HOW SOLOMON REMOVED THE ARK INTO THE TEMPLE HOW HE MADE SUPPLICATION TO GOD, AND OFFERED PUBLIC SACRIFICES TO HIM. FJAJ 8.34
1. WHEN king Solomon had finished these works, these large and beautiful
buildings, and had laid up his donations in the temple, and all this in
the interval of seven years, and had given a demonstration of his riches
and alacrity therein, insomuch that any one who saw it would have thought
it must have been an immense time ere it could have been finished; and
would be surprised that so much should be finished in so short a time;
short, I mean, if compared with the greatness of the work: he also wrote
to the rulers and elders of the Hebrews, and ordered all the people to
gather themselves together to Jerusalem, both to see the temple which he
had built, and to remove the ark of God into it; and when this invitation
of the whole body of the people to come to Jerusalem was every where carried
abroad, it was the seventh month before they came together; which month
is by our countrymen called Thisri, but by the Macedonians Hyperberetoets.
The feast of tabernacles happened to fall at the same time, which was
celebrated by the Hebrews as a most holy and most eminent feast
So they
carried the ark and the tabernacle which Moses had pitched, and all the
vessels that were for ministration, to the sacrifices of God, and removed
them to the temple. FJAJ 8.35
(14)
This solemn removal of the ark from Mount Sion to Mount Moriah, at the
distance of almost three quarters of a mile, confutes that notion of the
modern Jews, and followed by many Christians also, as if those two were
after a sort one and the same mountain, for which there is, I think, very
little foundation.
The king himself, and all the people and the Levites, went before, rendering
the ground moist with sacrifices, and drink-offerings, and the blood of
a great number of oblations, and burning an immense quantity of incense,
and this till the very air itself every where round about was so full of
these odors, that it met, in a most agreeable manner, persons at a great
distance, and was an indication of God's presence; and, as men's opinion
was, of his habitation with them in this newly built and consecrated place,
for they did not grow weary, either of singing hymns or of dancing, until
they came to the temple; and in this manner did they carry the ark
But
when they should transfer it into the most secret place, the rest of the
multitude went away, and only those priests that carried it set it between
the two cherubims, which embracing it with their wings, (for so were they
framed by the artificer,) they covered it, as under a tent, or a cupola.
Now the ark contained nothing else but those two tables of stone that preserved
the ten commandments, which God spake to Moses in Mount Sinai, and which
were engraved upon them; but they set the candlestick, and the table, and
the golden altar in the temple, before the most secret place, in the very
same places wherein they stood till that time in the tabernacle
So they
offered up the daily sacrifices; but for the brazen altar, Solomon set
it before the temple, over against the door, that when the door was opened,
it might be exposed to sight, and the sacred solemnities, and the richness
of the sacrifices, might be thence seen; and all the rest of the vessels
they gathered together, and put them within the temple. FJAJ 8.36
2. Now as soon as the priests had put all things in order about the
ark, and were gone out, there cane down a thick cloud, and stood there,
and spread itself, after a gentle manner, into the temple; such a cloud
it was as was diffused and temperate, not such a rough one as we see full
of rain in the winter season
This cloud so darkened the place, that one
priest could not discern another, but it afforded to the minds of all a
visible image and glorious appearance of God's having descended into this
temple, and of his having gladly pitched his tabernacle therein
So these
men were intent upon this thought
But Solomon rose up, (for he was sitting
before,) and used such words to God as he thought agreeable to the Divine
nature to receive, and fit for him to give; for he said, "Thou hast
an eternal house, O Lord, and such a one as thou hast created for thyself
out of thine own works; we know it to be the heaven, and the air, and the
earth, and the sea, which thou pervadest, nor art thou contained within
their limits
I have indeed built this temple to thee, and thy name, that
from thence, when we sacrifice, and perform sacred operations, we
may send our prayers up into the air, and may constantly believe that thou
art present, and art not remote from what is thine own; for neither when
thou seest all things, and hearest all things, nor now, when it pleases
thee to dwell here, dost thou leave the care of all men, but rather thou
art very near to them all, but especially thou art present to those that
address themselves to thee, whether by night or by day." When he had
thus solemnly addressed himself to God, he converted his discourse to the
multitude, and strongly represented the power and providence of God to
them; - how he had shown all things that were come to pass to David his
father, as many of those things had already come to pass, and the rest
would certainly come to pass hereafter; and how he had given him his name,
and told to David what he should be called before he was born; and foretold,
that when he should be king after his father's death, he should build him
a temple, which since they saw accomplished, according to his prediction,
he required them to bless God, and by believing him, from the sight of
what they had seen accomplished, never to despair of any thing that he
had promised for the future, in order to their happiness, or suspect that
it would not come to pass. FJAJ 8.37
3. When the king had thus discoursed to the multitude, he looked again
towards the temple, and lifting up his right hand to the multitude, he
said," It is not possible by what men can do to return sufficient
thanks to God for his benefits bestowed upon them, for the Deity stands
in need of nothing, and is above any such requital; but so far as we have
been made superior, O Lord, to other animals by thee, it becomes us to
bless thy Majesty, and it is necessary for us to return thee thanks for
what thou hast bestowed upon our house, and on the Hebrew people; for with
what other instrument can we better appease thee when thou art angry at
us, or more properly preserve thy favor, than with our voice? which, as
we have it from the air, so do we know that by that air it ascends upwards
[towards thee]
I therefore ought myself to return thee thanks thereby,
in the first place, concerning my father, whom thou hast raised from obscurity
unto so great joy; and, in the next place, concerning myself, since thou
hast performed all that thou hast promised unto this very day
And I beseech
thee for the time to come to afford us whatsoever thou, O God, hast power
to bestow on such as thou dost esteem; and to augment our house for all
ages, as thou hast promised to David my father to do, both in his lifetime
and at his death, that our kingdom shall continue, and that his posterity
should successively receive it to ten thousand generations
Do not thou
therefore fail to give us these blessings, and to bestow on my children
that virtue in which thou delightest
And besides all this, I humbly beseech
thee that thou wilt let some portion of thy Spirit come down and inhabit
in this temple, that thou mayst appear to be with us upon earth
As to
thyself, the entire heavens, and the immensity of the things that are therein,
are but a small habitation for thee, much more is this poor temple so;
but I entreat thee to keep it as thine own house, from being destroyed
by our enemies for ever, and to take care of it as thine own possession:
but if this people be found to have sinned, and be thereupon afflicted
by thee with any plague, because of their sin, as with dearth or
pestilence, or any other affliction which thou usest to inflict on those
that transgress any of thy holy laws, and if they fly all of them to this
temple, beseeching thee, and begging of time to deliver them, then do thou
hear their prayers, as being within thine house, and have mercy upon them,
and deliver them from their afflictions
Nay, moreover, this help is what
I implore of thee, not for the Hebrews only, when they are in distress,
but when any shall come hither from any ends of the world whatsoever, and
shall return from their sins and implore thy pardon, do thou then pardon
them, and hear their prayer
For hereby all shall learn that thou thyself
wast pleased with the building of this house for thee; and that we are
not ourselves of an unsociable nature, nor behave ourselves like enemies
to such as are not of our own people; but are willing that thy assistance
should be communicated by thee to all men in common, and that they may
have the enjoyment of thy benefits bestowed upon them." FJAJ 8.38
4. When Solomon had said this, and had cast himself upon the ground,
and worshipped a long time, he rose up, and brought sacrifices to the altar;
and when he had filled it with unblemished victims, he most evidently discovered
that God had with pleasure accepted of all that he had sacrificed to him,
for there came a fire running out of the air, and rushed with violence
upon the altar, in the sight of all, and caught hold of and consumed the
sacrifices
Now when this Divine appearance was seen, the people supposed
it to be a demonstration of God's abode in the temple, and were pleased
with it, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped
Upon which the king
began to bless God, and exhorted the multitude to do the same, as now having
sufficient indications of God's favorable disposition to them; and to pray
that they might always have the like indications from him, and that he
would preserve in them a mind pure from all wickedness, in righteousness
and religious worship, and that they might continue in the observation
of those precepts which God had given them by Moses, because by that means
the Hebrew nation would be happy, and indeed the most blessed of all nations
among all mankind
He exhorted them also to be mindful, that by what methods
they had attained their present good things, by the same they must preserve
them sure to themselves, and make them greater and more than they were
at present; for that it was not sufficient for them to suppose they had
received them on account of their piety and righteousness, but that they
had no other way of preserving them for the time to come; for that it is
not so great a thing for men to acquire somewhat which they want, as to
preserve what they have acquired, and to be guilty of no sin whereby it
may be hurt. FJAJ 8.39
5. So when the king had spoken thus to the multitude, he dissolved the congregation, but not till he had completed his oblations, both for himself and for the Hebrews, insomuch that he sacrificed twenty and two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; for then it was that the temple did first of all taste of the victims, and all the Hebrews, with their wives and children, feasted therein: nay, besides this, the king then observed splendidly and magnificently the feast which is called the Feast of Tabernacles, before the temple, for twice seven days; and he then feasted together with all the people. FJAJ 8.40
6. When all these solemnities were abundantly satisfied, and nothing
was omitted that concerned the Divine worship, the king dismissed them;
and they every one went to their own homes, giving thanks to the king for
the care he had taken of them, and the works he had done for them; and
praying to God to preserve Solomon to be their king for a long time
They
also took their journey home with rejoicing, and making merry, and singing
hymns to God
And indeed the pleasure they enjoyed took away the sense
of the pains they all underwent in their journey home
So when they had
brought the ark into the temple, and had seen its greatness, and how fine
it was, and had been partakers of the many sacrifices that had been offered,
and of the festivals that had been solemnized, they every one returned
to their own cities
But a dream that appeared to the king in his sleep
informed him that God had heard his prayers; and that he would not only
preserve the temple, but would always abide in it; that is, in case his
posterity and the whole multitude would be righteous
And for himself,
it said, that if he continued according to the admonitions of his father,
he would advance him to an immense degree of dignity and happiness, and
that then his posterity should be kings of that country, of the tribe of
Judah, for ever; but that still, if he should be found a betrayer of the
ordinances of the law, and forget them, and turn away to the worship of
strange gods, he would cut him off by the roots, and would neither suffer
any remainder of his family to continue, nor would overlook the people
of Israel, or preserve them any longer from afflictions, but would utterly
destroy them with ten thousand wars and misfortunes; would cast them out
of the land which he had given their fathers, and make them sojourners
in strange lands; and deliver that temple which was now built to be burnt
and spoiled by their enemies, and that city to be utterly overthrown by
the hands of their enemies; and make their miseries deserve to be a proverb,
and such as should very hardly be credited for their stupendous magnitude,
till their neighbors, when they should hear of them, should wonder at their
calamities, and very earnestly inquire for the occasion, why the Hebrews,
who had been so far advanced by God to such glory and wealth, should be
then so hated by him? and that the answer that should be made by the remainder
of the people should be, by confessing their sins, and their transgression
of the laws of their country
Accordingly we have it transmitted to us
in writing, that thus did God speak to Solomon in his sleep. FJAJ 8.41