Old Testament - 1 Kings 8 - June 24, 2022

 6/24/2022 – 1 Kings 8

This chapter describes Solomon’s dedication of the temple the Lord had commanded him to build.  Solomon gathered many Israelites to participate in the dedication of the temple. Solomon first had the installation of the Ark of the Covenant –that held the 10 covenants that the Lord had asked them to make with Him—they are still held upon the tables of stone ‘which Moses put there”, and were protected in the Ark of the Covenant which was now in the Holy of Holies in the new temple. And when the priests had secured the Ark of the Covenant in it’s place in the Holy of Holies, they came out of that room—and at that moment “a cloud filled the House of the Lord.” (v 10)

Solomon makes several requests of the Lord as the Israelites use His temple: “hearken thou to the supplication of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven… and when thou hearest, forgive.” (v 30) He continues on and in v’s 39-40 he prays “Then hear thou in heaven …and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men; ) That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.” He also prays for those who have fallen away from the Lord to be given His compassion and his love. (v 50) And then in v’s 57-58 Solomon prays for OUR worthiness: “The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not leave us, nor forsake us: That he may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments…”

Solomon’s prayer is that “all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is none else”. And then his advice TO the people “Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments at this day.” (v 61)

And finally in v 66 we learn that the people were sent back to their homes “and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for” them.

President Gordon B. Hinckley: “The temple is . . . a place of personal inspiration and revelation. Legion are those who in times of stress, when difficult decisions must be made and perplexing problems must be handled, have come to the temple in a spirit of fasting and prayer to seek divine direction. Many have testified that while voices of revelation were not heard, impressions concerning a course to follow were experienced at that time or later which became answers to their prayers.” (The Salt Lake Temple, Ensign, Mar 1993, p6)


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