1 Kings 8:1-21 “The Lord Comes to His House”
1 Kings 8:1-21 “The Lord Comes To His House”
1 Kings 6 – The Temple built and furnished 1 Kings 7 – Other buildings and expenses 1 Kings 8 – The Temple dedicated to the Name of the Lord
1 Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion. 2 Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 So all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 Then they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. • Can you imagine the emotion and the excitement of the crowd to see the Ark itself carried by the Priests and Levites? • All the nobility, the elected Elders, the heads of all 12 Tribes and the Levites, the Chief Fathers (Patriarchs) – every important person in Israel o All the men of Israel o Real men never forsake the assembly of the believers. o Sunday is the High Point not the low point – to submit and surrender – always looking for the opportunity. • Ethanim:
1 Kings 8.1-21 1 o eth'-a-nim ('ethanim): always steady, valiant, flowing; recognizing God’s faithfulness and provision. o The 7th month of the Jewish ceremonial year (1 Kings 8:2). The word is of Phoenician origin and signifies "perennial," referring to living streams. It corresponds to our September-October. o After the Exile called “Tishri”
5 Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. • Solomon alone sacrifices 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep (v63) o The congregation outnumbered Solomon’s sacrifice by an innumerable amount. o Imagine the rivers of blood pouring down the Kidron Valley to the Dead Sea. 1 Kings 8:63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.
6 Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. 8 The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.
• The poles would stick out for every Priests to know God’s dwelling and meeting place is still there. o The Throne is there – God must be as well? • The statement that the poles are still there today suggests that this part of 1 Kings was written before the temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. 1
Contents of the Ark: 9 Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. • The ancient wilderness Tabernacle: Hebrews 9:2–5
1 Thomas L. Constable, “1 Kings,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 503. 1 Kings 8.1-21 3
2 For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; 3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, 4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. • Stone tablets with the handwriting of God upon them o Aaron’s rod gone o Pot of Manna gone o Some suspect stolen by the Philistines: 1 Samuel 6:19 Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. • God will meet them there: Exodus 25:21–22 21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. • Chronicles tells us more about the splendor of that day: 2 Chronicles 5:11–14 11 And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without keeping to their divisions), 12 and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets— 13 indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,” that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
• Man can build the House but he cannot build the tenant o Man has walked away from the Church in general o Too many Pastoral abuses o Too many pulpits preaching the world o Too many churches all about entertainment • Churches built for God, but God is absent
• Please note the Lord did not enter His Holy Place until the priests were gone. o The Lord does not need any Priest but Jesus to enter into the Holy Place. o Jesus is the full sum and substance of all that we need
12 Then Solomon spoke: “The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud. 13 I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for You to dwell in forever.” 14 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. 15 And he said: “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David, and with His hand has fulfilled it, saying, 16 ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ o The people chose Saul o Disaster o God chose David o Blessings o God chose you – you did not choose Him. John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Ephesians 1:3–5 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
17 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 18 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.’ 20 So the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised; and I have built a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 21 And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.” o Solomon now gives credit to the tremendous work his Father David did to prepare for the Temple.
1 Kings 8.1-21 5