Day 107, 1 Kings 7-8

Today started with Solomon building his house, which took thirteen years. It then went on to explain all the other things that were built and their details. He built the House of the Forest; made the Hall of Pillars, the Hall of the Throne; and the Hall of Judgement. He also made a house like his for the Pharaoh’s daughter whom he had taken in marriage.

King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. He was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.

Then it went on to list all the things that were made of bronze: pillars, lattices, capitals, etc. Then he made the sea of cast metal that stood on twelve oxen, three facing outward in each direction. He built many things out of bronze.

Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was finished. He brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. They brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David. All the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at a feast, and the priests took up the ark to the tent of meeting. They sacrificed many sheep and oxen, so many that they could not be counted.

Then the priests placed the ark in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a 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 filled the house of the Lord.

Then Solomon blessed the Lord and said how he had built the Lord a house to dwell in forever. Then he blessed all the assembly of Israel. Then he gave a prayer of dedication before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. He spread his hands toward heaven and spoke to the Lord.

He asked the Lord to keep the covenant with Israel, so in times of trouble (defeated by enemies, plagues, no rain, famine) if they spoke to the Lord He would listen and forgive them and come to their aid.

He also spoke of foreigners, who were not His people, knowing the Lord and the Lord hearing them. In thought, everyone around the world would know the Lord, so whenever anyone prayed the Lord would hear them and do as they ask.

Ultimately, King Solomon asked to be forgiven for sins, because everyone sins. For anyone who would repent and ask for forgiveness, the hope was that the Lord would hear them and grant them compassion.

As Solomon finished offering all the prayer and plea to the Lord, he stood and blessed everyone. With a loud voice he said,

“Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.

The Lord our God be with us, as he was with out fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.

Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statues and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

1 Kings 8:56-61

Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before the Lord, There were 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep for the peace offerings, and they dedicated the house of the Lord.

The same day the king consecrated the middle of the house and offered burnt offerings and grain offerings and the fat pieces of the peace offering.

So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel was with him for seven days. On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.