1 Kings 8.12 says that Solomon began speaking. Seeing the anxiety of the Kohanim (v 11) and the people that the cloud was symbolic of the Shekinah (presence of God), he speaks to comfort them. You can see right away where the concept of “dwelling presence” (“shkan”) is associated with the cloud. Solomon turned toward the people and blessed the assembly (Kahal) of Israel as they were standing there. He had to turn his back to the Holy of Holies and this meant that what Solomon said and did came through him from the Lord. The concept of the Kahal (“assembly”) is something that we should keep in mind.
Then Solomon gave one of the greatest prayers ever recorded in Scripture (v 22-53). He stands on a bronze platform before the altar of the Lord (2 Chr 6.13) and spreads his hands toward heaven. Now he represents all mankind like Yeshua did on the cross. He is going to pray about Jerusalem, the Temple and the non-Jews who believe. He will also discuss prophecy and what is going to happen in the future.
He recognizes there is no God in heaven or earth like Yehovah. The pretend “gods” of the nations could not compare to him (Isa 40.8). He thanks Yehovah for keeping his promises to his father David. He then asks the Lord to dwell in this Temple and honor those who will come to worship there. Solomon knows God will not actually “live” in this Temple like the pagan concept. It is good that he said this or we could get the wrong idea that he believed that (1 Kings 8.12-13).
At the time, Solomon thought this was an incredible idea, that God would dwell on the earth, and that is exactly what Yeshua did (John 1.1-18). Who would have thought such a thing, that God would dwell on earth! But Solomon knows that the heavens and the earth cannot contain Yehovah (v 27), and that makes what Yeshua did even more amazing. He then asks the Lord to open his eyes towards this house night and day, to the place where he said, “My name shall be there.”
So, there are two things we want to touch on here. First, the term “house” for the Temple. You will see this term used over and over again and it gives us the location of where the events in Acts 2. 1-41 took place. They were gathered in the Temple on the festival of Shavuot where they should have been (Exo 23.14-17). The phrase, “My name shall dwell there” refers to Jerusalem (1 Chr 6.6) and to the Temple (2 Chr 7.16).
Yehovah said in Deut 12.11, before they even came into the land, “Then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God shall choose for his name to dwell. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution (terumah) of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings where you will vow to the Lord.”
Yehovah is God’s personal name, above all others. His name is written nearly 7000 times in the Tanak. The name has been found written out with full vowels in 2300 Hebrew manuscripts and it is pronounced “Yehovah.” Yahweh has never been found, nor any other name. There are other “names” or titles in the Scripture such as El Shaddai, Elohim, Makom and Shalom, but Yehovah is his personal name. Shalom and Shaddai begin with the Hebrew letter Shin, and it has three heads. When one looks at a topographical map of Jerusalem, you can see the letter shin on the city, formed by the Hinnom., Tyropean and Kidron Valleys. When Abraham came near to this place in Gen 22.4, he lifted his eyes and he “saw the place afar off.” What did he see? He saw the shin formed by the valleys. So, the Hebrew letter shin is a symbol for the Lord. The False Messiah will also place his name on his followers (Rev 13. 16-18) and this will be a counterfeit shin made up of three Hebrew letter vavs that will look like the shin. The letter vav in Hebrew is the number “6” (6,6,6).
Then Solomon says in v 30, “When they pray towards this place.” Jerusalem and the Temple was seen as the “gate of God (Gen 28.17). Psa 138.2 says, ” I will bow down toward thy holy Temple.” Psa 118.20 says, “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it.” A gate is a “door” so spiritually this alludes to Yeshua (John 10.7).
People would pray towards Jerusalem no matter where they were, like Daniel did in Dan 6.10, and Jonah in Jonah 2.4. If you were in the Temple, you prayed toward the Holy of Holies like David in Psa 5.7, 28.1-2. If you were in the Holy of Holies, you prayed toward the Ark, especially the area between the wings of the Keruvim (Exo 25.22, Psa 138.2). He asks that the Lord hear and forgive from his dwelling place in heaven. Again, this carries the idea that the Temple and Jerusalem were seen as the “door of heaven” where prayers were directed, and the Lord will hear from heaven. The Temple was seen as a place for judgment in 1 Kings 8.31-32, and if Israel is defeated before the enemy because they have sinned, and they confess his name and pray in the house, then he asks the Lord to hear from heaven and forgive their sin (v 33,34).
1 Kings 8.35-36 talks about a time of drought because the people have sinned against the Lord (Lev 26.19). If they pray toward the Temple and confess his name (own his power and his justice in dealing with them), then Solomon asks that the Lord hear from heaven and forgive them, sending rain (like with Elijah in Jam 5.18). Then in 1 Kings 8.37-40 he brings up the case of famine because of the lack of rain (or any other cause). He asks that whoever prays (prayer of a righteous man avails much-Luke 18.10-14; Jam 5.16), or if many pray (corporate), each sensitive to his own sin privately committed in his own heart (sin begins there and God knows the heart-Psa 51.4; Mark 7.20-23), spreading his hands towards the Temple, that the Lord would hear their prayer and forgive their sin, and act in accordance with his ways (remove the calamity and trouble). God alone knows the hearts of all men (Jer 17.9), and God knows whether the person is sincere and pure in his intentions.
1 Kings 8.41-43 brings us to another scenario with Solomon, the case of the foreigner (Nokri), or the non-Jew, who comes to God in prayer and prays towards “this house.” Acts 8.25-27 tells us about the Ethiopian court official who came to the Temple for worship (as allowed in Lev 22.18 in the Temple). The non-Jews will hear of God’s great name and mighty hand and they will come and pray. He wants the Lord to hear his prayer so that “all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel.” Solomon acknowledges the calling of the non-Jews (Isa 56.7).
In 1 Kings 8.44-45 he brings up the case of when Israel goes out to battle against their enemies at the counsel of Yehovah. When they pray toward the Temple, he asks the Lord to hear from heaven. Even though the cause will be just and the Lord has given them permission already, they were still to pray for success. That is an interesting concept. In 1 Kings 8.46-53 Solomon brings up the case when Israel sins against God, and all people do, if they return with their heart and turn, and prays to God in the land that has taken them captive, then he asks for the Lord to hear their prayer when they turn “toward their land, the city and the house” (v 48).
In verse 51 Solomon uses the term “iron furnace” to describe Egypt when God brought them out. This term alludes to Europe and the furnaces of the Holocaust during World War II and the birth-pains (Deut 4.20). This will happen again. The “Pharaoh” of Europe will be the False Messiah who will persecute the Jewish people.
1 Kings 8.54-61 tells us Solomon was kneeling before the altar when he finished praying, but he started out standing (8.22). Verses 54-66 is the Haftorah (reading from the Prophets) for Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day or concluding day of Sukkot. Solomon is kneeling on the brass platform (2 Chr 6.13). As he finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven (2 Chr 7.1) and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the Kivod of the Lord filled the house (Temple). Again, the priests could not enter into the Heichal (Holy Place) because the Kivod filled the house. This is exactly what happened at the dedication of the Mishkan.
1 Kings 8.62-66 tells us about some very important concepts and the time of the year all of this is happening. We know it was during the “feast (all of them) in the month of Ethanim (Tishri), which is the seventh month” (of the religious calendar-1 Kings 8.2). Solomon offered so many animals (v 63) that the middle courtyard was used. The bronze altar was too small. So Solomon observed the festivals of Ethanim (Tishri), which included Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. People came from the entrance of Hamath, the northern border of Israel, to the brook of Egypt (a branch of the Nile called “Rhinoculura”) in the south.
The festival was kept for fourteen days, and on the eighth day (Shemini Atzeret of Sukkot) they went home. The fourteen days started on Tishri 7, then on Tishri 10 it was Yom Kippur. Then they continued through Tishri 15-21 and Sukkot, and went home on Tishri 22, called Shemini Atzeret or the “eighth day” of Sukkot as a whole. This encompassed the “Feast of the In-gathering” (Exo 23.16) which is known as Sukkot. 2 Chr 7.9-10 says they were sent home after sunset at the beginning of Tishri 23.
In Part 10 we will pick up with 1 Kings 9.1-28.
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