Solomon’s Benediction Petition And Sacrifice. 1 Kings 8:54-66
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION
Originally Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles were regarded as one series, and called the Books of Kings. In the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament, made during the period between the Testaments), each of these books was divided into two parts; and what we term First Kings was called the Third Book of Kings.
It is impossible to fix accurately either the date when this book was compiled, or the name of the writer. From the fact that the last chapter of II Kings records the release of Jehoiachin from captivity, which took place B.C. 562, but makes no mention of the decree of Cyrus, B.C. 538, with which the return of the Jews from captivity began, it is concluded that the book was compiled sometime between these dates.
The sources from which the compiler drew were three: the Book of the Acts of Solomon, 1Ki_11:41; the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, 1Ki_14:29, etc.; and the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, 1Ki_14:19. The Chronicles here referred to are not the books called Chronicles in the Bible, but separate works which are now lost.
The history of the nation is recorded from the close of the reign of David to the middle of the reign of Ahaziah. In its highest glory under Solomon, the kingdom foreshadows the millennial kingdom of our Lord. The prosperity of the nation rises or falls according to the character of the ruler and his people, illustrating for us the important truth that obedience is the condition of blessing.
I .THE UNITED KINGDOM, I Kings 1-11
3. The Building and Dedication of the Temple, 1Ki_5:1-18; 1Ki_6:1-38; 1Ki_7:1-51; 1Ki_8:1-66; 1Ki_9:1-25
26. How was the service of dedication concluded?
SOLOMON’S BENEDICTION PETITION AND SACRIFICE.
When Solomon finished offering this entire prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose from before the LORD’S altar, where he had knelt down with his hands stretched toward heaven.
And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, in accordance with everything that He promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He spoke through Moses His servant.
May the LORD our God be with us as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us nor abandon us [to our enemies],
that He may guide our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways [following Him] and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His precepts which He commanded our fathers.
Let these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He will maintain the cause and right of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires,
o that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no one else.
Therefore, your hearts are to be wholly devoted to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as [you are doing] today.”
SOLOMON’S SACRIFICES
Then the king and all [the people of] Israel with him [repeatedly] offered sacrifice before the LORD.
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 (temple) of the LORD.
On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house (temple) of the LORD; for he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to hold [all] the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the peace offerings.
So at that time Solomon held the feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath [on the northern border of Israel] to the Brook of Egypt [at Israel’s southern border], before the LORD our God, for seven days and seven more days [beyond the prescribed period for the Feast of Booths], fourteen days in all.
On the eighth (fifteenth) day he sent the people away and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and in good spirits because of all the goodness which the LORD had shown to David His servant and Israel His people.
SOLOMON’S BENEDICTION PETITION AND SACRIFICE.
The man, as we have seen, who kneels most humbly before God is empowered to bless the people in God’s name. What an august and noble testimony the king bore: “There hath not failed one word of all His good promise,” 1Ki_8:56. Joshua had said that before Solomon, Jos_23:14. Myriads have borne similar witness, and, as we are passing hence, we shall say the same. We have failed, but not God; we have left Him, but He has never cast us away. The mountains may depart and the hills remove, but He will not alter nor falter in His everlasting kindness. Let us ask Him to incline our hearts unto Him, 1Ki_8:58.
Notice the R.V. marginal reading in 1Ki_8:59 of the phrase, “as every day shall require”-“the thing of a day in its day.” Whatever may be the requirement for any day, the abundance of grace needed is provided, but you must look up for it and use it. It is they who receive the abundance of grace that reign in life. But you cannot receive unless your heart is perfect with God, and you walk in His statutes and keep His commandments.
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