-
1 Kings 8:1-22 open_in_new
The Flood (continued)
4. The mountains of Ararat] Ararat is the Assyrian 'Urardhu,' the country round Lake Van, in what is now called Armenia; but the word also signifies 'highlands,' and perhaps it is a general expression for the hilly country which lay to the N. of Assyria. Mt. Masis, now called Mt. Ararat (a peak 17,000 ft. high), is not meant here.
-
1 Kings 8:1-66 open_in_new
The Dedication of the Temple. Solomon's Prayer
1. The chief of the fathers] i.e. heads of families. Out of the city] The Temple and Palace were built on the site of Araunah's threshing floor (2 Chronicles 3:1), which would naturally be outside the city walls and on higher ground: cp. 1 Kings 9:24.
-
1 Kings 8:2 open_in_new
Ethanim] The later Tishri, corresponding to Sept.-Oct. The feast referred to was Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34).
-
1 Kings 8:3 open_in_new
The priests] 2 Chronicles 5:4 has 'the Levites,' certain of whom (the Kohathites) had, according to Numbers 4:15, the special duty of bearing the ark. But the priests are likewise represented as bearing the ark in Joshua 3:6; Joshua 3:13; Joshua 4:9, etc.
-
1 Kings 8:4 open_in_new
Tabernacle of the congregation] RV 'tent of meeting': i.e. the sanctuary in which the Lord used to commune with His worshippers (Exodus 33:9; Numbers 11:25). This, which (according to 2 Chronicles 1:3) was at Gibeon, may have been preserved for its sacred associations, for the ark had long been separated from it.
-
1 Kings 8:7 open_in_new
The staves] the poles, inserted in rings, by means of which the ark was carried: see Exodus 25:12-15.
-
1 Kings 8:8 open_in_new
They drew out the staves] RV 'the staves were so long': owing to their length they could be seen from the Holy Place, though not without (i.e. outside it).
Unto this day] The date implied is that of a narrator living before the destruction of the Temple, whose language the compiler (who lived after that event, cp. 2 Kings 25) has incorporated without alteration: cp. 1 Kings 9:21.
-
1 Kings 8:9 open_in_new
There was.. stone] The writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 9:4) mentions also the golden pot that contained manna, and Aaron's rod; but, in strictness, these were placed before the ark (Exodus 16:34; Numbers 17:10).
-
1 Kings 8:10 open_in_new
The cloud] cp. Exodus 40:34-35; Exodus 33:9; Numbers 11:2; Numbers 12:5. This was called by the later Jews the Shechinah.
-
1 Kings 8:11 open_in_new
Could not stand] for the awe which the near Presence of the Lord inspired: cp. Exodus 3:6; Isaiah 6:5; Ezekiel 1:28.
The olive leaf indicated that the tree was above water, and as the olive does not grow at a great elevation, the inference was that the waters had greatly abated.
-
1 Kings 8:12 open_in_new
The thick darkness] cp. Leviticus 16:2. Hitherto the Lord had dwelt not in an habitation made by human hands, but in Nature's cloudpavilions (Psalms 18:11).
-
1 Kings 8:15 open_in_new
Which spake.. unto David] through the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 7:5-7).
-
1 Kings 8:21 open_in_new
The Lord smelled a sweet savour] A common expression for the favourable acceptance of an offering, cp. Leviticus 1:9; Leviticus 1:13; Leviticus 1:17.
I will not again curse, etc.] An acknowledgment of man's innate propensity to evil. If wicked thoughts, desires, and actions were always to be followed by the judgments they merit, disaster would never be far off (Isaiah 1:5).
-
1 Kings 8:22 open_in_new
The altar] The altar of burnt offering, in the court before the Temple.
Practically there are but two seasons in the land where this was written: one may be called Seed-time, Cold, Winter (middle of Sept. to middle of March); the other, Harvest, Heat, Summer (the rest of the year).
-
1 Kings 8:23 open_in_new
And he said] The passage that follows is full of a sense of God's infinitude (1 Kings 8:27), righteousness (1 Kings 8:32), and omniscience (1 Kings 8:39), whilst at the same time it manifests faith in His constancy and forgivingness (1 Kings 8:25; 1 Kings 8:29-30; 1 Kings 8:34, etc.); and though it contemplates principally the needs of Israel, yet it embraces a petition for the stranger that is not of Israel (1 Kings 8:41-43).
-
1 Kings 8:25 open_in_new
So that] i.e. provided that (as in 1 Kings 6:12).
-
1 Kings 8:27 open_in_new
The heaven.. contain thee] cp. Isaiah 66:1; Jeremiah 23:24.
-
1 Kings 8:29 open_in_new
Make toward this place] In later times the Jews, when praying in foreign lands, turned their faces toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10).
-
1 Kings 8:31 open_in_new
And the oath come] RV 'And he come and swear.'
-
1 Kings 8:37 open_in_new
In the land of their cities]. LXX 'in one of their cities.'
-
1 Kings 8:38 open_in_new
The plague of his own heart] i.e. the plague or chastisement which each is conscious of suffering: cp. 1 Kings 2:44; Exodus 9:14.
-
1 Kings 8:41 open_in_new
Concerning a stranger, etc.] for the future worship of the Lord by the Gentiles, cp. Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 56:7; Zechariah 8:20-22.
-
1 Kings 8:43 open_in_new
Is called by thy name] i.e. belongs to Thee: cp. 2 Samuel 12:27-28
-
1 Kings 8:50 open_in_new
Give them compassion.. captive] The prayer was fulfilled when Cyrus allowed the Jews, who were captives in Babylon, to return to their home (Ezra 1:8).
-
1 Kings 8:51 open_in_new
Furnace of iron] i.e. a furnace hot enough to melt iron.
-
1 Kings 8:53 open_in_new
O Lord GOD] better, 'O Lord Jehovah.'
-
1 Kings 8:56 open_in_new
Hath given rest] cp. Exodus 33:14.
-
1 Kings 8:60 open_in_new
That all the people, etc.] Israel had a mission to discharge to the other nations of the world, partly by exhibiting conspicuously in its fortunes the moral principles on which God governed mankind (Joshua 4:24; Isaiah 55:5; Psalms 67:7) and partly through the agency of its spiritual teachers the prophets (Isaiah 42:1).
-
1 Kings 8:61 open_in_new
Perfect with] i.e. not divided between the Lord and other gods: see 1 Kings 9:6; 1 Kings 11:4.
-
1 Kings 8:63 open_in_new
Two and twenty thousand, etc.] The quantity seems enormous, but numbers in the OT., as in other ancient writings, cannot always be relied on, and profuse sacrifices were common in antiquity.
-
1 Kings 8:64 open_in_new
The middle of the court] On what is believed to be the site of the Temple court there is a large slab of rock, which would form a natural altar. Meat offerings] RV 'meal offerings,' and so elsewhere.
-
1 Kings 8:65 open_in_new
A feast] i.e. of Tabernacles (1 Kings 8:2).
The entering in of Hamath] Hamath was situated on the Orontes, the approach to it from the S. being by the gorge between Lebanon and Hermon. The river of Egypt] the modern Wâdy el Arish, a stream flowing from the Sinaitic peninsula into the Mediterranean. Seven days and seven days] The seven days' feast of Tabernacles was preceded by a seven days' Dedication festival.
-
1 Kings 8:66 open_in_new
On the eighth day] i.e. at the close of the seven days' feast of Tabernacles. Unto their tents] The phrase is a survival from the tent-life which prevailed before the settlement in Canaan.