1 Kings 8:66 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 8:62-66

We read before that Judah and Israel were eating and drinking, and very cheerful under their own vines and fig-trees; here we have them so in God's courts. Now they found Solomon's words true concerning Wisdom's ways, that they are ways of pleasantness. I. They had abundant joy and satisfaction while they attended at God's house, for there, 1. Solomon offered a great sacrifice, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, enough to have drained the country of cattle if it had not been a very fruitful land.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 8:66

On the eighth day he sent the people away ,.... That is, of the feast of tabernacles, the eighth from the first of that, which was a solemn day, and fell on the twenty second of the month; at the close of which the dismission was made, or they had leave to go, but they did not until the twenty third, according to 2 Chronicles 7:10 . and they blessed the king ; returned him thanks for his care, and charge, and pains, in building the temple; for prayers for them, and the feast he had now... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Kings 8:66

They blessed the king - Wished him all spiritual and temporal happiness. They were contented with their king, at peace among themselves, and happy in their God; so that they returned to their houses magnifying their God for all his bounty to them, their country, and their king. How happy must these people have been, and how prosperous, had their king continued to walk uprightly before God! But alas! the king fell, and the nation followed his example. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 8:62-66

The Feast on the Sacrifices. In this prodigious number of sacrifices—in round numbers 150,000 victims—3,000 oxen and 18,000 sheep forevery day of the festival (Keil); five oxen and twenty-five sheep forevery minute of each day (Thenius)—in this wholesale slaughter, which converted the court of the priests into one great shambles, and almost choked the sewers of the temple with blood, one feature is liable to be overlooked (note on 1 Kings 8:64 ), namely, that all these sacrifices were " ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 8:66

On the eighth day he sent the people away [ i.e; on the eighth day of the second feast, the "three and twentieth day of the month" ( ib ; 1 Kings 8:10 ). The first impression is that the eighth day of the period of fourteen days is meant, but the context, to say nothing of the Chronicles, contradicts this. The feast of dedication began on the eighth day of the month Ethanim ( 1 Kings 8:2 ), and lasted until the fourteenth. The feast of tabernacles began on the fifteenth and... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 8:66

Their tents - i. e. “their homes.” The word “tents” was used for “houses” from an old habit of speech, which had come down from the time when the Israelites were a nomadic nation. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Kings 8:65-66

1 Kings 8:65-66. At that time Solomon held a feast That is, kept a solemn festival. And all Israel from Hamath unto the river of Egypt The usual and known bounds of the land, in the utmost length of it, Numbers 34:8; Joshua 13:5; Judges 3:3. Before the Lord Before the temple, as in God’s presence. Seven days and seven days Seven for the dedication of the temple, or altar; and the other seven for the feast of tabernacles. And it seems to be expressed in this manner, to intimate, that... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 8:22-66

The dedication ceremony (8:22-9:9)Solomon then went up on to a specially made bronze platform, knelt down and prayed to God in the presence of the assembled people (2 Chronicles 6:12-13). He admitted that only God’s grace had allowed his father and himself to fulfil their wish of building God a symbolic dwelling place. He prayed that God’s grace would rest likewise upon his royal descendants after him (22-26). Solomon knew there was no necessity for the temple, because God dwells everywhere.... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Kings 8:66

for David: i.e. in the person of Solomon his son. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part). Compare 1 Kings 10:9 and 2 Chronicles 7:10 . read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 1 Kings 8:66

1 Kings 8:66. On the eighth day he sent the people away— In 2Ch 7:10 it is on the twenty-third day. Houbigant thinks, that what seems to have been omitted in this place, should be supplied from the parallel place in the Chronicles. Note; (1.) When we return from God's ordinances, it becomes us to rejoice in the God of our salvation. (2.) A good king is the joy of his subjects. (3.) When we shall return to our eternal home, then shall our joy never end; and Jesus, our king, be the subject of our... read more