The Promise

Solomon’s Magnificent Temple

Picture: Solomon’s Magnificent Temple 2TC 16.1

For seven years Jerusalem was filled with busy workers leveling the chosen site of the temple, building huge retaining walls, laying broad foundations, shaping timbers brought from the Lebanon forests, and constructing the magnificent sanctuary. See 1 Kings 5:17. At the same time the furnishings were being made under the leadership of Hiram of Tyre, “a skillful man, ... skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson.” 2 Chronicles 2:13, 14. 2TC 16.2

The building on Mount Moriah went up noiselessly with “stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.” 1 Kings 6:7. Its beautiful furnishings included the altar of incense, the table of showbread, the lampstand and lamps, with the vessels and instruments connected with the holy place, all of “purest gold.” 2 Chronicles 4:21. The bronze altar of burnt offering, the laver supported by twelve oxen, with many other vessels—“in the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds.” 2 Chronicles 4:17. 2TC 16.3

The Surpassing Beauty of the Temple

The palatial building Solomon constructed for God and His worship had no rival in its splendor. Adorned with precious stones and lined with carved cedar and smoothed gold, the temple with its rich furnishings was a suitable emblem of the living church of God on earth, which through the ages has been building with materials that have been compared to “gold, silver, [and] precious stones,” “sculptured in palace style.” 1 Corinthians 3:12; Psalm 144:12. Christ is “the chief Cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” Ephesians 2:20, 21. 2TC 17.1

At last the temple was completed. “All that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord,” Solomon had “successfully accomplished.” 2 Chronicles 7:11. Now, in order that the palace crowning Mount Moriah might indeed be a dwelling place “not for man but for the Lord God” (1 Chronicles 29:1), there remained the solemn ceremony of dedicating it. 2TC 17.2

The spot on which the temple was built had long been considered holy. Here Abraham had revealed his willingness to sacrifice his only son in obedience to Jehovah’s command, and here God had renewed the glorious Messianic promise of deliverance through the sacrifice of the Son of the Most High. See Genesis 22:9, 16-18. Here, when David offered sacrifices to stop the avenging sword of the destroying angel, God had answered him by fire. See 1 Chronicles 21:26. And now once more worshipers were here to meet their God and renew their vows of allegiance to Him. 2TC 17.3

God’s Glory Fills the Temple at Its Dedication

Solomon chose the Feast of Tabernacles for the dedication. This feast was above all an occasion for rejoicing. The labors of the har vest were over, and the people were free from care and could give themselves up to the joyous influences of the hour. 2TC 17.4

The multitudes of Israel, with richly-dressed representatives from many foreign nations, assembled in the temple courts. The scene was one of unusual splendor. Solomon, with the elders and influential men, had brought the ark of the covenant from another part of the city. The ancient “tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels” in it, had been transferred from Gibeon. 2 Chronicles 5:5. These cherished reminders of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness now found a permanent home in the splendid building. 2TC 18.1

With singing, music, and great ceremony “the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place.” Verse 7. The singers, dressed in white linen, having cymbals and harps, stood at the east end of the altar with one hundred twenty priests blowing on trumpets. See verse 12. 2TC 18.2

As “the trumpeters and singers” made themselves heard together “in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, ... the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” Verses 13, 14. 2TC 18.3

Solomon’s Prayer

In the midst of the temple court a brass platform had been built. On this Solomon stood, and with hands lifted up he blessed the vast multitude before him. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ... ‘I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there.’” 2 Chronicles 6:4-6. 2TC 18.4

Solomon then knelt on the platform, lifted his hands toward heaven, and prayed: “Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! ... May You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive. ... 2TC 18.5

“If Your people Israel ... have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. ... 2TC 19.1

“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants. ... 2TC 19.2

“When their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, ... that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers. 2TC 19.3

“Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who ... has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name ..., when they come and pray in this temple; then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You. ... 2TC 19.4

“When Your people ... sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin) and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and committed wickedness’; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, ... then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. 2TC 19.5

“Now therefore, arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness.” Verses 18-41. 2TC 19.6

As Solomon ended his prayer, “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices.” The priests could not enter the temple because “the glory of the Lord had filled” it. 2 Chronicles 7:1, 2. Then king and people offered sacrifices. “So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.” Verse 5. For seven days the multitudes kept a joyous feast. They spent the week following in observing the Feast of Tabernacles. At the close of the celebrations the people returned to their homes “joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.” Verse 10. 2TC 20.1

The Lord Warns the King Against Backsliding

Now once more, as at Gibeon early in Solomon’s reign, God gave him evidence of divine acceptance. In a night vision the Lord appeared to him with the message: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ... For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” Verses 12-16. 2TC 20.2

If Israel had remained true to God, this glorious building would have stood forever, a perpetual sign of God’s special favor. “The sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, ... even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. ... For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:6, 7. 2TC 20.3

The Lord made the path of duty very plain before the king: “If you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’” 2 Chronicles 7:17, 18. 2TC 20.4

If Solomon had continued to serve the Lord, his entire reign would have exerted a powerful influence over the surrounding nations. Foreseeing the terrible temptations that come with prosperity and worldly honor, God warned Solomon against apostasy. The beautiful temple that had just been dedicated, He declared, would become “a proverb and a byword among all peoples” if the Israelites “forsook the Lord God of their fathers” and persisted in idol worship. Verses 20, 22. 2TC 21.1

Israel’s Greatest Glory

Strengthened and cheered by the message from Heaven, Solomon now entered the most glorious period of his reign. “All the kings of the earth” began to seek his presence, “to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.” 2 Chronicles 9:23. Solomon taught them about God as the Creator, and they returned with clearer ideas of the God of Israel and of His love for the human race. In nature they now saw a revelation of His character, and many were led to worship Him as their God. 2TC 21.2

Solomon’s humility when he acknowledged before God, “I am a little child” (1 Kings 3:7), his reverence for things divine, his distrust of self, and his exaltation of the infinite Creator—all these traits of character were evident at his dedication prayer when he knelt as a humble petitioner. Christ’s followers today should guard against the tendency to lose the spirit of reverence and godly fear. They should approach their Maker with awe, through a divine Mediator. The psalmist has declared: 2TC 21.3

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95:6 2TC 21.4

Both in public and in private worship it is our privilege to bow on our knees when we offer our petitions to God. Jesus, our example, “knelt down and prayed.” Luke 22:41. His disciples, too, “knelt down and prayed.” Acts 9:40. Paul declared, “I bow my knees to the Father.” Ephesians 3:14. Daniel “knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God.” Daniel 6:10. 2TC 21.5

True reverence for God comes from a sense of His infinite greatness and a realization of His presence. The hour and place of prayer are sacred because God is there. “Holy and awesome is His name.” Psalm 111:9. Angels veil their faces when they speak that name. With what reverence, then, should we take it on our lips! 2TC 22.1

After beholding the vision of the angel, Jacob exclaimed, “The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. ... This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Genesis 28:16, 17. 2TC 22.2

In what he said during the dedication services, Solomon tried to remove the superstition about the Creator that had clouded the minds of the heathen. The God of heaven is not confined to temples made with hands, yet He would meet with His people by His Spirit when they assembled at the house dedicated to His worship. 2TC 22.3

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; ...
You are the God that does wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples. Psalm 33:12; 77:13, 14 2TC 22.4

God honors the assemblies of His people with His presence. He has promised that when they come together to confess their sins and pray for one another, He will meet with them by His Spirit. But unless those who assemble to worship put away every evil thing, their gathering will be of no benefit. Those who worship God must worship Him “in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” John 4:23. 2TC 22.5