1 KINGS 8

11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of Yahweh had filled the house of Yahweh.

It is the glorious day of Dedication - a token of the divine Day of Inauguration yet to come. It was the culmination of Solomon's glory and an expression of a nation which rejoiced in the divine blessing. Nearly a year has passed since the temple was completed. Now in the 8th year (pointing to beyond the millennium) when flesh will be completely subdued, and in the 7th month (speaking of the millennium itself), the temple is dedicated for worship.

It was a day on which Jews now look back upon as the culminating glory of their nation. Instead of two sanctuaries as before (one in the Gentile city of Gibeon, and one at Zion), there was to be but a united place, after the prophecy of Moses (Exo. 15). The ark from Zion and the tabernacle from Gibeon were both removed and brought to the new site. A great gathering met to witness the ceremony.

The two processions (figurative of Jew and Gentile believers at the future Day) converged at Mount Moriah, where Isaac was earlier offered, and where later the Lord Yahshua would be offered in fulfilment of the sacrificial codes of the past. Special services attended the removal of the Ark. Sacrifices without number; incense arising; Psalms of praise being uttered; joyful music, general excitement and happiness attended the occasion.

Throughout the whole scene, the person of the great King is the one central object, compared with whom even priests and prophets are for the time being subordinate. Like David in the bringing up of the ark, Solomon appears as a liturgical character -- blessing the congregation, offering up the solemn prayer, dedicating the temple, hallowing the court.

And so it shall be again, but in a greater measure, when the Lord Yahshua ascends the throne of the kingdom, the glorious House of Prayer for all Nations is built, and divine worship re-instituted. The prayer of Solomon on the day of Dedication is an expression of devotion, and his words can be found re-iterated in the Lord's Prayer of Mat. 6:9-13. -

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

GEM, Logos.

18 And Yahweh said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.

The "devising of liberal things" is always acceptable to God. We have here a possibility of reaching a high mark in His favour. It is much decried in our day. Spiritual enterprise is quenched by the children of the flesh under various specious pleas. "Big ideas and small purses don't go well together."

This is the sort of water-hose they turn on. But the fire kindled from the altar cannot be put out. ... What is in the heart will struggle even through a small purse sometimes. It is not the big purses and small ideas that do the work or give pleasure to God.

Out of David's voluntary scheme for honouring God came a result of recompense which was David's comfort to the day of his death, and in which we have a personal interest by the gospel. David referred to it in his "last words."

"God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, which is all my salvation and all my desire."

The Christadelphian, Nov 1886

21 And I have set there a place for the ark [Makom for the Aron], wherein is the covenant [Brit] of Yahweh, which He made with our fathers [cut with Avoteinu], when He brought them out of the land of Egypt [Eretz Mitzrayim].

The Covenant

`

Here in ten simple statutes [The 10 commandments] was the quintessence of God's claims upon them. In entering into Covenant with Him they undertook to give their full and ready obedience to them. Without that undertaking God could not accept them; and when they had duly become His People He, with His own finger, inscribed them on two tables of stone to serve as an enduring reminder of their moral duty.

In consequence the tables of stone came to be known as "the Covenant" (e.g., r Kings 8: 21; cf. 2 Cor. 3: 6), and the Ark, in which they were duly placed, as "The Ark of the Covenant" (e.g., Num. 10 : 33). Above them, as they reposed in the Most Holy Place, God manifested Himself, thereby declaring Himself to be essentially a moral being, making moral claims upon all who would seek to commune with Him.

Law and Grace Ch 6

33 When Thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy [Yisroel be struck down before the oyev], because they have sinned against Thee, and shall turn again [back] to Thee, and confess Thy name [Shem], and pray [daven], and make supplication unto Thee in this house [Bayit]:

34 Then hear Thou in heaven [Shomayim], and forgive the sin [chattat] of Thy people Israel [Yisroel], and bring them again unto the land [HaAdamah] which Thou gavest unto their fathers [Avot].

Now the triumph of the enemy would proximately be a natural affair; but Solomon allows that Elohim would participate in the event by allowing it, in punishment of the sins of His people. He supposes also the withholding of the rain for a similar reason (verse 35); and therefore teaches that nature's operations may be so affected by the divine volition as to become a direct expression of His mind towards those affected.

He anticipates the prayers that would be addressed towards the temple of Yahweh's dwelling in their midst, and requests that by whomsoever presented, whether by one man or all the people, or by the stranger from a far country, Yahweh would "hear and forgive, and DO according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, and give to every man according to his ways," "knowing, as He only knows, the hearts of all the children of men" (verse 39).

In this he recognises the providential dealings of Elohim with men, in the ordinary occurrences of life. He supposes the case of Israel going out to battle against their enemies, the prayer that Yahweh would "maintain their cause" indicating a recognition of the principle that Elohim may incline the scale of natural events without appearing to do so and lead to issues that would not otherwise come...

...Where Elohim is feared, His promises believed and His Commandments obeyed, there is a providence at work, shaping natural circumstances, to give them an appointed issue for good though the road travelled may be apparently evil.

"The eyes of Yahweh are over the righteous: His ears are open to their cry."

Ways of Providence Ch 18.