1 Kings 8
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CHAPTER 8
The Ark Brought to the Temple (8:1–21)
(2 Chronicles 5:2–14; 6:1–11)
1–5 At the time of the festival34 (verse 2), Solomon had the ark of the LORD’S covenant35broughtfrom ZION,theCityof David36 (verse 1) and placed in the newly completed temple. The moving of the ark was a joyous occasion, similar in some ways to David’s moving of the ark to Jerusalem for the first time (2 Samuel 6:12–18). In addition to the ark, the Tent of Meeting (verse 4)—the original tabernacle (Exodus 26:1–37)—was also brought to the new temple; it had earlier been located at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chronicles 1:3).
6–9 Only the priests were allowed to handle the ark itself (see 2 Samuel 6:6–7 and comment). They placed it in the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim that Solomon had made (1 Kings 6:23–28). The ark’s carrying poles were left in place (Exodus 25:15)—and, says the writer, they are still there today (verse 8), that is, at the time 1 Kings was written. Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments, also called the Testimony37 (Exodus 24:12; 25:16).
The ark was the most sacred object in all of Israel. It symbolized God’s presence; it was where God chose to manifest His glory. The ark also symbolized God’s throne; from that throne” God showed mercy to those who offered the prescribed sacrifices of atonement, but He brought judgment on those who did not. Thus the ark was a symbol of both divine mercy and divine JUDGMENT: mercy for those who believed and obeyed, and judgment for those who didn’t.
10–11 When the ark was in its place, the cloud filled the temple. This cloud was the manifestation of God’s presence, God’s glory (verse 11). God had accepted the temple as His symbolic earthly dwelling place, just as He had accepted the tabernacle as His dwelling place in the days of Moses (see Exodus 40:34–35).
12–13 In the past God had chosen to manifest Himself in a cloud (Exodus 19:9; 24:15–18); Solomon knew this, and he rejoiced that God had now visibly come to dwell in the temple he had built (verse 12). Solomon said that the temple would be God’s dwelling place forever (verse 13). Solomon was thinking of the permanence of this great temple in contrast to the impermanence of Moses’ tabernacle; he was also thinking of God’s promise to David that through his offspring He would establish David’s throne forever (2 Samuel 7:1213,16).
The importance of God’s coming in the cloud to dwell in His new temple cannot be overstated. Without God’s presence, the temple would have been an empty shell. Centuries earlier, Moses knew that without God’s presence there was no point in Israel journeying to the promised land (Exodus 33:14–15). Wherever we are in our earthly pilgrimage, if God’s presence is not with us there can be no purpose, no meaning, no true blessing in our lives. God’s presence—His glory, His power, His GRACE—is the most amazing blessing any human can experience. For us who believe in Christ, God’s presence is manifested not as a cloud filling a temple but as the Holy Spirit filling our hearts. We are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), and through His Spirit we experience God’s presence in our lives—forever.38
14 —21 Solomon then turned to the Israelites gathered outside the temple and praised God for having fulfilled with his own hand what He had promised with his own mouth (verse 15). God’s promises are always sure; whatever He says, He will also carry out. God had promised the Israelites a land of their own (Genesis 12:7); God had promised them that He would be their God and dwell among them (Genesis 17:8; Leviticus 26:11–12). And now, at this dramatic moment in Israel’s history, those promises had been fulfilled.
But more immediately, Solomon’s address focused on God’s promise to David (2 Samuel 7:5–16) and in particular His promise that David’s son would build a temple for God’s Name—that is, for God Himself (2 Samuel 7:12–13). Now, that promise, too, had been fulfilled.
In his address, Solomon was not hesitant to proclaim what he himself had accomplished: I have succeeded . . . I have built . . . I have provided (verses 20–21). But at the same time Solomon acknowledged that all this had come about because the Lord had kept the promise he made. Once again, we see God’s sovereignty and man’s effort joined together to accomplish God’s purpose.
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication (8:22–61)
(2 Chronicles 6:12–40)
22–23 Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple is one of the greatest public prayers recorded in Scripture. Solomon starts with the all-important affirmation that there is no god like Israel’s God and that one of the main characteristics making Him unique is that He keeps His covenant of love (verse 23); God is a God of love. No other god in history has performed miracles and ordered the course of events for the specific purpose of keeping his covenant promises to a particular people; only Israel’s God has done this.
And yet there is a condition attached to God’s “covenant of love": He has made this covenant only with those who continue wholeheartedly in [His] way (verse 23). Solomon knew that the Israelites could forfeit their covenant blessings if they turned from God’s way. So throughout his prayer Solomon emphasizes the Israelites’ need to obey God’s commands, and should they fail to obey (as sinful men and women will often do) he calls on God to forgive them when they turn back to Him in REPENTANCE. Solomon’s entire prayer balances God’s faithfulness and love on the one hand with His punishment of unrepentant sinners on the other (see Exodus 34:4–7; Deuteronomy 7:7–11 and comments).
24 —26 In these verses Solomon praises God for His faithfulness in keeping His promises to David. David had himself passed on to Solomon one of those promises: namely, that if Solomon and his descendants walked in God’s ways (verse 25), there would always be a member of the house of David sitting on the throne of Israel (see 1 Kings 2:4). Since God had fulfilled this promise so far, Solomon prays that He will continue to make it come true in the future (verse 26). Because of God’s faithfulness in the past, we can count on His faithfulness in the future; answers to past prayers give hope of answers to future ones. God’s promises are the basis of bold praying; what God has promised we can claim with confidence—as long as we meet the condition: obedience to His will.
27–30 The focus of Solomon’s prayer, of course, was centered on the temple he was now dedicating. Solomon had no thought that the infinite God of the universe was actually going to live in this little house" he had built for Him (verse 27). God’s real dwelling was in heaven (verse 30). What God had graciously agreed to do was to let His Name . . . be there in the temple (verse 29); that is, God was going to be present in the temple in a special way so that sinful men and women could approach Him through the atoning sacrifices they offered at His altar (see Exodus 25:1; 1 Kings 6:1 and comments). Through the services at the temple, God was granting His people the chance to have their sins forgiven and to enjoy fellowship with Him. The burden of Solomon’s prayer was that God—in this new temple—would continue to show His people that forgiving love and grace that He had shown them from the beginning.
31–32 Here Solomon asks that God Himself render judgment in cases where there was insufficient evidence to determine one’s guilt or innocence. Previously in such cases, an oath was taken by the disputants (Exodus 22:11) and God was left to decide the verdict—perhaps by the priest’s use of the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30). Solomon was asking God to continue to use the temple as His judgment seat.”
33–40 In these verses, Solomon asks God for mercy for the Israelites in the event that various afflictions fall upon them as the result of sin. The afflictions listed here are similar to the punishments listed in Leviticus 26:14–39, which God said would be inflicted on the Israelites if they neglected His covenant requirements.
In verse 39, Solomon asks God: “Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does.” Solomon recognized that even though God has forgiven a person, it may still be necessary to discipline that person (see 2 Samuel 7:14; Hebrews 12:5–11). So Solomon asks God to deal with each sinner according to His wisdom; only God knows a person’s heart. Sin is not primarily a matter of “breaking a rule"; it is primarily a matter of sinning against God in one’s heart. God disciplines people so that they will fear39 Him (verse 40)—so that they will honor and obey Him, and learn to keep His covenant.
41–43 Here Solomon turns his attention to the foreigner who visits the temple because he has heard of God’s name (verse 41), because he has heard of God’s mighty hand and outstretched arm40 (verse 42)—that is, His mighty power. These “foreigners” were not the resident aliens who had chosen to live in Israel and worship Israel’s God; these were true foreigners, GENTILES, to whom God intended to reveal Himself through the faith and obedience of His covenant people Israel. Solomon was asking God to answer their prayers too, so that all the peoples of the earth would know the name of the Lord and come to fear Him (verse 43). God’s temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:6–7; Mark 11:17).
44–45 Here Solomon asks God to help His people when He sends them against their enemies. He asks God to hear their prayers for help when they pray toward the city . . . and the temple41 (verse 44). God had promised to deliver the enemies of the Israelites into their hands (Exodus 23:23,27,31; 34:10–11), but this did not mean they didn’t need to pray for His help!
46–53 In these verses, Solomon looks ahead and anticipates a time when the Israelites would be driven into exile—a time that actually came to pass four hundred years later. Indeed, the first readers of 1 Kings were already living in exile in Babylon,42 so these words would have had a powerful impact upon them.
In verse 46, Solomon acknowledges that all human beings sin (Romans 3:10–12; 1 John 1:8), and are thus deserving of punishment. Solomon imagines a time when the Israelites’ sin has become so great that God does indeed send them into exile. Given such an event, Solomon calls upon God to have mercy upon them. But mercy will be possible only if they have a change of heart and repent (verse 47) and turn back to [God] with all their heart and soul (verse 48). If they do confess their sins and repent, then Solomon asks God to forgive them (verse 50). Confession and repentance are the means by which sinful humans can find forgiveness from a gracious God and be restored to fellowship with Him (see Leviticus 5:5–6 and comment).
These verses, together with a similar passage in Leviticus 26:40–45, surely gave hope to the Israelite exiles living in Babylon. Solomon’s final argument on their behalf was that they were God’s people, God’s inheritance43 (verses 51,53)—God’s treasured possession (Exodus 19:5). God had already delivered them from a much worse situation—from the iron—smelting furnace of Egypt (see Deuteronomy 4:20 and comment). Surely the Israelites in exile could hope that He would deliver them again.
54–57 Here Solomon concludes his great prayer of dedication by praising God for having given rest to His people (verse 56), as He had promised to do (Exodus 33:14; Deuteronomy 12:10; 2 Samuel 7:1; 1 Kings 5:4). Solomon sees the completion of the temple and God’s cloud filling it (verse 10) as the climactic and final fulfillment of all God’s promises to Israel—including His promise of “rest” for the people. Of course, the rest that Israel experienced turned out to be neither final nor complete; only during Solomon’s reign did that “rest"—security, peace, prosperity, harmony—remain. God’s true “rest” for His people would not be realized until the coming of Christ; only through Christ do we experience lasting rest, lasting reconciliation with God and man. There remains, then, a Sabbath—rest for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9).
People fail to enter God’s rest for one reason only: their disobedience, their sin44 (Psalm 95:7–11; Hebrews 3:7–12,18). When people harden their hearts and persist in sin, they cut themselves off from God’s rest, God’s SALVATION. Our active faith and obedience are required if we are to enter God’s rest (Hebrews 4:1–2,11).
58 But how do sinful humans believe and obey? Paul says that all of us were once dead in [our] transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1); how can a dead” person obey? It is only possible if God, in His sovereign grace, revives us and animates us to turn our hearts to him so that we might walk in all his ways and keep his commands. In other words, we need a new heart (Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 11:19), we need a “rebirth” (John 3:3; Ephesians 2:4–5), which only God can give us. Solomon knew that if the Israelites were ever going to lead consistently godly lives it would require God’s enabling; it would require God’s “turning of their hearts” (see Deuteronomy 30:6 and comment). Obeying God is always a matter of the heart.
59–61 In these final verses, Solomon calls himself God’s servant (verse 59); God was the true King of Israel, and Solomon was His earthly representative. Solomon asks God to uphold the cause of His people Israel, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God (verse 60). This was God’s larger purpose in raising up the nation of Israel in the first place (Genesis 12:3; Joshua 4:23–24).
In verse 61, Solomon reminds the people of their own responsibility: “. . . your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to . . . obey his commands.” God does not do everything for us. He gives us a new heart, a new life, but then we must respond to His grace by committing ourselves to Him. Our life with God is an everdeveloping creation, a journey—God working together with us to fulfill His purposes (Philippians 2:12–13) and to make His name known among all the peoples of the earth.
The Dedication of the Temple (8:62–66)
(2 Chronicles 7:1–10)
62–66 According to 2 Chronicles 7:1–3, when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices that had already been offered; this was another sign that God had accepted the temple as His earthly dwelling. Then thousands of additional sacrifices were offered45 (verse 63); these were probably offered throughout the course of the twoweek celebration, to which people from all over Israel had come (verse 65). Through these offerings, Solomon and the people atoned for their sin and renewed their commitment to God’s covenant; thereby they were enabled to enter afresh into fellowship with God and with each other.