First Kings

Chapters Eight and Nine: The Consecration of the Nation

(part 2)

by

Jim Bordwine, ThD

Introduction

Last week, we began examination of a passage in which the nation of Israel, under the leadership of the new king, Solomon, is consecrated before the LORD. I stated that in this passage, Solomon demonstrates his sincere compassion for his people. We see a man obviously concerned more for the nation than himself. As I noted before, Solomon provides a wonderful example of godly leadership. He displays much wisdom as he addresses the people and challenges them to walk honorably before the LORD.

The beginning of this passage records a blessing that Solomon voices for his people. I also called attention to the steps Solomon is following in this passage. He spoke to the LORD in prayer, seeking His favor for the people, before he exhorted his subjects. Solomon knows what will have to happen for the nation to remain safe and prosper. His example reminds us that prayer should always be followed by sincere effort on our part. We seek God’s help, and then we do all within our power to bring about what is needed.

Solomon’s posture was another element I pointed out. Throughout the Old Testament, we find examples of how God’s people manifested their reverence for God in their physical movements, as well as in their words. Solomon prayed to God on his knees with his arms outstretched toward heaven. In Jewish culture, the whole man, so to speak, was involved in the relationship with Jehovah; they gave visible expression to their joy and agony. Likewise, in times of petitioning the LORD, they took care to acknowledge His holy nature.

As we considered Solomon’s blessing, I broke it into several components. First, the king acknowledged the LORD’s kindness to Israel. The LORD “has given rest to His people,” the king declares. The present prosperous state of the nation was a result of God’s favor; this is a fact the wise king wants to establish from the very beginning. Second, Solomon tied the present blessedness to God’s promises made in the past. God made promises to the patriarchs and Israel’s present peaceful state is evidence that God has kept His promises. He vowed to bless the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and He has done so. He delivered them from captivity in Egypt and eventually established them in a new land. And third, Solomon showed that he understood the responsibility that rests with the nation. The people must make every effort to walk honorably before God. He will continue to keep them and bless them, but they must obey His law and live according to God’s standards.

That brings us to the second major section in this passage, which is a record of the sacrifices offered by Solomon as he consecrated the nation before the LORD.

02. Solomon’s Sacrifices (8:62-66)

62 Now the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the LORD. 63 Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. 64 On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, because there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings. 65 So Solomon observed the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, for seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David His servant and to Israel His people.

The first question that comes to mind when we read this portion of the passage is this: What was the purpose of this action? Obviously, it was an enormous undertaking; in fact, the numbers of animals used seems almost unbelievable. It would take so many people and a very high degree of organization to sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep! But the enormity of this action also underscores the significance of the event. This was not merely a service of remembrance as the new king sought God’s favor for the nation; this was a solemn rededication of the people of God to live according to His standards and enjoy His blessings in return. Covenant renewal ceremonies are recorded several times in this history of Israel. Sometimes these ceremonies are ordered by God and other times they come about as the result of an insightful leader’s urging. Such is the case here.

The purpose, then, is to celebrate to an extreme the goodness and covenant faithfulness of God. The sacrifices were offerings of thanksgiving to the LORD. This was one of the first things Solomon acknowledged in his prayer, you’ll recall. Specifically, notice that the writer refers to these sacrifices as “peace offerings.” There were three kinds of peace offerings, and all three reflected some aspect of gratefulness for God’s blessings and anticipation of future favor. Solomon’s sacrifices, therefore, were intended as expressions of thanksgiving and petitions for God’s goodness to continue in the days ahead.

And, of course, this was all done as part of the service of dedicating the house of the LORD (cf. v. 63). This was a milestone in Israel’s history. The establishment of a temple—a permanent and stationary structure—marked an incredible accomplishment. When God came for His people, in keeping with His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they were in captivity! The nation that today is celebrating with thousands of sacrifices is the same nation that hurried out of Egypt with whatever they could carry under the leadership of Moses. At this point, Israel is a strong nation; at this point, the nation has a wise king. Israel was poised to grow even stronger and more influential—but it all depended on God’s continuing favor and that depended on the faithfulness of the people.

This great event of the many sacrifices emphasized the blessings of God and the potential that existed for a wonderful future. There was little more that could be done to give the people a proper perspective on the essential matter of serving the LORD with their whole hearts. They were being reminded in an unforgettable way of God’s faithfulness; and that reminder was also a call to holiness on the part of Solomon’s subjects.

We know further that this great event included an enormous feast. The meat from peace offerings generally belonged to the worshiper. We can imagine, therefore, that the people enjoyed a bountiful meal in connection with the many animals slain. And I should add that such a magnificent celebration implied the prosperity of the nation. This, too, was a stark contrast to the nation’s beginning. In Num. 7:88, we read of the consecration of the altar used by Moses. He presented a peace offering to the LORD that consisted of 24 bulls, 60 rams, and 60 goats—and that was an extravagance for that particular period. Obviously, the wealth of Israel had multiplied many times over. This was all traceable, of course, to God’s gracious treatment of His people.

The writer mentions that Solomon “consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD.” (v. 64) Normally, this spot was not used for sacrifices. Due to the size of Solomon’s peace offering on this day, that space was set aside this one time so that the people had room to present the sacrifices.

Finally, it is also recorded that the nation was celebrating a feast for a total of fourteen days (cf. v. 65). When the feast concluded, the people returned to their homes and normal routines (cf. v. 66). The feast mentioned was the feast of tabernacles. This yearly event saw the people staying in temporary dwellings and enjoying a great atmosphere of celebration and thanksgiving. The temporary dwellings were meant to remind the people that they once were a wandering tribe with no home; but now they were established in the land given to them by the LORD. They were to reflect upon His faithfulness, as I’ve said previously. All this means that there was an enormous gathering for the dedication of the temple and these related activities. It was incredibly festive as, day after day, the people ate and drank and sang; they gave themselves fully to the task of honoring God by rejoicing before Him.

03. Solomon’s Charge (9:1-9)

1 Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all that Solomon desired to do, 2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all this adversity on them.’”

The last thing recorded by the writer, as he relates to us the celebration at the dedication of the temple, is a word from the LORD to Solomon. Here, we read of a charge, this time delivered by God to the new king. It is a most somber assessment of Israel’s situation. It is, at the same time, greatly encouraging and frightening. I will take this charge point by point.

The last time the LORD appeared to Solomon, he was in Gibeon, you may recall, where a multitude of sacrifices were routinely made. It was there that God said to Solomon: “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” The king asked for wisdom and God granted that request abundantly—far above what Solomon asked or hoped. Since that encounter, Solomon has gained some preliminary experience as the leader of the nation; and he has now finished building his palace and the temple. At this point, the LORD acknowledges the prayer and supplication of Solomon (v. 3). The house of the LORD had been set apart, as it were, for His particular worship and God sanctified it, He tells Solomon, “by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.”

Then the LORD delivers what amounts to a solemn charge to the king. First, God charges Solomon to “walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and [you] will keep My statues and My ordinances.” (v. 4) Throughout this section of 1 Kings, we have repeatedly had placed before us the indispensable principle of obedience. There simply is no way to speak of enjoying a relationship with God without including the issue of keeping His word and living according to what He has revealed. The most important thing, the most advantageous thing, the most potentially helpful thing that Solomon can do in the days ahead is not amass a large army or conquer surrounding territories or lay up an abundance of goods or gather great wealth to himself; the most important thing for Solomon to do was obey the word of the LORD.

This, then, is the first charge put before Solomon. It is first because it is crucial and foundational. It is first because without simple thankful obedience, nothing else matters. I realize that is a strong statement, but I believe it is absolutely true. If we are not obeying God, then what else really matters in terms of our relationship with Him? Obedience is the issue between God and His people. It’s been that way since the Garden of Eden. Solomon could be the most clever king to ever sit upon a throne, but if doesn’t obey God, he will fall. Solomon could build up the most ferocious army ever to be assembled on the face of the earth and he could go out conquering one territory after another, but if he doesn’t walk faithfully before the LORD, it will all be empty and meaningless.

In Solomon’s case, as the LORD says, he had a wonderful example to follow in his own father. This reference to David tells us that a need not have a perfect life to enjoy a relationship with God, but he must have genuine desire to please the LORD and he must an “integrity of heart,” as God declares. Solomon had no excuse for not understanding what is being asked of him. His father left behind a pattern that the LORD Himself is commending.

I would suspect that just about every adult here this morning could think of one or two lessons that you learned from our fathers. They may not all be positive lessons, but most of us would say that our fathers, for the good or the bad, left impressions on us and left memories from which we can draw instruction in the present. If your father was a hard working man, that is an example for you to imitate now that you are an adult. If your father was a drunkard, that, too, provides an example—in this case, one to be avoided.

My own father left behind a number of impressions and lessons, most of them worth imitating. He was, for example, a man determined to remain active long after illness had taken a tremendous physical toll and had left him weak and not able to “muscle” things around as he had done in his younger days. But, as I said, he was not one to stop doing things around the house just because he was not as strong or agile as he had been before. He was always fixing something—often because he broke it in the first place, but that’s another story!

Our family home was a split-level design, which meant that it was a two-story house with a couple of rooms downstairs where you entered and the rest of the living space upstairs. When you came through the front door, you immediately went up a set of stairs to the second floor where the kitchen, dining room, and living room were located. On the back wall of our house there was a set of large sliding doors that opened onto a patio; and above the patio was a covering—just a roof held up with wooden posts. It was designed to provide shelter from the rain while leaving the rest of the area unobstructed. As you climbed the stairs from the front door to the main living area, you eyes would automatically fall on those sliding doors and the patio just outside.

One day, my mother and brother had been out running an errand and when they returned home, they came through the front door and began to climb the stairs. Just as they got to the top of the stairs, they both saw one of strangest things either of them had ever beheld. As they looked through those sliding glass doors to the patio outside, they noticed two legs hanging from the roof that covered the patio. The legs were attached to my father who had fallen through the roof hours earlier and was stuck. There he was, dangling between earth and sky, suspended because his backside wouldn’t fit through the hole.

My mother and brother said they laughed hysterically, of course, while my dad just looked at them with a decidedly disgusted expression on his face. As my brother told me, it was no easy task getting my father out of that hole. When we was finally free, he explained that he had gone up on that roof to patch a small leak. As I said before, he was frail and weak and not nearly as agile as he had been in his younger days, but that never stopped him from trying to do what any normal home-owner would do.

So I have that as part of my legacy. I have many stories of my father demonstrating tenacity in the face of physical sickness and limitation. And I assure you that I’ve thought of his example many times over the years when I’ve encountered some physical trial. You can draw strength from those kinds of examples. And that’s the idea here in our passage when the LORD reminds Solomon of David’s integrity and uprightness. If Solomon could follow his father’s example, he would do well, indeed.

The second element in this charge to Solomon is God’s promise regarding how He will response if Solomon does remain faithful, as God just described—that is, by walking before God in integrity of heart and uprightness. The promise God makes is astonishing; He vows to establish Solomon’s throne over Israel forever. (v. 5) I need to insert a quick word of explanation here. In the Old Testament, we often read passages where something is referred to as enduring “forever” if certain conditions are met. In the Hebrew mind, this was not the same thing, necessarily, as eternity. That is, they understood that God was not promising something that would endure for the rest of eternity. Indeed, that expectation would have contradicted declarations about a final day of judgment and the beginning of a blessed existence with God in heaven.

In the Hebrew mind, what was being promised in this case, for example, was the continuation of Solomon’s throne for an indefinite amount of time, known only to God and for as long as this would serve the purposes of God. Solomon was being promised God’s blessing for as long as he walked the earth in faithfulness. And on another level, given the fact that Solomon was in the line of the coming Messiah, this promise had another type of fulfillment in the establishment of Christ as King over the people of God.

Getting back to our text, what I’ve just suggested is borne out by the remainder of v. 5. God first made this wonderful promise to David. David knew the blessing of God for as long as he walked the earth. Now that promise was being fulfilled toward his son, Solomon. Ultimately, as I said, this promise would find final and perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He is designated as the Son of David.

The third element of this charge is a warning that follows immediately upon God’s promise of blessing in return for obedience: “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.” Further, He adds, the great house of the LORD, recently built by Solomon and dedicated with such joyful celebration, will become “a heap of ruins.” (v. 8) Its destruction will cause those who pass by to be astonished, says the LORD. Strangers will wonder what caused the LORD to do such a thing to the land and the house.

There will be no great mystery, however, God explains to Solomon. The only thing that could bring about such horrible disruption and destruction is a lack of faithfulness. And that will be the answer should this terrible thing ever come to pass in Israel. It will be reported that the people “forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt.” Their great sin will be the worship of other gods; God brought upon them just what He warned, so the observers will reason.

You will never find a greater example of a people being graciously warned and being treated with such incredible. God has repeated this same warning before; the people knew what He promised and what He warned. In this case, Solomon the king is being told in the plainest way possible what the future could hold for him and his people if he remained faithful and his descendants following that example. God’s promise was such a thrilling thing to hear. But God has issued a warning that is just as clear. Solomon could not expect God to deny His nature and overlook the king’s transgression should he fall away. God will always remain true to Himself no matter what.

Application

In closing, I have one thought for you to consider. Think about the contrast between the nation when God led them out of captivity and the nation as it appears in our passage. Those who left Egypt had never known freedom; the nation came to exist in captivity. Now, under Solomon, the nation is powerful, numerous, and able to celebrate an event that marked incredible achievement and promise for the future. The cause of the exodus and the cause of this present scene of celebration is the same—it is God and His goodness. He led them, protected them, provided for them, and instructed them. God did not abandon the nation when the people sinned; He disciplined the nation and provided capable leadership, as it is in our present story. The history of Israel is a history of God’s purpose for a nation unfolding.

The Bible itself draws parallels between the exodus and subsequent history of Israel and our experience as believers. There is, therefore, a good reminder to take from this story. When we were held in the captivity of sin, God delivered us, and He alone could deliver us. Throughout our lives, even with our struggles, God has remained with us and continued to provide for us. What He has ordained for His people, the new Israel, is unfolding just as obviously as did the history of the earthly nation of Israel.

The point is that we are here because of what God has done, not because of what we have done. He saved us and He has kept us and He is guiding us toward heaven. It is all of God; and all thanksgiving, therefore, belongs to Him and Him alone. In Christ, we have our freedom, our life now, and our future. His death and resurrection gained our eternal security and for that, we are to be forever grateful.

This story about Israel’s celebration has a marvelous parallel in our experience. In our case, however, there is perfection in all aspects because Christ is accomplishing for us and in us what must be done. In our story, the nation rejoiced when the house of God was finished. We rejoice because we are the house in which God now dwells by His spirit. That scene had an end and eventually, the sin of the people destroyed what God provided. In our case, however, the scene never ends, but keeps getting more and more glorious as we, the Church, make our way toward that last great day. There is no falling short now because the work in not ours, it is the work of our Savior.

All of this tells us something really important—thanksgiving, humility, and joy should be hallmarks of the Christian experience. If a people still bound to the earth can give thanks to God and be humbled by His goodness and celebrate for days in His presence, what about us? What about those who have what is pictured in this story in perfection and without end? Indeed, we must be a thankful and humble and joyful people—and we will be just that if we understand what God has done for us in Christ.

Prayer

Hymn for Communion

Conclusion

Here we have before us a sacrament. A sacrament, among other things, points us to spiritual truth and spiritual realities. In this case, this sacrament, consisting of the bread and wine, points us to the work of our Savior in which He gave His life and shed His blood for our sakes. The care God provides, which I just spoke of in the sermon, continues. This sacrament explains what Jesus did for us, but it also declares the ongoing nature of His work in us.

Our presence here at His table testifies to our interest in Him. He is our Savior and He is escorting us to heaven, as it were, after removing all obstacles. This sacrament renews His pledge to us and it will remain His pledge to us until we are finally transported to the place where He dwells with His Father.

Matt. 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”