1 Kings 8:1

EXPOSITION

THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE .—The stately and impressive service with which the Temple, the character and contents of which have now been described, was dedicated, is related in this chapter, and divides itself into four sections. We have

SECTION I. — The Removal of the Ark .

Then [ i.e; when the work of the house of the Lord was practically ended, as stated in 1 Kings 7:51 . But the precise date of the dedication is a matter of dispute and uncertainty. We know that it took place in the seventh month of the year, but of what year we cannot be so sure. Was it the same year in the eighth month of which ( 1 Kings 6:38 ) the house was finished (Ewald)? Was the dedication, that is to say, one month anterior to the completion of the house and its appointments? Or are we to understand "the seventh month" to mean the Ethanim of the following year (Bähr)? are we to assign the dedication, that is, to a date eleven months after completion? Or, finally, are we to believe with the Vat. LXX . μετὰ ἔικοσι ἔτη (the LXX . text is here, however, in great confusion), that the temple was not dedicated until the palaces were also built (see 1 Kings 9:1-9 ); are we to hold, i.e; that though finished and ready for use, it remained unused for a period of thirteen years (Thenius, Keil)? These are questions which we cannot perhaps answer with absolute certainty, but, to my mind, every consideration is in favour of the date first mentioned, i.e; the seventh month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign. It is true Bähr says that this opinion "needs no refutation," while Keil pronounces it directly at variance with 1 Kings 7:51 ." But it is worth while to inquire whether this is so? And, first, as to the bearing of the passage just cited, "So was ended all the work which," etc; taken in connexion with 1 Kings 8:1 , "Then Solomon assembled," etc. To the cursory reader it appears no doubt as it this "then" must refer to the completion of the work of which we have just heard, and which was not effected until the eighth month of the year ( 1 Kings 6:38 ). But