Chapter 159. 1 Kings 8. 2 Chron. 5. The Dedication of the Temple.
On the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon’s reign, the temple was finished. The work had taken seven years. But Solomon waited nearly a year longer, until the feast of tabernacles, to dedicate the temple. This was the last of the Jewish feasts, the only one which lasted eight days. It was celebrated when the harvest and the in-gathering of fruits were ended, and the people had rest. This was a joyful feast, and was a figure of the millennium, that happy time when, after trouble and tears, the earth and men shall rest with gladness and joy, under the reign of peace and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Solomon and his reign were the type. This time for the dedication of the temple was then most suitable.
All the elders of Israel, the princes and the heads of families, were gathered in Jerusalem for this solemn ceremony. The ark which had been in the city of David was first brought by the priests. The tabernacle with all the vessels which were in it were also carried to the temple. When the ark of the covenant of the Lord (the place where He dwelt between the cherubim) stood before Solomon, the king and all the congregation offered so many oxen and sheep for sacrifice that they could not be numbered. Then the priests carried the ark into the oracle, and placed it under the wings of the cherubim. The staves of the ark which were used in the carrying of it, were withdrawn within, so that the ends could not be seen from the outside, for henceforth the ark had found a resting place and was no more to be taken from place to place. It contained only the tables of stone upon which the holy law was written. Formerly in the ark were also the golden pot filled with manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, but these things were there no more. God had given them to His people to feed and lead them in grace through the wilderness, but now, at rest in the land of Canaan, they had no more need of them, while the holy law, the rule of righteousness according to which the people were to walk, lasted forever. The Israelite’s had failed to do so in the past, and did even worse later, thus proving that the “natural mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. But what the law could not do, because it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
When the Lord reigns there will be righteousness on the earth, and men will walk in obedience to the holy law of God, for God will then take away the stony heart of His people and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in His statutes, and keep His ordinances, and do them. (Ezek. 11:19, 20.)
When the priests came out of the holy place after the ark had been put in its place, the Levites and the singers appointed by David, dressed in fine linen, played with their musical instruments. One hundred and twenty priests sounded with their trumpets, and all as one man praised and blessed the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His mercy endureth forever.” Then he, whose goodness Israel was praising, the “King of Glory,” came down to take possession of His dwelling place, and sit upon His throne, between the cherubim. A cloud of glory—sign of His presence—filled the house, and the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the Lord’s glory filled the house.
How wonderful is the goodness of God that He should have condescended to come and dwell with His sinful people! And nothing is sweeter or more precious for the believer than the Lord’s presence, and nothing should be more highly prized or desired.
“One thing have I desired of the Lord,” says David, in the twenty-seventh Psalm, “and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”
Yet this people God has taken up as His, are only poor, miserable sinners. He saves them and cleanses them, that He may dwell with them. That was why they at that time had to offer so many sacrifices until the great and infinite offering of Christ Himself to God for us.
Solomon then knelt before the Lord with his hands uplifted toward heaven, blessing Him for His faithfulness and mercy to his father David, and praying that God would continue to bless His people in spite of their unfaithfulness and failures. Then turning, the king blessed the people, exhorting them to walk in God’s statutes, and to keep His commandments. More sacrifices were offered to the Lord—twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. There was not room enough on the brazen altar for so many so the king hallowed the middle of the court before the house of the Lord, and burned the victims there.
What a number was needed to give a proper thought and estimation of the value of the sacrifice of Christ!
“For even Christ our Passover is sad-rifled for us.” 1 Cor. 5:7.
ML 05/28/1916