Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 300 and 38.
Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem, the elders of Israel and all the
heads of tribes, the leaders of the ancestral families of Israel.
They were to bring the Ark of the Lord's covenant to the temple from its location
in the city of David, also known as Zion.
So all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the Annual Festival of
shelters, which is held in early autumn when all the elders of Israel arrived.
The Levites picked up the ark.
The priests and Levites brought up the ark along with the special tent
and all the sacred items that had been in it there before the Ark.
King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats,
and cattle that no one could keep count.
Then the priests carried the Ark of the Lord's covenant into the inner sanctuary
of the temple, the most holy place.
And placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim.
The cherubim spread their wings over the ark, forming a canopy over
the ark and its carrying poles.
These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy
place, which is in front of the most holy place, but not from the outside.
They are still there to this day.
Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in
it at Mount Sinai where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel.
When they left Egypt, then the priest left the holy place.
All the priests who were present had purified themselves, whether
or not they were on duty that day.
And the Levites who were musicians, Asaf, Heman, Judean,
and all their sons and brothers.
Were dressed in fine linen robes and stood at the east side of the altar
playing symbols, liars and harps.
They were joined by 120 priests who were playing trumpets.
The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to
praise and give thanks to the Lord.
Accompanied by trumpets, symbols, and other instruments, they
raised their voices and praised the Lord with these words.
He is good.
His faithful love endures forever.
At that moment, a thick cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud.
For the glorious presence of the Lord filled the temple of God.
Then Solomon prayed.
Oh Lord, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.
Now I have built a glorious temple for you.
A place where you can live forever.
Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing
before him and gave this blessing.
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise
he made to my father, David.
For, he told my father from the day I brought my people out of the land
of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as
the place where a temple should be built to honor my name, nor have I
chosen a king to lead my people Israel.
But now I have chosen Jerusalem as the place for my name to be honored.
And I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.
Then Solomon said, my father, David wanted to build this temple to honor
the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
But the Lord told him you wanted to build the temple to honor my name.
Your intention is good, but you are not the one to do it.
One of your own sons will build the temple to honor me.
Now the Lord has fulfilled the promise he made for I have
become king in my father's place.
And now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised.
I have built this temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
There I have placed the ark, which contains the covenant that the Lord
made with the people of Israel.
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire community of
Israel, and he lifted his hands in prayer.
Now, Solomon had made a bronze platform seven and a half feet long, seven and
a half feet wide, and four and a half feet high, and had placed it at the
center of the temple's, outer courtyard.
He stood on the platform.
Then he knelt in front of the entire community of Israel and
lifted his hands toward heaven.
He prayed, oh Lord God of Israel.
There is no God like you in all of heaven and earth.
You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk
before you in wholehearted devotion.
You have kept your promise to your servant, David, my father.
You made that promise with your own mouth and with your own hands.
You have fulfilled it today.
And now, oh Lord God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to
your servant David, my father, for you said to him, if your descendants guard
their behavior and faithfully follow my law as you have done, one of them will
always sit on the throne of Israel.
Now, oh Lord God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David.
But will God really live on earth among people?
Why even the highest heavens cannot contain you?
How much less this temple I have built?
Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea.
Oh Lord, my God.
Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you.
May you watch over this temple day and night, this place where you have said you
would put your name, may you always hear the prayers I make toward this place.
May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people.
Is Israel when we pray toward this place?
Yes, hear us from heaven where you live and when you hear, forgive.
If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in
front of your altar at this temple, then hear from heaven and judge between your
servants, the accuser and the accused.
Pay back the guilty as they deserve.
Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.
If your people, Israel are defeated by their enemies because
they have sinned against you.
And if they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in
this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people
Israel, and return them to this land you gave to them and to their ancestors.
I if the skies are shut up and there is no rain, because your people have
sinned against you, and if they pray toward this temple and acknowledge
your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them.
Then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people, Israel.
Teach them to follow the right path and send rain on your land
that you have given to your people as their special possession.
If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease, or
attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people's enemies are in
the land, besieging their towns, whatever disaster or disease there is.
And if your people Israel, pray about their troubles or sorrow raising their
hands toward this temple, then hear from heaven where you live and forgive.
Give your people what their actions deserve for you alone.
Know each human heart, then they will fear you and walk in your ways
as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors in the future.
Foreigners who do not belong to your people, Israel will hear of you.
They will come from distant lands when they hear of your great name and
your strong hand and your powerful arm, and when they pray toward this
temple, 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.
If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if
they pray to you by turning toward this city you have chosen, and toward this
temple I have built to honor your name, then hear their prayers from heaven
and uphold their cause if they sin against you and who has never sinned.
You might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer
them and take them captive to a foreign land far away or near.
But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray.
We have sinned done, evil and acted wickedly if they turned to you with
their whole heart and soul in the land of their captivity, and pray toward
the land you gave to their ancestors.
Toward this city you have chosen and toward this temple I have built
to honor your name, then hear their prayers and their petitions from heaven
where you live and uphold their cause.
Forgive your people who have sinned against you.
Oh my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to all the
prayers made to you in this place.
And now arise.
Oh Lord God.
Enter your resting place along with the ark, the symbol of your power.
May your priests, oh Lord God, be clothed with salvation.
May your loyal servants rejoice in your goodness.
Oh Lord God, do not reject the king.
You have anointed.
Remember your unfailing love for your servant David, when
Solomon finished praying.
Fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and
sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the temple.
The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glorious
presence of the Lord filled it.
When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious
presence of the Lord filling the temple, they fell face down on the ground and
worshiped and praised the Lord saying.
He is good.
His faithful love endures forever.
Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord.
King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and
goats, and so the King and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
The priests took their assigned positions and so did the Levites who were singing.
His faithful love endures forever.
They accompanied the singing with music from the instruments King
David had made for praising the Lord across from the Levites.
The priests blew the trumpets while all Israel stood.
The Solomon then consecrated the central area of the courtyard
in front of the Lord's temple.
He offered burnt offerings and the fat of peace offerings there because the bronze
altar he had built could not hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and
sacrificial fat for the next seven days.
Solomon and all Israel celebrated the festival of shelters.
A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Libo Hamoth in the north
and the brook of Egypt in the south.
On the eighth day, they had a closing ceremony for they had celebrated the
dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival of shelters for seven days.
Then at the end of the celebration, Solomon sent the people home.
They were all joyful and glad because the Lord had been so good to David and
to Solomon and to his people Israel.
So Solomon finished the temple of the Lord.
As well as the royal palace.
He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction
of the temple and the palace.
Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, I have heard your
prayer and have chosen this temple as the place for making sacrifices.
At times, I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls or
command grasshoppers to devour your crops or send plagues among you.
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and
seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will
forgive their sins and restore their land.
My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in
this place for I have chosen this temple and set it apart to be holy.
A place where my name will be honored forever.
I will always watch over it.
For it is dear to my heart.
As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David, your father did, obeying all
my commands, decrees and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your
dynasty for I made this covenant with your father, David, when I said one of your
descendants will always rule over Israel.
But if you or your descendants a abandon me and disobey the decrees
and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods,
then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them.
I will reject this temple that I have made holy to honor my name.
I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations.
And though this temple is impressive, now all who pass by will be appalled.
They will ask, why did the Lord do such terrible things to
this land and to this temple?
And the answer will be because his people abandoned the Lord, the God
of their ancestors who brought them out of Egypt and they worshiped other
gods instead and bowed down to them.
That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.