This is the “Reader’s Digest” version of the completion of the temple and the dedication. We will unpack it more in the next couple posts. For now…
Did you notice this?
“So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly and all of the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.”
1 Kings 8:4 LEB
It’s not perfectly clear if this tent is the one David set up for the ark or the Tabernacle of Moses. My guess is that it was the tabernacle of Moses because the tent of David is never described as having “holy vessels.”
Recall that every part of the Tabernacle of Moses was sanctified and holy. You can’t just leave holy things laying around or left to rot in an old shed. You can’t just throw them away in the landfill. They have to be kept somewhere sacred.
The tent and all its vessels and furnishings – by the time of the dedication of the temple, it’s 487 years old! For perspective, 487 years before 2025 was the Year of Our Lord 1538.
This is how far back 487 years is:
How many things have you ever seen in person that were made in the early 16th century? If you did, it was in a museum under glass. Objects that have been in use for nearly 5 centuries are generally delicate; especially fabrics. So I have doubts as to whether or not any of it besides the ark was actually in use.
Some scholars conjecture that the tent of Moses might have been set up inside the Temple. At 45 ft long it would’ve comfortably fit inside the Holy Place (which was 60ft). We simply don’t know. We DO know that even if the tent was set up inside the holy place, the ark of the covenant was not inside it. It was placed inside the new Holy of Holies.
Some of the old items may have continued to be used, but they were probably placed in one of the temple treasure rooms. Wouldn’t it be amazing if some of those items were found? Some people speculate that the Prophet Jeremiah and the priests buried many of the most sacred treasures before the Babylonian army captured Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. But that’s a story for a future blog post. ⚱️
Two things stand out to me in Solomon’s prayer:
- It feels like a prophetic outline of the next 400 years of Israel’s history.
- Israel defeated by enemies because they have sinned (v33)
- Drought because they have sinned (v35)
- Famine, disease, locusts, enemy sieges, plagues (v37)
- Taken captive to a foreign land (v46)
- Repentance after captivity (v47-48)
- Yahweh and His Temple are for all of humanity, not just Israel.
Solomon says that people from all nations will come to the temple or even just pray toward it to the God of Abraham. And here’s what he says God will do:
“then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.”
1 Kings 8:43 NLT
Israel was meant to be a light in the world; a kingdom of priests making Yahweh known to the nations. Now that priesthood is open to “whosoever will.”
How they pulled off the number of sacrifices… I cannot get my head around. 🤯
“Solomon offered to the Lord a peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Temple of the Lord.”
1 Kings 8:63 NLT
These are large-scale industrial agriculture numbers. I tried to get the internet to show me a picture of what 22,000 head of cattle looks like and I kept getting information on cattle feedlot operations. 🐂🐂🐂🐂🐂🐂
This isn’t a bunch of dirty window panes. Those are roads. And the black specks are not flies. They’re cattle. This is an arial view of a feedlot in Alberta (Canada) 🇨🇦. Some of the largest feedlots can fatten up to 150,000 head of cattle at a time.
The new altar of sacrifice was huge…
But even it wasn’t big enough to handle the sheer volume of brisket. So Solomon sanctified another space within the courtyard and they probably built a bunch of smaller altars there. At any rate – there was a LOT of smoked meat.
The text says that these are “peace offerings.” If you go back to Leviticus we find that the only parts of a peace offering that were burned completely were:
- The fat
- The kidneys
- The liver
Then, the priest was given the “breast” and the right thigh of the critter. The breast is the brisket. Y’all, those priests had it GOOD!
They were to offer a grain offering mixed with oil and wine along with this. Then, the rest of the meat was to be boiled and eaten by the offerer and anyone he invited.
Pretty sure that the dedication of Solomon’s Temple holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for the largest BBQ ever.
😋🍽️🥩🍖🥯🍷
We’ll unpack some more details of this epic celebration tomorrow…
See you then.
To The Reader 