1 Kings 9:25

SOLOMON'S OFFERING INCENSE IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES

"And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto Jehovah, burning incense therewith, upon the altar that was before Jehovah. So he finished the house."

Scholars such as Hammond and Cook insist that this passage means merely that Solomon provided the offerings and the incense which were duly offered by the priests. "In sacred, as in ordinary history, men are said to do what they cause to be done."[8] "If Solomon ordered, or defrayed the cost of the sacrifices, as he no doubt did, the historian would naturally and properly have described him as offering the burnt-offerings, etc."[9] Of course, the truth of such comments must be admitted, but it is also true that the words may be understood in another sense, namely, as Dean Stanley understood them: "He solemnly entered, not only the temple courts with sacrifices, but penetrated into the Holy Place itself."[10] Also, F. W. Farrar, whom we quoted at the head of 1 Kings 8 was of the same opinion as Stanley. This writer favors those opinions of Farrar and Stanley, based upon what we believe to have been the character of Solomon.