Dedication of the Temple

God chose the nation of Israel as His special possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. God continues to remind Israel that He built them, as descendents of Abraham, into a nation during their time of bondage in Egypt.

Once the nation was dwelling in the land promised them and had gotten establised as residents, the time had come to build a house for the Lord.

In the transition from the Tabernacle, only the Ark of the Covenant was carried over as a fixture of the new Temple. During the time of the Feast of Booths the Ark was brought to the Temple, eleven months after construction had been completed. In the Temple, God manifested His presence among His people and they assembled to worship Him.

After blessing the Lord and reiterating his charge to build the Temple, he humbly offered an extensive prayer of praise and petition on the basis of God's faithfulness to His promises. This was followed by a week of celebration, by the offering of thousands of sacrifices of oxen and sheep, and feasting by Solomon and all Israel together.