1 Kings 9:3

3 The Lord said to him, "I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time.

1 Kings 9:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 9:3

And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy
supplication that thou hast made before me
With delight and pleasure, and had accepted it; meaning the prayer recorded in the preceding chapter:

I have hallowed this house which thou hast built;
by the cloud of glory filling it, and by fire descending from heaven, and consuming the sacrifices offered in it, ( 2 Chronicles 7:1 )

to put my name there for ever;
there to grant his presence, so long as his pure worship should be continued in it; so the Targum adds,

``and my Shechinah or divine Majesty shall abide in it, if my will is done there continually:''

and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually;
his eyes of Providence should be upon it, to watch over it, and protect it, and his worshippers in it; and he should have a cordial regard to the sacrifices there offered, and to the persons of the offerers, so long as they offered them in a right way, and to right ends and purposes.

1 Kings 9:3 In-Context

1 After King Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and everything else he wanted to build,

2 the Lord appeared to him again, as he had in Gibeon.

3 The Lord said to him, "I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time.

4 If you will serve me in honesty and integrity, as your father David did, and if you obey my laws and do everything I have commanded you,

5 I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants.