Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Kings 8: (New Living Translation)

¹⁷ Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the Lord told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good, ¹⁹ but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’

²⁰ “And now the Lord has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and I now sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ And I have prepared a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

In these verses, Solomon is speaking as he dedicates the Temple. Why is the Temple here? What is the Temple’s purpose?

I find two reasons for the Temple:

1. to honor the name of the LORD
2. to hold the Ark of the Covenant

The first reason is stated in verses 17, 18, 19, and again in 20. The second reason is stated in verse 21.

Note: The Temple was not built to hold the LORD God Jehovah (YHWH). The other peoples of the earth built temples to hold their gods. The God of the Hebrews, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was the Creator. The Creator can not be contained in a structure built by man. The Hebrews knew that and proclaimed it often. We proclaim it today.