Solomon's Speech and Dedication

2 Chronicles 6:1-17

1 Then Solomon spoke:

    "The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud.
    2 I have surely built You an exalted house,
    And a place for You to dwell in forever."

    3 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. 4 And he said: "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, 5 'Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. 6 Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.' 7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 8 But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart. 9 Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.' 10 So the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised; and I have built the temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 11 And there I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with the children of Israel."

    12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands 13 (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven); 14 and he said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 15 You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 16 Therefore, LORD God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me.' 17 And now, O LORD God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David.

King Solomon finished the house of God and spoke of how God had brought it all to pass, then he dedicated it to the LORD in a magnificent prayer from the heart.  He began by addressing God Himself, acknowledging that He did not live in a house, but in the unseen heavens as a cloud by day in the past over the mobile tabernacle of transitory tents.  Even so, Solomon built a permanent place to meet and worship God as was on King David’s heart to start.  Solomon admitted to the LORD before His people that God chose Jerusalem as His city after years of Israel’s wandering.  He chose to put His name there, as well as His presence to meet them as a demonstration of the promise to give them this land as their country forever.  God kept David from building the house, but gave the task to his son, knowing that as he said in Psalm 127:1, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”  The covenant which God made to make this people His and give them the promised land was represented in the Ark of that agreement initiated by God with His word inscribed in stone by the very finger of God and placed in that holy container.  The house of God was then dedicated before the altar of sacrifice with thankful hearts and acknowledgement of the sovereignty of the only God, the one who always keeps His word faithfully in mercy with those who follow with all their hearts.  This then was the fulfillment of the prophetic word of promise to King David, spoken by God’s word and built as predetermined by His hand.  Solomon then prayed that God would continue to keep the promise of a ruler-deliverer on the throne forever, a clear picture and type of the Messiah, the Christ, to come through his lineage.  The prayer was to see God’s word fulfilled, to be seen in life as promised by faith.  We also can look back in wonder at this plan to bring an eternal ruler in a heavenly tabernacle to come as fulfilled in Jesus the Christ of the seed of David according to the flesh, yet divine as well (Romans 1:1-4) to rule His people forever.  We also follow Him and His word, praying to see this word come true as He reveals it before our eyes until His return.  May we then speak the gospel and dedicate our lives and the body of Christ to worship and serve faithfully as well.