UNROLL
First light over Solomon’s new temple on its hilltop above the City of David: the long pale stone house, its porch and two bronze pillars catching the sun, a thin line of smoke rising from the altar and small crowds climbing the ridge.

The Book of

1 Kings 8

The house is finished, but it is empty. Today the ark comes home, and the glory comes down.

66 verses≈ 15 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–2Solomon's throneThe kingdom made secure
  2. 3–4WisdomA discerning heart
  3. 5–8The templeA house for the LORD's NameChapter 8
  4. 9–11Glory and fallSolomon's heart turns
  5. 12–16Two kingdomsThe kingdom torn
  6. 17–19ElijahThe LORD, He is God
  7. 20–22AhabNaboth and Micaiah

The Ark Enters the Temple

At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

On an autumn morning, priests in white linen carry the gold ark on its long poles up a stone-paved way toward the new temple, Levites behind them with folded tent coverings and vessels, King Solomon and gray-bearded elders ahead.

When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.

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

Inner court · size not givenNEastThe houseBronze altarThe SeaStandsStandsThe house, enlarged · 60 × 20 cubitsBoazJachinArkCherubimLampstandsSide roomsMost Holy PlaceHoly PlacePortico

Plan to scale in cubits · north at the top

Where it stood

The ark comes to its place

The priests carried the ark through the Holy Place into the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and set it beneath the wings of the two great cherubim, which overshadowed the ark and its poles. The poles were long enough that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place.

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

Question

Quick question

The priests set the ark in its place and came out of the Holy Place.

Why could the priests not stand there to minister?

Solomon Blesses the LORD

Then Solomon declared:

“The LORD has said that He would dwell

in the thick cloud.

I have indeed built You an exalted house,

a place for You to dwell forever.”

And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

1 Kings 8:20

And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Reflect

With His own hand

Solomon stood in a finished house and blessed the LORD, “who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth.” Write down one promise of God you have seen Him keep. Which one are you still waiting on?

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

Seen from behind and a little above, King Solomon stands before the great bronze altar in the temple court with his arms lifted wide and open hands toward the sky, the whole assembly of Israel filling the court and slopes.

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day.

1 Kings 8:24

Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’ And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David.

But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

1 Kings 8:27

Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today.

May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

Seven prayers toward this house

An oathJustice at the altar ·31–32DefeatReturn and confess ·33–34No rainTurn, and send rain ·35–36Famine, plagueYou know every heart ·37–40The foreignerAll peoples will know· 41–43BattleUphold their cause ·44–45ExileReturn with all theirheart · 46–51

Whiteboard

Seven times Solomon pictures trouble, most of it brought on by sin, and seven times he asks the same thing: that when they turn and pray toward this house, “may You hear from heaven.”

Over terraced hill-country fields cracked and brown with drought, a dark rain cloud sweeps in and the first heavy rain falls in silver curtains, while a farmer at the field’s edge lifts his open hands.

Toward this house

When they pray toward this house

  1. Justice

    An oath at the altar

    When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

  2. Forgive

    Defeated by an enemy

    When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple, then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.

  3. Send rain

    The skies shut, no rain

    When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

  4. You know the heart

    Famine, plague, siege

    When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men— so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

At the edge of the temple’s outer court, a gray-bearded traveler from a distant land in a patterned wool robe, dusty from the road, stands with his hands raised toward the porch and its bronze pillars while Israelites pass.

And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name— for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You

1 Kings 8:43

When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.

When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near, and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

At dusk in a foreign city of mud brick on a wide river plain, a Judean man and his wife kneel on a flat roof facing west toward their far-off land, hands spread, date palms along a slow river below.

and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy.

For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron. May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You. For You, O Lord GOD, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”

Pray

Hear and forgive

Solomon asked again and again, “May You hear from heaven.” Thank God that He hears and forgives. Say plainly, as the exiles would, “We have sinned and done wrong.” Pray for anyone far from home or far from God to return “with all their heart and soul.” And pray that “all the peoples of the earth will know Your name.” Amen.

Solomon’s Benediction

Seen from the side, King Solomon rises from his knees on the stone pavement before the great bronze altar, his hands still spread toward heaven, smoke drifting from the altar and the assembly beyond.

Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

0:14

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

“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 the good promises He made through His servant Moses.

May He never leave us or forsake us.

1 Kings 8:57

May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers.

And may these words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other!

So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”

1 Kings 8:61

Reflect

Fully devoted

Solomon prayed, “May He incline our hearts to Himself,” and then told the people, “let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God.” God gives the heart He asks for, and we still have to give it. What is pulling your heart in two directions? What would a wholehearted week look like?

Sacrifices of Dedication

Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.

The temple courtyard filled with smoke in the afternoon light: many offering fires on the stone pavement, the great bronze altar beyond heaped and smoking, priests in white linen tending the fires, and flocks of sheep and a few oxen waiting quietly at the court’s edges.

On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to contain all these offerings.

So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.

Late morning on the roads out of Jerusalem: families stream home with laden donkeys, children run ahead, people sing, and an old man turns to look back at the temple on its hill among golden autumn hills.

On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.

You’ve experienced

1 Kings 8

0 of 22 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

1 Kings 8:27

or swipe left