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Chapter 8: The Temple is consecrated to Yahweh
1 Kings 8:1-9 ~ The Ark of the Covenant is brought to the Temple
See the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 5:2-10. After the return from the Babylonian exile the seventh month was called by the Babylonian name Tishri.
Question: Solomon planned to have the dedication of the Temple in association with which of the seven God ordained feasts of remembrance that was also a pilgrim feast? This feast took place in the month of Tishri from the 15 to the 21st and concluded with a Sacred Assembly on the 22nd. See Lev 23:33-43; Num 29:12-38; 2 Chr 8:13 and the charts on the Sacred Annual Feasts.
Answer: Solomon planned to have the dedication of the Temple during the feast that remembered the dedication of the desert Sanctuary, the Feast of Sukkoth/Tabernacles, also called the feast of Shelters or Booths.
1 Kings 8:10-13 ~ Yahweh takes possession of His Temple
The "cloud" was the visible manifestation of the presence of Yahweh, and is often referred to as the "Glory cloud" (see for example Ex 13:21-22; 19:9, 16; 24:15-18; 33:9-10; 40:36-38; 1 Cor 10:1-3). Cloud and light are two images that occur together in the manifestation of God, as in the pillar of cloud and fire that led the children of Israel on the wilderness journey (Ex 13:21-22). In the theophanies of the Old Testament and in the Transfiguration of Jesus in the New Testament (cf Mt 17:5), the cloud is described as both dark and luminous, and it reveals the living and saving presence of Yahweh while veiling the transcendence of His glory to avoid the extinction of sinful man witnessing His divine Presence. God's holiness is so far removed from human unworthiness that anyone who looks upon God risks death (Ex 33:20). It is for this reason that Moses, Elijah, and even the seraphim covered their faces in His Presence (Ex 3:6; 1 Kng 19:13; Is 6:2). Anyone who remains alive after seeing God is overcome with astonishment and gratitude, and it is a favor God rarely grants (Ex 33:10-11, 21-23). No human being can safely look upon God's face except in heaven (Mt 5:8; 1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2).
1 Kings 8:14-21 ~ King Solomon addresses the people
In his address to the assembly of Israel, Solomon mentions that God did not choose a place for His Temple from among the tribes until He chose Jerusalem (Dt 12:5, 11-12; 2 Chr 6:6). He recounts David's desire to build a Temple for Yahweh and how he has, with Yahweh's approval, fulfilled his father's desire. His prayer relies on God's covenantal promises, on God's active presence among the covenant people like God's mighty deeds in the children of Israel's exodus out of Egypt. Solomon will begin and end his prayer by mentioning the great event of God's intervention for Israel in the Exodus liberation (verses 21, 51 and 53).
Solomon also testifies that the Ark of the Covenant that he has placed in the Temple's Holy of Holies is the same Ark God commanded Moses to build at Mt. Sinai.
Question: What is the covenant document Solomon refers to in verse 21?
Answer: The two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments written by God Himself.
1 Kings 8:22-29 ~ King Solomon's prays for himself and for the Temple
Solomon stood before God's sacrificial altar in the courtyard in front of the Temple Sanctuary, and then he kneeled down with his hands out stretched at shoulder height, palms upward and began, in the presence of the Assembly of Israel, to offer a prayer to Israel's God (see 1 Kng 8:54). In his prayer, Solomon prays on his own behalf, on behalf of the entire nation, and for the generations yet to come. Both the High Priest and the King are God's servants who are the intermediaries or covenant representatives between God and His covenant people. The High Priest is the people's religious intermediary and the King is the people's civil intermediary who enforces God's laws and is the people's emissary to foreign nations. Solomon then mentions God's covenant with David and David's descendants. It is an eternal covenant that is not conditional on the righteousness of the individual Davidic kings, but the blessings of Yahweh on each successive king is based on his obedience and faithfulness to his leadership role as God's righteous agent in serving God's people.
King Solomon prays for the people of Israel
1 Kings 8:30-51 ~ King Solomon prayer
Solomon's prayer for the covenant people is composed of seven petitions. Each petition presents a condition of trial followed by the request for God's forgiveness and/or intervention:
- He prays for forgiveness for individual Israelites who have wronged a neighbor.
- He prays for forgiveness and restoration when Israel has sinned and God has lifted His protection and delivered His judgment in Israel's defeat by an enemy nation.
- He prays for forgiveness when Israel's sin has resulted in a judgment of no rain for the crops.
- He prays for forgiveness and God's intervention when natural disasters and war afflicts the nation.
- He prays for the foreigner who turns to Yahweh.
- He prays for Israel's victory in wars against her enemies.
- He prays for God's mercy when Israel's sins have led to exile from the land and that, in their repentance, God will hear their pleas and will restore His repentant people to the land of Israel.
1 Kings 8:52-61 ~ The conclusion of Solomon's prayer and the blessing of the people
Solomon reminds Yahweh that out of all the other nations of the earth, God chose the children of Israel to be His personal possession. They were chosen by divine election.
The success of the relationship with Yahweh is based on Israel's continuing obedience to God's laws and willingness to keep His commandments.
1 Kings 8:62-66 ~ The sacrifices on the Feast of Sukkoth (Tabernacles) for the Temple dedication
The dedication of the Temple is taking place in the early fall, after the harvest and on the feast day that was created to remember the dedication of the desert Sanctuary, on the pilgrim feast of Sukkoth/Tabernacles (also called Shelters or Booths). As you will recall, it was a seven day feast that every adult man of the covenant was required to attend with a Sacred Assembly on the eighth day (Lev 23:33-37; Num 28:12-16, 35; Dt 16:16; 2 Chr 8:13).
CHALLENGE: “The Catholic practice of asking dead saints for their intercession is wrong. The Bible forbids necromancy.”
DEFENSE: Asking the saints for intercession is not necromancy.
Necromancy is an attempt to gain information by conjuring the dead. The term is derived from the Greek words nekros (“dead person”) and manteia (“oracle, divination”). This practice, which was common in the ancient world, is forbidden in the Old Testament: “There shall not be found among you . . . a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer” (Deut. 18:10–11).
The fact that necromancy was for purposes of gaining information is made clear by the Hebrew terms for “medium” (sho’el ’ob, “a spirit inquirer”), “wizard” (yidde‘oni, “a spiritist”), and “necromancer” (doresh ’el-ha-metim, “an inquirer of the dead”). The focus on gaining information is also made clear by the context in Deuteronomy, which specifies that God will send his people prophets instead of allowing them to use mediums, wizards, and necromancers (Deut. 18:15).
Necromancy is forbidden today, as well. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future” (CCC 2116).
Both Scripture and the Catholic Church agree that necromancy is forbidden. However, asking the saints for their intercession is a fundamentally different practice. In necromancy, people attempt to contact the dead to obtain information from them—either about the future or about other matters that are hidden from the inquirer. The flow of information is supposed to be from the dead to the living.
When people ask the saints for their intercession, however, they are not seeking information. They are asking the saints to partner with them in prayer to God. If anything, the flow of information is from the living to the dead—that is, a living person is making his prayer request known to a departed saint.
The biblical injunction against necromancy is thus a condemnation of something else. It is not talking about the same thing. This means that the practice of asking the saints for their intercession must be judged on its own merits, and as we cover elsewhere (see Day 36), there are good reasons for the practice.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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