1 Kings 8:62-66

The Dedication of the Temple

62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.

63 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.

64 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 that stood before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

65 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.

66 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.

1 Kings 8:62-66 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 8

This chapter gives an account of the introduction of the ark into the temple, 1Ki 8:1-9 of the glory of the Lord filling it, 1Ki 8:10,11 of a speech Solomon made to the people concerning the building of the temple, and how he came to be engaged in it, 1Ki 8:12-21, of a prayer of his he put up on this occasion, requesting, that what supplications soever were made at any time, or on any account, by Israelites or strangers, might be accepted by the Lord, 1Ki 8:22-53, and of his blessing the people of Israel at the close of it, with some useful exhortations, 1Ki 8:54-61, and of the great number of sacrifices offered up by him, and the feast he made for the people, upon which he dismissed them, 1Ki 8:62-66.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Samuel 6:13; 1 Chronicles 29:21; Ezekiel 45:17
• 2. Ezra 6:16
• 3. S Exodus 29:13
• 4. S Exodus 27:1; 2 Kings 16:14; 2 Chronicles 4:1; 2 Chronicles 8:12; 2 Chronicles 15:8; Ezekiel 43:13-17
• 5. S 2 Samuel 6:17
• 6. S ver 2; Leviticus 23:34
• 7. S Numbers 13:21; Numbers 34:8; Joshua 13:5; Judges 3:3; 2 Kings 14:25
• 8. S Genesis 15:18
• 9. S Exodus 18:9