1 Kings 8:22
Ver. 22. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord,.... The altar of the burnt offering in the court of the priests, where he prayed the following prayer; and which altar was typical of Christ, who is always to be in sight in prayer, and through whom all sacrifices of prayer and praise become acceptable to God. In 2Ch 6:13 he is said to stand upon a scaffold of brass, five cubits long, five broad, and three high, which stood in the midst of the court; it was a sort of a pulpit, round, as a laver, for which the word is sometimes used, and on which he kneeled:in the presence of all the congregation of Israel; who stood in the great court before him, called the court of Israel:and spread forth his hands toward heaven; and hence it appears, that though Solomon stood before the altar, he did not lay hold on it with his hands, as the Heathens did when they prayed; for they say {y}, that prayer alone does not appease the Deity, unless he that prays also lays hold on the altar with his hands; hence altars, at first, as we are told {z}, were called "ansae"; and lifting up or spreading the hands towards heaven was a proper gesture with the Greeks and Romans {a}.{y} Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 2. Vid. Sperling. de Baptism. Ethiac, c. 6. p. 103. {z} Varro Rer. Divin. l. 5. apud ib. {a} Homer. Iliad. 3. ver. 275. & 6. ver. 301. Vid. Barth. Animadv. ad Claudian. in Rufin. l. 2. ver. 205. 1 Kings 8:23Ver. 23. And he said, Lord God of Israel,.... Their covenant God and Father, whereby he was distinguished from all the gods of the Gentiles:there is no god like thee; in heaven above or on earth beneath; none among the angels in heaven, nor among kings and civil magistrates on earth, who both are sometimes called "Elohim" gods; but only in a figurative sense, and not to be compared with the one only true God, for the perfection of his nature, or the works of his hands:who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart; performs his promises, by which he both declares his mercy or goodness and his faithfulness to such who walk before him, in his ways, and according to his word, in the sincerity and uprightness of their hearts. 1 Kings 8:24Ver. 24. Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him..... Concerning a son, his successor, and the builder of the temple:thou, spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day; the temple being now finished by him, see 1Ki 8:15. 1 Kings 8:25Ver. 25. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him,.... That as he had fulfilled one part of his promise respecting himself, his immediate successor, so that he would fulfil the other respecting his more remote offspring:saying, there shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit on the throne of Israel; one of David's posterity to inherit his throne and kingdom, but with this proviso:so that thy children takes heed to their way; in what way they walk, and how they walk in it:that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me; meaning as David walked, see Ps 132:11. 1 Kings 8:26Ver. 26. And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified,.... Truly made good, and punctually performed:which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father; the same request in other words, repeated to show his ardent and vehement desire to have it fulfilled. 1 Kings 8:27Ver. 27. But will God indeed dwell on the earth?.... Is it true? Can any credit be given to it? Who could ever have thought it, that so great and glorious a Being, who inhabits eternity, dwells in the highest heavens, should ever condescend to dwell on earth? Such was the amazing condescension of Christ, the Son of God, to tabernacle in human nature with men on earth, to which Solomon perhaps might have respect; his temple being the figure of his body, in which the Godhead dwells, Joh 2:19behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; not, only the visible heavens, but the third heaven, where the throne of God is, and is the habitation of angels and saints; though there God makes the most glorious displays of himself yet he is so immense and infinite, that he is not to be comprehended and circumscribed in any place whatever:how much less this house that I have builded? Though temples built for idols contain them, and are large enough, yet Solomon had no notion, when he built his temple, though it was for the name of God, that he was restrained to it, but dwelt everywhere, filling heaven and earth with his presence. 1 Kings 8:28Ver. 28. Yet have thou respect to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God,.... Meaning himself, who, though a king acknowledged himself, and esteemed it an honour to be the servant of the Lord, and who was also an humble suppliant of his, and desired his prayers and supplications might be attended to:to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day; the particulars of which follow. 1 Kings 8:29Ver. 29. That thine eyes may be open towards this house night and day,.... That is, to the people that pray in it, as they are to his righteous ones, Ps 33:14 even towards the place of which thou hast my name shall be there; there should be some displays of his presence, power, and providence, of goodness, grace, and mercy:that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make towards this place; not only to what he should make in it, but to what he should make in his own house, with his face directed towards this, as would be, and was the practice of good people in later times, yea, even when the temple lay in ruins; see Da 6:10 figuring the respect gracious souls have to Christ by faith in their prayers, in whom the Godhead dwells bodily, see Jon 2:4 and it is observable, according to a Jewish canon {b}, one at a distance, in another land, was not only to turn his face to the land of Israel, but direct his heart to Jerusalem, and the temple, and the holy of holies; and if in the land, to Jerusalem, &c. and if in Jerusalem, not only to the temple, and holy of holies, but if behind the mercy seat, he was to turn his face to it; which was a symbol of Christ, the propitiatory and throne of grace, to be looked unto by faith, Ro 3:25.{b} Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 94. sect. 1. 1 Kings 8:30Ver. 30. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray towards this place,.... Not only he desires his prayers might be heard, but those of the people of Israel, then, and at all times in succeeding ages, whenever they should look towards the temple, and to him that was typified by it; to whose blood, righteousness, sacrifice and mediation, the acceptance of prayers with God is to be ascribed:and hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace; for though he condescended to take up his residence in the temple, yet his more proper and more glorious dwelling was in heaven, and from whence, notwithstanding the distance of it, he could hear the prayers of his people, and does:and when thou hearest, forgive; manifest and apply pardoning grace and mercy on account of sins confessed, and repented of; or remove calamities and distresses on account of sin, which sometimes is meant, and frequently in this prayer, by the forgiveness of sin. 1 Kings 8:31Ver. 31. If any man trespass against his neighbour,.... By being unfaithful in a trust committed to him, or the like:and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear; he denying that ever anything was committed to his trust, and there being no witnesses of it, the judge obliges him to take an oath he never had any:and the oath come before thine altar in this house; where it was taken, as in the presence of God, and as appealing to him: hence in corrupt times they came to swear by the altar, Mt 23:20 and so the Heathens used to take their oaths in the temples of their gods, and at their altars, as the instances of Callicrates {c} and Hannibal {d} show, and others Grotius refers to; yea, they also laid hold on the altar, at least touched it when they swore {e} to give the greater sanction to the oath.{c} Cornel. Nep. Vit. Dion. l. 10. c. 8. {d} Ib. Hannibal. l. 23. c. 2. {e} Vid. Lydii Dissert de Jurament. c. 4. sect. 7. 1 Kings 8:32Ver. 32. Then hear thou in heaven,.... When the injured person makes supplication to have justice done him:and do, and judge thy servants; contending with one another, the one affirming, the other denyingcondemning the wicked, by bringing his way upon his head: inflicting upon him the punishment imprecated by him in his oath:and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness; by making it appear that his cause is just. 1 Kings 8:33Ver. 33. When thy people Israel shall be smitten down before the enemy,.... Beaten and routed, many slain, and others carried captive; which had been their case, and might be again, and was, though now a time of peace:because they have sinned against thee; which always was the reason of their being given up into the hands of their enemies:and shall turn again to thee; to thy worship, as the Targum, having fallen into idolatry, which was generally the case when they fell before their enemies:and confess thy name; own him to be the true God, acknowledge his justice in their punishment, confess their sin, repent of it, and give him glory:and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house; not the captives, unless it should be rendered, as it may, "toward this house" {f}; but those that escaped, or their brethren that went not out to battle, who should pray for them here.{f} So Pool and Patrick. 1 Kings 8:34Ver. 34. Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel,.... It being not personal, but public sins, which would be the cause of such a calamity:and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers; as had been often their case in the time of the judges. 1 Kings 8:35Ver. 35. When heaven is shut up,.... As it may be said to be when the air is quite serene, and not a cloud in it:and there is no rain; in its season, neither the former nor the latter, as it was in the times of Elijah:because they have sinned against thee; want of rain was threatened in case of sin, and was always the effect of it, Le 26:19,if they pray towards this place; in any part of the country where they were; for it sometimes rained on one city, and not on another, Am 4:7and confess thy name; own his power and his providence, and the justness of his dealings with them:and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them; their affliction being made useful, to bring them to a sense of their sin, and to repentance for it, and reformation from it; or, "when thou hearest" or "answerest them" {g}; so the Targum, receives their prayer; thus the goodness of God leads to repentance.{g} Mnet yk "cum exaudieris eos", Vatablus. 1 Kings 8:36Ver. 36. Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel,.... By removing the judgment of drought upon them:that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk; the way of worship and duty prescribed by the Lord which was good in itself, and good for them, good things being enjoyed by them that walk therein; and this the Lord sometimes teaches by afflictions, as well as by his word; but whenever he does it, it is by his Spirit, and then afflictions are blessings, Ps 104:19 where the same phrase is differently rendered:and give rain upon the land which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance; as he did at the prayer of Elijah, Jas 5:18. 1 Kings 8:37Ver. 37 If there be in the land famine,.... Through want of rain, or any other cause, as there had been a three years' famine in the time of David, and it is supposed it might be again, though Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey:if there be pestilence; as there had been, for David's numbering the people:blasting; or blights, occasioned by the east wind:mildew; a kind of clammy dew, which falling on plants, corn, &c. corrupts and destroys them, see Am 4:9,locust, orif there be caterpillar; creatures very pernicious to the fruits of the earth, and cause a scarcity of them, see Joe 1:4,if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; so that they cannot go out to gather the increase of the earth, or till their land:whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; whatever stroke from the hand of God, or what judgment or calamity soever befalls. 1 Kings 8:38Ver. 38. What prayer and supplication soever,.... On account of any of the above things, or any other:be [made] by any man, or by all the people Israel; by a private man, for such an one might go to the temple and pray by himself; seeLu 18:10 or by the public congregation:which shall know every man the plague of his own heart; be sensible of his sin as the cause of his distress, and own it, though ever so privately committed, which none knows but God and his own heart; and which may be only an heart sin, not actually committed; as all sin is originally in the heart, and springs from it, that is the source of all wickedness; it may respect the corruption of nature, indwelling sin, which truly deserves this name, and which every good man is led to observe, confess, and bewail, Ps 51:4. In 2Ch 6:29 it is,shall know his own sore and his own grief; what particularly affects him, and gives him pain and sorrow, as every man best knows his own affliction and trouble, and so can best represent his own case to the Lord:and spread forth his hands towards this house; pray with his face towards it, and his hands spread out, a prayer gesture, and what was now used by Solomon, 1Ki 8:22. 1 Kings 8:39Ver. 39. Then hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace,.... Which was more properly so than this Solomon had built, and the Lord had taken possession of:and forgive; remove the calamity and distress, be it what it may:and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest: that his prayer is cordial and sincere, his confession and repentance genuine, and that he is truly sensible of his sin, and sorry for it, and is pure in his intentions and resolutions, through divine grace, to depart from it for the future:(for thou, [even] thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) he knows all men, the hearts of them all, what is in them, what comes out of them, and is according to them; omniscience belongs only to God; it is his prerogative to know the heart and search the reins, see Jer 17:9. 1 Kings 8:40Ver. 40. That they may fear thee,.... For his goodness sake in hearing their prayer, removing their affliction, and bestowing his blessings on them, particularly in forgiving their sins, see Ps 130:4all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers; not only for the present, while the mercy is fresh, but all the days of their lives; to which they were the more obliged by the good land they possessed as a divine gift, and which they held by the tenure of their obedience, Isa 1:19. 1 Kings 8:41Ver. 41. Moreover, concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Israel,.... One of another country, not belonging to any of the tribes of Israel, yet having some knowledge of, and disposition to, the true worship of God:but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; as the Ethiopian eunuch did, to pray to him, worship him, and offer such sacrifices as were allowed a Gentile to do, Le 22:18 led thereunto by the fame of him, as follows. 1 Kings 8:42Ver. 42. (For they shall hear of thy great name,.... Of his great name, Jehovah; of him as the eternal, immutable, and self-existent Being; of the perfections of his nature, as displayed in his mighty works:and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm); which had done formerly such mighty works in Egypt, at the Red sea, in the wilderness, in the land of Canaan, in the times of David, and still under the reign of Solomon, and even in future ages, besides the works of creation and providence in general:when he shall come and pray towards this house; not being admitted into it, only into a court, which in later times was called the court of the Gentiles, see Ac 21:19. 1 Kings 8:43Ver. 43. Hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace,.... The prayer of the stranger:and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; which were consistent with the will of God and his glory, and for the good of the stranger; this is more absolutely and unconditionally expressed than the requests for the Israelites; it is not desired that he would do by them according to their ways, and if they turned from their sins, or knew the plague of their hearts; the reason of which is supposed to be, because the Israelites knew the will of God, when the strangers did not; and therefore it is desired that, notwithstanding their ignorance, and their non-compliance with the divine will, through that, they might be heard and answered:that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; might know him to be a God, hearing and answering prayer, forgiving sin, and bestowing favours, which might lead them to fear him and his goodness, as Israel did:and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name; that he dwelt in it, granted his presence, heard and received the supplications of men, answered their requests, and accepted of their sacrifices here. Solomon seems to have had knowledge of the calling of the Gentiles, and to desire it. 1 Kings 8:44Ver. 44. If thy people go out to battle against their enemy,.... In a foreign country, threatening to invade them, or having trespassed on their borders, or some way or other infringed on their liberties and privileges, and so given them just occasion to go to war with them:whithersoever thou shalt send them; this case supposes their asking counsel of God, or having a direction and commission from him by a prophet, or some other way, to engage in war with the enemy:and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house I have built for thy name: for, notwithstanding the justness of their cause, and having a warrant from God to go to war, yet they were to pray to him for success when at a distance, even in a foreign land, and about to engage the enemy; and this they were to do, turning their faces towards the city of Jerusalem, and the temple there; declaring thereby that their dependence was upon the Lord that dwelt there, and their expectation of victory was only from him. 1 Kings 8:45Ver. 45. Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication,.... For success:and maintain their cause; do them justice, and avenge their injuries, as the Targum; let it appear that their cause is right, by giving them victory. 1 Kings 8:46Ver. 46. If they sin against thee,.... The same persons when they were gone forth to battle, not observing the divine commands as they should:for there is no man that sinneth not; such are the depravity of human nature, the treachery of the heart, and the temptations of Satan, of which Solomon had early notice, and was afterwards still more confirmed in the truth of, Ec 7:20and thou be angry with them; for their sins, and resent their conduct:so as to deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far or near; as into Assyria or Babylon, whither they were carried. 1 Kings 8:47Ver. 47. Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives,.... Or, "return to their heart" {a}; remember their sins, the cause of their captivity, and reflect upon them:and repent of them, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives; though and while they are in such a state:saying, we have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; which phrases include all their sins, with all the aggravated circumstances of them, and their sense of them, and contrition for them.{a} Nbl la wbyvhw "et reversi fuerint ad cor suum", Pagninas, Montanus, Vatablus. 1 Kings 8:48Ver. 48. And so return unto thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul,.... In the most sincere and cordial manner, with great ingenuity and uprightness; the Targum is,"return unto thy worship;''relinquishing false worship they had given into, and serve the Lord in the best manner they could:in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive; and so at a distance from that temple, and the service of it, which 1 Kings 8:49Ver. 49. Then hear thou their prayers, and their supplication, in heaven thy dwellingplace,.... For their deliverance out of captivity: and maintain their cause; plead it, and do them justice, avenge their injuries, and deliver them. 1 Kings 8:50Ver. 50. And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee,.... By returning them to their own land; by which it would appear that the Lord had forgiven their trespasses, as well as by what follows:and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them; for it is in the power of God to work upon the affections of men, and dispose their minds to use his people well, and to pity them under their distresses, as the Chaldeans did the Jews in Babylon, Ps 106:46. 1 Kings 8:51Ver. 51. For they be thy people, and thine inheritance,.... Whom the Lord had chosen above all people, to be a special people to him, and to be his portion and possession; see De 7:6which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron; hard and cruel bondage in Egypt: See Gill on "De 4:20". 1 Kings 8:52Ver. 52. That thine eyes may be open to the supplication of thy servant,.... That is, attentive to it, meaning himself and his present supplication; or any other he should hereafter put up in this place:and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call unto thee: at any time, and upon any account; so far as may be agreeable to his will, make for his glory, and their good; see De 4:7. 1 Kings 8:53Ver. 53. For thou didst separate them from among all people of the earth to be thine inheritance,.... By his choice of them in his own mind, by the redemption of them out of Egypt, by the peculiar laws he gave them, and by the special blessings he conferred upon them:as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord our God; it was he that spake this to Moses, and by him to the people, Ex 19:5 and it was he that did it, namely, separate them from all nations, to be his people and peculiar treasure: in this and the two preceding verses Solomon makes use of arguments taken from what the people of Israel were to the Lord, and he had done for them, to engage him to hearken to their supplications, and here ends his long prayer; in 2Ch 6:1 some things are added at the close of it, and some omitted. 1 Kings 8:54Ver. 54. And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord,.... In which he was a type of Christ, praying and interceding for his people before the golden attar, Re 8:3,he arose from before the altar of the Lord; the altar of burnt offering, over against which he was:from kneeling on his knees; upon the brasen scaffold; see 2Ch 6:13, in which posture he was during this long prayer:with his hands spread up to heaven; which gesture he had used in his prayer, and now continued in blessing the people. 1 Kings 8:55Ver. 55. And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice,.... Turning himself the altar, and his face to the people, giving them his benediction, not only as the father of his people, but as preacher in Jerusalem, closing it with a word of exhortation to them:saying: as follows. 1 Kings 8:56Ver. 56. Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according, to all that he promised.... A land of rest, and rest in the land from all enemies; see De 12:9,there hath not failed one word of all his good promises, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant: so Joshua observed a little before his death, Jos 23:14 to which Solomon seems to have respect; and who lived to see a greater accomplishment of the gracious promises of God, and his faithfulness therein, both in the times of his father David, and his own. 1 Kings 8:57Ver. 57. The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers,.... Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and those that came out of Egypt, and especially that entered into the land of Canaan under Joshua, and subdued it; as the Lord had been with them to guide and direct them, protect and defend them, succeed and prosper them, so Solomon desires he might be with them: nothing is more desirable than the presence of God; Solomon could not have prayed for a greater blessing for himself and his people; the Targum is,"let the Word of the Lord our God be for our help, as he was for the help of our fathers:''let him not leave us, nor forsake us: this was no doubt a prayer of faith, founded upon a divine promise, Jos 1:5. 1 Kings 8:58Ver. 58. That he may incline our hearts unto him,.... By his Spirit, to love, fear, and serve him; to attend to his worship, word, and ordinances:to walk in all his ways; he has prescribed and directed to:and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers; all his laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial. 1 Kings 8:59Ver. 59. And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord,.... At this time:be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night; be continually remembered and regarded by him, that so gracious answers might always be returned to those who supplicated in this place:that he maintain the cause of his servant; of himself and his successors in the throne, that they may continue to possess it in peace, to the glory of God, and the good of the people:and the cause of his people Israel at all times: that their rights and privileges might be continued, and they supported in them; and both his cause and theirs be regarded:as the matter shall require; as they should stand in need of assistance, direction, and protection. 1 Kings 8:60Ver. 60. That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God,.... By chastising the people of Israel when they sinned; by bearing and answering their prayers when they prayed unto him; by forgiving their sins, and delivering them out of their troubles; by maintaining their cause, and protecting them in the enjoyment of their blessings: and that there is "none else"; no God besides him; all being else fictitious deities, or nominal ones; he only is the one living and true God. 1 Kings 8:61Ver. 61. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord your God,.... Sincere in their love to him, united in their worship of him, and constant in their obedience to him:to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day: as they did that day, neither king nor people having as yet fallen into idolatry, but showing by their then present appearance a zeal for God, his house, and worship. 1 Kings 8:62Ver. 62. And the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. For burnt offerings, which having been laid upon the altar, as soon as the king had done praying to God, and blessing the people, and exhorting them, fire came down from heaven, and consumed them; which showed the Lord's acceptance of the sacrifices, and was another confirmation, besides the cloud, of the Lord's well pleasedness with the temple, and of his taking possession of it to reside in it; upon which the people bowed and worshipped, and praised the Lord for his goodness and mercy, 2Ch 7:1. 1 Kings 8:63Ver. 63. And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord,.... Part of which belonged to the offerer, and with those Solomon feasted the people all the days of the feast of the dedication, if not of tabernacles also; for the number was exceeding large, as follows:22,000 oxen, and 120,000 sheep; which, as suggested, might be the number for all the fourteen days; nor need it seem incredible, since, as Josephus {b} says, at a passover celebrated in the times of Cestius the Roman governor, at the evening of the passover, in two hours time 256,500 lambs were slain; however, this was a very munificent sacrifice of Solomon's, in which he greatly exceeded the Heathens, whose highest number of sacrifices were hecatombs, or by hundreds, but his by thousands:so the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord; devoted it to divine and religious worship by these sacrifices: hence in imitation of this sprung the dedication of temples with the Heathens; the first of which among the Romans was that in the capitol at Rome {c} by Romulus; the rites and ceremonies used therein by them may be read in Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, and others {d}.{b} De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3. {c} Vid. Liv. Hist. Decad. 1. l. 1. p. s. & l. 2. p. 33. {d} Vid. Hospinian. de Templis, l. 4. c. 2. p. 451. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 14. 1 Kings 8:64Ver. 64. The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord,.... The court of the priests that was before the holy place, adjoining to it, in which was the altar of burnt offering; this, or, however, the middle part of it, he sanctified for present use, to offer sacrifices on, for a reason hereafter given:for there he offered burnt offerings and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings; which was the reason why the middle of the great court was for this time set apart for this service. 1 Kings 8:65Ver. 65. And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him,.... Partaking of the parts of the peace offerings which belonged to him, and were offered by way of thanksgiving on the occasion, together with whatsoever he might as a liberal prince provide for this entertainment:for it was for a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt; consisting of a number of people, gathered together from Hamath, which was on the northern border of the land of Israel, to the river of Egypt; either the Nile, or Rhinoculura, a branch of it, which lay on the southern border of the land: and this was keptbefore the Lord; as in his presence, with thankfulness to him, and with a view to his glory:seven days and seven days, even fourteen days; seven days for the dedication of the house, and seven days for the feast of tabernacles, as the Targum; which agrees with 2Ch 7:9, the feast of dedication was first, and began perhaps on the seventh day of the month, as the feast of tabernacles did on the fifteenth: within this time, namely, on the tenth, was a fast day, the day of atonement; which was either observed between the two feasts, or was omitted, which is not likely; or they did not eat and drink until the evening of that day. The Septuagint version, according to the Vatican copy, reads "seven days" only once; see 2Ch 7:8. 1 Kings 8:66Ver. 66. On the eighth day he sent the people away,.... That is, of the feast of tabernacles, the eighth from the first of that, which was a solemn day, and fell on the twenty second of the month; at the close of which the dismission was made, or they had leave to go, but they did not until the twenty third, according to 2Ch 7:10and they blessed the king; returned him thanks for his care, and charge, and pains, in building the temple; for prayers for them, and the feast he had now made, and wished all health and happiness to him:and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart; or to their cities, as the Targum, to their several habitations; being greatly delighted with what they had seen and heard, and partook of especially:for all the goodness the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people; in 2Ch 7:10, it is added, "unto Solomon"; for David, in giving him such a son and successor, who according to promise had built the house of the Lord; and for Solomon, in raising him up to such dignity, and enabling him to build such a temple for the worship of God and his glory; and for the people of Israel, in giving them such a king to rule over them, under whom they enjoyed so much peace and prosperity, and the full and free exercise of the true religion, with such accommodations, and in such a splendid manner as now.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.