Tuesday, November 21, 2023

I Kings 8, The Temple Dedicated

Solomon has built both an extravagant temple and an extravagant palace.

I Kings 8: 1-5, Ark brought to the temple
Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD's covenant from Zion, the City of David. 

All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month. When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

In the seventh month, the ark is brought into the temple. The number of sacrificed animals is too large to count!

The temple was finished in the eighth month (1 Kings 6: 38) and the ark is brought into the temple in the seventh month, so presumably eleven months was spent furnishing the temple before bringing in the ark. (It is also possible that the ark was brought in on the seventh month to coincide with the Feast of Booths.)  Patterson and Austel say that Ethanin was the name of the seventh month prior to the Babylonian captivity; after the captivity the seventh month was called Tishrei and this may be the reason it is explained as the seventh month to the reader.

I Kings 8: 6-9, Into the inner sanctuary
The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.

There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

The writer appears to have seen this, claiming it is still visible "today", that is, in the day of writing.  The stone tablets are those that Moses received back in Exodus 34.

I Kings 8: 10-13, Cloud fills the temple
When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.

Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever."

As happened with Moses in Exodus 40: 34, the presence of YHWH is now physically visible.

I Kings 8: 14-21, Blessing
While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, `Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.'

"My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. But the LORD said to my father David, `Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart.  Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood--he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.'

"The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt."

Solomon "blesses" this people. (Presumably this is a statement of promises related to the covenant.) Then he praises YHWH, expressing gratitude for being on the throne and being allowed to build the temple.

I Kings 8: 22-26, Praise
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said: "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below--you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it--as it is today.

"Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, `You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done.' And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

Solomon rejoices in YHWH's gifts to him and to Israel. He praises God in language that reviews the covenant and the promises to the descendants of David. 

In verse 23 Solomon describes God's "covenant of love"; the Hebrew word translated "love" by the NIV is hesed.  That word is a subject of a Sunday essay, here.

Solomon's stance in prayer is to stand, with hands spread out, uplifted. This was a common Old Testament way to pray, far different from our culture's common "head bowed, eyes closed" stance in prayer. A parallel passage, 2 Chronicles 6: 13, has Solomon standing first, then kneeling before the people, with hands outstretched.

I Kings 8: 27-30, "Then hear from heaven"
"But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, `My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

In his praise, Solomon asks a rhetorical question, "Will God really dwell (physically) on earth?"  The temple is to give YHWH a place to physically appear before His people but Solomon recognizes that YHWH is much greater than anything a temple can contain, indeed, admits Solomon, YHWH cannot be contained by all the heavens. The temple then is a structure to aid the people of Israel in approaching YHWH.

I Kings 8: 31-40, "Then hear from heaven"
"When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple, then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.

"When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.

"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,  then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

"When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel--each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple-- then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men), so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.

Solomon's prayer includes seven requests. In the first, Solomon asks that God condemn the guilty who makes a false statement in a claim brought before God. This presumably reflects the situation in which there is a dispute between two parties but there are no witnesses to the critical event.

In the second request, Solomon asks for forgiveness when the people sin and then are defeated by an enemy. In the third request is similar; here the people sin and a drought comes as punishment. In the fourth request, Solomon asks for forgiveness for the people during times of famine. 

I Kings 8: 41-44, The view from the foreigner
"As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name-- for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm--when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

In his fifth request, Solomon asks for God to hear the prayers of the foreigners, the Gentiles, who approach His temple. This paragraph gives an explicit reason for the covenant, the covenant law, and the temple -- so that other nations will be attracted to Israel, so that they will want to come to the temple and make their requests of YHWH!

I Kings 8: 45-51, Expectations
"When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

"When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, `We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly'; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

"And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy; for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.

Solomon's sixth request asks that YHWH hear the people even when they are distant and not near Jerusalem. The seventh request extends that situation to those taken captive and deported to a distant land (such as, much later, the land of Babylon.)

Verse 46 is clear: "For there is no one who does not sin".  Thus everyone needs to turn to YHWH for forgiveness.

Patterson and Austel, in their commentary on 1 & 2 Kings see Solomon's requests as echoes of the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28-30.

I Kings 8: 52-53, Eyes open
"May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, O Sovereign LORD, brought our fathers out of Egypt."

Solomon repeats Israel's special place in the kingdoms of the world and reminds YHWH that He has said He will be open to their pleas.

I Kings 8: 54-61, Benediction
When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: "Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 

"May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us.

"May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time."

Solomon finishes his prayer by telling the people that YHWH will continue to care for them and reward them. Solomon intends to be fully committed to YHWH and urges the people to also be fully committed. In this way, the nation will continue to receive "rest" in their land. (Like Saul and David before him, Solomon will eventually reach a position of power and pride ... and then downfall.)

1 Chronicles 7: 1-3 adds that after Solomon's prayer, before the upcoming sacrifices, fire came down from heaven and God's glory filled the temple.

I Kings 8: 62-64, Sacrifices
Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.

Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.  On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

Solomon ends his prayer with a massive sacrifice of animals in the temple. It is for these sacrifices that the temple courts were built.

I Kings 8: 65-66, Festival
So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him--a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.

On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

The festival, the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) ends with joy. God is good and life is good.

(NIV footnotes: in verse 65, "Lebo Hamath" is unclear; it could be "from the entrance to Hamath".)

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