Scofield Reference Bible Notes
1 Kings 8

1Ki 8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

Solomon assembled the elders

The consecration of the temple illustrates all consecration. The temple, like the believer (1Th 5:23), was threefold:

• the court, that which was outward, visible, answered to the body;
• the holy place, where everything appealed to the sacred emotions, answered to the soul;
• the holy of holies, the place of communion with God (Exodus 25:22), answered to the spirit of man.

The ark was the most all-inclusive type of Christ of any one of the vessels of the tabernacle (Scofield Exodus 25:9, note). When, therefore, the priests brought the ark into the court, the holy place, and the holy of holies, they were, in type, enthroning Christ over the body, with its powers and appetites; the soul, seat of the emotions and desires; and the mind, seat of the capacity to know and commune with God. See Scofield Genesis 1:26, note 3. In Christian experience this answers to Romans 12:1-3; Ephesians 5:18.

1Ki 8:2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

Ethanim

i.e. October.

1Ki 8:10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,

cloud

1 Kings 8:10, 11. Scofield Exodus 40:34, note.

1Ki 8:20 And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

Kingdom (O.T.). 1Ki 11:9-13, 32, 36. (Gen 1:26-28; Zec 12:8).

1Ki 8:23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:

Bible prayers (O.T.). 1Ki 17:20. (Gen 15:2; Hab 3:1-16.)

1Ki 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

But will God indeed dwell on the earth?

2Ch 2:6; Isa 66:1; Jer 23:24; Act 7:49; 17:24.

1Ki 8:29 That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

My name shall be there

Deu 12:11.

1Ki 8:31 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:

an oath be laid upon him

Heb. and he requires an oath of him.

1Ki 8:36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

the good way

1Sa 12:23.

1Ki 8:37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence

Lev 26:16, 25, 26; Deu 28:21, 22, 27, 38, 42, 52; 2Ch 20:9.

1Ki 8:40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

fear [See also 1Ki 8:43.]

Scofield Psalms 19:9, note.

1Ki 8:42 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;

thy strong hand

Deu 3:24.

1Ki 8:43 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.

that all people of the earth may know thy name

1Sa 17:46; 2Ki 19:19; Psa 67:2.

1Ki 8:45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

cause

Or, right.

1Ki 8:46 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

unto the land of the enemy

Lev 26:34, 44; Deu 28:36, 64.

1Ki 8:47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

We have sinned

Neh 1:6; Psa 106:6; Dan 9:5.

1Ki 8:48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

pray unto thee toward their land

Dan 6:10.

1Ki 8:51 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

from the midst of the furnace

Deu 4:20; Jer 11:4.

1Ki 8:53 For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.

separate

Separation. Ezr 6:21. (Gen 12:1; 2 Cor 6:14-17.)

1Ki 8:61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

be perfect

The word implies whole-heartedness for God, single-mindedness, sincerity—not sinless perfection.

1Ki 8:64 The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

meat

Literally meal.