”Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.“ I Kings 8:1-2 NKJV
a. Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel: Solomon intended this to be a spectacular opening ceremony for the temple. It was probably on the scale of the large productions in our modern Olympic Games opening ceremonies.
b. That they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD: The temple wasn’t ready to operate until the ark of the covenant was set in the Most Holy Place. The ark was the most important item in the temple.
c. Which is the seventh month: The temple was finished in the eighth month (1 Kings 6:38), but Solomon chose the seventh month for the dedication, eleven months later.
i. “Which time he chose with common respect to his people’s convenience, because now they had gathered in all their fruits, and now they were come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.” (Poole)
ii. There may have also been another reason. “It has already been observed that Solomon deferred the dedication of the temple to the following year after it was finished, because that year, according to Archbishop Usher, was a jubilee” (Clarke).
(Guzik)
Feast of Tabernacles!
Solomon waited until a jubilee year and feast of the tabernacles for the grand opening of the temple!
Jesus said during the feast of the tabernacles,
“anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them”
(John 7:37–38).
Do you have rivers of living water 💦 flowing from within you?
Blessings
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