The dedication ceremonies consisted of four parts: the installation of the ark, Solomon's address to the people, Solomon's prayer, and the celebration of the people.
"There can be little doubt that this ceremony, together with God's response which immediately follows it, marks one of the major climaxes in the Chronicler's presentation."12
Solomon dedicated the temple during the feast of Tabernacles (v. 3). The priests brought the ark and the other utensils that had been in the tent David had pitched for the ark into the temple. The temple site was north of and higher than the city of David where the people lived. Sacrifices of worship accompanied the installation. The descent of the cloud (shekinah) signified that God's presence now abode in the most holy place in a localized sense (cf. Exod. 40:34-35). From then on God dwelt there among His people until the Babylonians destroyed the temple in 586 B.C. His presence was the basis for Solomon's address to the people and his prayer that followed.
The statement in verse 9 that the poles of the ark were visible "to this day"suggests that someone wrote Chronicles before the destruction of the temple. However most scholars believe the evidence for a postexilic date of composition is overwhelming and that this reference is a copyist's mistake. Probably it came into this text from 1 Kings 8:8.13Evidently the veil did not extend the full width of the sanctuary.
Solomon repeated some of the promises in the Davidic Covenant publicly. His completion of the temple fulfilled part of what God had promised. Complete fulfillment required Solomon's continued faithfulness to God (1 Chron. 28:9). Unfortunately Solomon was not completely faithful so some of those promises remained unfulfilled. Another Son of David would fulfill them later.
God had previously dwelt in the thick cloud on Mount Sinai (Exod. 20:21) as well as among His people in the wilderness (Exod. 40:34-35). This cloud again represented God's presence among His people (cf. 2 Sam. 22:7-18; Ps. 97:2; et al.).
God's choice of Jerusalem as His place of dwelling and David as His vice-regent (v. 6) would have encouraged the returned exiles. They were back in Jerusalem, and the descendants of David lived among them. God had commended David's desire to glorify Himself (v. 8), another incentive for Solomon's hearers, for the restoration community, and for us.
In his prayer Solomon explained the significance of God's coming to indwell His temple. God had come to empower, to have fellowship, and to judge if necessary. God was present among His people, and He would hear their prayers when they obediently called out to Him.
Solomon acknowledged that God had fulfilled some of the promises of the Davidic Covenant already (v. 15), but he also saw that there were others yet unfulfilled. He called on God to grant them (v. 16). Solomon's view of God was that He was both transcendent and immanent (v. 18). Even though God is everywhere at once He can and does localize His presence as well (e.g., the incarnate Christ, cf. John 2:20-21). At this period in history He localized His presence in the temple. Nevertheless in heaven He would hear the prayers of His people wherever they might be when they called out to Him (vv. 38-39).
Solomon specified seven concrete situations in which he asked the Lord to intervene in answer to prayer. These were when the people swore an oath in the temple (vv. 22-23), suffered defeat and exile from an enemy (vv. 24-25), and lacked rain (vv. 26-27). They were also when they experienced disease or other disaster (vv. 28-31), and when foreigners would come to pray toward the temple (vv. 32-33). The final two situations were when Israel was at war (vv. 34-35), and when Israel was in captivity due to sin (vv. 36-39).
This prayer is similar in its structure to Abraham's prayer recorded in Genesis 18:22-33. It also recalls Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel in that God responded to both of these prayers with fire from heaven (7:1; cf. 1 Kings 18:38-39).
This celebration consisted of the seven-day dedication of the bronze altar followed by the seven-day feast of Tabernacles. The very large number of sacrifices Solomon offered seems incredible, but there are records of other large sacrifices such as this one that scholars have discovered from ancient times.14
"The double attestation of the temple, in 5:13, 14 and 7:1-3a, reminds one of the twofold divine endorsement of Jesus, with a voice from heaven at his baptism and a voice from the cloud of glory at his transfiguration (mark 1:11; 9:7)."15
This record of the dedication of the temple emphasizes both the importance of the temple and the character of Israel's God who indwelt it. Solomon reunited the ark, the symbol of God's grace, and the altar, the symbol of human sacrificial response to that grace. It was now possible for Israel to fulfill the purpose for which God had created her as never before in her history. The temple was the key to this possibility. That is why the temple was so important in the national life of Israel.
