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1st Kings 8:1-21: Shadow of Yom Kippur, Sukkot in dedication of first Temple

The lessons of God’s covering His people’s rebellion and moving His dwelling among His people, symbolized in the appointed times of Yom Kippurim and Sukkot, were acted out on a human level during the dedication of the first temple.

We read in chapter 6 that the temple was finished in the eighth month. Yet we read here that the priests brought the items for the temple and that it was dedicated in the seventh month. Did Solomon wait 11 months to dedicate the Temple? Well, let’s go through this.

In chapter 6, Solomon finishes the building of the Temple, but the stuff wasn’t. We read in chapter 7 about much of the furniture that was built for the Temple, such as the wash basins, etc.

Solomon says that God did not chose to build a city and a temple. He chose David as a king and ruler over Israel first. He chose to build the house of David. David responded by longing to build a house for God. David paved the way with money and materials for Solomon to build God’s Temple.

The house that God built and David/Solomon built are in a sense, the same house. God built up the family of David and David and Solomon responded by building God a physical house and God blessed that house for a time and rested there.

This man-made Temple has many items built within that are symbolic of the kinds of people who are called to serve God. The people are given the choice of how to respond to God. Do they want to be a part of God’s house or not.

The timing of this prayer is seven days before Sukkot. For seven days, Solomon dedicates the Temple, then Sukkot comes and the people stick around for seven more days and then the Eighth Day comes and the people are there for one more day. Yom Kippur occurred during the seven-day pre-Sukkot dedication period. Yom Kippur is a time of fasting, prayer and “at-one-ment” with God. Yet we read that for all this seven-day period, they were sacrificing animals and feasting. They were “breaking” Yom Kippur yet they weren’t breaking Yom Kippur.

1st Kings 8:10–11 says, “It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.” God covered the Temple and the sins of the people Himself. Now that He has built them up and covered their sin, they can be part of the house of God. It’s almost a Catch-22. God covered the Temple so completely that the High Priest could not perform the tasks he was required to do during Yom Kippur because God’s covering precluded the possibility of it.

God created all the people in His house in their differences and uniqueness. He is the one that designates them as either gold, stone, olive-wood, cypress, cedar, etc. Different people are called to follow different paths and yet both can be righteous. Noah was called to build an ark. Abraham was called to build a people. These are totally different paths yet both were righteous.

Speaker: Daniel. Summary: Tammy.

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