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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 8
The ark, containing the two tablets of stone, is placed in the holy of
holies—The glory of the Lord fills the temple—Solomon offers
dedicatory prayer—He asks for temporal and spiritual blessings upon
repentant and prayerful Israel—The people sacrifice and worship for
fourteen days.
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1 THEN Solomon assembled
the aelders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the
bchief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king
Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the
LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.
2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto
king Solomon at the afeast in the month Ethanim, which
is the seventh month.
3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the
apriests took up the ark.
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4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up.
5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.
6 And the priests brought in the
aark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the
oracle of the house, to the most bholy place, even
under the wings of the cherubims.
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7 For the acherubims spread forth
their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered
the ark and the staves thereof above.
8 And they drew out the astaves,
that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the
boracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are
unto this day.
9 There was nothing in the
aark save the two btables of stone, which
Moses put there at cHoreb, when the LORD made a
covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of
Egypt.
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10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come
out of the holy place, that the acloud filled the
house of the LORD,
11 So that the priests could not stand to minister
because of the cloud: for the aglory of the LORD had filled
the house of the LORD.
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12 ¶ Then spake aSolomon, The
LORD said that he would dwell in the thick bdarkness.
13 I have surely abuilt thee an
bhouse to dwell in, a settled place for thee to
cabide in for ever.
14 And the king turned his face about, and
ablessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the
congregation of Israel stood;)
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15 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,
16 Since the day that I brought forth my people
Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build
an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose aDavid
to be over my people Israel.
17 And it was in the heart of David my father to
build an ahouse for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
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18 And the LORD said unto David my father, Whereas
it was in thine heart to build an ahouse unto my name, thou
didst well that it was in thine heart.
19 Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but
thy ason that shall come forth out of thy loins, he
shall build the house unto my namea.
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20 And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
21 And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein
is the acovenant of the LORD, which he made with our
fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
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Dedicatory Prayer of the Temple of Solomon
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22 ¶ And Solomon stood before the altar of the
LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and
aspread forth his hands toward heaven:
23 And he said, aLORD God of
Israel, there is no bGod like thee, in heaven above,
or on earth beneath, who ckeepest covenant and mercy with
thy servants that dwalk before thee with all their
heart:
24 Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.
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25 Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy
servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not
fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel;
aso that thy children take heed to their way, that they
walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
26 And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.
27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold,
the heaven and aheaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how
much less this house that I have builded?
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28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:
29 That thine eyes may be open toward this
ahouse night and day, even toward the
bplace of which thou hast said, My cname
shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the dprayer
which thy servant shall make toward this place.
30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
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31 ¶ If any man trespass against his neighbour,
and aan oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and
the oath come before thine altar in this house:
32 Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy
servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and
justifying the righteous, to give him according to his
arighteousness.
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33 ¶ When thy people Israel be
asmitten down before the enemy, because they have
bsinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and
confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this
house:
34 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
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35 ¶ When heaven is ashut up,
and there is no brain, because they have sinned against
thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from
their sin, when thou afflictest them:
36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of
thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou ateach
them the good way wherein they should bwalk, and give rain
upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
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37 ¶ If there be in the land famine, if there be
pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if
their enemy besiege them in athe land of their cities;
whatsoever plague, whatsoever bsickness there be;
38 What prayer and supplication soever be
made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and
forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart
thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the
ahearts of all the children of men;)
40 That they may afear thee all
the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
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41 Moreover concerning a astranger,
that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far
bcountry for thy name's sake;
42 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of
thy strong ahand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he
shall come and pray toward this house;
43 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do
according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of
the earth may aknow thy name, to bfear
thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house,
which I have builded, is called by thy name.
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44 ¶ If thy people go out to battle against
their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt asend them, and shall
pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward
the house that I have built for thy name:
45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
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46 If they sin against thee, (for there
is no man that asinneth
nota,) and thou be angry with them, and
bdeliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away
captives unto the land of the cenemy, far or near;
47 Yet if they shall
abethink themselves in the land whither they were carried
captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them
that carried them captives, saying, We have bsinned, and
have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
48 And so areturn unto thee
with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies,
which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their
bland, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which
thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
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46a there is no man that sinneth
not Here in the dedicatory prayer King Solomon recognizes that
which the whited wall Pharisees and Jewish leaders of Jesus' day failed to
recognize, that as self-righteous as they made themselves out to be, they too
were but sinners before their God and ought to show forth that humility before
him.
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49 Then ahear thou their prayer
and their supplication in bheaven thy dwelling place, and
maintain their cause,
50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:
51 For they be thy apeople,
and thine binheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of
Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:
52 That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.
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53 For thou didst aseparate them
from among all the people of the earth, to be bthine
inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou
broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.
54 And it was so, that when Solomon had made
an end of apraying all this prayer and supplication unto
the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his
knees with his hands spread up to heaven.
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55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest
unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not
afailed one bword of all his good
cpromise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his
servant.
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57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:
58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.
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59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:
60 That all the people of the earth may
aknow that the LORD is bGod,
and that there is cnone else.
61 Let your aheart therefore be
bperfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes,
and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
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62 ¶ And the king, and all Israel with him,
aoffered sacrifice before the LORD.
63 And Solomon offered a
asacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the
LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep.
So the king and all the children of Israel bdedicated the
house of the LORD.
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64 The same day did the king hallow the middle of
the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered
burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings:
because the abrasen altar that was before the LORD
was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and
the fat of the peace offerings.
65 And at that time Solomon held a
afeast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from
the bentering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before
the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.
66 On the aeighth day he sent the
people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and
glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his
servant, and for Israel his people.
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