Lesson 38 – Solomon Builds the Temple

• Read the Bible Background
• Material skipped –
• None – (we’re actually back tracking a bit.)

• Reading the story
• Read – 1 Kings 8:1-30
• Questions to consider

• Solomon understood that God could not be contained in heaven, much less in the house that he had built (1 Kings 8:27). But the temple could be a house for God's name (1 Kings 8:17-18,20,29). Read Exodus 3:13-15 to help you recall the Hebrew thought about God's name. Review the seventh paragraph of the "Bible Background" and think about what it might mean for the name of God to be housed in the temple.

• Making the story your own

Ø Think of stories of times you have been part of a dedication in the life of your church, such as a ceremony for a new addition, new hymnals, or a new organ. Write down a few of these occasions.

Ø What do such ceremonies all have in common?

Ø How are these ceremonies similar or different from Solomon’s dedication of the temple?

Memory verse: 1 Kings 8:23

“O Holy One of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”

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Bible Background (taken from Journey through the Bible, Christian Board of Publications, 1995, p. 120)

Solomon's most special achievement was his building of the temple to God that David had planned to build. In 1 Chronicles we have many references to David's part in organizing the worship of God in Jerusalem (chapters 15 and 16) and storing building materials for the temple. But the actual job of building the temple—that was reserved for Solomon.

²Solomon builds a temple that, based on evidence found at excavated sites in the Middle East, is of a sort known to have been quite popular. Its dimensions are approximately 145 feet long (including the vestibule), 35 feet wide, and a bit over 50 feet high. The inner room, where the ark of the covenant was kept, was 35 feet long, and its height and width were the same. It was elevated above the floor of the main room, which was about 70 feet long. In the main room were the incense altar (a stone pillar with a carved-out container on its top in which the incense was placed), the gold lampstands, and the table on which the cakes of bread were placed. The open vestibule had two freestanding columns, and outside it were located the altar for sacrifices and the large vat, called the "sea," containing water used for various ceremonies. The entire temple interior was decorated with wood carvings and inlaid or overlaid gold. On the outside were built structures against the side walls and the rear, where various items could be stored.

³Most of the religious acts were performed outside the temple, in the large surrounding courtyard. The high altar for the sacrifices dominated this scene. This altar may have been placed directly over the threshing floor that David had bought from Araunah. Or it is possible that the Holy of Holies, the inner room of the temple, was just above that spot, since that room was elevated above the floor of the main room of the temple, perhaps by as much as 17 feet. This Holy of Holies was a perfect cube, 20 cubits wide, high, and deep, a bit more than 34 feet.

⁴The temple and its furnishings were built under the direction of Hiram, a Phoenician from Tyre. The king of Phoenicia furnished cedar and cypress needed for the building, and had it towed by sea from Phoenicia to a landing on the coast of Israel. It was then hauled over the hills to Jerusalem. The entire job required a total of seven years.

⁵Finally, the day came for the dedication of the

temple. (See 1 Kings 8:1—9:9 and 2 Chronicles 5— 7.) A great procession led the way from the city of David up to the temple, which stood to the north of the city. The Levites carried the ark of the covenant and placed it in the inner room, the Holy of Holies. The tent of meeting was also placed in the temple.

⁶Then Solomon led the congregation in praise to God for all God's goodness to the people of Israel and to the family of David. In Solomon's prayer he speaks of the temple as being a place for the ark of the covenant to dwell, and acknowledges that no house built by human hands can contain the reality of God. Indeed, the whole of the universe is too small, Solomon says, to contain God.

⁷What the temple does contain is the divine name. It is the place toward which all Israel may turn, night and day, to offer prayers to God and to sing God's praises, confident that God will be present to hear their prayers. That does not mean that every prayer an Israelite offers in the temple, or while facing in the direction of the temple, will be answered just as the worshiper frames the prayer. It does mean that the community is now counting on God's abiding presence in this place of worship.

⁸God is not, of course, bound to the temple. Solomon is praying that God will be gracious enough to accept this center for worship and enter in a special way into the lives of the worshipers as they come to Zion and its temple, or as they pray facing Zion. In all probability, this prayer of Solomon has been elaborated by the Levites of the time of King Josiah. Josiah carried out a great reform of Israelite religion in the late seventh century B.C.E. He encouraged the people to look upon Jerusalem as the central place for the worship of all Israel. All of the local places of worship were to be abandoned, and the people were to count on Jerusalem and its temple as the place where God was causing the divine name to dwell. This prayer reflects that understanding, and it reinforces the understanding as well.

'Solomon's great prayer also includes a petition that God hear the prayers of non-Israelites who will come to the temple and pray. This is to be a "house of prayer for all peoples" (Isaiah 56:7); it is not only Israel's Zion. We can well imagine the sense of outrage that people felt, therefore, when the prophet Micah threatened the destruction of the temple because of Israel's sin (Micah 3:12) and •when Jeremiah did the same (Jeremiah 7 and 26).

¹⁰Solomon was a great king of Israel—wise, a clever administrator, good in diplomacy with other nations, able to maintain the peace. Solomon's temple was a jewel of beauty and splendor, a testimony to his support of and participation in Israelite religious faith.

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Scripture

1 Kings 8:1-30

1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

2 All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark.

4 So they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

5 King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles.

8 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 And when the priests came out of the holy place, a 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 filled the house of the LORD.

12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

13 I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever."

14 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.

15 He said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying,

16 'Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.'

17 My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

18 But the LORD said to my father David, 'You did well to consider building a house for my name;

19 nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.'

20 Now the LORD has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

21 There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven.

23 He said, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart,

24 the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand.

25 Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, 'There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.'

26 Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.

27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!

28 Regard your servant's prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today;

29 that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

30 Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.

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