In yesterday's study, after the ark of the covenant had been placed within the inner chamber of the temple, the Lord gave His blessing to the work that has been done by filling the temple with the cloud of His glory. I believe this is the same cloud that led Israel in the wilderness, the same cloud from which the Lord spoke on Mount Sinai, the same cloud from which the Lord spoke to instruct Moses how to lead the people, and the same cloud that would appear to the high priest when he went into the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle once a year. No mortal man can see the holy face of God and survive the encounter (Exodus 33:20) so He must veil Himself to keep the awesome righteousness of His presence from consuming the people.
Solomon addresses the Lord before he addresses congregation of Israel. "Then Solomon said, 'The Lord has said that He would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for You, a place for You to dwell forever.'" (1 Kings 8:12-13) Solomon doesn't mean that the Lord will literally dwell in the temple. In his prayer of dedication later in Chapter 8 he will say to the Lord, "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" Solomon understands that the Creator of all things cannot be contained in a golden box inside a temple at one location on the map of the world. The temple is a place where the glory of the Lord will show up to meet with the people, just as the tabernacle was a place for the glory of the Lord to show up to meet with the people. Of the tabernacle the Lord said to Moses, "There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by My glory." (Exodus 29:42b-43) The site-built temple is to replace the movable tent of meeting and, to show that the Lord accepts the new house of worship and intends to meet with the people there, He consecrates it with His glory by showing up in the dark cloud that veils the light of His holy countenance from the sight of frail humans.
Solomon now turns to the people and blesses them in the name of the Lord and praises the Lord for His faithfulness. "While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then he said: 'Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with His own hand has fulfilled what He promised to my father David. For He said, 'Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that My name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule My people Israel.'" (1 Kings 8:14-16) We are not provided with Solomon's words of blessing upon the people but in pronouncing a blessing upon them he is following in the footsteps of Moses and David. Moses blessed the people after the tabernacle was completed; David blessed the people when the ark was brought to his capital city of Jerusalem. After Solomon blesses them he blesses the name of the Lord who has kept His word to David to allow David's son to build the temple. He has kept His word to David to make David's family line the royal line of Israel.
Solomon continues, "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, 'You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for My name. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood---he is the one who will build a temple for My name.'" (1 Kings 8:17-19) In 2 Samuel 7 we found David desiring to build a permanent structure to replace the tent which housed the ark at Jerusalem at that time. The Lord appreciated the desire of David's heart but told him that it was his son and successor who would build a temple. In 1 Chronicles 22 we learn that the Lord did not allow David to build the temple because David's hands had shed much blood. In speaking with Solomon about the temple, David said, 'My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the name of the Lord my God. But this word of the Lord came to me: 'You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign.'" (1 Chronicles 22:7-9)
David fought many battles for Israel during his lifetime. Because he was victorious in those battles, his son enjoyed a lifetime of peace. It would have been difficult to build the temple if Israel had not been experiencing an era of peace because most of the young able-bodied men would have been serving in the army and would not have been available to be conscripted into Solomon's temple workforce. Solomon and the people of the nation would have had to turn all their attention to defending the country instead of building a magnificent temple. The temple was to be a house of peace and prayer and the Lord wanted it built by a man who had never wielded a sword in battle.
In the passage from 1 Chronicles 22 we found David informing Solomon of the Lord's promise. Here in 1 Kings 8, Solomon and all the people are seeing the Lord's promise fulfilled. "The Lord has kept the promise He made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that He made with our ancestors when He brought them out of Egypt." (1 Kings 8:20-21) The Lord is faithful!
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