1 Kings 8:1
INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 8
This chapter gives an account of the introduction of the ark into the temple, 1Ki 8:1 of the glory of the Lord filling it, 1Ki 8:10 of a speech Solomon made to the people concerning the building of the temple, and how he came to be engaged in it, 1Ki 8:12, of a prayer of his he put up on this occasion, requesting, that what supplications soever were made at any time, or on any account, by Israelites or strangers, might be accepted by the Lord, 1Ki 8:22, and of his blessing the people of Israel at the close of it, with some useful exhortations, 1Ki 8:54, and of the great number of sacrifices offered up by him, and the feast he made for the people, upon which he dismissed them, 1Ki 8:62.
Ver. 1. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel,.... The judges in the several cities, or senators of the great sanhedrim, as others; though it is a question whether as yet there was such a court:
and all the heads of the tribes; the princes of the twelve tribes:
the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel; the principal men of the ancient families in every tribe:
unto King Solomon in Jerusalem; these he summoned together to himself there where the temple was built:
that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion; whither David brought it, when he had taken that fort, so called, and dwelt in it; and from this mountain Solomon proposed to bring it up to the temple, on a higher mountain, Moriah, not far from one another.