house for the Lord, he utters the joyful words” (Bertheau): בָּנֹח בָנִיתִי, surely! I have built; for which Chron. gives אֲנִי בָנִיתִי; I, yea, I have built. For the words in 1Ki_8:13, an house to dwell in, a settled place, see on 1Ki_6:2, a, Historical and Ethical.עוֹלָמִים is similar to Jos_4:7; Job_19:24; 1Ki_1:31 (comp. Hengstenberg, Christol. ii. s. 432 sq.). According to 2Ch_5:12 sq., songs of praise, accompanied by harps and psalteries, burst forth, as the priests came out of the sanctuary.
1Ki_8:14-21. And the king turned his face, &c. Solomon had spoken the words of 1Ki_8:12-13 with his face turned to the temple; but he now turned towards the people who were in the outer court, and who listened standing, i.e., with proper reverence, to the following discourse. This is a solemn declaration (1Ki_8:15-21) that the temple was undertaken and finished according to Jehovah’s word and will. The course of thought is, compared with 2Ch_6:4-11, as follows: “so long as Israel, after the departure from Egypt, wandered about, and had not come into possession of the promised land, Jehovah had chosen no abiding dwelling-place, His habitation was movable—a tent. But after He had chosen David to be king, and brought His people by him to the full and quiet possession of the promised land, it was fitting that He, as well as the nation, should have an abiding dwelling-place. Jerusalem being the city of David, and the central point of the kingdom promised to him ‘for ever,’ Jehovah had chosen this very city for His ‘everlasting’ habitation. It was, however, forbidden to my father, David, to execute His purpose, namely, to build an house to the name of the Lord, instead of the tent; according to divine direction, He deputed this work to me, whom Jehovah had already confirmed as his successor. I then, specially commissioned and empowered to do so, have built this house, and brought into it the ark of the covenant, the pledge of the divine gracious presence; and the cloud that has just now filled the house, as once it did the tent, is the sign that Jehovah will dwell here.” The promise, the fulfilment of which Solomon refers to in this discourse, is that of 2Sa_7:4-16, comp. with 1Ch_22:6-11; 1Ch_28:2-7. For the expression: that my name shall be there, the pregnant meaning of which we may gather from its constant repetition (1Ki_8:16-19, comp. 29, 43, 44), see above, on chap. 6 Histor. and Ethical, 2, 6. It is worthy of notice that at the beginning and the conclusion of the address (1Ki_8:16; 1Ki_8:21), the building of the temple is placed in relation to the deliverance from Egypt. Comp. above on 1Ki_6:1.
1Ki_8:22-26. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord.2Ch_6:13 mentions that Solomon had a brazen scaffold (כִיוֹר) made, which he mounted, and then knelt down to pray (comp. v. 54); as the text says nothing of its form, we will not decide whether it had, as Thenius thinks, a square support, and a rounded edge. Certainly it was a species of pulpit, not behind, but before the altar of burnt-offering. It does not follow from נֶגֶד, that Solomon again turned his face to the temple (Thenius): it means before, opposite; the people therefore could not have stood behind him, which must have happened, had he turned his back to them. The spreading out the hands is a sign of praying, just as our folding of the hands is (Exo_9:29; Exo_9:31; Psa_44:21; Psa_143:6; Isa_1:15; Isa_65:2, &c.). Modern criticism has pronounced the dedication prayer in its given form, 1Ki_8:23-61, to be unauthentic. De Wette and Stähelin place the time of its composition in the period of the exile. Ewald admits that it is, “notwithstanding its length, a very fine discourse; but belonging, in the style of thought, rather to the seventh than the eleventh or tenth century,” and thinks that it was most probably composed by the first of the so-called elaborators of Deuteronomy. According to Thenius, there is a sketch in the prayer to be held as historical, though it be brief; but it contains considerable interpolations, as 1Ki_8:44-51; and the frequent coincidence with passages in Deut. and Josh., as well as “the style, which is so often diffuse, verbose, and watery (!), denote a more recent working up.” We remark, on the other hand: that the text containing the prayer, in Chron., perfectly coincides with that in Kings, except in a few particulars; but this proves that it was not taken from the latter, but that both accounts were derived from a common source. So much then is certain, that our writer did not invent the prayer, but found it in the original which he drew from, and gave it again—as the similar text of Chron. shows—unaltered. The only question then is, of what date was the common original? 1Ki_11:41 names as such the “book of the acts of Solomon,” and the chronicler, “the book of Nathan the prophet” (2Ch_9:29). The latter, however, cannot certainly belong to the seventh century, still less to the time of the captivity; it evidently was written, as Bleek justly remarks, “in view of the state of things, when the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and David’s kingdom still existed.” As to the “thoughts,” Thenius admits that the verses 27, 28, 41–43, 58, 60, “are fully worthy of a Solomon,” and this without being able to prove that the others are unworthy of them; they are, on the contrary, in fit connection and perfect harmony with them (for the so-called interpolations of the 1Ki_8:44-51, see below, on the place). We can only conclude that this prayer was of later composition, because of its harmony with some passages of Deut. and Lev., if these books also belong to a later period; and this is unproved. But with equal propriety, inversely, we may conclude from the prayer, that these books were in existence in the time of Solomon, and were known to him as the pupil of a prophet. Finally, if the style and composition of the prayer, because they are verbose and watery, prove later working up, this objection rests on purely subjective taste; and we have just as good a right to hold, as Ewald does, that it is, “in spite of its length, a very fine discourse.” It is incredible besides, that a discourse, holding so important a place in Old Testament history, should have been composed later, and falsely put into the mouth of the great king; we must believe, on the contrary, that if ever a speech were written down and preserved carefully, it was that one.
1Ki_8:23-26. Lord God of Israel, &c. 1Ki_8:23-26, form the introduction to the prayer which is united to the speech, 1Ki_8:15-21, and gives praise and thanks to God for having already fulfilled the promise made to David (1Ki_8:23-24) in so far as the house (2Sa_7:5-16) was concerned, uniting with it the request that the Lord would further fulfil it, with regard to the house, i.e., the rape of David, and their sitting upon the throne of Israel (1Ki_8:25-26). The address, there is no God like Thee, &c., means: not that there is no god among all those in heaven and earth like Thee: but, nothing is like to Thee, who art in heaven above and on earth below. Jehovah, the God of Israel, is not compared here with other gods, but on the contrary, is described as the only true God (comp. Deu_4:39; Jos_2:11; 2Sa_7:22; 2Sa_22:32). He had shown himself such especially by His keeping of the covenant, by His mercy (Deu_7:9; Dan_9:4), and by the fulfilment of His gracious promise. בַּיּוֹם הַוֶּה 1Ki_8:24 as in 1Ki_3:6. The house, as it now stands, is a witness to His faithfulness to the covenant. Thenius remarks on 1Ki_8:26 : The urgency of the petition is shown by its concise repetition.
1Ki_8:27-30. But will God indeed, &c. The prayer passes, at 1Ki_8:27, to its chief object, the temple, with which all the rest of it is occupied. בִּי at the beginning is used here as in 1Sa_29:8; 1Ki_11:22; 2Ki_8:13; Jer_23:18, “merely as an impressive introduction to the interrogatory sentence that leads to the real prayer” (Thenius), and is not, therefore, a mere confirming particle, as Keil, who connects our verse with 1Ki_8:26 instead of with 1Ki_8:28-30, repeatedly asserts. The petition in 1Ki_8:26 : that God would indeed keep the house (dynasty) of David on the throne, was not founded on the fact that the heaven of heavens could not contain Him, still less that temple. On the contrary, the entire contents of the following prayer are, that God would hear all the prayers that should be offered in this place; hence Solomon very naturally begins with the thought, can the infinite, unconfined Deity really have His dwelling here? The expression, the heaven and heaven of heavens, can have nothing to do with the different heavens taught by Jewish theology (Schöttgen, hor. hebr. p. 719), but is the description of the heavens in their all-embracing extent, as Deu_10:14; Psa_115:16. This is the connection of 1Ki_8:27-28 : Thou art the infinite God whom no house built by man can contain, but I beseech Thee to show thyself here, as a God who answers prayer. In 1Ki_8:28 Solomon prays that God would hear his present prayer, and in 1Ki_8:29-30 that He would also in the future always hear the prayers of the king and people in this place. The different expressions for prayer in the verses 28–30 are not very different in their meaning, and are placed near together here, to describe every kind of prayer. The words, that thine eyes may be open (1Ki_8:29), do not mean that God was besought to watch over the building, and take it under His almighty protection, but always to see, when any one prayed there, and to hear his prayer, to turn His eyes and ears toward the house (comp. Psa_34:16). For the placing of the temple and heaven (1Ki_8:30) in antithesis, which is done indeed through the entire prayer, see above, on chap. 6 Histor. and Ethic. 2 c. The prayer for forgiveness is joined to the prayer for hearing, at the conclusion, as also in 1Ki_8:34; 1Ki_8:36; 1Ki_8:39; 1Ki_8:50, because man, who is full of sin and guilt, can only hope for the acceptance of his prayer when his sins are forgiven; every answer to prayer rests on the sinpardoning grace of God.
1Ki_8:31-32. If any man trespass against, &c. The prayer that God may hear in general is now followed, from 1Ki_8:31 on, by prayers for particular cases, of which there are seven altogether; which is no more remarkable than that the Lord’s prayer, Mat_6:9 sq., also contains the sacred number seven, the number of the covenant (Symb. des Mos. Kult. i. s. 193). The first of the seven prayers (1Ki_8:31-32) concerns the observation of the oath as sacred, namely, in cases like those of Exo_22:7-10 and Lev. 5:21–24. For אֵת אֲשֶׁר it is אִם in 2Ch_6:22; it means: the case happening, that=when (Keil). וּבָא אָלָה cannot be translated; and the oath comes, as the article is wanting to אָלָה; all the old translations give: comes and swears. Before the altar, i.e., the place of divine witness and presence (Exo_20:24). Thou bringest his deed upon his head, i.e., thou punishest him for his false oath (Eze_9:10). We receive no answer from the commentators to the question, why is the prayer with respect to the oath placed foremost in the seven petitions? Perhaps the reason is as follows: The temple, which is constantly and impressively exalted in the chapter we are considering, was built to the name of Jehovah, which should be deemed holy; but the oath was nothing more than the calling upon the sacred name; i.e., the name of that God who had made himself known as a holy God, and who does not allow the misuse of his name to go unpunished (according to Sir_23:9, ὅρκος is equivalent to ὀνομασία τοῦ ἁγίον, comp. 1Ki_8:11 : ὁ ὀμνύων καὶ ὀνομάζων); they swore by the name of God, is an oath-form in Lev_19:12; Deu_6:13; Deu_10:20; Isa_48:1; Jer_12:16; Jer_44:26. The false oath was a contemptuous use of the name to which the house was built; but it was the chief requirement from him who stood in the holy place, that he should not swear falsely, Psa_24:3-4. The command to keep the name of God holy, stands also first among the commandments of the fundamental law (Exo_20:7), and it is the first of the seven petitions in the Lord’s prayer: hallowed be Thy name (Mat_6:9).
1Ki_8:33-34. When thy people Israel be smitten down, &c. The second petition concerns the case of captives, who had, through their guilt, merited overthrow, and were led away by their conquerors; and beseeches Jehovah for the return of the people to their native land. To be taken away from the land of promise, to be separated from communion with the covenant people, in whose midst Jehovah dwelt, and to live among heathens, was the greatest of all misfortunes to an Israelite, and it was very natural to pray against it. And confess thy name must be connected with שָׁבוּ; if they, feeling their guilt, acknowledge Thee God, dwelling and manifesting thyself here; it is not then the same as: praise Jehovah (Gesenius, Winer). It is unnecessary to seek a direct association of ideas between this second and the first petition. Thenius says: “The internal welfare of the state was secured by fidelity and faith arising from fear of God, but that welfare could be in peril from without.” Nor is there here a direct reference to Lev_26:17 and Deu_28:25, as Keil asserts.
1Ki_8:35-40. When heaven is shut up, &c. The third petition (1Ki_8:35-36), and the fourth (1Ki_8:37-40), concern divine judgments by means of long-continued drought and land-plagues. As the rain, on which the fertility of the soil, and therefore all outward prosperity, depended in the East, was a sign of divine blessing (Eze_34:26 sq.), so drought was a sign of curse and punishment (Lev_26:3; Lev_26:19; Deu_28:15; Deu_28:23; Deu_11:17; Amo_4:7; Hag_1:11). The meaning of 1Ki_8:36 is: when the people were brought into the right way again, by the merited chastisement, then he beseeches God to hear their supplication, and to forgive their sin and to send rain again. In 1Ki_8:37 there are coincidences with Lev_26:25; Deu_28:22; but hunger, plague, blasting, and mildew are elsewhere mentioned as divine chastisements (Amo_4:9-10; Jer_14:12; Jer_24:10; Eze_6:12; Eze_14:21). חָסִּיל is in apposition (according to Keil), to describe the plague of locusts (Deu_28:38); Thenius thinks the copula before it, which the chronicler and the old translations give, is wanting, and that a worse kind of locust is meant (Joe_1:4; Psa_78:46). בְּאֶרֶץ שְׁעָרָיו is literally: in the land of his gates, which, however, gives no sense; it is clear that בָּאָרֶץ must be read (as Bertheau has it), and שְׁעָרָיו be supplied with ב, as is clear from Deu_28:52 : “thou shalt be besieged in all thy gates, in thy whole land.” Thenius unnecessarily reads, according to the Sept. (ἑν μιᾷ τῶν πόλεων αὐτῶν) בְּאַחַת instead of בארץ. The words say—when the enemy is in his land, yea, even besieging his well-protected towns. The wasting of the land by locusts was similar to the wasting by hostile armies, that invaded the land like locusts (Jdg_6:5). Which shall know every man, &c. (1Ki_8:38), i.e., when each one should see the connection “between his sin and the plague inflicted on him by God, and allow it to work out his chastisement” (Bertheau). According to his ways (1Ki_8:39), i.e., by the repentant heart, shown in all his conduct. Whether this repentance is really felt, He alone, who “searches the hearts” of the children of men, can know (Jer_17:10). The reason of the hearing of prayer is given in 1Ki_8:40 : continuance in godly fear (comp. Deu_4:10).
1Ki_8:41-43. Moreover concerning a stranger, &c. The fifth petition (1Ki_8:41-43) ranks with the former ones: but not only those belonging to thy people Israel, who may call upon Thee here, hear also every stranger who does so; that all people of the earth, &c. In the law (Deu_15:14-16) it was provided that a stranger, sojourning among the Israelites, might sacrifice with them; Solomon goes further, and declares that the great deeds of God in Israel, the seal and crown of which was the temple as a fixed dwelling-place of Jehovah, were to work out the salvation not only of Israel, but the conversion of all the nations of the earth. To reach that end may God hear every stranger who comes to this house and calls upon Him for His name’s sake (i.e., because he had heard of the might and greatness displayed on Israel, 1Ki_8:42). The expressions in 1Ki_8:42 refer essentially to the wonderful exodus from Egypt (Deu_4:34; Deu_5:15; Exo_6:6), which had reached its climax in the building of the temple (see above, on 1Ki_6:1). The words in 1Ki_8:43 : that they may know that this house … is called by thy name (נקרא על), are a formula that occurs as here and in Jer_7:10-11; Jer_7:14; Jer_25:29, about the temple, and about the people Israel in Deu_28:10; Isa_4:1; Isa_63:19; Jer_14:9; Jer_15:16; 2Ch_7:14; and is intimately related to the expression, to lay the name of Jehovah upon (על) a thing or person (Num_6:27; Deu_12:5; Deu_16:6; 1Ki_11:36, &c). The latter was thus marked as one to whom God reveals himself (names himself), i.e., manifests and communicates himself, so that he stands in union and communion with Him (Amo_9:12, comp. Hengstenberg, Christologie, iii. s. 231 sq.). Through the hearing of the prayers which the heathen offered here to Israel’s God, they as well as Israel were to experience that His “name” was there (1Ki_8:16), i.e., that He manifested and proved himself there to be God. The usual translation of the expression, that this house is called by Thy name, or bears Thy name, is therefore quite wrong. What good would it have done the heathen to know that the house Solomon built was called by Jehovah’s name? But the following is equally erroneous: “that Thy name has been invoked upon this temple (at its dedication), i.e., that this temple has been dedicated under effective invocation of Thy continued help” (Thenius); it was not that the heathens were to know that the temple had been solemnly consecrated, but that the God who dwelt there would hear their as well as Israel’s prayer, and that hence He is the only true God (1Ki_18:37; Psa_65:3).
1Ki_8:44-50. If thy people go out, &c. The sixth petition (1Ki_8:44-45), and the seventh (1Ki_8:46-50), relate to the conceivable cases, in which the people cannot pray at Jehovah’s house, because they are far from it. The first case is, when the people should be whithersoever Jehovah should send them, i.e., in war, according to Jehovah’s appointment and approbation; they were then to pray towards the city in which the temple was. The other case is, if having grievously sinned against Jehovah, and in consequence, being vanquished and led away captive to another land, they were then to repent, and direct their prayers towards the country, the city, and the house where Jehovah dwelt. The outward turning was the sign of the inward turning to the God of Israel, who as such has His dwelling-place in the temple, and is a real confession to this God, who never leaves His people, if they do not forsake Him. Maintain their cause, 1Ki_8:45 (comp. Psa_9:5; Deu_10:18). This presupposes that the war is a just one. The three expressions for sinning are scarcely to be distinguished with precision from each other, as Keil thinks, but are only meant to include every conceivable kind of sin. Thenius asserts that the verses 44–51 are a “section added later, perhaps by the elaborator,” for such a petition, which belongs properly to 1Ki_8:33-34, cannot follow 1Ki_8:43; the custom of turning towards Jerusalem is first mentioned in writings subsequent to the exile (Dan_6:11; Ezra 4:58), and the last petition, 1Ki_8:46-51, was occasioned by the Babylonian captivity, just also as the formula of the confession of sin, 1Ki_8:47, belonged to a later period (Dan_9:5; Psa_106:6). On the other hand, both petitions are exactly in the right place; the five previous ones refer to cases in which prayer is offered at the temple itself; the last two to cases where the praying people cannot come to the temple. They therefore follow quite naturally; besides this, the case in 1Ki_8:44 is evidently quite different from that in 1Ki_8:33 sq., for in the latter there is an armed invasion by the enemy, in which some are taken prisoners; and in the former (1Ki_8:44) the people go out to battle under the divine order. Turning towards the temple was a very natural custom, and mentioned not only in 1Ki_8:44; 1Ki_8:48, but in 1Ki_8:38, before, and also in Psa_5:8; Psa_28:2. As the temple, being Jehovah’s dwelling, was a pattern of the heavens, His real dwelling-place, it followed that as men stretched out their hands to heaven, so they stretched them towards the temple in prayer; it is, at any rate, impossible to prove that this custom came in first after the captivity. The carrying away conquered nations was “a fundamental maxim of despots which prevailed in the ancient orient” (Winer, R.-W.-B., i. s. 357, and the writings quoted there); when therefore Solomon, in counting up the misfortunes and straits in which Israel could fall, thinks lastly of this most grievous case, it is less surprising that he should rather than that he should not have mentioned it, especially since it was repeatedly threatened in the law (Lev_26:33; Deu_28:25; Deu_28:36; Deu_28:64; Deu_4:27). The petition is quite general, and there is not the slightest allusion to any particular captivity. The confession in 1Ki_8:47 is by no means of a kind that could have only been made in exile (comp. Num_14:40; 1Sa_7:6; Psa_51:6; Psa_32:5), and we might, inversely, with more justice maintain that the Jews in exile appropriated this most expressive word for the deepest guilt, from the royal prayer (Keil). There are exactly seven petitions, thus giving the prayer the seal of this significant number; and the last two cannot have been added later, for they contain nothing foreign to the other ones, but on the contrary are very suitable to the former petitions, and in perfect harmony with the immediately preceding one (comp. Bertheau on 2Ch_6:39).
1Ki_8:51-54. For they be thy people, &c. 1Ki_8:51-52 form the conclusion of the prayer, as 1Ki_8:23-26, the beginning, to which this conclusion points back. He confidently gives his reason for hoping for the acceptance of the whole prayer; which reason is the election of Israel out of all nations, to be a peculiar and covenant people. With 1Ki_8:51 comp. Deu_4:20. The iron furnace is not = a furnace of iron, but the furnace in which the iron is melted, which requires the greatest heat, therefore = glowing furnace. The deliverance from Egypt is here also looked on as a pledge for deliverance from every future distress, how great soever. The beginning of the prayer, 1Ki_8:28-29, is taken up again in 1Ki_8:52; its close connection with 1Ki_8:51 through לִהְיוֹת has this sense; that it follows from their election to be a peculiar people, that Jehovah would also listen, in future, to their prayers. 1Ki_8:53 (comp. Lev_20:24; Lev_20:26) is no mere repetition of 1Ki_8:51 (Thenius), but rests upon a broader ground, derived from the destiny of the nation itself. The peculiar people is that which was set apart for Jehovah’s service from among all nations (Num_8:14; Num_16:9), the holy people, the royal priesthood (Exo_19:5-6). The prayer has quite a different ending in 2Ch_6:41-42; this, Thenius thinks the original one, which was not discovered by our author. That ending, however, must not be preferred to that in our books, and put in place of the latter; because it agrees word for word with Psa_132:8-10, referring to a period after the captivity, and is evidently taken from that psalm, not the latter from Chronicles, or from some source common to both. Peculiarities of the language also point to a relatively late period of composition (see Bertheau on the place). This ending in Chron. appears to have been chosen to form a connecting link with what is related immediately afterwards (2Ch_7:1-3), but which is not in our text.
1Ki_8:54-61. And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer, &c. As the dedication-prayer was preceded by an address of greeting to the people (1Ki_8:14-21), so also it was followed by a concluding speech and blessing, which Solomon gave, again standing (וַיַּעֲמֹד). He next praises God for having given rest to His people Israel (1Ki_8:56); for the consecrated temple, that had been filled with the glory of the Lord (1Ki_8:10-11), was a firm, immovable habitation, and therefore the practical evidence that the people had now fully come into their promised rest (Deu_12:9-10), (see above, on 1Ki_6:1); Solomon, the builder of the temple, was for this reason named the “man of rest” (1Ch_22:9). The good word is that which promises blessing (Jer_33:14), as pronounced in Lev. 36:3 sq., and Deu_28:1 sq. The expression there hath not failed as = fulfilled, often occurs (Jos_21:45; Jos_23:14; 2Ki_10:10). The praise of Jehovah, 1Ki_8:56, forms the introduction to 1Ki_8:57-61, which are also blessings and exhortations. In 1Ki_8:58, Solomon wishes for the people, that God might, as heretofore, continue to be with them; in 1Ki_8:59, that He would, in answer to the prayer just spoken, grant them continued help against their enemies. The object of the first wish is stated in 1Ki_8:58, that of the second in 1Ki_8:60. Nigh, meaning that He should always remember these words, and fulfil them. Day and night, i. e., as each day should require, Exo_5:13; Exo_16:4. With 1Ki_8:60 comp. 1Ki_8:43. The שָׁלֵם, 1Ki_8:61, does not mean: in friendship with God (Gesenius), nor submissive (de Wette), nor uprightly (Luther), but: entirely, undividedly (comp. 1Ki_11:4; 1Ki_11:6). The entire concluding discourse (1Ki_8:54-61) is missing in Chronicles, as we remarked; and this concluding portion being an integral part of the dedication-solemnity, the fact is by no means satisfactorily accounted for by saying: that “it is only a recapitulation of the preceding lengthy prayer” (Keil). On the other hand, Chron. informs us that immediately after the prayer was ended, fire fell from heaven, which consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and that the glory of the Lord filled the house (2Ch_7:1 sq.). There is no apparent reason why our author, who is otherwise so minute in his account, should quite pass over this remarkable and wonderful occurrence, if it had been related in his original. Chronicles contradicts itself, inasmuch as it makes the filling of the house with the glory of the Lord follow upon the prayer, while 1Ki_5:14, as in our account, 1Ki_8:10 sq., makes it precede the prayer, which indeed the entire contents of the prayer presuppose. No one will believe that the glory of the Lord left the house during the prayer, and afterwards filled it again. If therefore the chronicler has in any place borrowed from later tradition founded on Lev_9:24, it must have been here.
1Ki_8:62-66. And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice, &c. In accordance with the design of the festival, by far the greater number of sacrifices were thanksgiving, or peace-offerings, of which the fat only was burnt, and the rest used for food (Lev_7:11 sq.;Deu_12:7). The number of animals, in which the Chron. and all the old translations agree, was very large, so that some have tried to prove that it was exaggerated. Thenius reckons that “as it took seven days to offer these sacrifices (allowing twelve complete hours to the sacrificial day), about five oxen and twenty-four sheep must have been slaughtered and offered every minute.” This calculation, plausible as it seems, is disproved when we consider what the exact circumstances were here; as Keil on the place has thoroughly done. It was not the king alone who sacrificed, but “all Israel with him;” there were sacrificial feasts, during fourteen days, for the great assemblage of all the people from Hamoth (the northern boundary of Palestine, Num_13:21; Num_34:8) to the river of Egypt (the present el Arisch on the southern frontier, Jos_15:4), and whom we may compute at 100,000 men. Certainly the priests could not possibly have killed so many animals for sacrifice in the time stated, but according to the law it was the business of those offering the sacrifices themselves; the priests only had to sprinkle the blood on the altar. This they could easily do, for their number then amounted to at least some thousands, as we can judge from the number of levites (1Ch_23:3). With regard to the great number of the sacrifices, it is also expressly remarked in 1Ki_8:64, that as they could not all be offered on the brazen altar, Solomon (for this purpose) hallowed the middle of the court, i.e., consecrated it as a place of sacrifice by erecting subsidiary altars. How extraordinarily great the number of sacrifices at that kind of festival was, even in later times, we learn from an account of Josephus (Bell. Jud.vi. 9, 3), namely, that at a passover-feast at Jerusalem, in Nero’s time, the priests counted no less than 256,000 sacrifices that were slaughtered and consumed. We are to understand besides the thank-offerings, by the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings (1Ki_8:64), the daily morning and evening sacrifices of the law (Num_28:3). The time and length of the festivity given in 1Ki_8:65-66 are more plainly expressed in the parallel passage in 2Ch_7:8-10 : “Solomon kept the feast (אֶת־הֶחָג, i.e., the feast of the tabernacles, see on 1Ki_8:2) at the same time as temple-dedication, seven days,… and on the eighth day they made עֲצֶרֶת (as the law commanded, Lev_23:36); for they kept the dedication of the altar (in which that of the temple was included) seven days, and the feast (of tabernacles) seven days. And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away.” This places the feast of the tabernacles, which according to the law began on the 15th of the seventh month, after the dedication; and when our text says therefore seven days and seven days, even fourteen days (1Ki_8:65), it can only mean that the dedication and the feast lasted altogether fourteen days; consequently the first immediately preceded the latter, and did not occupy from the 1st to the 7th day (Thenius), but from the eighth to the fourteenth. That the dedication lasted “fourteen days” is still more out of the question (v. Gerlach). The two narratives do not, however, perfectly agree, for 1Ki_8:66 says that Solomon sent the people away on the eighth day (of the feast), i.e., on the 22d of the month, while 2Ch_7:10 makes it the 23d. Yet this is no real contradiction, but only a vague form of speech about a known thing. Solomon sent the people away on the 8th day, i.e., in the afternoon or evening, of the Azereth of the feast of tabernacles; so that they began their journey home on the following morning, i.e., on the 23d of the month (Keil). Whether the feast of atonement (Lev_23:27), which fell on the 10th of the seventh month, was kept, and how, remains uncertain. Old commentators say that the dedication rendered it unusually solemn; others that, as it was a fast day, its observance was for that time omitted. Tents (1Ki_8:66) is here like 2Sa_20:1; Jdg_7:8 used for home, and David is named instead of Solomon (which the chronicler adds), because he was the originator of the temple-building, and through him Solomon was enabled to undertake it.
Historical and Ethical
1. The dedication of the temple is one of the most important of the facts of the Old Testament history, inasmuch as with it and through it, the “house” which Solomon built, first became what it was destined for—the dwelling-place of Jehovah, and all that the idea of dwelling comprises in it (see above, on chap. 6). The theocratic kingdom, and that of Solomon in particular, then reached its highest glory. For this reason the feast did not last only one day, but, like the great feasts that were devoted to the remembrance of the equally important facts in the theocratic history (the passover and tabernacles), continued seven days. This is why both narratives give such minute accounts of it, and show, by their agreement, that the common source from which they drew had treated the subject with the same minuteness. V. Gerlach justly remarks that: “the solemn event recounted here crowned the work of the establishment of God’s kingdom in Israel, which was begun by Samuel and continued by David.”
2. In respect of the act of dedication, it next strikes us that the king stands at the head of the whole ceremony, though it was an essentially religious one. He ordains a special festival, calls all the people to it, and conducts the whole solemnity. He is the author of everything from beginning to end—speech, prayer, and blessing. The priests and levites indeed are also busied in it, but they only perform their usual services, and the high-priest is not even named, still less mentioned as the chief actor on the occasion, performing the dedication. It has been said in explanation, that Solomon stood at this moment, like Moses, Samuel, and David, as a direct and divine ambassador, as king, priest, and prophet (von Gerlach), or that he had taken on himself, as an absolute temporal ruler, the functions of a priest and prophet (Ewald, Eisenlohr, Menzel, and others). Both suppositions are, to say the least, unnecessary. The position Solomon took here is thoroughly justified by the nature of the theocratic kingdom, which was not designed to remove or displace the divine rule, but rather to exalt and execute it. The theocratic king did not take the place of the God-king, Jehovah, but was his “servant,” and as such, Solomon repeatedly designates himself here (1Ki_8:25; 1Ki_8:28-29; 1Ki_8:52; 1Ki_8:59). What the whole people were to Jehovah, by virtue of the covenant (Exo_19:6), was summed up in their king, and true of him as an individual. The priesthood was not at the head of the kingdom, which was not an hierarchy, but a theocracy; theirs was a separate institution, which it was the duty of the king to maintain, as well as all other institutions of the law (covenant). He would therefore have acted contrary to Jehovah’s law, and have sinned (comp. 2Ch_26:16 sq.), had he taken on himself the offices which belonged by law to the priests. Solomon therefore let the priests perform their services at the dedication, as the law prescribed, and he was not guilty of the shadow of usurpation of the priestly office. But the act of dedication of the “house of Jehovah” built by him through divine commission, which act bore such high importance to the realm and people, and began a new epoch in theocratic history, belonged rightly to his mission as a theocratic king. No one else had the right, because no one else had the same theocratic position and duties. And as the theocratic kingdom reached its culminating point with Solomon, the theocratic kingdom also attained in him its full significance. It would be quite perverse to attempt to ground or to defend the modern imperial papalism (Cäsaro-papismus), or the so-called liturgical rights of the sovereign, by the precedent of Solomon’s conduct. The Old Testament theocratic kingdom was essentially different from the monarchy of these of modern times.
3. The act of dedication began by carrying the ark of the covenant in solemn procession, with the king at the head, into the temple, and depositing it in “its place,” the holy of holies, while numerous sacrifices were offered. The ark of the covenant was the root and kernel of the whole sanctuary; it contained the moral law, at once the original document and pledge of the covenant, through which, and in consequence of which, Jehovah was willing to “dwell” in the midst of his chosen people; the Kaporeth upon which Jehovah was enthroned was therefore inseparably united with it (Exo_25:22), so that the entire sanctuary only became through this throne what it was intended to be—the dwelling-place of Jehovah. On this subject Witsius says (Miscell. sacr. p. 439) of the arca fœderis: Quœ sanctissimum fuit totius tabernaculi κειμήλιον, quœque veluti cor totius religionis Israeliticœ primum omnium formata est Exo_25:10, et cui ne deesset habitationis locus, ipsum tabernaculum dein et superbum illud templum conditum fuit. Exo_26:33 et Exo_40:21; 1Ch_28:2. By the placing of the ark of the covenant in the temple, it first became the house of Jehovah, and hence its solemn introduction into it. While everything else within it was made new (chap. 7), the same ark of the covenant was kept, and only changed its place. It could never grow old, for it was the witness of the past victorious divine guidance, as well as the pledge of Jehovah’s faithfulness and might. With it, all the historical facts bound up with it became associated with the temple; it was the historical tie between the old and new sanctuary, between the two periods of the tent and the house (see Introd. § 3), making the latter the immediate sequel to the former.
4. The filling of the house with Jehovah’s glory, made manifest to the senses by the cloud, is in harmony with the spirit of the Old Testament economy, inasmuch as it bore, compared with the New Testament economy, a bodily form, and in it the entire human-divine relation, as it comes to its expression in a cultus, assumed shapes perceptible to the senses. As Jehovah, in the old covenant, chose a visible dwelling amongst his people, in token of their election, so also He verified His presence in this dwelling in a way cognizant to the senses, that is, through the cloud, which is the medium and sign of His manifestation, not only here, but all through the Old Testament (Exo_16:10; Exo_20:21; Exo_24:15-16; Exo_34:5; Exo_40:34; Lev_16:2; Num_11:25; Num_12:5; Isa_6:3-4; Eze_1:4; Eze_1:28; Eze_10:3-4; Psa_18:10-12). But the cloud is not so well suited for this purpose, because it exists far above, in heaven, which is Jehovah’s peculiar dwelling (Pro_8:28; Psa_89:7; Job_35:5), and is also, as it were, His chariot (Psa_104:3); but rather because, as its name shows, its nature is to conceal and veil, so that cloud and darkness are synonymous words, “עָנָן, cloud, named from the covering of the heavens” (Gesenius); עֲרָפֶל, “thick darkness,” comes from עָרַף, drop down dew (Deu_33:28), and means literally cloud-night; עָב from עוּב, to darken, sometimes means thick darkness, sometimes cloud (Exo_19:9; Psa_18:12; Job_36:29; Job_37:11; Job_37:16). The cloud is, on account of its darkness, the mode of manifestation of Jehovah and of His glory, and the throne on which His presence was concentrated within the dwelling stood in the back part, which was perfectly dark. Even the high-priest, when he entered once a year into this dark place, covered the throne besides with a cloud of incense, “that he died not” (Lev_16:2; Lev_16:13). When Moses prayed, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory! he received the answer: Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live; but Jehovah then came down in the cloud to manifest himself to him (Exo_33:18; Exo_33:20; Exo_34:5 sq.). Nebulâ, says an old commentator, deus se et reprœsentabat et velabat. The cloud is then, on one hand, the heaven-descended sign of the presence of the self-manifesting God; on the other hand, it declares that God in His being, spiritually and ethically, is so far above, and different from all other beings, that man, in his sinful and mortal nature, cannot comprehend Him nor endure the sight of Him. Görres rightly says (Mythengeschichte II. s. 507): “It is the distinguishing characteristic of the genius of the Mosaic fundamental view, that it veils the Deity far off from the temerity of the exploring reason, just as it chastely and abstemiously forbids polluting Him with the sensuous dreams of the imagination.” The God of the Old Testament manifests Himself to man through word and deed, yet ever remains at infinite distance above him, so that when he strives to overstep the creature-limits of his nature he must perish. Quemadmodum, says Abarbanel (in Buxtorf, hist. arcœ fœd., cap. 11), lucem solis propter summum ejus splendorem et claritatem oculus humanus non potest videre, quamvis causa sit, ut res videantur; et si homo proprius et fixe eum intueri velit, oculis ejus percutiuntur et hebetantur, ut nec illud amplius videre queat, quod alias videre potuit: sic non potest intellectus humanus apprehendere deum secundum veritatem suam, et si terminum suum egrediatur, apprehensio ejus confunditur aut moritur (cf. 1Ti_6:16).
5. The dedication prayer, which belongs to the finest pieces of the Old Testament, received a high significance through the fact that the person who offered it, did so in his highest official character and rank, as king and head of the theocracy, and in view of the whole people, on an occasion (see above on 1Ki_6:1) which formed an epoch in the theocracy. This, then, is not the prayer of a private person, upon a private matter, but one offered in the name of the whole nation, and about a subject which formed the central point of its worship, and therefore touched its highest interests. It did not spring from individual religious views, but from the religious consciousness of the whole community, and may therefore be regarded as a public and solemn confession of faith, inasmuch as it brings to light the chief and fundamental truths of the Old Testament religion which peculiarly distinguished it from all others. There is not a prayer to be compared with this in all pre-Christian antiquity. Had we nothing belonging to Jewish antiquity but this prayer, it would alone suffice to attest the depth, the purity, and the truth of the Israelitish knowledge of God and of salvation, over against the religious ideas of all other peoples.
6. Prominent beyond all else in this prayer are the expressions respecting the being of God, especially in His relations to the temple. At the beginning (1Ki_8:23) God is addressed as He with whom nothing can be compared, whether in heaven or on earth; as the Being who is above and beyond the world, and therefore the only God; and it is emphatically confessed (1Ki_8:27) that no house built by man can contain Him in His infinitude and omnipresence. This was the most decisive refutation of all anthropomorphistic representations of God, such as heathenism made in its temples (see above), and which it might seek to associate with Jehovah’s dwelling, now no longer a movable tent, but an abiding house. At the same time, this infinite, only God is most explicitly praised as Israel’s God, i.e., as the God who had chosen Israel out of all peoples to be His inheritance, had shown Himself to them in word and deed, and entered into a covenant with them, as a pledge of which He took up His dwelling in their midst. This confession of a personal, living God presents the strongest contrast to every pantheistic representation of the being of God, such as the higher wisdom of heathendom, identifying God and the world, imagined, and of which, most unjustly, the effort has been made to discover a soupcon in Solomon’s words in 1Ki_8:27. The Israelitish idea of God knows nothing of a contradiction between the supernal, infinite, and absolute being of God, and His entering into creaturely, finite, and limited being. Just because He is infinite and unsearchable, He can communicate with the finite; and because He is everywhere, He can be peculiarly present in one place, centring His presence, and displaying His glory (absolute sublimity). Heaven is His throne, and earth His footstool, therefore no house built by man can be His permanent place of rest (Isa_66:1); but as He dwells in heaven, so He can dwell on earth; “for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him [also] that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Isa_57:15). “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight of thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all people” (Deu_10:14 sq.). “For Him nothing is too great and nothing too small, nothing is too high and nothing too low, that He cannot set His name there” (1Ki_8:16; 1Ki_8:29 : 1Ki_11:36; 1Ki_14:11), i.e., manifest Himself at and through it, without ceasing to fill heaven and earth. To confess and pray to Him as such a God means to “confess His name” (1Ki_8:35; 1Ki_8:41; 1Ki_8:43). His covenant relation to Israel, and the consequent; dwelling in the midst of that people, are not at all inconsistent with his infinitude and unsearchableness, but rather were the means by which He could be known as the one, true, and living God. The expression touching the infinite grandeur of God’s being is followed by this: “who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants that,” &c. The God, with whom nothing in heaven or earth could be compared, has manifested and revealed Himself to Israel as a moral being; the covenant which He has made with them is of a purely ethical nature, for it is the law (Exo_34:28; Deu_4:13), the revealed will of God, and rests on the grace of election; it is a covenant of grace. He who gave the law, and will have it kept, is also merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth (Exo_34:6). The knowledge of this gives the key-tone to the whole prayer; all trust and hope of an answer is rooted in it. But heathenism, which in its deepest grounds is nature-religion, knows nothing of this; the God of Israel is the only absolute holy one, and therefore the alone true.
7. The general substance of the prayer is that Jehovah might hear all those who should call on Him here for help or deliverance from any need. But the answer is not expected by any mere outward coming or turning to the place of His presence, but by the knowledge, that all distress is caused by the turning away from Jehovah and His laws, that is, by sin. Answer, with regard to deliverance, must rest therefore upon forgiveness of sins, which has again as its prerequisite repentance and return, i.e., conversion to Jehovah. This is why the petition: forgive the sin! (1Ki_8:30; 1Ki_8:34; 1Ki_8:36; 1Ki_8:39; 1Ki_8:50) is repeated in the several prayers for deliverance from a state of suffering. Universal sinfulness is not only expressly asserted (1Ki_8:46), but the living consciousness of it is interwoven with the whole prayer. This is the more characteristic, as it was not a penitential ceremony at which the prayer was offered, but a joyful thanksgiving-festival, and it was offered by a king who was the wisest of his time, and had reached the summit of power and prosperity (1Ki_5:1; 1Ki_5:11). From this we see how firmly that consciousness was rooted in the people Israel, and how inseparably it was united with all their religious views. Such a thing is found in; no other nation of the ancient world, because none of them knew the God whose name is Holy (Isa_57:15), i.e., who had revealed Himself to His people as the Holy one, and whose covenant with them bore this inscription: Ye shall be holy for I am holy (Lev_11:44). When God is known as the absolutely Holy, and the sanctifier, man appears in contrast as a sinner, and the more living the knowledge, the more living is the consciousness of sinfulness. No man can confess the name of God, which is the name of holiness, who does not know himself to be a sinner: acknowledging his sin he gives God, the Holy One, glory. Hence הוֹדָה (1Ki_8:33) means just as much, to confess his sin to Jehovah, as to give him praise (Ps. 32:5; 54:8).
8. Much as it is insisted on through the whole prayer, and its acceptance grounded in the fact, that Jehovah is the God of Israel, and has chosen that people from all nations of the earth (1Ki_8:51-53), yet the purpose of this election, namely “that all people of the earth may know Jehovah’s name,” and “fear Him as do His people Israel” (1Ki_8:43), is also very clearly set forth. The prayer that Jehovah may ever hear the strangers also, who come from distant lands and do not belong to His people, when they call upon Him here; this prayer, we say, receives peculiar importance when Solomon, in his blessing at the end of the whole festivity, alludes once more to the grand end designed: “that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else” (1Ki_8:60). It is therefore hoped of the Temple, the central sanctuary of the one true God, that the knowledge and worship of this God should spread forth from it among all nations of the earth; and it is very remarkable, that what the prophets declared no less distinctly afterwards, was pronounced here so explicitly, at the dedication of the Temple (cf. Isa_2:3; Isa_56:7; Isa_60:2 sq.; Jer_3:17; Mic_4:2 sq.; Zec_8:20 sq.). Thus the prophetical element, that element which formed so essential and important a part of Old-Testament religion, is not absent from the prayer. The common talk of vulgar rationalism, about Jehovah being only a God of the Jews and of their land, appears in all its emptiness and folly when contrasted with the official (to a certain degree) acknowledgment of Israel’s world-wide mission, and which acknowledgment was made on a most solemn occasion.
9. In its form and breadth, the prayer of Solomon is a genuine public or common prayer; it wears a completely objective character; the views, wishes, and wants of individuals, as expressed, for instance, in the prayer of 1Ki_3:6-9, are here left quite in the back-ground, while the common wants of the whole people occupy the foreground. Solomon, as the head and representative of the whole nation, does not pray from his own faith and consciousness, but from those of the collected nation. First, praise and thanksgiving; then follow the various petitions and intercessory prayers; lastly, an appeal to the grace hitherto vouchsafed, for a pledge of acceptance and the promised succor. Both the language and modes of expression have the genuine ring of prayer. God is not preached to nor addressed nor taught, but prayed to. A firm trusting faith, a holy moral earnestness, unfeigned humility, and great simplicity breathe through the whole, while with these there is united a fervor which shows the deepest emotion; in short we feel that this prayer was not composed among the soft cushions of the palace, but on the knees. In this respect it may be regarded, at the present day, as a model of a general church-prayer. This seems to have been more or less the case in earlier times; as for example, the so-called Litany, with its intercessions and responses,—Hear us, O Lord God! has the ring of our dedication prayer (1Ki_8:32; 1Ki_8:34; 1Ki_8:36; 1Ki_8:39; 1Ki_8:43; 1Ki_8:45; 1Ki_8:49).
10. In the concluding speech following the prayer Solomon desires for the people the help of God, that they may accomplish the world-wide design of their mission—the spreading of the knowledge of the one true God among all nations. He founds the hope that Jehovah will assist him, on the fulfilment of all the promises, already experienced, made to the people, of which the building of the Temple as a firm dwelling of Jehovah had given practical witness; he therefore begins the benediction with praise of the divine faithfulness; but he limits the attainment of their mission to the condition that they should persevere in keeping God’s laws. Thenius remarks forcibly on this subject: “How seemly and truly edifying it is that God’s help is specially implored for the purposes of ordinary life (1Ki_8:58), and that the wish that men may find an answer to prayers for temporal aid (1Ki_8:59), has for its end increased knowledge of the one true God (1Ki_8:60).”
11. The great seven days’ feast of the sacrifices connected with the dedication of the Temple is not to be looked on as a mere thanksgiving feast. The שְׁלָמִים which were brought in such unusual numbers, and formed the principal sacrifices, were by no means only thank and praise offerings, but also vow-offerings. The peculiar and characteristic mark of this kind of sacrifice, which distinguished it from the others, and in which their ritual culminated, was the sacrificial meals, in which the whole family of the sacrificers, even man-servants and maid-servants—the whole house, took part (Lev_7:15 sq.; Deu_12:17 sq.); it was a common meal. As eating at one table is a sign of communion and united feeling (Mat_8:11; Gal_2:12; Gen_43:32), so the sacrificial meal was the sign of religious unity of those who eat, among each other as well as with the Deity, to whom the sacrifice belonged, and at whose table it was eaten in common (cf. 1Co_10:18 sq., and in general Symbolik des Mos. Kultus, xi. s. 373 sq.). When therefore the king, and with him the whole people, held sacrificial meals during seven days, at the Temple-dedication, they celebrated and sealed, in doing so, both their union with Jehovah and with each other; thus the dedication of the Temple, the central point of all religious life in Israel, became also a covenant-festival.
Homiletical and Practical
The dedication of the Temple. (a) The bringing in the Ark of the Covenant to the Holy of Holies, 1Ki_8:1-13. (b) The speech, prayer, and benediction of the King, 1Ki_8:14-61. (c) Great sacrificial solemnity of the entire people, 1Ki_8:62-66.
1Ki_8:1-9. The solemn procession to the new Temple. (a) Its aim and signification (it was the Ark of the Covenant, because in it was the Law—i.e., the covenant, the very Soul of the Sanctuary, vide Historical and Critical, 3). We have in the new covenant not only the Law but the Gospel, which is everlasting, 1Pe_1:25. Where His Word is, there the Lord dwells and is enthroned; it is the soul of every house of God, and indeed gives it its consecration; without it, every church is dead and empty, whatsoever may be the prayers and praises offered therein; hence at the consecration of a church it is customary to bring it in in solemn procession. (b) The members of the procession (the King at its head, the heads of tribes, the princes, the priests and Levites, the entire people; all gathered round the ark, in which was the Law, i.e., the covenant, and by this march, solemnly and significantly recognizes the word of the Lord; no one, be his position high or low, is ashamed of this public acknowledgment. Nothing can be nobler than to see a whole nation, from the highest to the lowest, gathered in unity round its holiest possession).—What, from an evangelical standpoint, must we think of public processions, with a religious object (Prozessionen)?—Würt. Bib.: The consecration of a church is a praiseworthy custom. But it should not be done with holy water, but with the word of God, with prayer, and with thanksgiving.—Pfaff. Bib.: All men, especially those of highest rank, ought to show themselves zealous in God’s service, and enlighten others by their example.—The priests bear the ark, and bring it to its place. To be bearers of the Divine word, and to set up the mercy-seat in the House of God, as Paul points out, Rom_3:24 sq., is truly the office and the glory of God’s servants, Mal_2:7.—Cramer: Christ, the true Ark of the Covenant, is the end and fulfilling of the Law. My God! may I, as in an ark, preserve and guard thy law! Psa_40:9.
1Ki_8:6 sq. The word of the Lord is under divine protection, the angels are its guardians and watchers; it can neither be destroyed by human power, nor is it aided or protected by men.
1Ki_8:10-13. The glory of the Lord filled the House. (a) What this means; (b) in what manner it befell (v. Historical and Critical, 4).—It is impossible that mortal, sinful man should see or comprehend the Holy and Infinite One (1Ti_6:16). We see through a glass, darkly (1Co_13:12). I can experience his merciful Presence; but presumption and folly it is to wish to sound the depths of His Being, Job 38; Ex. 2:33, 20.—Starke: O soul, who finding thyself tempted, and as if in darkness and gloom, mournest that God is far from thee: ah! mark this for thy comfort, God abides with thee in darkness, and is thy light, Psa_23:4; Psa_27:1; Isa_57:15.—The eye of faith beholds in the darkness the glory of the Lord, in the night of the Cross the Light of the World, through the dim veil of the flesh the Only begotten Son of God, full of mercy and grace.
1Ki_8:14-21. The Speech of Solomon to the assembled people. He solemnly announces, (a) that the building of the temple was of the gracious will and counsel of God, 1Ki_8:15-16 (with it the leading of Israel out of Egypt is come to its end, reached its final aim; the House in place of the tent is the crowning act of God to Israel, a clear spoken testimony to his might and truth; therefore Solomon begins his speech: Blessed be, &c.); (b) that God had called him to the performance of his decrees, 1Ki_8:17-21. (He announces the mercy of God, in that he allows him to undertake the work whose completion was denied to his father. He who understands a great, holy work must be assured of this—that he is not actuated by ambition, by passion for glory, or by vanity, but that he is called thereto by God, and that it is his sacred duty.) 1Ki_8:14. After every completed work permitted thee by the Lord, be it great or small, let it be thy first care to give Him the honor, and to declare His praise.
1Ki_8:15. I have spoken it and performed it, said the Lord (Eze_37:14). What man speaks and promises, now he cannot perform, again he will not perform. Hence Psa_118:8.
1Ki_8:16. The choice of God is no blind preference of one and prejudice against another, but aims at the salvation of both. As from amongst all nations he chose Israel for its salvation, so out of all the tribes of Israel he chose the City of David for the blessing of the whole kingdom.
1Ki_8:17-18. How many individuals as well as whole congregations have the means and the power wherewith to build a church, to repair a ruinous one, or to enlarge one which has become too small; but nothing can be further from their mind.—He who purposes to do a good work, but is hindered therein, not by his own fault but by divine decree, he has yet “well done,” God regards his intention as the deed itself.—V. 19. God sometimes, in His inscrutable but all-wise councils, denies to His own people the fulfilment of their dearest wishes, whose object may even be the glory of His name, in order to try their faith, and exercise their submission and self-denial.—V. 20 The fairest prerogative of him whom God has placed upon a throne is, that he has power to work for the glory of God’s name, and to watch over the extension of the divine kingdom amongst his people. Every son who succeeds to the inheritance of his father should feel obliged, first of all, to take up the good work whose completion was denied to his father, and perfect it with love and zeal.
1Ki_8:22-53. The dedicatory prayer of Solomon. (a) the exordium, 1Ki_8:23-26; (b) the prayer, 1Ki_8:27-50; (c) the conclusion, 1Ki_8:51-53.—The prayer of Solomon a witness to his faith (he confesses the living, holy, and one God, before all the people); to his love (he bears His people upon His heart, and makes intercession for them); to his hope (he hopes that all nations will come to a knowledge of the true God). From Solomon we may learn how we ought to pray: in true reverence and humiliation before God, with earnestness and zeal, with un-doubting confidence that we shall be heard.—What an elevating spectacle, a king upon his knees, praying aloud, in the presence of his whole people, and in their behalf! Although the highest of them all, he is not ashamed to declare himself a servant of God, and to fall down upon his knees; although the wisest of them all (1Ki_5:11), he prays as a testimony that a wisdom which can no longer pray is folly; although the mightiest of all (1Ki_5:1), he confesses that nothing is done by his power alone, but that the Lord is the King Eternal; therefore it is, that he does not merely rule over his subjects, but as an upright king supplicates and prays for them likewise.
1Ki_8:22 (cf. 1Ki_8:54). Solomon stands before the altar, bows the knee, stretches out his hands, the people stand around, the worshippers turn their faces towards the sanctuary (1Ki_8:38; 1Ki_8:44; 1Ki_8:48). Outward forms, for the worship and service of God, are not to be rejected when they are the natural unbidden outflow of inward feeling. (The Lord himself and his apostles prayed upon their knees, Luk_22:41; Eph_3:14. No one is so exalted that he ought not to bow his knee and clasp his hands.) They (outward forms) are worthless when they are regarded as meritorious, and man puts his trust in them (Luk_18:11, sq.). They are sinful and blameworthy if they are performed merely for appearance’s sake, or to deceive men (Mat_6:5; Mat_6:16). The Lord knows the hearts of all men (1Ki_8:39); one cannot serve the living God with dead works (Heb_9:14).
1Ki_8:23-26. The introductory prayer, (a) The invocation, 1Ki_8:23-24. (Solomon calls upon the infinite God of heaven and of earth as the God of Israel, not because he was only the God of that nation, but because he had revealed himself to it, had spoken to it, and with it had made a covenant of mercy and grace, and had kept this covenant. In the new covenant we no longer call upon God as the God of Israel, but as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph_1:3), because he has revealed himself to us through Christ, and through Christ alone do we find in Him the true God, the God of grace and mercy. Thus He wills that we should call upon Him.) (b) The supplication joined to this, 1Ki_8:25-26. (Let thy promise be fulfilled. It is fulfilled, for God has sent that son of David whose kingdom shall have no end, Luk_1:32 sq.; Isa_9:7. In the new covenant we pray that God will prove true the word which He has spoken to us, through this Son of David.
1Ki_8:25. Covenant and mercy are no couch of repose for old men, but the working energy which keeps the path of God, and walks in His way.
1Ki_8:24. Starke: Word and deed, promise and fulfilment, with God go hand in hand.)
1Ki_8:27-30. What does Solomon declare concerning the destination of the house which he had built unto the Lord? (a) But will God indeed, &c., 1Ki_8:27. God dwells not, &c., Act_17:24; Isa_66:1. He is everywhere, in the heaven above as in the earth beneath, in lonely, secret chambers as in grandest temples, Psa_139:7 sq.; Jer_23:23 sq. But he has said: (b) My name shall be, 1Ki_8:29. Where His people dwells there will He also dwell, and will declare Himself to them as the God who is holy, and will be sanctified; not for His own sake, but for that of His people, has He a temple in their midst, Ex. 2:20, 24; 27:43. Here is His word of revelation, here His mercy-seat. Therefore, (c) He wills that here prayer shall be made unto him, and here He will listen to those who pray. 1Ki_8:30. Every prayer offered to Him here is a confession of Him, of His name.
1Ki_8:27. Although the heaven of heavens cannot contain the Unmeasurable and Infinite One, and no building, how great and noble soever, can suffice for Him, yet, in His mercy, He will make his dwelling-place (Joh_14:23) in the heart of that man who loves him and keeps his word, and it will truly become a temple of God (1Co_3:16); He will dwell with those who are of an humble spirit (Isa_57:15; Psa_113:5-6).
1Ki_8:29. The eye of God looks upon every house where His name is honored, where all with one mind raise heart and hand to Him, and call upon His name (Psa_121:4). To every church the saying is applicable: My name shall be there: the object of every church is to be a dwelling-place of divine revelation, i. e., if the revealed Word of God, in which, upon the strength of that Word, worship, praise, and prayer shall be offered to the name of the Lord.
1Ki_8:30. The houses of God, above all else, must be houses of prayer (Isa_56:7); they are desecrated if devoted merely to worldly purposes of any kind whatsoever instead of being used for prayer and supplication.—The hearing of prayer does not indeed depend upon the place where it is offered (Joh_4:20 sq.), but prayer should have an appointed place, where we can present ourselves, even as God wills that together with one voice we humbly exalt His name (Rom_15:6; Psa_34:4). Where two or three are gathered together in His name He is in their midst; how much more will He be where a whole congregation is assembled to call upon Him.
1Ki_8:31-50. The seven petitions of the prayer teach us, (a) in all necessity of body and soul to turn to the Lord who alone can help, and call upon Him with earnestness and zeal (Ps. 1:15; 91:14, 15); (b) in all our straits to recognize the wholesome discipline of an holy and just God, who will show us the good way in which we must walk (Psa_94:12; Heb_12:5 sq.); (c) to confess our sins and to implore forgiveness, in order that we may be heard (Psa_32:1; Psa_32:5; Psa_32:7); (d) not only for ourselves but also for others, in their time of need, should we pray and supplicate, even as the king does here for all individual men and for his entire people.
1Ki_8:31-32. First Petition. We may and must call upon God to help the innocent man to his rights (Psa_26:1), and, even here in this world, to reward the evil man according to his deserts.—Starke: It is allowable for a pious man to entreat God to administer his just cause; yet must he not wish evil to his neighbor in mere human vindictiveness (Psa_109:1 sq.). The oath is a prayer, a solemn invocation of God in testimony of the truth; the false oath is not merely a lie but an insolent mockery of God, and God will not be mocked (Gal_6:7; Exo_20:7).—Bear in mind when thou swearest that thou art standing before the altar, i.e., before the judgment-seat of the Holy and Just God, who can condemn body and soul to hell.—Where the oath is no longer held sacred there the nation and the State go to ruin (Zec_8:16 sq.).
1Ki_8:33-34. Second Petition. A victorious enemy is the whip and scourge with which the Lord chastises a nation, so that it may awake out of sleep, confess its sins, turn unto Him, and learn anew its forgotten prayers and supplications.—To those who are taken captive in war, and far from fatherland must dwell beneath a foreign yoke, applies the word of the Lord, Luk_13:2. Therefore they who are prospering in their native country must pray for them, believing in the words of Psa_146:7.
1Ki_8:35-36. Third Petition.—Inasmuch as fruitful seasons, instead of leading to repentance, as being proofs of God’s goodness, so often tend to create pride, haughtiness, and light-mindedness, therefore the Lord sometimes shuts up His heavens. But then we should murmur not against him, but against our own sins (Lam_3:39), and confess that all human care and toil for obtaining food out of the earth is in vain if He give not rain out of heaven, and fruitful seasons.—Starke: Fine weather is not brought about by the means of processions, but by true repentance and heartfelt prayer, Lev_26:3-4.—When God humbles us, He thus directs us to the good way (Psa_119:67; Deu_5:8; Deu_2:3).
1Ki_8:37-40. Fourth Petition. Divine judgments and means of discipline are very various in their kind, their degree, and their duration. God in his wisdom and justice metes out to a whole people, as to each individual man, such measure of suffering as is needed for its salvation, for He knows the hearts of all the children of men, and He tries no man beyond his power of endurance; He hearkens to him who calls upon Him in distress (2Sa_22:7; Psa_34:18; Isa_26:16).—Distress teaches us how to pray, but often only so long as it is present with us. God looks upon our heart, and knows whether our prayer is a mere passing emotion, or whether we have truly turned to Him. How entirely different would our prayers often sound if we reflected that we are addressing Him who knows our heart, with its most secret and mysterious thoughts, expectations, and wishes. The effect of an answer to our prayers must be that we fear the Lord, and walk in His ways, not only in the time of need and trouble, but at all times, as long as we live. It is a priceless thing that the heart remains constant.
1Ki_8:41-43. Fifth Petition. Even as Solomon bore witness that the house which he had built could not encompass Him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, so likewise he testified that the covenant made by God with Israel did not exclude all other nations from salvation, but rather aimed at leading all men to a knowledge of the truth. If a Solomon prayed for the attainment of this object, how much more does it become us to pray for the conversion of the heathen, and do our utmost that the people who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death may come to Him, a light set by God before all nations to lighten the heathen (Luk_2:31, sq.). He who desires to know nothing of missions to the heathen fails to know the God who wills that help should be given to all men, and that all should come to a knowledge of the truth (1Ti_2:4).—Solomon hoped that the heathen, when they heard the great deeds which the Lord did in Israel, would turn to that God; how much stronger becomes this hope when the infinitely greater scheme of salvation in Christ Jesus is declared to them! But how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach if they are not sent? (Rom_10:14 sq.).—The acknowledgment of the name of God necessarily causes the fear of God. If an individual, or an entire nation, be wanting in the latter, they will also lack a true knowledge of God, let them boast as they will of enlightenment and enlightened religious ideas.
1Ki_8:44-45. Sixth Petition. A people who undertake war should, above all, be sure that it is under the guidance of God. That alone is a just war which is undertaken with God’s help, and in the cause of God, of truth, and of justice.—A host going forth to battle should remember this: Nothing can be done in our own strength, we are soon quite ruined! (Psa_33:16 sq.) and thereupon we should pray and entreat the Lord, from whom alone proceeds victory (Proverbs 21, 31; Psa_147:10 sq.).
1Ki_8:46-50. Seventh Petition. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Pro_14:34). Thus the people Israel is a living example for all times, as a warning and as an admonition (1Co_10:11).—The Lord has patience with each person, as also with whole peoples and governments, for He knows “there is no man who is not sinful.” But when the riches of his goodness, patience, and long-suffering are despised, and a nation given over to hardness of heart and impenitence (Rom_2:4 sq.), He casts it away from before His face, and wipes it out as a man wipeth a dish (2Ki_21:13), so that it ceases to be a people and a kingdom. The world’s history is the world’s final doom. The wrath of God towards all ungodly conduct of men is not a mere biblical form of speech, but a fearful truth, which he who hearkens not will learn by experience.—The saying: There is no man who sinneth not, must not be misused to apologize for sin as a natural weakness; it should rather warn and exhort us that we must not give the reins to that will which lieth even at the door, but rule over it (Gen_1:4; Gen_1:7); for he who committeth sin is the slave of sin (Joh_8:34).—The confession: We have sinned, &c., must come from the depths of the heart, and must be in connection with the conversion of the whole soul to the Lord; for he alone can obtain forgiveness of all his sins in whose spirit there is no guile (Psa_32:2). But how often, in days of fasting and humiliation, is this confession made only with the lips! How, then, can a man hope for mercy and forgiveness through the hearing of prayer?—The Lord who guides the hearts of men as water-courses can bestow upon our enemies a forgiving and merciful heart, even as Israel experienced. For this, and not for the destruction of our enemies, we ought to pray.
1Ki_8:51-53. In the midst of our cries and prayers we should remember how dearly the Lord has purchased us for His own, by the blood of His son (Rom_8:32; 1Co_6:20; Rev_5:9). The grace of God in Christ is the foundation of our assurance that the Lord will deliver us from all tribulation and sorrow, and will lead us to his heavenly kingdom. For this do we close our prayers with the words: For the sake of thine eternal love.—Starke: God does not leave his people in the furnace of misery, but always guides them forth from it (Job_3:22).—Our prayers, from beginning to end, must be grounded on the divine promises (2Sa_7:25).
1Ki_8:54-61. Solomon’s final address to the people contains a psalm of praise (1Ki_8:56), a wish for a blessing (1Ki_8:57-60), and a warning (1Ki_8:61).
1Ki_8:56. It is a gift of God, for which we must thank and praise him, if we can lead a quiet and peaceful life, in all godliness and honesty (1Ti_2:2).—The rest which God promises to his people and has granted unto them, under Solomon the peaceful prince, was merely a temporal one. But we have this good saying: There remaineth a rest for the people of God (Heb_4:9). This word will not fail if we do not harden our hearts, if we hear his voice, and strive assiduously to attain to that rest, where God shall wipe away, &c. (Rev_21:4).
1Ki_8:57-58. The aid and blessing of God have no other object than to turn thy heart to Him, that thou mayest walk in His way. He only forsakes those who have forsaken Him (Psa_9:11).—All keeping of the commandments, all mere morality, without submission of the heart to God, is worthless—a mere shell without the kernel.
1Ki_8:59-60. The words which rise out of the depths of the heart to God reach Him and abide with Him; He forgets them not (Rev_8:3-4).—That the Lord is God, and none other, seems nowhere more conspicuous than in the choosing and leading of the people Israel, in which He has revealed Himself in His might and glory, in His holiness and justice, His faithfulness and mercy (Psa_145:3-12). No better proof of the existence of a one living God than the history of Israel.
1Ki_8:61. The best and greatest wish which a king can form for his people, a father for his children, a pastor for his flock, is: May your heart be righteous, i.e., whole and undivided before the Lord our God. He who elects to side with Him must do so wholly and entirely; all “halting between two opinions” is an abomination to Him: the lukewarm He will “spue out of His mouth.” Be thou on the Lord’s side, and He will be with thee.
1Ki_8:62-66. The temple-dedication, a thanksgiving feast (1Ki_8:62), a covenant feast (1Ki_8:65, vide Historical and Ethical, 11), a feast of great gladness (1Ki_8:66).—Würt. Summ.: For great benefits men should offer great thanksgivings, and indeed should prove their gratitude by promoting the true service of God, and by benevolence to the poor and needy (Psa_50:14).—At public thanksgiving-feasts there should be not only banquets, but prince and people, high and low, rich and poor should bow unto the Lord, to serve him with one accord and steadfastly.
1Ki_8:63. So they dedicated, &c. Pfaff: This was indeed a holy temple-consecration. O! how entirely otherwise are those of to-day constituted in general, which should be abolished or reformed rather than praised, on account of the sinful abuse which has gained the upper hand. 1Ki_8:66. Even as Solomon blessed his people, even so his people blessed their king. The prince alone who prays for his people can expect them to pray for him. Well for that land where prince and people wish well to each other, and make supplication for each other, for there mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace shall kiss each other (Psa_85:10). When a man has rendered unto God what is of God, he can go forth to his daily labor with joy and gladness. To praise and thank God makes the heart glad and willing to work.
Footnotes:
[1]1Ki_8:1.—[On the apocopated future יַקְהֵל in connection with אָז, see Ewald, Krit. Gramm., § 233 b., p. 593 in 7th ed. The Vat. Sept. prefaces this chapter with the statement “and it came to pass when Solomon had made an end of building the house of the Lord and his own house, after twenty years, then,” &c.; and omits the middle part of this verse and nearly all of 1Ki_8:2, etc. The Alex. Sept. follows the Heb.
[2]1Ki_8:1.—[The renderings of the Heb. נָשִׂיא in the A. V. are various. Besides a few irrelevant translations, it is rendered by captain, chief, governor, prince, and ruler—prince being the most common. There is also some variation in the Sept. translation of the word, but it is usually rendered ἄρχων.
[3]1Ki_8:7.—[For staves the Sept. substitute holy things.
[4]1Ki_8:8.—[Luther, followed by our author, here translates “And the staves were so long that,” etc., thus leaving out the evidence of design in the arrangement; they adopt the intransitive sense of the verb וַיַּאֲרִכוּ, as has also been done by the Vulg. and Syr. The sense of prolonging, extending, which is given by Keil, and adopted by the A. V., is at least as usual, and seems better suited to the connection. The staves, at the utmost, could have been but 10 cubits long, the depth of the holy of holies in the tabernacle. The author however assumes that the length of the ark, and consequently the direction of the staves, was north and south, in which case the staves could not in any way have been seen from outside the vail.
[5]1Ki_8:11.—[There is no occasion here for the pluperfect, nor is it expressed in any of those VV. which admit of the distinction.
[6]1Ki_8:13.—[The Vat. Sept. omits 1Ki_8:12-13, the Alex. following the Heb.
[7]1Ki_8:15.—[The Sept. here add σήμερον, and instead of unto read concerning David.
[8]1Ki_8:16.—[The Vat. (not Alex.) Sept. here supplies from 2Ch_6:6 the clause καὶ ἐξελεξάμην ἐν ‘Ιερουσαλὴμ εἶναι τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐκεῖ. Our author omits the name Israel at the end of the verse.
[9]1Ki_8:18.—[Luther, followed by the author, uses here the present tense; the VV., following the Heb., have, like the A. V., the past.
[10]1Ki_8:19-20.—[It seems better, if possible, to render the Heb. verb קוּם in both these clauses by the same English word, though with differing shades of meaning. The Sept. has ἀνέστησε ... ἀνέστην; the author has bin bestdtigt. Luther, like the A. V., varies the word.
[11]1Ki_8:23.—[The Sept. put this in the singular.
[12]1Ki_8:24-25.—[The Heb. דָבַר, being the verb in all these clauses, there is no occasion to change the English word.
[13]1Ki_8:26.—[Many MSS., followed by the Sept., Vulg., Syr., and Arab., prefix יְהוָֹה.
[14]1Ki_8:26.—Even allowing that the k’tib דְּבָרְיךָ points to 2Sa_7:28, yet nevertheless the k’ri דְּבָרְךָ appears according to 2Ch_6:17; 2Ch_1:9 to be the true reading.—Bähr. [It is also the reading of many MSS., followed by the Sept., Syr., and Arab.
[15]1Ki_8:30.—[אֶל־מְקוֹם שִׁבְתְּךָ אֶל־הַשָּׁמַיִם the proposition is the same as in the previous clause, toward this place. The expression is a pregnant one=hear thou the prayer which is offered toward heaven, &c.
[16]1Ki_8:32.—[One MS., followed by the Sept., Chald., Syr., and Arab., reads from heaven—מִן־חשּׁ״, and so in 1Ki_8:34; 1Ki_8:36; 1Ki_8:39; 1Ki_8:43; 1Ki_8:45; 1Ki_8:49, according to 2Ch_6:22-23; 2Ch_6:25. But see last remark.
[17]1Ki_8:32.—[The Heb. לָתֶת is the same in both clauses, and is rendered alike by the Chald. and Sept., which the English idiom scarcely admits.
[18]1Ki_8:37.—Withering of the grain through a hot wind.—Bähr. [Such is the sense of יֵרָקוֹן wherever it occurs, as here, in connection with שִׁדָּפוֹן, viz., Deu_28:22; 2Ch_6:28; Amo_6:9; Hag_2:17.
[19]1Ki_8:37.—[חָסִיל appears to be merely an epithet of אַרְבֶּה. Cf. Deu_28:38.
[20]1Ki_8:38.—[נֶגַע לְבָבוֹ. Cf. 2Ch_6:29, נִגְעוֹ זּמַכְאֹבוֹ.
[21]1Ki_8:41.—[The Vat. Sept. omits the latter half of 1Ki_8:41 and the parenthesis of 1Ki_8:42.
[22]1Ki_8:43.—[Many MSS. and editions, followed by the Sept., prefix the conjunction here as in 1Ki_8:36; 1Ki_8:39; 1Ki_8:45, &c.
[23]1Ki_8:44.—[Some MSS. and the VV. read איביו in the plural.
[24]1Ki_8:45.—[The phrase עָשָׂה מִשְׁפָט always means the support of the righteous cause; with the suffix of the personal pronoun here and 1Ki_8:49 it assumes that the warfare to which they had been sent was righteous.
[25]1Ki_8:52.—[The Sept. supplement this frequent expression by adding “and thine ears.”
[26]1Ki_8:53.—[The Chald., Vulg., and Syr. here follow the masoretic punctuation of אֲדנָי יֱהוִֹה and, like the A. V., translate Lord God. The Sept. have, according to the Vat., κύριε κὐριε, which is followed by Luther, while the Alex. omits the expression altogether. Our author translates Herr Jehovah. The Sept. make a considerable addition at the end of the verse.
[27]1Ki_8:59.—[See note on 1Ki_8:45.
[28]1Ki_8:59.—[The words as the matter shall require not being in the Heb. are better omitted.—F. G.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–6 1. Elders… heads of the tribes… chief of the…
1. Elders… heads of the tribes… chief of the fathers — Titles comprehending all the leading men of the nation. Elders included more particularly the chosen representatives of the nation; the heads of the tribes were the leading and most influential individuals; and the chiefs or princes of the fathers were the most distinguished and saintly old men of the nation, whose presence and approbation were indispensable at so important an event as the dedication of the temple.
That they might bring up — This implies that the elders and fathers were to remove the ark, whereas they were assembled rather to witness and sanction the removal. The Hebrew is simply to bring up, and should have been so rendered here. The ark was carried by the priests. 1Ki_8:3.
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Out of the city of David — Where it had abode since the time David had it placed in the tabernacle which he pitched for it on Zion. 2Sa_6:17. This passage clearly shows that Zion and the temple mount were not the same. Compare note on 1Ki_3:1.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Ch. 1Ki_8:1-11. Dedication of the Temple. Bringing up of…
Ch. 1Ki_8:1-11. Dedication of the Temple. Bringing up of the ark and the holy vessels. The glory of the Lord fills the house (2Ch_5:2-14)
1. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel] The LXX. (Vat.) prefaces this chapter with the words ‘And it came to pass when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and his own house after twenty years,’ then &c. These words are from the commencement of chap. 9. where they also recur in the LXX., and the precise time ‘twenty years’ is found mentioned 1Ki_9:10; 2Ch_8:1. But that the Temple remained undedicated through all the years that Solomon’s house was building is nowhere told us, and is very improbable.
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Josephus (Ant. VIII. 4. I) says the king summoned the assembly by a formal document (γράψας).
the chief of the fathers] Better with margin of A.V. and text of R.V. the princes of the fathers’ houses. The persons meant are those who are called Exo_6:14 ‘heads of their fathers’ houses. In that passage the word for ‘houses’ is expressed, as it is in many other places (cf. especially Num_1:16; Num_1:18; Num_1:20, &c., Num_2:2). But the abbreviated form, as here, came into common use (see Num_36:1; Jos_19:51; Jos_21:1, &c.). The rendering of the full phrase should in these cases be supplied, ‘houses’ being printed in italics.
that they might bring up the ark] Whatever may have been the relative heights of the Temple mount and of Zion, in a religious sense the former would be esteemed the more exalted, and so ‘to bring up’ and ‘to go up’ thither would be the natural modes of expression. Cf. Isa_38:22. Besides they would have to descend first from Zion and then to ascend Moriah. On the religious importance and exaltation of Zion cf. Ps. 48:15 seqq.
the city of David which is Zion] See above on 1Ki_3:1.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–6 (1) The elders.—If in this description—found also in 2Ch_5:2,…
(1) The elders.—If in this description—found also in 2Ch_5:2, and taken, no doubt, from the original document—“the elders of Israel,” are to be distinguished from the “heads of the tribes,” and not (as in the LXX.) identified with them, the former expression probably refers to the chiefs of official rank, such as the princes and the counsellors of the king, and the latter to the feudal chiefs of the great families of the various tribes. These alone were specially summoned; but as the Dedication festival (being deferred for nearly a year after the completion of the Temple) was blended with the Feast of Tabernacles, “all the men of Israel” naturally “assembled at Jerusalem” without special summons.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–6 THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE. The stately and impressive…
THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE. The stately and impressive service with which the Temple, the character and contents of which have now been described, was dedicated, is related in this chapter, and divides itself into four sections. We have
(1) the removal of the ark and Solomon"s ascription of praise on the occasion (vers. 1-22).
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(2) The prayer of consecration (vers. 23-54).
(3) The benediction of the congregation (vers. 55-61), and
(4) the festal sacrifices which followed on and completed the dedication (vers. 62-66). The inaugural rites, it is clear, were on a scale corresponding with the magnitude and renown of the undertaking. (1Ch_22:5)
SECTION IThe Removal of the Ark.
Then i.e. , when the work of the house of the Lord was practically ended, as stated in 1Ki_7:51. But the precise date of the dedication is a matter of dispute and uncertainty. We know that it took place in the seventh month of the year, but of what year we cannot be so sure. Was it the same year in the eighth month of which (1Ki_6:38) the house was finished (Ewald)? Was the dedication, that is to say, one month anterior to the completion of the house and its appointments? Or are we to understand "the seventh month" to mean the Ethanim of the following year (Bahr)? are we to assign the dedication, that is, to a date eleven months after completion? Or, finally, are we to believe with the Vat.
LXX meta eikosi eth (the LXX text is here, however, in great confusion), that the temple was not dedicated until the palaces were also built; (see 1Ki_9:1-9) are we to hold, i.e., that though finished and ready for use, it remained unused for a period of thirteen years (Thenius, Keil)? These are questions which we cannot perhaps answer with absolute certainty, but, to my mind, every consideration is in favour of the date first mentioned, i.e., the seventh month of the eleventh year of Solomon"s reign. It is true Bahr says that this opinion "needs no refutation," while Keil pronounces it directly at variance with 1Ki_7:51." But it is worth while to inquire whether this is so? And, first, as to the bearing of the passage just cited, "So was ended all the work which," etc., taken in connexion with 1Ki_8:1, "Then Solomon assembled," etc. To the cursory reader it appears no doubt as it this "then" must refer to the completion of the work of which we have just heard, and which was not effected until the eighth month of the year. (1Ki_6:38) But
(1) za; though probably a mark of time (=tune), is clearly a word of great latitude of meaning, and may apply as well to one month before completion (the time specified in 1Ki_7:51) as to eleven months after; and
(2) it would be quite consistent with the usus loquendi of the sacred writers to describe the temple as finished, when in reality it was incomplete in a few minor particulars (De minimis non curat scriptura). Further more, if the temple was finished in every detail, and in all its furniture and appointments, in the eighth month, as we learn from 1Ki_6:38, we may be perfectly sure it would or could be practically finished finished so as to be ready for consecration by the seventh month. Indeed, it is not an unreasonable presumption, that it hardly would be perfect and complete on the day of dedication. Those who have built or restored churches, not to speak of cathedrals, which would perhaps afford a closer analogy to the temple, know how extremely difficult, if not impossible, it is to have every detail finished and arranged for the day of consecration. Some few accidental omissions will have to be supplied afterwards, or experience will suggest certain alterations and improvements which have to be made. There is no inherent improbability, therefore, that the temple should be dedicated in the seventh month, though it was not finished wyrbD lkl until the eighth month, i.e., three or four weeks later. And there was a strong reason why the dedication should take place at the earliest possible date. There had been a long period of preparation, extending back into the preceding reign; 1Ch 28 1Ch 29) the dedication consequently had long been eagerly looked for; moreover the erection had evidently been hurried forward, a prodigious number of labourers having been employed in order to expedite the work. It is almost inconceivable, therefore, that, after these energetic measures had been taken, either the king or the nation should have been content to wait thirteen years nearly twice the time it had taken to build the temple until the palaces, which were entirely independent and secular buildings, were also completed. If the great national sanctuary, which was the glory of the land, was ready for use, as we know it was, we can hardly believe, considering the natural eagerness and impatience of men, that the tribes of Israel, or their ambitious monarch, would, of their own choice, defer the consecration for an indefinite number of years. It would appear consequently that it is the view that the dedication was postponed for thirteen years "hardly needs discussion". (see below on 1Ki_9:1) And the same considerations apply, though perhaps with diminished force, to their waiting one year. For if it be said that the delay was occasioned by the desire to connect the dedication with the feast of tabernacles, which was par excellence the feast of the year (gjh) the answer is that it is more likely that the work would be hurried on by the employment of additional hands, if need be, or that the edifice would be consecrated, though not complete in all its details, at the feast of the eleventh year, than that, for the sake of one month, they should wait eleven months. And if the objection be raised that a feeling of religious awe would forbid the dedication of an imperfect building, or of a perfect building with imperfect arrangements, it is easy to reply that both building and furniture may have been practically complete, and may have been believed at the time to be perfect, but that the experience of the first few days suggested a few alterations or additions which threw the completion of the work in all its particulars into the eighth month. It is worthy of notice that Josephus distinctly states that the dedication was in the seventh month of the eighth year (Ant. 8:4. 1) Solomon assembled lheqy. See Ewald, 233 b the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief Heb. princes of the fathers of the children of Israel. This great assembly (compare Dan_3:2) can hardly be said to have been suggested to Solomon by the precedent afforded by David (Keil), when bringing up the ark, (2Sa_6:1) for it was only natural that he should summon the representatives of the people to witness an event of such profound importance in the national history, as the dedication, after years of waiting, (2Sa_7:6-13) of a national sanctuary intended to supersede the tabernacle, at which for five centuries their forefathers had worshipped. And the more so, as they had been called together by David to con-salt about the erection, (1Ch_28:1) and had offered willingly of their treasures (1Ch_29:6-9) towards its decoration. It is inconceivable, therefore, that the temple of the Jews could have been formally opened, except in the presence of the "elders and heads of the tribes." Nor can we (with Rawlinson) see a contrast between the more popular proceedings of David, who "gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand, (2Sa_6:1) and the statelier, more aristocratic system of his son, who merely summons the chief men;" for Solomon"s "eiders," etc. (Deu_16:18; 1Sa_16:4 1Sa_30:26-31) may well have equalled David"s "chosen men" in number. It is quite likely that there was more formality and stateliness in this latter ease, but it was practically the same class of persons, i.e., the leading men by birth, talents, or prowess, that were present on both occasions. In fact, it was the Jewish Church by representation unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up Heb. to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord so called because it contained the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with the children of Israel (ver. 9). The temple being really, or principally, a receptacle for the ark, the removal of this venerated relic to its place in the oracle is narrated first, as being of the first importance out of the city of David, which is Zion. (Cf. 2Sa_6:12, 2Sa_6:17)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel.
1Ki_8:1-9
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel.
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A royal priest
It is remarkable in connection with the dedication of the temple how the leading part was taken throughout by King Solomon. One would have thought that in the dedication of a sanctuary the leading men would have been the priests, Levites, scribes, and other persons distinctively identified with religious functions and responsibilities. We find, however, that exactly the contrary is the case. The priest occupied a second and tributary position, but it is the king who consecrates the sanctuary, and it is the king who offers the great prayer at its dedication. The question arises, Was not Solomon in reality more than king? Or, being a king, was he not, according to the Divine ideal of Israel, a priest unto God Did he not indeed occupy a kind of typical position as being in anticipation none other than the great high priest Jesus Christ Himself? The kingship and the priesthood are combined in the Christian character of the later dispensation: Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. This is precisely what Solomon was, namely, a royal priest! (J. Parker, D. D.)
A king dedicates a church
A missionary in the Hawaiian Islands gives an account of the dedication of a place of worship by the king. He says: Quite 4000 persons were present, including most of the great personages of the nation. An elegant sofa, covered with satin damask of a deep crimson colour, had been placed for them in the front of the pulpit. The king, in his gorgeous uniform, sat at one end, and his sister, in a superb dress, at the other. Before the religious services commenced, the king arose from his seat, and, addressing himself to the chiefs, teachers, and people generally, said that this house, which he had built, he new publicly gave to God, to be appropriated to His worship. The religious exercises were appropriate; and when these were closed, the king again stood up, and saying, Let us pray, addressed the throne of grace, commending the building and the people to God.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice."
THE GRADUAL GROWTH OF THE LEVITIC RITUAL
1Ki_8:1-66
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"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice."
- 1Sa_15:22
BEFORE we enter on the subject of the Temple worship, it is necessary to emphasize a fact which will meet us again and again in many forms as we consider the history of the Chosen People: It is the amazing ignorance which seems to have prevailed among them for centuries as to the most central and decisive elements of nearly the whole of the Mosaic law as we now read it in the Pentateuch.
1. Take, for instance, the law of a central sanctuary. It is strongly laid down, and incessantly insisted on, throughout the Book of Deuteronony. Yet that law does not seem to have been so much as noticed by any of the earlier prophets or judges, or by Saul, or by David. The judges and early kings offer sacrifices at any place which they regard as sacred-Bochim, Ophrah, Mizpeh, Gilgal, Bethel, Bethlehem, etc. {Jdg_2:5, Jdg_6:24, Jdg_8:27, Jdg_20:1, Jdg_21:2; Jdg_2:4 1Sa_7:9, 1Sa_10:8; 1Sa_7:11; 1Sa_7:15, etc.} The rule of one place for sacrifice was not regarded for a moment by the kings of the Northern Kingdom. The transgression of it was not made a subject of complaint by Elijah, Elisha, or any of the earlier prophets. Not one of the kings, even of the most pious kings-Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham-rigidly enforced it until the reign of Josiah. The law seems to have remained an absolutely dead letter for hundreds of years. Now this would be amply accounted for if the Deuteronomic and Levitic Codes only belonged in reality to the days of Josiah and of the Exile: for in "the Book of the Covenant," {Exo_24:7} which is the most ancient part of these codes, and comprises Exodus 20- Exo_28:33, and is briefly repeated in Exo_34:10-28, there is not only no insistence on a central shrine, but many of the regulations would {Exodus} have been rendered impossible had such a shrine existed (e.g., Exo_21:6, Exo_22:7-8, where "the judges" should be "God," as in the R.V). Indeed, so far from insistence on one Temple, we expressly read, {Exo_20:24} "An altar of earth shall thou make Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen, in all places where I record My name, and I will come unto thee and bless thee."
2. Again, the Book of Leviticus lays down a singularly developed code of ritual, "extending to the minutest details of worship and of life." Yet there is scarcely the shadow of a trace of the observance of even its most reiterated and important provisions during centuries of Israelitish history. It is emphatically a priestly book; yet from the days of David down to those of Josiah, the priests, with few exceptions, are almost ignored in the national records. They took the color of their opinions from the reigning kings, even in matters which were contrary to the whole extent and spirit of the Mosaic Code. Samuel, who was not a priest, nor even a Levite, performed every function of a priest, and of a high priest, all his life long.
3. Again, as we have seen, in spite of the positive distinctness of the Second Commandment, not only is the "calf-worship" established, with scarcely a protest, throughout the Northern Kingdom; but Solomon even ventures, without question or reproof, to place twelve oxen under his brazen sea, and to adorn the steps of his throne with golden lions.
4. Again, no ceremony was more awful, or more strikingly symbolical, in the later religion of Israel, than that of the Great Day of Atonement. It was the only appointed fast in the Jewish year, a day so sacred that it acquired the name of Yoma, "the Day." Yet the Day of Atonement, with its arresting ceremonies and intense significance, is not so much as once mentioned outside the Levitical Code by a single prophet, or priest, or king. It is not even mentioned-which is exceedingly strange-in the post-exilic Books of Chronicles. Between the Book of Leviticus (with its supposed date of 1491 B.C.), down to the days of Philo, Josephus, and the New Testament, there is not so much as a hint of the observance of this central ceremony of the whole Levitic law! What is more perplexing is that, in the ideal legislation of Ezekiel, where alone anything distantly resembling the Day of Atonement is alluded to, {Eze_45:18-20} the time manner, and circumstances are as absolutely different as if Ezekiel had never read the Levitic law at all. How would any prophet have dared to ignore or alter, without a word of reference or apology, a rite of Divine origin and immemorial sanctity, if he had been aware of its existence?
5. Nor is this only the case with the Day of Atonement. It seems certain that at Jerusalem there was not for centuries anything distantly resembling the due Levitic observance of the three great yearly feasts. Nehemiah, for instance, tells us in so many words that since the days of Joshua the son of Nun down to B.C. 445-perhaps for a thousand years-the Feast of Tabernacles had never been observed in the most characteristic of all its appointed rites-the dwelling in booths. {Neh_8:17}
6. Again, although there are slight allusions in some of the Prophets to "laws" and "statutes" and "commandments," their silence about, if not their absolute ignorance of; anything which resembles the Levitic legislation as a whole is a startling problem. Thus, even a late prophet like Jeremiah alludes, without a word of reprobation, to men cutting and making themselves bald for the dead (Jer_16:6; comp. Jer_12:5) in a way which the Levitic law {Lev_19:28, Deu_14:10} strenuously forbids.
7. Again, as is well known, there is a fundamental difference between the three codes as to the relative position of the priests and Levites.
(1) Exo_19:6 all Israel is regarded as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," and in Exo_24:5 the young men of the children of Israel "offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings."
(2) Num_3:44-51 the Levites are set aside for the service of theTabernacle in place of the firstborn. But neither in "the Book of the Covenant" nor in Deuteronomy is there any distinction between the services of the priests and the Levites.
(3) Deu_10:8 every Levite may become a priest. All priestly functions are open to the Levites, and the arrangements for the Levites are wholly different from those of Numbers.
(4) But in the Priestly Code only the sons of Aaron are to be priests. {Num_6:22-27, Num_18:1-7 Lev_1:5; Lev_1:8} The Levites are to minister to them in more or less menial functions, and are permitted a share in the tithes, but not (as in Deu_18:1) in the firstfruits. We have first identity of priests and Levites, then partial, then absolute separation. The earliest trace of this degradation of the Levites is propounded as something quite new in Eze_44:10-16, which distinctly implies (see Eze_44:13) that up to that time the Levites had enjoyed full priestly rites.
It must be admitted that these facts are not capable of easy explanation, nor is it strange that they have led the way to unexpected conclusions. We have to face the certainty that, for ages together, the Levitic law was not only a dead letter among the people for whom it was intended, hut that its very existence does not seem to have been known. "For long periods," says Professor Robertson, "the people of Israel seem to have been as ignorant of their own religion as the people of Europe were of theirs in the Dark Ages." But the problem, were we to pursue it into its details, is far more perplexing than can be accounted for by the very partial and misleading parallel which Professor Robertson adduces. The parallel would be nearer if, throughout the Dark Ages for a thousand years together, scarcely a single trace were to be found, even under the best popes and the most pious kings, and even in theologic and sacred literature, of so much as the existence of a New Testament, or of any observance of the most distinctive festivals and sacraments of Christianity. And this, as Professor Robertson knows, is infinitely far from being the case. It is true that an argument ex silentio may easily be pushed too far; but we cannot ignore it when it is so striking as this, and when it is also strengthened by so many positive and corroborative facts.
A solution of this phenomenon-which becomes most salient in the Book of Kings-is proposed by the criticism which has received the title of "The Higher Criticism," because it is historic and constructive, and rises above purely verbal elements. That solution is that the Pentateuch is not only a composite structure (which all would concede), but that it was written in very different ages, and that much of it is of very late origin. Critics of the latest school believe that it consists of three well-marked and entirely different codes of laws-namely, "the Book of the Covenant"; {Exo_20:23-23} the "Deuteronomic Code," first brought into prominence in the reign of Josiah, and written shortly before that reign: and the "Levitical" or "Priestly Code," which comprises most of Exodus, and nearly all Leviticus, and was not introduced till after the Exile. This would be indeed a radical conclusion, and cannot yet be regarded as having been conclusively established. But so remarkable has been the rapidity with which the opinion of religious critics has advanced on the subject, that now even the strongest opponents of this extreme view admit that the existence of the three separate codes has been demonstrated, although they still think that all three may belong to the Mosaic age. It is obvious, however, that this view leaves many of the difficulties entirely untouched. Criticism has not yet spoken her last word upon the subject, but we ought to take her views into account in considering the judgments pronounced by the historian of the Kings. They were judgments which, in their details, though not as regards broad moral principles, were based on the standpoint of a later age. The views of that later age must be discounted if we have to admit that some of the ritual innovations and legal transgressions of the kings were transgressions of laws of the very existence of which they were profoundly ignorant. That they were thus ignorant of them is not only implied throughout, but appears from the direct statements of the sacred historians. {See 2Ki_22:11; Ezr_9:1; Ezr_9:7; Neh_9:3}
THE TEMPLE WORSHIP
1Ki_8:1-11
"Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these. Behold, ye trust m lying words, that cannot profit."
- Jer_7:4; Jer_7:8
THE actual Temple building, apart from its spacious courts, was neither for worshippers nor for priests, neither for sacrifice nor for prayer. It existed only for symbolism and, at least: in later days, for expiation. No prayer was offered in the sanctuary. The propitiatory was the symbol of expiation, but even after the introduction of the Day of Atonement the atoning blood was only carried into it once a year.
All the worship was in the outer court, and consisted mainly,
(1) of praise and
(2) of offerings. Both were prominent in the Dedication Festival.
"It is written," said our Lord, "My house shall be called a House, of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of robbers." The quotation is from the later Isaiah, and represents a happy advance in spiritual religion. Among the details of the Levitic Tabernacle no mention is made of prayer, though it was symbolized both in the incense and in the sacrifices which have been called "unspoken prayers." "Let my prayer be set forth as incense," says the Psalmist, "and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." In the New Testament we read that "the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense." But during the whole history of the first Temple we only hear-and that very incidentally-of private prayer in the Temple. Solomons prayer was public, and combined prayer with praises and benedictions. But no fragments of Jewish liturgies have come down to us which we can with any probability refer to the days of the kings. The Psalms which most clearly belong to the Temple service are mainly services of praise.
In the mind of the people the sacrifices were undoubtedly the main part of the Temple ritual. This fact was specially emphasized by the scene which marked the Festival of the Dedication.
It is difficult to imagine a scene which to our unaccustomed senses would have been more revolting than the holocausts of a great Jewish Festival like that of Solomons Dedication. As a rule the daily sacrifices, exclusively of such as might be brought by private worshippers, were the lambs slain at morning and evening. Yet Maimonides gives us the very material and unpoetic suggestion that the incense used was to obviate the effluvium of animal sacrifice. The suggestion is unworthy of the great Rabbis ability, and is wholly incorrect; but it reminds us of the almost terrible fact that, often and often, the Temple must have been converted into one huge and abhorrent abattoir, swimming with the blood of slaughtered victims, and rendered intolerably repulsive by heaps of bloody skins and masses of offal. The smell of burning flesh, the swift putrescence caused by the tropic heat, the unlovely accompaniments of swarms of flies, and ministers with blood-drenched robes would have been inconceivably disagreeable to our Western training-for no one will believe the continuous miracle invented by the Rabbis, who declare that no fly was ever seen in the Temple, and no flesh ever grew corrupt. No doubt the brazen sea and the movable caldrons were in incessant requisition, and there were provisions for vast storages of water. These could have produced a very small mitigation of the accompanying pollutions during a festival which transformed the great court of the Temple into the reeking shambles and the charnel-house of sheep and oxen "which could not be told nor numbered for multitude."
Had such spectacles been frequent, we should surely have had to say of the people of Jerusalem as Sir Monier Williams says of the ancient Hindus, "The land was saturated with blood, and people became wearied and disgusted with slaughtered sacrifices and sacrificing priests." What infinite, and what revolting labor, must have been involved in the right burning of "the two kidneys and the fat," and the due disposition of the "inwards" of all these holocausts! The groaning brazen altar, vast as it was, failed to meet the requirements of the service, and apparently a multitude of other altars were extemporized for the occasion.
When the festival was over God appeared to Solomon in vision, as He had done at Gibeon. So far Solomon had not gravely or consciously deflected from the ideal of a theocratic king. Anything which had been worldly or mistaken in his policy-the oppression into which he had been led, the heathen alliances which he had formed, his crowded harem, his evident fondness for material splendor which carried with it the peril of selfish pride-were only signs of partial knowledge and human frailty. His heart was still, on the whole, right with God. He was once more assured in nightly vision that his prayer and supplication were accepted. The promise was renewed that if he would walk m integrity and uprightness his throne should be established for ever; but that if he or his children swerved into apostasy Israel should be driven into exile, and as a warning to all lands, "this house, which have hallowed for My name, will I cast out of My sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people." Here, then we are brought face to face with problems which arise from the whole system of worship in the Old Dispensation. Whatever it was, to whatever extent it was really carried out and was not merely theoretical, at whatever date its separate elements originated, and however clear it is that it, has utterly passed away, there must have been certain ideas underlying it which are worthy of our study.
1. Of the element of praise supported by music, we need say but little. It is a natural mode of expressing the joy and gratitude which fill the heart of man in contemplating the manifold mercies of God. For this reason the pages of Scripture ring with religious music from the earliest to the latest age. We are told in the Chronicles that triumphant praise was largely introduced into the great festival services, and that the Temple possessed a great organization for vocal and orchestral music. David was not only a poet, but an inventor of musical instruments. {Amo_6:5, 1Ch_23:5} Fifteen musical instruments are mentioned in the Bible, and five of them in the Pentateuch. Most important among them are cymbals, flutes, silver trumpets, rams horns, the harp (Kinnor) and the ten-stringed lute (Nevel). The remark of Josephus that Solomon provided 40, 000 harps and lutes and 200, 000 silver trumpets is marked by that disease of exaggeration which seems to infect the mind of all later Jewish writers when they look back with yearning to the vanished glories of their past. There can, however, be no doubt that the orchestra was amply supplied, and that there was a very numerous and well-trained choir. We read in the Psalms and elsewhere of tunes which they were trained to sing. Such tunes were "The Well," and "The Bow," and "The Gazelle of the morning," and "All my fresh springs shall be in Thee," and "Die for the son" (Muth-labben). In the second Temple female singers were admitted; {Ezr_2:65 Neh_7:67 Psa_87:7} in Herods Temple Levite choir-boys took their place. The singing was often antiphonal. Some of the music still used in the synagogue must date from these times, and there is no reason to doubt that in the so-called Gregorian tones we have preserved to us a close approximation to the ancient hymnody of the Temple. This element of ancient worship calls for no remark. It is a religious instinct to use music in the service of God; and perhaps the imagination of St. John in the Revelation, when he describes the rapture of the heavenly host pouring forth the chant "Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," was colored by reminiscences of gorgeous functions in which he had taken part on the "Mountain of the House."
2. When we proceed to speak of the Priesthood we are met by difficulties, to which we have already alluded, as to the date of the varying regulations respecting it. "It would be difficult," says Dr. Edersheim, "to conceive arrangements more thoroughly or consistently opposed to what are commonly called priestly pretensions than those of the Old Testament." According to the true ideal, Israel was to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"; {Exo_19:5-6} but the institution of ministering priests was of course a necessity, and the Jewish Priesthood, which is now utterly abrogated, was or gradually became, representative. Representatively they had to mediate between God and Israel, and typically to symbolize the "holiness," i.e., the consecration of the Chosen People. Hence they were required to be free from every bodily blemish. It was regarded as a deadly offence for any one of them to officiate without scrupulous safeguard against every ceremonial defilement, and they were specially adorned and anointed for their office. They were an extremely numerous body, and from the days of David are said to have been divided into twenty-four courses. They were assisted by an army of attendant Levites, also divided into twenty-four courses, who acted as the cleansers and keepers of the Temple. But the distinction of priests and Levites does not seem to be older than "the Priestly Code," and criticism has all but demonstrated that the sections of the Pentateuch known by that name belong, in their present form, not to the age of Moses, but to the age of the successors of Ezekiel. The elaborate priestly and Levitic arrangements ascribed to the days of Aaron by the chronicler, who wrote six hundred years after Davids day, are unknown to the writers of the Book of Kings.
In daily life they wore no distinctive dress. In the Temple service, all the year round, their vestments were of the simplest. They were of white byssus to typify innocence, {Rev_15:6} and four in number to indicate completeness. They consisted of a turban, breeches, and seamless coat of white linen, together with a girdle, symbolic of zeal and activity, which was assumed during actual ministrations. {Comp. Rev_1:13; Rev_15:6} The only magnificent vestments were those worn for a few hours by the high priest once a year on the Great Day of Atonement. These "golden vestments" were eight in number. To the ordinary robes were added the robe of the ephod (Meil) of dark blue, with seventy-two golden bells, and pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet; a jeweled pectoral containing the Urim and Thummim; the miter; and the golden frontlet (Ziz), with its inscription of "Holiness to the Lord." The ideal type was fulfilled, and the poor shadows abolished forever, by Him of whom it is said, "Such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners."
The priests were poor; they were very often entirely unlettered; they seem to have had for many centuries but little influence on the moral and spiritual life of the people. Hardly any good is recorded of them as a body throughout the four hundred and ten years during which the first Temple stood, as very little good had been recorded of them in the earlier ages, and not much in the ages which were to follow. We read of scarcely a single moral protest or spiritual awakenment which had its origin in the priestly body. Their temptation was to be absorbed in their elaborate ceremonials. As these differed but little from the ritual functions of surrounding heathendom they seem to have relapsed into apostasy with shameful readiness, and to have submitted without opposition to the idolatrous aberrations of king after king, even to the extent of admitting the most monstrous idols and the most abhorrent pollutions into the sacred precincts of the Temple, which it was their work to guard. When a prophet arose out of their own supine and torpid ranks he invariably counted his brethren amongst his deadliest antagonists. They ridiculed him as they ridiculed Isaiah; they smote him on the cheek as they smote Jeremiah. The only thing which roused them was the spirit of revolt against their vapid ceremonialism, and their abject obedience to kings. The Presbyterate could have no worse ideal, and could follow no more pernicious example, than that of the Jewish priesthood. The days of their most rigid ritualism were the days also of their most desperate moral blindness. The crimes of their order culminated when they combined, as one man: under their high priest Caiaphas and their sagan Annas to reject Christ for Barabbas, and to hand over to the Gentiles for crucifixion the Messiah of their nation, the Lord of Life.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 In the Vatican Sept. this chapter commences: And it…
THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
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In the Vatican Sept. this chapter commences: And it came to pass when Solomon had made an end of building the house of the Lord, and his own house, after twenty years, then Solomon, &c.; but no other authority sustains the addition. Eleven months elapsed between the completion of the Temple and its dedication; it being finished in the eighth month (chap. 1Ki_6:38), and opened in the seventh month of the following year (1Ki_8:2). This delay was solely for the arrival of the Feast of Tabernacles, in the Jubilee Year, which happened the year ensuing. The commemoration of the nation having dwelt in booths in the wilderness (Feast of Tabernacles) was a fitting occasion for the consecration of the first permanent House of Jehovah; and their being assembled in large numbers gave a public dignity to the august event.
1Ki_8:1. Then Solomon assembled—The representatives of the nation were, by royal edict, summoned to their place in the procession which should attend the removal of the Ark into the Temple. The order would be: the king elders of the people, priests bearing the Ark. Levites carrying the vessels. Progress must have been very deliberate for along the line priests were stationed with sacrifices and the procession paused while they were at intervals offered.
1Ki_8:4. The Tabernacle of the congregation—This אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד was the tent in which the Ark rested at Gibeon (cf. 1Ch_16:8-9; 1Ch_21:29; 2Ch_1:3), the original Mosaic tabernacle, in distinction from David’s tabernacle for the Ark (cf. 2Sa_6:17; 1Ch_15:1).
1Ki_8:5. Before the Ark, sacrificing—The procession having reached the temple, the ark was laid down in the outer court. and a great sacrifice offered; then it was borne by the priests into the Oracle, and placed under the wings of the cherubim. Note: There were cherubim fixed upon the ark originally (Exo_37:7-9); these, therefore, remained, and the colossal כְרזּבים of Solomon extended their wings over all.
1Ki_8:9. Nothing in the ark, etc.—In Heb_9:4 “the golden pot with manna and Aaron’s rod” are mentioned in addition; but these were never in the ark, only “laid before the Lord” (Exo_16:33; Num_17:10). 1Ki_8:10-11. Cloud filled the house, … glory of the Lord filled the house—This “cloud” was not wholly dense darkness (as some suggest), but possibly dark clouds surrounding a resplendent glory; for when Aaron entered the holiest of the tabernacle the smoke of incense rolled itself around him, enveloping him as in a cloud, thus softening the overmastering splendour of the כְּבוֹד יְהֹוָה (Lev_16:13). The כּבוֹד of the O. T. answers to the δόζα of the N. T.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_8:1-9
THE CHURCH THE SACRED DEPOSITORY OF THE DIVINE WORD
As the Tabernacle in the wilderness was solemnly consecrated to the worship of Jehovah (Exodus 40; Numbers 8), so now must the grander house which is to supersede and supplant the tattered relics of the old system be dedicated with becoming solemnities to the same lofty purpose. And as Moses, the inspired servant of Jehovah, faithful in all his house (Num_12:7), was the chosen one to consecrate the tabernacle, so Solomon, the Divinely chosen King in Zion (1Ch_28:6), in whose person the Hebrew monarchy at this time reached the highest summit of its glory, was the only proper person to consecrate the Temple. No priest could perform this holy service as properly as he. No other person in the realm had concentrated in himself at that time such sanctity, exaltation, and power. He was the type of that greater Solomon who is now silently building His spiritual Temple, and will Himself presently, at the time appointed, fill and hallow it with a cloud of glory that shall never pass away. The first step in the august ceremony was the removal of the ark from the tabernacle of David on Mount Zion to the Most Holy Place in the new Temple on Mount Moriah. And here the thought is suggested—that as the ark contained the tables of the Law, so the church is the sacred depository of the Divine Word.
I. The Divine Word is the irresistible rallying cry of a whole nation (1Ki_8:1-2). The fiery cross of the Scottish Highlanders, or the gory morsels of the slaughtered oxen distributed throughout the coasts of Israel by the warlike Saul, were not more potent in mustering the militant hosts of the nation, than was the mention of the ark of God in gathering the Hebrew people to one common centre. The leading men of the nation at once obeyed the summons (1Ki_8:1). The elders included, more particularly, the chosen representatives of the nation; the heads of the tribes were the leading and most influential individuals; and the chiefs, or princes, of the fathers, were the most distinguished and saintly old men of the nation, whose presence and approbation were indispensable at so important an event as the dedication of the Temple. “Nothing can be nobler than to see a whole nation, from the highest to the lowest, gathered in unity round its holiest possession.” It is the Word of God that makes the most profound impression on the national heart, and that shapes and determines the national destiny.
II. The Divine Word is the infallible directory in all true worship.
1. It recognises the office of sacred persons (1Ki_8:3-4). The priests and the Levites are mentioned indiscriminately. The parallel passage in the Chronicles says that “the Levites took up the ark;” but there is no contradiction in this, for all priests were Levites, though all Levites were not priests. Priests bore the ark across the Jordan and around Jericho (Jos_3:6; Jos_6:6). These persons were specially set apart to this sacred work, according to the requirements of the law (Num_4:15; Deu_31:9). Inattention to the divinely prescribed order was followed by fatal results (compare 2Sa_6:1-7; 1Ch_15:12-13). To be bearers of the Word of God, to set up the mercy seat in the sanctuary, and to point perishing sinners to the sprinkled blood, is the office and the glory of God’s ministers. Office has nothing sacred in itself, apart from the faithful performance of the duties it involves, and the irreproachable moral character of the person appointed to it. Priestly assumption is the most unwarrantable, and, in the sight of God, the most abhorrent.
2. It limits the significance of sacred things (1Ki_8:4). It would appear that on this great inauguration day two imposing processions were formed: the one coming from the height of Gibeon, bearing aloft the sacred tent and the holy vessels of the old pastoral worship, now to be disused for ever—the ancient brazen altar, the candlestick, the table of shew-bread, and also the brazen serpent. This procession was joined on Mount Zion by a still more imposing and stately one, bearing the ark of acacia-wood, covered with its two small winged figures—the one relic that was to unite the old and new together. Much has been made of these sacred vessels, until they have been raised into objects of idolatry. Starting with a certain modicum of truth, the enthusiastic lover of types and figures has wandered into regions unheard of and untrod before, and discovered hidden meanings and mysterious premonitions which the obvious use and commonsense teaching of the symbols utterly failed to convey. By a careful comparison of the Word of God we are taught the true significance and appropriate use of these sacred things, and of all external aids in the acceptable worship of God.
3. It authorizes the exercise of sacred acts (1Ki_8:5). The removal of the ark was celebrated by sacrifices of “sheep and oxen that could not be numbered for multitude.” The road, according to Josephus, was flooded with streams of blood. The air was darkened and scented with the clouds of incense; the songs and dances were unintermitted. No worship can be acceptable to God apart from sacrifice. The Divine Word is most explicit on this point (compare Lev_1:2; Lev_3:2; Lev_3:7; Gen_8:20; Gen_22:7; Exo_18:12; Exo_40:29; Num_28:10; Num_28:14; 1Ki_3:4; Psa_51:16; Psa_51:19; Isa_40:16; Heb_10:6-8, &c.). The vilest sinner can now approach God through the ever-efficacious sacrifice of His Son. Every act of genuine worship involves sacrifice. Our whole self, and the best of everything we have, should be freely sacrificed to Him who gave Himself for us.
III. The Divine Word finds its permanent home in the holiest place of the Church. 1. There it is securely guarded (1Ki_8:6-7). The ancient lid of the ark formed by the two small cherubim of beaten gold was removed, and a new one, without them, was substituted to fit its new abode. On a rough unhewn projection of the rock the ark was thrust in and placed lengthways, under the shadow of the outspread wings of the two gigantic cherubim which were waiting, like two watchful and stalwart guardians, to receive and evermore protect the precious treasure. “The Word of the Lord is under Divine protection; the angels are its guardians and watchers; it can neither be destroyed by human power, nor is it aided or protected by men.” The holiest church is the most faithful custodian of the Word, and the holiest heart is its safest and most beauteous shrine.
2. There it is intended to remain (1Ki_8:8). When the ark moved within the veil to be seen no more, the retiring priests, as a sign that it had at length reached “the place of its rest,” and was not to be carried about any more, drew forth from it the staves or handles on which they had borne it to and fro; and, although the staves themselves remained within the veil, the ends could just be seen protruding through the door, in token that its long wanderings were over; or, as Keil puts it, their ends could be observed from the sanctuary by the elevations on the vail, which might be seen from the sanctuary itself, but not without. They remained long afterwards, even to the later days of the monarchy, and formed a lane to guide the steps of the Chief Priest as he entered in the darkness. The Word of God has found its permanent home in His church, and the history of the two are inseparably bound together. Not long ago there was discovered among the hardened lava of Pompeii the form of a human body, with all the features singularly perfect and strikingly beautiful, and the expression as of one who was sleeping a pleasant and placid sleep. The burning flood, which carried death in its impetuous flow, and the cold entombment of eighteen hundred years, had not availed to destroy the imperishable lineaments. So the church may be exposed to the fiery persecution of her cruellest enemies, or buried under the cold neglect of her professed friends; but cast in the mould of the undying and unchanging Word of God, she retains her indestructible image, with every line and feature of perfection distinctly marked, and, when ages have rolled away, will stand forth to an astonished world in all her peerless beauty and greatness.
3. There it is the most highly prized treasure. “There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone” (1Ki_8:9). When the old lid of the ark was taken off before it disappeared within the vail, and before the new covering was fixed on, the interior of the ark was seen by Israelitish eyes for the first time for more than four centuries, perhaps for the last time for ever. The pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, and the golden censer, which were said to be laid up within it, or beside it, were gone—lost, it may be, in the Philistine captivity. Nothing remained but the two granite blocks from Mount Sinai, graven with the ten commandments. But these were of unspeakable value and unmistakable significance. “The ark of the covenant was the root and kernel of the whole sanctuary: it contained the moral law, at once the original document and pledge of the covenant, through which, and in consequence of which, Jehovah was to dwell in the midst of His people. We have, in the New Covenant, not only the Law, but the Gospel, which is everlasting. Where His Word is, there the Lord dwells and is enthroned; it is the soul of every House of God, and, indeed, gives it its consecration.”
LESSONS:—
1. The Word of God should be fervently loved.
2. Diligently studied.
3. Jealously guarded.
4. Faithfully obeyed.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_8:1. Solomon decked and garnished his temple before he prayed in it; so, saith one, before thou prayest prepare thy heart, which is the true temple of Him who is greater than Solomon. And as that woman who sought her groat swept the whole house, so when thou seekest anything of God, sweep the whole house of thy heart; sweep it by repentance, wash the pavement of it with tears, beautify it with holiness, perfume it with prayers, deck it with humility, hang it with sincerity.—Trapp.
—There seems to be a contrast here between the more popular proceedings of David, who, when he brought up the ark to Mount Zion, “gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand,” and the statelier, more aristocratic system of his son, who, born in the purple, conducts himself in a loftier way, merely summoning the chief men as representatives of the nation. The rest of the people “assembled themselves” (1Ki_8:2), and were mere spectators of the ceremony.
1Ki_8:1-4. Religion the mightiest force in the nation.
1. It is the source and safeguard of regal authority. The ruler who ignores the religious principle has no guarantee for a sound and permanent government. Stronger than the sword, or the schemes of statecraft, or the popular cry of the hour, is the deep-rooted religious life of the people.
2. It commands the homage and allegiance of all ranks and conditions. All that is venerable in age, ripe in wisdom and counsel, brilliant in genius, vigorous and daring in manhood, or blooming and hopeful in youth, respond at once to its irresistible call (1Ki_8:1-2).
3. It commemorates and consecrates great national blessings (1Ki_8:2). “The feast in the month Ethanim “was the Feast of Tabernacles. Ethanim is defined as “the month of flowing streams,” and corresponded with our October; it also signifies ripeness or strength. Solomon finished the Temple in the eighth month, but waited till the seventh month of the next year for the dedication, that it might be coincident with the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was designed for a thanksgiving and rejoicing over the fruits of the harvest (Exo_23:16; Deu_16:13); and also for a commemoration of the time when Israel dwelt in booths in the desert (Lev_23:43) It was therefore fitting to associate the dedication of the temple with this important feast, for the ark that had dwelt in a tabernacle and been carried to and fro for five hundred years was now to enter into its place of rest (compare 1Ch_28:2; 2Ch_6:41). And so the holy house, begun in the month of flowers and finished in the month of garnered fruits, was appropriately consecrated in the month of thanksgiving.
4. It venerates the most sacred objects (1Ki_8:4). The ark, the tabernacle, and the holy vessels had been associated with the most eventful eras in the history of the Israelites, in defeat and victory, in distress and joy. Sacred relics, while unworthy of idolatry in themselves, are often reminders of privileges and blessing in the past which the grateful soul would not willingly forget.
1Ki_8:4. The tabernacle of the congregation, made by Moses, hitherto transportative and for many years severed from the ark, was now to be re-united and settled in the temple; as the saints, here tossed up and down, shall one day be in heaven, that habitation of God’s holiness. Though neither the tabernacle, nor its holy vessels, were applied to any use in the temple, their sacred character made it fitting that they should be deposited within its precincts. Most probably they were placed in the treasury.
1Ki_8:5. Sacrifice the essence of acceptable worship.
1. Was instituted in the earliest times.
2. Has been practised in some form by all nations in all ages.
3. Was most perfectly exemplified in the sufferings and death of the Son of God.
4. Is illustrated in generous gifts for religious purposes.
5. Demands the whole life and service of the individual believer.
1Ki_8:6-8. The ark an emblem of the human heart.
1. As vivifying and adorning the most splendid creation of human genius.
2. As the hiding place for the Divine Word (Psa_119:11).
3. As having affinity with angelical life.
4. As it exercises itself in showing mercy.
5. As it is the shrine of Divinest manifestations.
1Ki_8:9. “There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone.” The imperishable nature of the Divine Word.
1. It is superior to its most magnificent surroundings.
2. It remains when other precious things are lost.
3. It survives the wreck and ruin of the mightiest empires.
4. It is not in the power of men or devils to destroy it.
5. It will endure when earth and sea and stars have vanished.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 1Ki 8:27
1Ki 8:27
I. Every one will recall the scene of Solomon, the mastermind stored with all the learning of the day, dedicating the Temple to God. He was speaking to a nation naturally given to idolatry and to the localisation of worship, to a nation exclusive in their religion and almost incurable in their low, semi-materialistic ideas of God, speaking, too, at the moment of dedicating their most magnificent temple to their national God; and yet he rises far above—nay, he cuts clean across—all their national prejudices, and in these sublime words reveals that God is infinite, not to be comprehended in temple or shrine. It was a stage in the revelation of God given to the world through Solomon, the great student of His works, a further revelation of the immensity, the inconceivability, of God. And yet Solomon dedicated the Temple to become the centre of the passionate religious fervour of the nation, to be deemed for a thousand years the most sacred spot in all the earth. How shall we regard this? Was it in Solomon a hypocritical condescension to popular superstition, and in the people an unconscious or forced inconsistency, or was it not rather in both a flash of anticipation of the great truth that every form of worship is inadequate and even misleading until we see its inadequacy?
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II. We also have to learn this lesson, that all opinions about God, all systems of theology, are provisional, temporary, educational, like the Temple. They are not the essence of truth. It is the deepest conviction, not of philosophers only, but of the pious congregations of our land also, that the harmony, and co-operation, and brotherhood of Christians is the will of God concerning us, and that it is not to be sought for in unity of opinion, and can never be obtained as long as opinion is held to be of primary importance in religion. It is to be sought for in some far deeper unity of faith in Christ and service to Him. In the ideal Christianity which Christ taught opinion is nothing, and purity of life, charity, and the love of God are everything. Let us, each in our own little circles, try to assist in this glorious transformation of Christianity by the steady subordination of opinion to the practical service of Jesus Christ.
J. M. Wilson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 161.
References: 1Ki 8:27, 1Ki 8:28.—A. Watson, Christ’s Authority, and Other Sermons, p. 187. 1Ki 8:29.—E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 1. 1Ki 8:38.—H. Hayman, Sermons Preached in Rugby School Chapel, p. 193. 1Ki 8:38-40.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1489.
1Ki 8:44-45
There is something very observable in its being "in heaven" that we ask that our prayers may be heard.
I. Heaven is supposed to be the place in which, in some extraordinary and by us unimaginable mode, God is pleased to disclose His magnificent perfections to the higher orders of created intelligence. It is not that God can be more present in heaven than on earth; it is only that His presence is made more manifest, His glory more displayed or rendered more apparent. The representation of heaven as our place of audience lifts us from our degradation and places us at once on a level with loftier orders of being.
II. Whatever else may be supposed to give fixedness to heaven, or to make it, according to our common ideas, a definite place, there can be no doubt that it is the residence of Christ’s glorified humanity, and that this humanity, like our own, can only be in one spot at once. To desire that our prayers may be heard in heaven is to desire that they may be heard where alone they can be heard with acceptance. We can obtain nothing from God except for Christ’s sake and through Christ’s intercession. Tell the humble suppliant that heaven is the abode of the "Man Christ Jesus," that in heaven this Mediator carries on the work which He began on earth, and he will quickly realise that heaven, and heaven alone, is the place where human petitions may be expected to prevail.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2326.
References: 1Ki 8:46.—Bishop How, Plain Words to Children, p. 102. 1Ki 8:53.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1232. 1Ki 8:57.—C. Garrett, Loving Counsels, p. 69; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 265. 1Ki 8:62.—E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. i., p. 46. 1Ki 8—Parker, vol. vii., p. 305. 1Ki 9:3.—C. Wordsworth, Sermons Preached at Harrow School, p. 10. 1Ki 9—Parker, vol. vii., p. 316.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Dedication of the Temple. Solomon's Prayer
The Dedication of the Temple. Solomon's Prayer
1. The chief of the fathers] i.e. heads of families. Out of the city] The Temple and Palace were built on the site of Araunah's threshing floor (2Ch_3:1), which would naturally be outside the city walls and on higher ground: cp. 1Ki_9:24.
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2. Ethanim] The later Tishri, corresponding to Sept.-Oct. The feast referred to was Tabernacles (Lev_23:34).
3. The priests] 2Ch_5:4 has 'the Levites,' certain of whom (the Kohathites) had, according to Num_4:15, the special duty of bearing the ark. But the priests are likewise represented as bearing the ark in Jos_3:6, Jos_3:13; Jos_4:9, etc.
4. Tabernacle of the congregation] RV 'tent of meeting': i.e. the sanctuary in which the Lord used to commune with His worshippers (Exo_33:9; Num_11:25). This, which (according to 2Ch_1:3) was at Gibeon, may have been preserved for its sacred associations, for the ark had long been separated from it.
7. The staves] the poles, inserted in rings, by means of which the ark was carried: see Exo_25:12-15.
8. They drew out the staves] RV 'the staves were so long': owing to their length they could be seen from the Holy Place, though not without (i.e. outside it).
Unto this day] The date implied is that of a narrator living before the destruction of the Temple, whose language the compiler (who lived after that event, cp. 2 Kings 25) has incorporated without alteration: cp. 1Ki_9:21.
9. There was.. stone] The writer of Hebrews (Heb_9:4) mentions also the golden pot that contained manna, and Aaron's rod; but, in strictness, these were placed before the ark (Exo_16:34; Num_17:10).
10. The cloud] cp. Exo_40:34-35; Exo_33:9; Num_11:2; Num_12:5. This was called by the later Jews the Shechinah.
11. Could not stand] for the awe which the near Presence of the Lord inspired: cp. Exo_3:6; Isa_6:5; Eze_1:28.
12. The thick darkness] cp. Lev_16:2. Hitherto the Lord had dwelt not in an habitation made by human hands, but in Nature's cloudpavilions (Psa_18:11).
15. Which spake.. unto David] through the prophet Nathan (2Sa_7:5-7).
22. The altar] The altar of burnt offering, in the court before the Temple.
23. And he said] The passage that follows is full of a sense of God's infinitude (1Ki_8:27), righteousness (1Ki_8:32), and omniscience (1Ki_8:39), whilst at the same time it manifests faith in His constancy and forgivingness (1Ki_8:25, 1Ki_8:29-30, 1Ki_8:34, etc.); and though it contemplates principally the needs of Israel, yet it embraces a petition for the stranger that is not of Israel (1Ki_8:41-43).
25. So that] i.e. provided that (as in 1Ki_6:12).
27. The heaven.. contain thee] cp. Isa_66:1; Jer_23:24.
29. Make toward this place] In later times the Jews, when praying in foreign lands, turned their faces toward Jerusalem (Dan_6:10).
31. And the oath come] RV 'And he come and swear.'
37. In the land of their cities]. LXX 'in one of their cities.'
38. The plague of his own heart] i.e. the plague or chastisement which each is conscious of suffering: cp. 1Ki_2:44; Exo_9:14.
41. Concerning a stranger, etc.] for the future worship of the Lord by the Gentiles, cp. Isa_2:3; Isa_56:7; Zec_8:20-22.
43. Is called by thy name] i.e. belongs to Thee: cp. 2Sa_12:27-28
50. Give them compassion.. captive] The prayer was fulfilled when Cyrus allowed the Jews, who were captives in Babylon, to return to their home (Ezr_1:8).
51. Furnace of iron] i.e. a furnace hot enough to melt iron.
53. O Lord GOD] better, 'O Lord Jehovah.'
56. Hath given rest] cp. Exo_33:14.
60. That all the people, etc.] Israel had a mission to discharge to the other nations of the world, partly by exhibiting conspicuously in its fortunes the moral principles on which God governed mankind (Jos_4:24; Isa_55:5; Psa_67:7) and partly through the agency of its spiritual teachers the prophets (Isa_42:1).
61. Perfect with] i.e. not divided between the Lord and other gods: see 1Ki_9:6; 1Ki_11:4.
63. Two and twenty thousand, etc.] The quantity seems enormous, but numbers in the OT., as in other ancient writings, cannot always be relied on, and profuse sacrifices were common in antiquity.
64. The middle of the court] On what is believed to be the site of the Temple court there is a large slab of rock, which would form a natural altar. Meat offerings] RV 'meal offerings,' and so elsewhere.
65. A feast] i.e. of Tabernacles (1Ki_8:2).
The entering in of Hamath] Hamath was situated on the Orontes, the approach to it from the S. being by the gorge between Lebanon and Hermon. The river of Egypt] the modern Wâdy el Arish, a stream flowing from the Sinaitic peninsula into the Mediterranean. Seven days and seven days] The seven days' feast of Tabernacles was preceded by a seven days' Dedication festival.
66. On the eighth day] i.e. at the close of the seven days' feast of Tabernacles. Unto their tents] The phrase is a survival from the tent-life which prevailed before the settlement in Canaan.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Then Solomon
Then Solomon
The consecration of the temple illustrates all consecration. The temple, like the believer 1Th 5:23 was threefold: the court, that which was outward, visible, answered to the body; the holy place, where everything appealed to the sacred emotions, answered to the soul; the holy of holies, the place of communion with God Exo 25:22 answered to the spirit of man. The ark was the most all- inclusive type of Christ of any one of the vessels of the tabernacle. (See Scofield "Exo 25:9"). When, therefore, the priests brought the ark into the court, the holy place, and the holy of holies, they were, in type, enthroning Christ over the body, with its powers and appetites; the soul, seat of the emotions and desires; and the mind, seat of the capacity to know and commune with God. See Scofield "Gen 1:26" note 3. In Christian experience this answers to; Rom 12:1-3; Eph 5:18.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 8The Dedication of the Temple
CHAPTER 8The Dedication of the Temple
1. The great assembly (1Ki 8:1-2)
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2. The transportation of the ark (1Ki 8:3-9)
3. The glory of the LORD filling the house (1Ki 8:10-11)
4. Solomon’s opening words (1Ki 8:12-21)
5. Solomon’s great prayer (1Ki 8:22-53)
6. Solomon’s benediction (1Ki 8:54-61)
7. The sacrifices and the feast (1Ki 8:62-66)
The ark of the covenant is now to be transported out of David’s city to be put into the most holy place, under the wings of the great cherubim. The ark was carried, according to the instructions in the law, by the priests. A great sacrificial ceremony also took place; so many sheep and oxen were sacrificed that “they could not be numbered for multitude.” The ark now had found a resting place (Psa 132:8). The staves by which the ark had been carried were now drawn out. They were not to be removed (Exo 25:15); but now they were pulled out, but remained there as a memorial of their journeys and the Lord’s faithfulness in bringing them into the promised rest. But in the ark nothing was found but the two tables of stone; Aaron’s rod and the pot of manna were missing. (Heb 9:4 has reference to the ark in the Tabernacle). The rod of Aaron was the emblem of the priestly grace which had accompanied them on their journey and the manna was their food in the wilderness. Both Aaron’s rod and the pot of manna were provisions for the wilderness; they would not have been in keeping with the reign of glory and peace, as well as the rest they now enjoyed. Thus when we are brought into glory we have no more need of priestly intercession and help, nor do we need the manna any longer. But the law was not missing, for as regards that earthly kingdom over which our Lord will yet reign, its foundation and administration will be the law of righteousness.
When the ark had been placed the glory-cloud filled the house. Jehovah had appeared in His glory to dwell in the house. And when that future temple will be on the earth as seen by Ezekiel in his great temple-vision, the glory will return and fill the house, and more than that, the whole earth will be filled with His glory (Eze 43:1-5; Num 14:21).
Then Solomon spoke. A great and marvellous dedicatory and intercessory prayer follows. It must be noticed that in all, especially in the bringing of the sacrifices, Solomon assumes the full character of priest. He acts as the king-priest, another Melchizedek, King of Salem. And this he was, king of righteousness in his judgments and king of peace. In all this he foreshadows Him, who is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. “He shall be a priest upon His throne” (Zec 6:13) is the still unfulfilled prediction. Now He is upon the Father’s throne as the priest and advocate of His people. When He comes again He will have His own throne and be also a priest. We have therefore in Solomon’s functions in dedicating the temple and in the bringing of the sacrifices a prophetic type of our Lord in His future royal priesthood. First, Solomon turned towards the Most Holy filled with the glory of the Lord and said: “I have surely built Thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for Thee to abide in forever.” Then he blessed the congregation. He mentions once more David, his illustrious father, and the covenant-promise. “And the LORD hath performed His word that He spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel” (verse 20). And yet the covenant-promise had not seen its accomplishment; the failure of Solomon and the passing of the glory witnesses to that. Yet Solomon, his reign of peace and prosperity and especially his great work in the building of the temple foreshadows the great coming fulfillment of the Davidic covenant in the enthroned Christ upon the throne of his father David. A closer study of the great prayer we must leave with the reader. The different petitions are of deep interest and the kingdom characteristics are prominent. “The prayer sets the people under the form of a righteous government, abounding indeed in kindness and forgiveness, yet one which will not hold the guilty innocent; and it presents God as the people’s resource, when the consequences of their sin fall upon them according to the principles laid down by Moses in Deuteronomy and elsewhere” (Synopsis of the Bible). And in the prayer mention is made “that all people of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by Thy name” (verse 43). This looks forward to the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom, when nations will be joined to a God-fearing Israel. (See Zec 2:11; Zec 8:23.) The feast mentioned which followed the dedication feast is the feast of tabernacles. And this is again highly typical, for the feast of tabernacles is as a type unfulfilled. While it pointed back to the time when they were in the wilderness, living in tents and journeying towards the land of promise, it also pointed to the future, when the name of Jehovah was to be known among all the nations of the earth, when the nations would come to worship the Lord of Hosts (Zech. 14). The conjunction of the dedication of the temple with the feast of tabernacles was more than significant, it was prophetic. It is only when the Lord Jesus Christ occupies the throne and He builds the Temple of glory, that the nations will seek after Him and be converted. (See our annotations on Leviticus 23.) And while the king prayed and blessed the people, the people full of happiness and joy blessed the king. Heaven and earth rejoiced. It is the climax of Israel’s history in the land.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Ceremony Of Dedication
The Ceremony Of Dedication
v. 1. Then Solomon, the Temple being completed in all its parts, assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, the princes of the father-houses, all these being representatives of the entire congregation, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion, the summit of Moriah being higher than Mount Zion.
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v. 2. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, also known as Tishri, which is the seventh month. The festival here referred to is the Feast of Tabernacles, which seems at that time to have been better observed than the other two great festivals, and it was very appropriate that Solomon chose just this season of the year.
v. 3. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, the bearing of which was their special work, Num 4:15.
v. 4. And they brought up the ark of the Lord and the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the tent which seems finally to have been located on a hill near Gibeon, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up, the latter carrying the coverings of the Tabernacle, Num 3:31; Num 4:5 ff.
v. 5. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him were with him before the ark, in a procession which went ahead of the priests, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told or numbered for multitude, nobody thought it worthwhile to count the great number of sacrifices, for there was no regard to expense.
v. 6. And the priests brought in the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord unto his place, in to the oracle of the house, to the Most Holy Place, even under the wings of the cherubim, evidently setting the ark so as to have it stand with its length north and south.
v. 7. For the cherubim, 1Ki 6:27, spread forth their two wings, those which touched in the middle of the room, over the place of the ark, and the cherubim, bending forward as did those on the cover of the ark, covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
v. 8. And they drew out the staves, that is, the staves were very long on account of the great weight of the ark and on account of the fact that the bearers were not allowed to touch the sacred vessel, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the Holy Place before the oracle, that is, if any one approached very near to the Most Holy Place; and they were not seen without; and there they are unto this day, this account having been written before the destruction of Jerusalem.
v. 9. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. It seems, then, that "the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded," Heb 9:4, had been removed from the ark or were again deposited later.
v. 10. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the Holy Place, that the cloud, the visible token of the presence of Jehovah in the fullness of His majesty, as in the wilderness, filled the house of the Lord,
v. 11. so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. Cf Exo 40:34-35. The entire Sanctuary was filled with this gracious manifestation, making it impossible for the priests, for the time being, to perform their work. The Church of the New Testament is assured of the continual merciful presence of Jehovah, until at last we shall progress from believing to seeing.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6 assembled the elders of Israel
assembled the elders of Israel
"called together the leaders of Israel"
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All the men of Israel
This may refer either 1) to the people whom Solomon called to Jerusalem and who are listed in 1Ki 8:1 or 2) generally to those who traveled to Jerusalem for the feast, not necessarily to every male person who lived in Israel. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
at the feast
This is a reference to the Feast of Succoth, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Shelters .
in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month
"Ethanim" is the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. It is during the last part of September and the first part of October on Western calendars. (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers and How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Solomon
elder
Israel
head
tribe
family
Jerusalem
ark of the covenant
Yahweh
city of David
Zion
king
feast
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 5 8:1-66 Solomon’s building activities climaxed with the Ark’s move…
8:1-66 Solomon’s building activities climaxed with the Ark’s move to the newly erected Temple. The king offered both prayer (8:22-53) and words of praise and blessing (8:56-61) to dedicate the Temple for the Lord’s service. After the dedication, the assembled gathering enjoyed the great Festival of Shelters. The focus of the account is on Solomon praising God and blessing the people (8:12-61).
8:1 The Ark was being kept in a tent in the City of David (2 Sam 6:3-17; 1 Chr 13:7-14; 15:1–16:43). Solomon had gone there earlier to sacrifice after the Lord appeared to him in a dream in Gibeon (1 Kgs 3:4-15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.