The temple having been built and all its vessels having been put into place, He for whom Solomon had established all these things must come Himself to dwell in His house; and His throne must be placed there. The temple was built upon Mount Moriah at the place where David had set up his altar upon the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Until now the ark had dwelt under tents in Zion, the city of David. Solomon, together with all the men of Israel, all the elders, all the heads of the tribes, and the priests busies himself with bringing it up from there to the temple. It is no more “the chosen men of Israel” (2 Sam. 6:1) as in the time of David; all the people assist at this complete and final celebration. Final indeed, for the dedication of the temple takes place during the great days of the Feast of Tabernacles which closes the series of Jewish feasts (Lev. 23). It is indeed “the feast” above all feasts, “the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.” Properly this feast comprised seven days, followed by an eighth which was “the great day of the feast” (John. 7:37). It was held after the harvest and the vintage, figures of judgment. It was the symbol anticipating the marvelous reign of Christ when the people will dwell in joy and security in their tents, remembering the testings, past forever, in the wilderness. It speaks of millennial joy after the forty years of chastening which the rebellion of the people brought upon themselves.
The eighth day, the great day, the new day, the day of resurrection and of the new creation, is added to the feast because those who will be resurrected will have a special part in this joy. It is the heavenly day added to the earthly days. When David brought the ark up to the city of David, this was rather a “feast of trumpets” (2 Sam. 6:15) preparatory for Solomon’s solemn day. Here that very day has arisen in all its glory.
The priests have indeed finished with the miserable state of things at Gibeon. All the vessels of the holy place, the altar, and even the tent (1 Kings 8:4, 64) are now reunited there where the ark is found. This is the end of the tabernacle — there is no further mention of it. In this great feast the mememto of God with which the tent was associated during Israel’s pilgrimage abides alone. At last God has found a final resting place in the midst of His people.
On this day countless sacrifices, burnt offerings, meal offerings, and peace offerings are presented (1 Kings 8:64). Joy and fellowship prevail throughout: Solomon offers as peace offering alone 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, and the brazen altar being too small for all these offerings, he hallows the middle of the court for the sacrifices.
The ark of the covenant with its cherubim beaten out of the mercy seat, who are witnesses of this covenant, is introduced into its place, along with the standing cherubim, their wings touching, who are its guardians. On the Lord’s side nothing was missing; all was assured; God was faithfully watching over the carrying out of His will. But of what benefit was that under the old covenant if the people for their part were unfaithful to the covenant? It will not be so when the Lord makes a new covenant with Israel, all of grace, unconditional, and one in which the responsibility of the people will not count at all.
The cherubim covered not only the ark, but its staves as well. On God’s part the rest which the covenant gave was as sure as the covenant itself. The staves of the ark, witnesses of its pilgrimage through the wilderness, are henceforth useless and serve no more; they remain as witnesses of the past in the very place of rest. We have already explained why the veil is not found in 1 Kings as it is in 2 Chronicles, but in both cases “the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without” (1 Kings 8:8). Manifestly it was the rest of God, and it had all the more value in that it was accompanied by the permanent reminder of what had preceded it. Only, to be assured of this rest and to enjoy it, it was necessary to enter the Holy Place. Those outside could not take account of it. The final rest of God is the portion of those who dwell with Him, of the priests who dwell in His house.
Yet other things characterize the wilderness journey, too, in relation to the ark — blessings were preciously stored up within it. The golden pot containing the manna and Aaron’s rod that budded were no longer found in the ark at that moment when Solomon brought it into the temple of God (1 Kings 8:9; cf. Heb. 9:4). In the wilderness, God had revealed Himself as a God of mercy despite the severity of the law; hiding the condemning law under the mercy seat, establishing grace under the shadow of the cherubim—attributes of divine righteousness; guarding under their gaze together with terrible law the glory of a Christ come down to earth as the true bread of heaven to nourish His people, but resurrected, having clothed His humanity (the manna) with a glorious body (the pot of gold), now hidden in the most secret place of the tabernacle; keeping also the rod of the priesthood, alone capable (at Korah’s opposition) of leading the people safely through the desert. These two objects, the manna and the rod, will no longer be necessary in the millennial reign, as we see here in type. The covenant shall be kept, God being the sole contracting party; the priesthood will have Melchizedek, no longer Aaron, as its model, and its function will be to bless. The glory of Christ the Man instead of being hidden in the sanctuary will be manifested to all eyes in the person of the true Solomon.
“And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10-11). Striking picture of that which could not be obtained even under the most glorious dispensation of the law. God’s presence excluded that of the priests. In the heavenly sanctuary the priests are able to stand in the presence of His glory, to dwell there, and to have their part there; but indeed that which we have in spirit already now cannot be equaled in the millennial temple.
This is what Solomon begins to establish in 1 Kings 8:12: “The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.” The way of approach was not yet manifest. The dispensation of the temple at Jerusalem was the same as that of the tabernacle. The veil, even if it is not mentioned here, subsists nonetheless (2 Chron. 3:14). Meanwhile Solomon knew that this was not the last word in the counsels of God, and he had built Him a house, a fixed place, in order that He might dwell there forever (1 Kings 8:13).
After having turned his face towards God the king turns towards the congregation of Israel. He fills the role of Melchizedek, whereas the Aaronic priesthood is unable to stand in the sanctuary. He blesses all the congregation of Israel; then (1 Kings 8:15) he blesses the Lord. He recalls that the sure mercies of David are the beginning of the glory of his kingdom, even though this glory is dependent upon a legal covenant. God had done to the king of glory all that He had promised to the rejected, suffering king. We find here in Solomon, as in Christ, the accomplishment of all the promises, because David, the rejected king, object of God’s special favor, had walked here, having but one object and but one thought: to find a place of rest for the glorious throne of the Lord. Christ throughout all his affliction had at heart only to glorify God there where sin had dishonored Him. For this reason the Father loved Him and demonstrated it in raising Him to the glory.
This magnificent house had been built to harbor the ark of the covenant (1 Kings 8:21). The responsibility of the people was to be put to the test under a new regime, hitherto unknown, that of glory, but in which the tables of the law remained as standard of this responsibility. So it shall be in the Millennium, only Satan shall be bound for the duration of this reign; men shall no longer be seduced by his tricks, and the reign of righteousness will compel men to bow to its demands.
1 Kings 8:22-30: Here Solomon really fills the role of priest. He stands before the altar, facing all the congregation of Israel. There he stretches out his hands toward heaven, taking the character of intercessor. He is truly, as we have said, the type of Melchizedek, king of righteousness and king of peace. Like Melchizedek he knows and proclaims the Lord, the God of Israel, as the Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth. He acknowledges that God keeps His covenant—Israel had not kept it—and His mercy (1 Kings 8:23). Without the latter, to keep His covenant would be the sure condemnation of His people. Nevertheless this mercy itself was according to the covenant of the law: God kept it with those that “walk before him with all their heart.”
And now he supplicates God to keep with David that which He had promised him (1 Kings 8:25). All the faithfulness of God towards His own depends on what He has promised Christ. Here we would be entering upon the ground of pure grace if only there were not an if. “There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way that they walk before Me as thou hast walked before Me.” How this “so that” or “if only” condemns us all! It absolutely condemned wise Solomon, and how much more ourselves, a worthless lot. Under a system of responsibility in order to obtain anything from the Lord, we are condemned from the outset. It goes without saying that grace also brings with it responsibility for those under its rule, but this responsibility is completely different. It can be put into these words: “Let us be that which we are,” whereas legal responsibility says: “Let us become that which we should be.”
“But,” adds Solomon (1 Kings 8:27): “will God indeed dwell on the earth?” Even in the Millennium this will not be. God as such will dwell above the earth in His Assembly, the New Jerusalem. His dwelling upon earth with men awaits the eternal heaven and earth of Revelation 21:3. Solomon, knowing these things, asks God that His name might be there, this name that to faith represents His very person. He asks that from His dwelling place in heaven God might hear the king, His servant, and His people Israel when they turn toward His house. At the same time he expresses his feeling that both the one and the other will need forgiveness: “And when thou hearest, forgive.”
Next Solomon begins to enumerate various situations where these prayers and this intercession may be addressed to the Lord.
1. The first situation (1 Kings 8:31-32) is individual. It is the request for God to condemn the wicked when an oath is imposed upon him before the altar “in this house” — and to justify the righteous. The presence of God in His house makes iniquity impossible. It is the simple and general truth of individual retribution, as it was known under the law when God consented to come to dwell in the midst of a people in the flesh.
2. He admits the case (1 Kings 8:33-34) where the people having sinned against the Lord, He would raise up enemies against them to smite them. If the people would repent and seek the Lord in His house, God would pardon them and cause them to return to their land.
3. He supposes that plagues, drought, famine, locusts, enemy attacks, or the like might smite the land because of its inhabitants’ unfaithfulness. Should they repent in heart, the supplication of only one man would be sufficient when they would stretch forth their hands towards this house; might God then hear in heaven and forgive, yet rendering to each according to his ways, in order that He might be feared. It is ever law, but with that mixture of mercy that it might allow if God would find truth in the heart (1 Kings 8:35-40).
4. There are also resources for the stranger (1 Kings 8:41-43); he would come from afar, hearing tell of the great name and of the power of the Lord, and would address his request to Him, facing toward this house. God would hear him in heaven and answer him, for the king wishes that all the peoples of the earth, as well as his people Israel, might know the name of the Lord and fear Him. Here there is no judgment, no conditional blessing at all. The stranger, outside the circle of the law, approaches God by faith and receives a full blessing. It is in short a beautiful picture of the millennial blessing of the nations, whose privileges flow from the fact that God has His house at Jerusalem in the midst of His people.
5. Here (1 Kings 8:44-45) we find, not the shortcomings of the people, but Israel acting according to the will of God and guided by this will to wage war against her enemies. This is a remarkable fact. After the nations have acknowledged the God of Israel, the people of Israel themselves will be a people willing to fight the enemies of the Lord. The house henceforth will be the center of blessing and strength for the people.
6. 1 Kings 8:46-53 mention the end of their history as a responsible people. They are led into captivity on account of their sin. Solomon is a prophet here. He anticipates what must necessarily come upon this people under the law, for there is no man who does not sin. Yet a resource still exists. The house is there, and God cannot deny His promises. Solomon does not refer to the law, but to grace. By pure grace the God of the promises had saved His people from Egypt could He deny this grace, even under the system of law? They are His people; shall God abandon them? No, if in repentance they turn toward the land, the city, and the house, God will hearken to them. Daniel is an example (Dan. 6:10). He remained upright amid disaster, the only righteous man who prayed for the people and humbled himself on their behalf, and did not God hear him? But a greater than Daniel, Solomon the king of glory himself, was there. He said to God: “That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel.” And this Solomon himself is but a weak picture of the true King, the true Servant of the Lord. Christ’s intercession causes God to receive this people anew. He will restore them for the glory of Him who made the promises and for the glory of His Beloved. Thus the future restoration of the people depends upon the presence of the righteous Servant of God before Him, and on the fact that God cannot deny His character of grace, manifested long before the law.
Another characteristic trait: in his supplication Solomon goes back further than David, all the way back to Moses. The more the people of God go away from Him, the more faith returns to that which was set up in the beginning. The ways of God towards His people may vary according to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness, so that a certain way of acting on God’s part may be appropriate for one period of history and inappropriate for another, but the counsels of God never change: His purposes are eternal. This is what makes the apostle say at the end of his course, when the ruin of the Church was already evident: “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:1-2). This is also what causes Solomon to say: “Thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be Thine inheritance, as Thou spakest by the hand of Moses Thy servant, when Thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God” (1 Kings 8:53). It is always so. In darkest times faith finds its refuge in “that which was from the beginning” (1 John. 1:1; 2:7, 13, 14, 24; 2 John. 5, 6). “As for you”, let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you.
(1 Kings 8:54-66). Solomon knelt before the Lord to intercede on behalf of the people; now he rises to bless all the congregation of Israel. He praises God first of all because He has given rest to His people, rest which depends upon that into which the Lord has just entered, Himself and the ark of His strength. The king acknowledges the absolute accomplishment of all the Word of God: “There hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant” (1 Kings 8:56). He presents his own words of intercession as a motive for God to bless His people, and the result of this blessing should be “that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else” (1 Kings 8:60). This shall be realized in Christ’s millennial reign toward which all this history, as we have so often remarked, is directing us. Only, in order that this blessing may take place, the heart of Israel must be “perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep his commandments.” Again the legal condition, impossible for this fallible king and people to fulfill – that which shall find its accomplishment in Christ alone!