1 Kings 8:1-6

Solomon's Dedication of the Temple

1 At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Zion, the city of David.

2 So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim at the festival.^[a]

3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark.

4 The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent.

5 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many.

6 The priests brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim.^[b]

1 Kings 8:1-6 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.

Footnotes

• [a] September-October
• [b] 1 Kg 6:23; 2 Sm 6:2-17