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“And Solomon offered a sacrifice 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 dedicated the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:63).
“For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).
As we know, Solomon spent many years building the temple, and it was a most magnificent building. When he and the people dedicated that temple, they sacrificed peace offerings, and the numbers are literally “mind boggling.” Can you imagine sacrificing 22,000 oxen, and 120,000 sheep? These were peace offerings, so that while some of the animal was burned on the altar, much of it was able to be used for food to feed the large number of people who came to the dedication of the temple.
All this was an indication of the largeness of Solomon’s heart, and his appreciation of all that the Lord had done for Israel, but we know that even this huge offering could never take away sin. It all spoke of Christ, and looked ahead to what we have in our second verse today—the “one offering” made by our Lord Jesus on the cross, that has forever put away the sins of every true believer. There never needs to be another sacrifice! We specially enjoy that thought on this, the Lord’s Day.
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