Solomon built the temple and his palace with forced labor from the remnants of the groups of non-Israelites in the land. When he dedicated the temple, God approved of it and filled it with his cloud-form body with such power that the priests couldn’t even do their work.
Solomon prayed with all the elders of Israel at the temple dedication, mostly about forgiving them for their sins because no one ever lived completely without sin, and about hearing the prayers of both Israelites and of foreigners so that they would also see how great God is. The Lord responds similarly to the way He spoke with Moses just before his death, promising great things for Solomon and his people as long as they don’t stray away from Him, but horrible curses if they screw up. In fact, here’s an excerpt from the beginning of chapter 9:
“Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.”
No comments:
Post a Comment