The Book of 1 Kings

Word Study

"the glory of the LORD," Hebrew kevod YHWH (כְּבוֹד יְהוָה). When the ark was set in the most holy place and the priests withdrew, "the cloud filled the house of the LORD... for the glory (kevod) of the LORD had filled the house." So overwhelming was His presence that "the priests could not stand to minister." This is the whole point of the house: not the gold or cedar, but the glory. And this glory-presence points forward. In Christ, "we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John 1:14); "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). And the church, and the believer, are now the temple God fills: "know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). What matters is not the building but the indwelling glory. Do you have the form of religion, or the glory of God filling the house?

"the visible glory-presence of God," the shekinah. The cloud that fell on the house is what Scripture's readers have long called the shekinah, the glory of God made visible where He dwells. The same glory-cloud that had filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35) now takes possession of the temple; God Himself moves in. A magnificent temple without the presence of God is an empty shell; a house filled with His glory is heaven on earth.

Explanation

Solomon gathers all Israel for the temple's dedication at the great autumn feast. The priests carry the ark of the covenant up from Zion and set it in the most holy place, beneath the outstretched wings of the great cherubim, amid sacrifices too many to count. The ark, containing only the two tablets of the law, is now in its appointed home. Then, as the priests come out, the cloud of God's glory fills the house so completely that they cannot stand to minister. The LORD has come to take possession of the house built for His name. The glory that once filled the wilderness tabernacle now fills the Jerusalem temple, the visible sign that God Himself has come to dwell among His people, the very purpose for which the house was built.

Gospel Focus

The glory filling the house is the climax of the whole building, and it teaches that God's presence, not the structure, is everything. A gorgeous temple without the glory would be a tomb; a house filled with His glory is the dwelling of God with man. And this points straight to the gospel. The glory that filled the temple was but a shadow; in Jesus the fullness of that glory came in flesh, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." And now, wonder of wonders, God fills His people with His glory: "ye are the temple of God... the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." Let us never be content with the shell of religion, the forms, the buildings, the rituals, without the indwelling presence of God. Seek the glory; pray that God would so fill His house and your heart that His presence overwhelms all else. The purpose of it all is that God might dwell with us, and we with Him.

Word Study

"spake with his mouth... and hath with his hand fulfilled it." Solomon's blessing centers on the faithfulness of God: the LORD "spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it." What God promises with His mouth He performs with His hand; His word and His deed are one. God had told David that not he, but his son, would build the house, and now, exactly as spoken, "the LORD hath performed his word." This is the bedrock of all faith: God keeps His word. "Hath he said, and shall he not do it?" (Numbers 23:19); "there hath not failed one word of all his good promise" (verse 56). And notice a tender detail: God told David, "thou didst well that it was in thine heart," even though David was not permitted to build. God honored the desire of David's heart though He assigned the task to another. So God treasures the holy desires of His people even when He, in wisdom, gives the fulfillment to another hand or another time. The God who dwells "in the thick darkness," unapproachable in His majesty, is yet the God who speaks and keeps His word to men, and who values the longings of a faithful heart.

Explanation

With the glory-cloud filling the house, Solomon speaks. He notes that the LORD had said He would dwell "in the thick darkness" (the unapproachable mystery of His presence, as at Sinai), and that Solomon has now built Him a settled house. Turning to bless the assembled people, Solomon rehearses the history: God chose David, and it was in David's heart to build the temple; God commended the desire but assigned the building to David's son; and now God has performed exactly what He promised, setting Solomon on the throne and enabling him to build the house for God's name, with a place for the ark of the covenant. The whole speech is a celebration of God's faithfulness: what He spoke to David, He has now fulfilled.

Gospel Focus

Solomon's blessing rings with the great theme of God's faithfulness: what He "spake with his mouth" He "fulfilled with his hand." This is the anchor of the believer's hope, for God's promises are not empty words; "he is faithful that promised" (Hebrews 10:23), and in Christ "all the promises of God... are yea, and... Amen" (2 Corinthians 1:20). The word about David's house, fulfilled here in Solomon, reaches its final fulfillment in the greater Son of David, who builds the true house of God, the church, and reigns for ever. And take comfort from the tenderness of God toward David: "thou didst well that it was in thine heart," though the building went to another. God treasures the holy desires of His people even when the doing falls to another hand. If you have longed to serve God in ways He has not granted, He sees and honors the desire of your heart. Rest in the God who keeps His every word, and who values the love that would build Him a house even when He assigns the work elsewhere.

Word Study

"there is no God like thee," and "will God indeed dwell on the earth?" Solomon's prayer opens with the great confession of the one God: "LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath." There is no other, no rival, no equal, "the LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4); "I am the LORD, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:5). And then Solomon voices the wonder that runs through all Scripture: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" The infinite God, whom the highest heavens cannot hold, condescends to dwell with men. It is the mystery that finds its fullest answer in the incarnation: the God who cannot be contained came, in flesh, to dwell among us, for in Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9), Immanuel, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). The uncontainable God contained Himself in a body, and now in His people. And Solomon's plea, "when thou hearest, forgive," is the heartbeat of the whole prayer: he asks not chiefly for prosperity but for a God who hears and forgives. That is the God the gospel proclaims, the one incomparable God who stoops to dwell with us and to forgive.

Explanation

Solomon now kneels before the altar (v54) with hands spread toward heaven and prays. He begins by exalting the one incomparable God, who keeps covenant and mercy with His faithful servants, and who has fulfilled His word to David, asking God to continue that promise to David's house. Then he pauses in humble wonder at the very idea of the prayer: how can the God whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain dwell in a house made by human hands? Yet he asks God to look with favor on this house, to keep His eyes upon it and His ear open to the prayers made toward it, the place where God has put His name. The keynote is struck at the end of the opening: "and when thou hearest, forgive." Solomon's chief plea, repeated through the prayer, is that God would hear from heaven and forgive His people.

Gospel Focus

Solomon's prayer holds together two truths at the heart of the faith: the greatness and the nearness of God. "There is no God like thee", He is the one, incomparable, uncontainable God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot hold. And yet He stoops to dwell with men and to hear their prayers, "will God indeed dwell on the earth?" That wondering question is answered forever in Christ: the God whom no heaven can contain came to dwell in a human body, "God with us," and now dwells in His people by the Spirit. And Solomon's great refrain, "when thou hearest, forgive," reveals what we most need from the God who draws near, not merely blessing, but pardon. This is the gospel: the one high and holy God has come near to hear and to forgive, and He has opened the way through His Son. Pray with Solomon's reverence, "there is no God like thee," and with Solomon's confidence, "when thou hearest, forgive," to the God who is both infinitely above us and, in Christ, wonderfully with us.

Word Study

"concerning a stranger... out of a far country," Hebrew nokri (נָכְרִי), "a foreigner, one not of Israel." Amid a series of petitions covering every trouble, defeat, drought, famine, plague, battle, and captivity, Solomon prays a remarkable prayer for the Gentile: "concerning a stranger (nokri), that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake... Hear thou in heaven... that all people of the earth may know thy name." Already at the temple's dedication there is a vision of the nations coming to God, and of the house as a place of prayer for all peoples. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus declared, cleansing the temple: "my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer" (Mark 11:17, quoting Isaiah 56:7). The petitions also strike the notes of the gospel: the honest confession, "we have sinned, and have done perversely"; the turning "with all their heart, and with all their soul"; the God who alone "knowest the hearts of all the children of men," to whom "there is no man that sinneth not"; and the refrain, "hear thou in heaven... and forgive." The whole prayer is a plea for the mercy of the God who hears the penitent, Israelite and foreigner alike, and forgives. It is the gospel in shadow: a house whose God hears and forgives all who turn to Him from any nation.

Explanation

The body of Solomon's prayer is a series of petitions, each imagining a situation in which the people would pray toward the temple, and each pleading that God would "hear thou in heaven... and forgive." He covers disputes settled by oath, defeat by enemies because of sin, drought, famine and plague, and captivity in a far land, in every case asking God to hear the repentant and restore them. Woven through is a deep realism about sin, "there is no man that sinneth not", and a confidence that God alone knows every heart. Strikingly, Solomon also prays for the foreigner who comes from a far country to seek Israel's God, that God would hear him too, so that all peoples might know His name. The prayer's constant plea is not for wealth or triumph but for mercy: a God who hears from heaven and forgives His people when they turn to Him.

Gospel Focus

Solomon's petitions preach the gospel in shadow. Their great refrain, "hear thou in heaven... and forgive," shows that what sinners most need, and what God most delights to give, is pardon. The prayer is candid about our condition, "there is no man that sinneth not", and about God's knowledge, "thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men." Yet its confidence is that the God who knows all will forgive the penitent who turns to Him with all his heart. And wonderfully, the prayer reaches beyond Israel to "a stranger... out of a far country," pleading that God would hear the Gentile too, "that all people of the earth may know thy name." The Lord Jesus took up this very vision: "my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer." The gospel opens the house of God to every nation; the penitent of any people may come and be heard and forgiven through Christ. Turn to the God who hears and forgives, confess "we have sinned," and know that His house is now a house of prayer for all who come, from near or far.

Word Study

"the LORD is God, and there is none else," Hebrew YHWH hu ha-Elohim, ein od (יְהוָה הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים אֵין עוֹד). Solomon's closing blessing returns to the great confession of the one God: he prays that "all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else." There is no other God; the LORD alone is God, "the LORD, he is God; there is none else beside him" (Deuteronomy 4:35); "know ye that the LORD he is God" (Psalm 100:3). This is the truth the temple and its worship were meant to publish to all nations, the same truth confessed at Carmel (1 Kings 18:39) and fulfilled in the gospel, where the one God is known in the face of Jesus Christ. Solomon also testifies to God's perfect faithfulness: "there hath not failed one word of all his good promise." Not one. Every promise of God stands. And he calls the people to respond with a "perfect" (whole, wholly devoted) heart, "let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God." The dedication ends in overflowing sacrifice, a fourteen-day feast, and a people sent home "joyful and glad of heart." When the one true God dwells with His people and His every word proves faithful, the fitting response is a whole heart and overflowing joy.

Explanation

Solomon finishes his prayer, rises from his knees, and blesses the whole assembly. His blessing testifies to God's complete faithfulness: God has given rest as He promised, and "there hath not failed one word of all his good promise." He prays that God will be with them as with their fathers, incline their hearts to obey, and maintain their cause, so that "all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else." He calls the people to a wholehearted walk with God. Then follows a staggering dedication sacrifice, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, and a great fourteen-day feast for all Israel gathered from the far borders of the land. On the eighth day Solomon sends the people home, and they go "joyful and glad of heart" for all God's goodness. The temple is dedicated, God dwells among His people, and the nation rejoices.

Gospel Focus

The dedication ends where all worship should: in the confession of the one God, the testimony of His faithfulness, and the joy of His people. "The LORD is God, and there is none else", this is the truth the whole temple existed to proclaim, and it is the truth the gospel proclaims in fullness, for this one God has made Himself known in Jesus Christ, "God... manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16). Solomon's testimony, "there hath not failed one word of all his good promise," is the confidence of every believer: God keeps His every word, and in Christ all His promises are Yea and Amen. To such a God the fitting response is a "perfect," whole heart, "let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD," undivided devotion. And the fruit is joy: the people went home "joyful and glad of heart." When the one true and faithful God dwells with His people, forgives their sins, and keeps His word, the overflow is a whole heart and an unspeakable gladness. Give Him your whole heart, and go on your way rejoicing in the goodness of the one true God.