1 Kings 8

 

1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel to king Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. 4 They brought up the ark of the LORD, the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy articles that were in the tabernacle, the priests and the Levites brought them up also. 5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

 

  • The tabernacle had been God’s dwelling, an opulent tent.
  • The people of Israel built a house for God.
  • Now it was moving day.
  • The Ark of the Covenant was the most important article of furniture for God’s house.
  • It was the box of wood overlaid with gold that God had instructed Moses to build.
  • The wood represented the humanity of Jesus Christ; the gold represented the deity of Jesus Christ.
  • The One true God who made the heavens and the earth and whose glory fills the universe was making His central dwelling place among the children of Israel.
  • Exodus 25:21 And put the mercy seat above on the ark; and in the ark put the testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will commune with you from above the mercy seat…
  • John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

 

6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to his place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread out their two wings over the place of the ark, the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

 

  • Cherubim are living beings that attend God’s throne in heaven.
  • They are described in Ezekiel chapter 1.
  • The cherubim of God’s earthly temple were gold replicas of the living cherubim in heaven.
  • The replicas of cherubim in Solomon’s temple were fifteen feet high, made of gold, and their wings stretched from corner to corner of the inner sanctuary.

 

God’s glory filled His house

 

8 The poles were long, and the heads of the poles were seen from the holy place at the front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside: they are there to this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone that 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. 10 And when the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 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.

 

  • God was inside the cloud.
  • The glory of the LORD is described in Ezekiel 1:26-28 as the fiery amber gemstone form of a man flashing forth rainbow.
  • Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.


12 Then spoke Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in thick darkness. 13 I have surely built you a house to dwell in, a settled place for you to stay forever. 14 And the king turned around, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (all the congregation of Israel stood;) 15 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to my father David, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16 Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be in it; but I chose David to be over my people Israel. 17 And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

 

  • The tabernacle of Moses day was portable.
  • God moved with His people as they wandered in the wilderness.
  • That’s why Solomon said that this was a ‘settled place’ for God to dwell.
  • The word name often means person. ‘that my person’ might be in it.
  • Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

 

18 And the LORD said to my father David, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 Nevertheless you will not build the house; but your son that will come out of your loins, he will build the house to my name. 20 And the LORD has performed his word that he spoke, and I am raised up in the place of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 21 And I have set there 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. 22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven:

 

There is none like Him

 

23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like You, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servants that walk before you with all their heart: 24 Who have kept with your servant David my father what you promised him: you also spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. 25 Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep what you promised your servant my father David saying, There will not fail you a man to sit on the throne of Israel in my sight; if only your children guard their ways to walk before me as you have walked before me. 26 And now, O God of Israel, Please let your word be confirmed, that you spoke to your servant David, my father.

 

  • Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

 

27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built? 28 Yet regard the prayer of your servant, his humble appeal, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you today: 29 That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you have said, My name will be there: that you may listen to the prayer that your servant makes toward this place. 30 And listen to the humble appeal of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place: and hear in heaven your dwelling place: and when you hear, forgive. 31 If any man trespasses against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and the oath comes before your altar in this house: 32 Then hear in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

 

  • Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

 

33 When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and return to you, confess your name, pray, and make humble appeal to you in this house: 34 Then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers. 35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them: 36 Then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, that you teach them the good way in to walk, and give rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 37 If there is in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there is caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; 38 Whatever prayer and humble appeal is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads his hands toward this house:

 

He alone knows the hearts of all the children of men

 

39 Then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;) 40 That they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. 41 Moreover, concerning a foreigner that is not of your people Israel, but comes out of a far country for your name’s sake; 42 (For they will hear of your great name, and of your strong hand, and of your stretched out arm;) when he comes and prays toward this house; 43 Hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for: that all people of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as your people Israel do; and that they may know that this house which I have built, is called by your name. 44 If your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you send them, and pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name: 45 Then hear in heaven their prayer and their humble appeal, and maintain their right/cause.

 

  • He sends His people to battle.
  • God is at war with evil.
  • At times in history, God, the ruler of all, sends His people to destroy those who are steeped in evil so deep that they will never turn back to Him: like the Canaanites of the book of Joshua.
  • 2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

 

46 If they sin against you, (for there is no man that does not sin,) and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; 47 Yet if they take thought/bring back to their heart in the land where they were carried captives, and repent, and make humble appeal to you in the land of them that carried them captives saying, We have sinned, and have done iniquity, we have committed wickedness;

48  And by this, return to you with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive, and pray to you toward their land, that you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name: 49 Then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, 50 And forgive your people that have sinned against you and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:


God's people are His inheritance

 

51 For they are your people, and your inheritance, that you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: 52 That your eyes may be open to the humble appeal of your servant, and to the humble request of your people Israel, to listen to them in all that they call to you for. 53 For you separated them from among all the people of the earth to be your inheritance, as you spoke by the hand of your servant Moses, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.

 

  • Deuteronomy 32:9 For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

 

54 And when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and humble appeal to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55 He stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice saying, 56 Blessed be the LORD, that has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised: not one word has failed of all his good promise, that he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. 57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, or forsake us: 58 That he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 59 And let these my words, with which I have made humble appeal before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter requires: 60 That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.

 

  • He inclines our hearts to Him.
  • Hebrews 13:5 Let your behavior be without covetousness; and be content what you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, or forsake you.

 

61 Therefore let your heart be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day. 62 And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before the LORD. 63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, 22,000 oxen, and a 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.

 

  • Every sacrifice was a picture of God’s love poured out in the death of the Son of God for the sins of man.
  • John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

 

64 The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65 And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, fourteen days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

 

  • He does good to His people.
  • 1Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

 

                                             1 Kings 9

 

God heard and answered Solomon’s prayer

 

1 When Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, 2 the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the LORD said to him, I have heard your prayer and your humble appeal that you have made before me: I have consecrated this house that you have built, to put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. 4 And if you will walk before me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and keep my statutes and my judgments: 5 Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom on Israel forever, as I promised to David your father saying, You will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.

 

  • God also does whatever He pleases.
  • Since Christ paid for sins and ascended, He dwells in our hearts by faith.
  • His eyes will always be there, on us, on our hearts!
  • Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
  • Psalm 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleased, he did in heaven, in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.

 

6 But if you turn at all from following me, you or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 7 Then I will cut off Israel out of the land that I have given them; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will become an object of mocking and ridicule among all people: 8 And this house, which is high, every one that passes by it will be astonished and hiss, and will say, Why has the LORD done this to this land, and to this house? 9 And they will answer, Because they left the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold of other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: that is why the LORD has brought all this evil on them.

 

  • Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
  • 1Corinthians 8:4…we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

 

10 And at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, 11 (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that king Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him; and they did not please him. 13 And he said, What are these cities that you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul to this day. 14 And Hiram sent to the king 9,000 pounds of gold.

 

  • Cabul means dirty and displeasing.

 

15 This is the account of the labor force that king Solomon raised to build the house of the LORD, his own house, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up and taken Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites that lived in the city, and given it for a present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 Solomon built Gezer, Beth-horon the lower, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, 19 and all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots, cities for his horsemen, and what Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20 And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel, 21 Their children that were left after them in the land, who the children of Israel were not able to utterly destroy, Solomon levied on those a tribute of bond service to this day. 22 But Solomon did not make slaves of the children of Israel: they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. 23 These were the chief officers that were over Solomon’s work, 550 ruled over the people doing the work. 24 Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David to her house that Solomon had built for her: then he built Millo. 25 Three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the LORD, and he burnt incense on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

 

  • The burnt offerings were a picture of Christ’s death for the sins of the world: a testimony of God’s great love poured out for us (John 3:16, John 1:29). The peace offerings celebrated that through Jesus Christ God had made peace between God and man.
  • Colossians 1:20 having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, …whether things in earth, or things in heaven.

 

26 King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea in the land of Edom. 27 And Hiram sent his servants in the navy, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they came to Ophir, and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

 

  • The bond between Solomon and Hiram was not destroyed because of the ‘Cabul’ cities that Solomon gave to Hiram. Solomon’s kingdom was lavish with riches, but God’s eternal city is greater.
  • Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.


 

 

 

SUMMARY: I Kings 8-9

 

  • God's glory filled His house
  • There is none like Him
  • He alone knows the hearts of all the children of men
  • His people are His inheritance
  • God heard and answered Solomon's prayer