seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Chronicles 7:1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,
“He is good;
his love endures forever.”
his love endures forever.”
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 6 The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the Lord’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.
7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.
8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.
Solomon was smart. He held the dedication ceremony right before the Festival of Tabernacles. People had to come to Jerusalem for the festival... and it lasted a full week. Solomon took advantage of the spectacular timing. People moved into town with their own tents. Look at all that meat! Look at verse 7.... the bronze alter could not hold it all? Looks like quite a show....The commentary this morning is from the easy English site.
The priests had prepared sacrifices for the LORD. As Solomon ended his prayer, the LORD sent fire to burn all the sacrifices. This included both those that would be by fire and other sacrifices. This showed that the LORD had heard the prayers of Solomon and the people. The LORD accepted the temple. He came in his glory, and he filled it.
It was the same when Moses dedicated the special tent in the desert. The glory of the LORD appeared to the people. And fire came from the LORD and it burned the sacrifices (Leviticus 9:24). Later David built an altar at the place where Araunah used to prepare his grain. There David prayed to the LORD. And the LORD answered him with fire on the altar (1 Chronicles 21:26).
Verse 7 In this middle area in front of the temple was the altar. But because of the number of sacrifices, it seems that Solomon made the whole area holy. There may have been several altars for this special event. Solomon gave sacrifices by fire to the LORD. The priests burned these sacrifices on the altars. Also, Solomon gave sacrifices for peace. On the altars, the priests burned the fat and certain pieces of the sacrifices for peace. The rest of the animal was meat for the people to eat.
The dedication of the temple happened just before a special feast. The feast for the dedication of the temple was from the 8th to the 14th day of the month called Tisri. Tisri was the 7th month; it is about our month of October.
Each year the Israelites came to Jerusalem for the special feast. This feast was from the 15th day to the 22nd day of Tisri. And they lived in shelters for that week. They had this feast to remember how God brought their families out of Egypt. The Israelites lived in tents for 40 years in the desert (Leviticus 23:34).
Lebo Hamath was in the extreme north of Israel. The Valley of Egypt was in the extreme south of Israel. So, people came from all over the country called Israel. They gathered in Jerusalem every year for the special feast. But this year, they came a week earlier for the dedication of the temple.
The special feast ended with an extra special day (Leviticus 23:36; Numbers 29:35). This 8th day of the feast was the 22nd day of Tisri. After the feast, on the 23rd day of Tisri, Solomon sent the people to their homes.
There was another special day on the 10th day of Tisri. On this day, the chief priest went into the most holy place. He took some blood from a sacrifice for his own sins.Then he took blood from a sacrifice for the sins of the people. He asked the LORD to forgive their sins. On this day they believed that the LORD removed the 'Israelites’ sins (Leviticus chapter 16).
I keep thinking of verse 7 and how God sent down fire. What if... now the Temple is gone and the original Tent they made for Moses is gone.... but what if.... the Israelites had some kind of way to draw electricity????? Just a thought.... we are dealing with God after all... and anything is possible. Maybe the technology went away with the destruction of the Temple and the capture of the Israelites. ...... Just a thought....So the party lasted for two weeks. It started with the dedication, then went into the Feast of the Tabernacles, and ended with the Day of Atonement. They went through thousands and thousands of head of cattle, sheep and goats..... McDonalds took years to get to a million burgers.... I read that there were well over 2.4 million people who left Egypt to go to the Promised Land. This is centuries later.... my guess is.... If this celebration was held today.... Solomon and crew would have served more than a million burgers during the feast.
The Israelites believed that their sins were forgiven on the Day of Atonement. They started fresh with God on that day. And then they had to go back home.... after a two week vacation.... where they would accumulate sins again..... and go back to work.... where they would accumulate sins again.... it was a cycle.
