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the consecration

Before CHRIST 1004.

12.

CHAP. VI.

servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.

16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, + There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast Ps. 132. 12. walked before me.

e 2 Sam. 7. 1 Kings 2. 4. feb. There

& 6. 12.

shall not a man be cut

of.

17 Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.

sin, the body and blood of Christ strengthening and refreshing the souls of men. Such are the benefits (and what greater benefits can heart desire, or imagination conceive?) to be obtained, through faith, in these holy places, where God is pleased to meet us and to bless us, if indeed we are disposed to receive the blessing, by turning every one of us from his iniquities. Bp. Horne. | 18. But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? &c.] This most awful and important question seems to have almost overwhelmed the vast and capacious mind of Solomon himself. Certainly that which is without bounds cannot be comprehended within that which has bounds, whether large or small; and therefore, in a strict and proper sense, "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;" see Acts vii. 48. But it is no less certain, that there is a sense, agreeably to which it may be truly said, that the Most High does dwell in temples made with hands. So Solomon asserts in this same prayer at the dedication of the temple, ver. 1, 2 and God Himself is introduced as saying the same in the 132nd Psalm, ver. 13, 14. Accordingly we read, that "when the priests were come out of the holy place, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister, &c." see chap. v. 11-14. The Master took possession of his house, and for a time dispossessed even his own servants, to shew that He did so. As if He had said, "The house, which you have designed for my worship, I have designed for your blessing: what you have dedicated, I have accepted: what you have consecrated, I have allowed: I have taken it for the purpose you intended." Or, to use the far more emphatical words of the sacred penman, "I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." Thus, notwithstanding the iniquities of mankind, and his own purity, as well as incomprehensible majesty, has God been pleased to "dwell indeed on earth," and to vouchsafe an especial manifestation of his presence in holy places, dedicated to his name, and set apart for his worship. An house designed for that end is therefore styled "the house of God," or place of his residence. And let us not think that He is less present with us, than He was with Israel. Is the Christian church less favoured than the Jewish church was? Have we lost any thing by the incarnation of his Son? Surely not. It may be said indeed, we do not see Him as the Israelites did. But "the glory," or body of light or fire, which the Israelites saw, was only a sign or token of

of the temple.

Before CHRIST 1004.

18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much Isa. 66. 1. less this house which I have built!

19 Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee: 20 That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth || toward this place.

g Chap. 2. 6.

Acts 7. 49.

Or, in this

21 Hearken therefore unto the place. his presence. "God is a Spirit, whom no man hath seen, nor can see." We do not see the souls of those who are assembled to worship Him: yet are they present. The holy angels may be present when we worship Him; and God Himself, we trust, is so by his Spirit. We know who has said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," Matt. xviii. 20. Bp. Horne.

20. That thine eyes may be open upon this house &c.] In these words the use of the temple is signified. This house was the place where God would give audience, and have respect to the petition, out of regard to the place in which it was offered. They, who expect to be heard when they address a king, go into his court, and present themselves in the proper place for an audience. The temple was the court of the great King; and, though He can hear the voice of men in every place, yet it was expedient that one place should be honoured above all others to stir up reverence in men, and give them a reasonable ground of hope when they should offer their petitions. It seems by the expression, that the people were encouraged, not only to pray within the temple, but to have respect to it, and to turn themselves toward it in their devotions, even when they prayed to the God of Israel in distant places : "Hearken unto the supplications of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place." And the practice was duly observed by Daniel in his captivity at Babylon: it was his manner "to open his window toward Jerusalem, and to kneel and pray three times a day," Dan. vi. 10. His respect was to the temple; and he held to the practice, though then the ruins of it only were remaining. In fact, the tabernacle and temple were the places where the devotion of the people, and the favour of God, met together: the house of God was the common assembly of heaven and earth; there God was to be found, and there the people sought Him: there Hannah, in the bitterness of her soul, offered up her devotions, and her petition was granted. Yea, and Christ Himself allows, Matt. xxiii. 17, that "the temple sanctified the gold which was offered in it: and, if it could sanctify the gold, it would rather sanctify the more valuable offerings of prayer and thanksgiving. This was known to that godly woman Anna the prophetess, who, having devoted herself to God, departed not from the temple, but served Him there with fastings and prayers night and day. There the prayers of Simeon were granted, and the promise of God fulfilled to him, when he took up the child Jesus in his arms, and blessed God, who in the temple had indulged him with a sight of what his eyes most desired to behold. Jones of Nayland.

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23 Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.

24 ¶ And if thy people Israel || be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make suppli|| Or, toward. cation before thee || in this house;

h1 Kings 17. 1.

i Chap. 20. 9.

at the consecration

Before CHRIST 1004.

30 Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest k 1 Chron. the hearts of the children of men :)

31 That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, † so long as they live + in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

1

28. 9.

+ Heb. all the Heb. upon

days which.

the face of the land.

Acts 8. 27.

32 Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people 1 John 12. 20. Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;

33 Then hear thou from the hea

vens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy 25 Then hear thou from the hea- name, and fear thee, as doth thy peovens, and forgive the sin of thy peo-ple Israel, and may know that this + Heb. thy † ple Israel, and bring them again unto house which I have built is called by called upon the land which thou gavest to them thy name. and to their fathers.

26¶ When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;

27 Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.

28 ¶ If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege Heb. in the them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be :

land of their gates.

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34 If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

35 Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their || cause.

name is this house.

|| Or, right.

m Proverbs

36 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and Eccles. 7. 21. deliver them over before their ene- James 3. 2. mies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;

37 Yet if they + bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly;

38 If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward

1 John 1. 8.

Heb. they

that take them captives

away.

carry them Heb. bring heart their

back to

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of the temple.

Before CHRIST

1004.

CHAP. VI, VII.

the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

39 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, Or, right. and maintain their || cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee.

40 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let Heb. to the thine ears be attent + unto the prayer that is made in this place.

prayer of this place.

n Ps. 132. 9.

a 1 Kings 8. 54, &c.

b Lev. 9. 24.

n

41 Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.

42 O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

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to pray towards it when they sojourned in foreign coasts, or were detained in the land of their captivity; to pray towards the place where it had stood, in case it should be demolished. Thus Daniel did, (Dan. vi. 10,) after this house, built by Solomon, was burnt to the ground. Dr. Jackson.

41. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, &c.] These words form part of Psalm cxxxii. 8, 9, with very little variation. In them he beseeches God to take up his habitation here, with "the ark of his strength," so as to stir from hence no more; and also so to defend his priests who ministered to Him, that they might obtain his blessings for others, and that all the people might rejoice in his great bounty. Bp. Patrick.

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His solemn sacrifice.

the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD's house.

3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.

5 And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

c

Before CHRIST 1004.

16.

6 And the priests waited on their c1 Chron. 15. offices: the Levites also with instruments of musick of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by + Heb. by their ministry; and the priests sound- their hand. ed trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

7 Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the meat offerings, and the fat.

S¶Also at the same time Solomon

altar; in the same manner as it was at the consecration of the tabernacle, Lev. ix. 24. Pyle.

The cloud, which denoted the presence of God, had already filled the house, so that the priest could not stand to minister: and in the ages after, as well as before, the Divine presence was manifested about the ark, and between the cherubim which overshadowed it. On special occasions, it appeared in a visible manner, under the symbol of a cloud, with a light or glory attending it: and, when the cloud was not seen, the place was always understood as being inhabited in a particular manner by the glory of the Godhead. Jones of Nayland.

This kind of answer by fire was of the most satisfactory kind. By this answer God determined the controversies between Elijah and Baal's priests: by the like effects of fire from heaven, the calling of Aaron to the priesthood was proved to be not by man, but by God's immediate appointment. And so was the consecration of the Son of God to his everlasting priesthood confirmed by the visible appearance of the Holy Ghost in tongues of fire, which was the accomplishment of both the former miraculous appearances from heaven, the one

Solomon dismisseth the people.

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Before kept the feast seven days, and all Is- | walked, and do according to all that Before rael with him, a very great congrega- I have commanded thee, and shalt tion, from the entering in of Hamath observe my statutes and my judgd Josh. 13. 3. unto the river of Egypt.

+ Heb. a restraint.

e 1 Kings 9. 1, &c.

9 And in the eighth day they made ta solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

10 And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king's house and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.

12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, f Deut. 12. 5. I have heard thy prayer, 'and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

+ Heb. upon whom my name is called.

g Chap. 6. 40.

13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

14 If my people, † which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

15 Now & mine eyes shall be open, + Heb. to the and mine ears attent + unto the prayer prayer of this that is made in this place. 16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name

place.

h Chap 6. 6.

may

h

be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father

at the consecration of Aaron, the other at the consecration of this material temple. Dr. Jackson.

13. If I shut up heaven &c.] God here again declares to Solomon, that his dispensations of mercies or judgments would always be in proportion to the virtuous or disobedient behaviour of the people; that their conscientious regard to the laws of their religion would never fail to draw down upon them continued blessings; and their true repentance and reformation of life, to stop the miseries that at any time befell them: but that, whenever they degenerated into obstinate idolatry and irreligion, neither the promises made to David, nor the name of Israel, nor the splendour of the temple, would screen them from the Divine vengeance; they should become wretched even to a proverb, ver. 21, and be

ments;

18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, i+There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.

i Chap. 6. 16.

+ Heb. There shall not be

thee.

Deut. 28. 15.

19 But if ye turn away, and for- cut off to sake my statutes and my command- k Lev. 26. 14. ments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall

Jer. 22. 8, 9.

say, 1 Why hath the LORD done Deut. 29. 24. thus unto this land, and unto this house?

22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.

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forced to acknowledge that the slavery of the whole nation, and the desolation of their sacred temple, are but just retributions of Heaven for their ingratitude under the choicest favours and blessings, by forsaking the great God who so mercifully bestowed them. Pyle.

14. If my people,-shall humble themselves,-and turn &c.] Solomon is here instructed, that the only way, by which God can be reconciled to a sinful people, is, by their prosecuting their fasting and humiliation to the actual reformation and amendment of their lives; that it is ever the proper fruit of repentance, to forsake our sins and become better for the future, more pious and devout towards God, more sober and chaste with regard to ourselves, more just and charitable, meek and humble towards all men. Without this, humiliation

Solomon's buildings.

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992.

mon

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had built the house of the LORD, | of David unto the house that he had and his own house, built for her: for he said, My wife 2 That the cities which Huram had shall not dwell in the house of David restored to Solomon, Solomon built king of Israel, because the places are them, and caused the children of Is-+ holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD + Heb. rael to dwell there. hath come.

3 And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it.

4 And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.

5 Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

6 And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the Heb. all the horsemen, and † all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion.

desire of Solomon which he desired to build.

b 1 Kings 3. 1. & 7. 8.

7¶ As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel,

8 But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day.

9 But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen.

10 And these were the chief of king Solomon's officers, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people.

11 ¶ And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city

and prayer will signify nothing; sorrow and tears will have no avail to save our own souls, or to preserve our generation from destruction. Abp. Tillotson.

Chap. VIII. ver. 2. That the cities which Huram had restored &c.] Here is a short relation of what is told more largely at 1 Kings ix. 12, 13: only we are further informed in this place, that Solomon rebuilt the cities, after they were restored to him by Huram, so that his own subjects became the inhabitants. Bp. Patrick.

3. went to Hamath-zobah,] Probably the country lying between the Euphrates and Damascus. Bochart. Perhaps the country is so called, as being a part of the kingdom of Hamath, seized on by the king of Zobah. Dr. Wells. See notes at Numb. xiii. 21; xxxiv. 2; 2 Sam. viii. 9; and 1 Kings viii. 65.

11.My wife shall not dwell in the house of David] "The ark of the Lord" had dwelt for a considerable time in the house of David, where a tabernacle had

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holiness.

23.

13 Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the com- e Exod. 29. mandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, d three times in the Exod. 23. year, even in the feast of unleavened Deut. 16. 16. bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

14.

24. 1.

14 And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, e 1 Chron. and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the 'porters also by their courses at every gate: for +so had David the man of God commanded.

15 And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

16 Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.

f1 Chron. 9. Heb. so was

17.

the commandment of

David the

man of God.

17 Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to | Eloth, at the Heb. Elath, sea side in the land of Edom.

18 And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of

Deut. 2. 8.

been made on purpose for it. On this account, Solomon thought that especial regard should be paid to a place, which had been employed for so sacred an end, and would not suffer his wife, who was a stranger, though a proselyte to the Jewish religion, to keep her court there: for she and her servants might in many ways have defiled a place, which had been made sacred by the symbol of the Divine presence dwelling there. Bp. Patrick.

14.David the man of God] It is observable that David is here called "the man of God," as Moses had been; because, after Moses, there was none like him divinely inspired, to raise the publick worship to a higher pitch by his heavenly hymns; and to direct the manner of its performance in proper order. Solomon was a very wise man in natural knowledge, and in political affairs, and in moral and Divine things; but he was much inferiour to David both in true piety, and in the gift of prophecy. Bp. Patrick.

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