The Way
The Temple Filled with Cloud
A house for the one whom heaven cannot hold
Story
At the feast in the seventh month, the priests carried the ark of the covenant up from the City of David to the new temple. Inside the ark there was nothing but the two stone tablets Moses had placed there at Horeb. The ark was set in the Most Holy Place under the wings of the two cherubim, and the moment the priests came out, a cloud filled the temple. The glory of the Lord covered the house, and the priests could not even stand to serve.
Solomon stood before the altar in front of the whole assembly, then knelt down, spread out his hands toward heaven and prayed: “Will God really live on the earth? Heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you, so how much less this house I have built! But when your people pray toward this place, hear from heaven and forgive. Even when a foreigner comes from a distant land and prays, hear him too.”
When he had finished praying, the king rose from his knees and blessed the people. Twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep were offered as peace offerings, and the feast went on for seven days and then seven more, fourteen days in all. The people blessed the king and went home to their tents with glad hearts. In later years those who longed for this temple sang: one day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else.
Walk this scene on the map →Words of God and the Prophets
Will God really live on the earth? Heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you, so how much less this house I have built!
When your people pray toward this place, hear from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.
When a foreigner who is not one of your people hears of your name and comes from a distant land and prays toward this house, hear that prayer too.
Praise the Lord, who has given rest to his people just as he promised. Not one of the good promises he made through Moses has fallen to the ground.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: 1 Kgs 8:1–66
Background
The temple was dedicated in the seventh month, Ethanim, around the Feast of Tabernacles. The Most Holy Place was a cube-shaped room twenty cubits on each side, and only the high priest entered it, once a year.
Pause and Reflect
When I worship, how glad am I to be in God's presence?