Eleven months after the completion of the Temple the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Holy of Holy's. It was done at this time to coincide with the Feast of the Tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought it up and put it in it's spot. The handles that God had commanded be used to carry the Ark were left on. They were very long, but would be needed by the priest who went in once a year into this very dark room, and would be used to find his way around.
Solomon went to the altar of burnt offering and made his very long prayer of consecration to the Lord of the Temple and bringing in the Ark. This prayer of consecration covered three areas : 1) He confirmed that there was no god that could compare the God of Israel. 2) He asked the Lord for His continued presence no matter how far the Jews would wonder. 3) Lastly he recalled 7 Israel prayers that recalled the detailed list of curses that Deut. 28 : 15-68 listed for the breaking the Law. These were some of them ... Forgive sins that had caused defeat in battle,sins brought on by drought, sins resulted in national calamity, to show mercy to foreigners, give victory in battle, and bring restoration after calamity. Solomon probably had no idea but the Jews would need every one of these blessings and then some !
Solomon then turned to dedicate the Temple. When doing this he went to sacrifice on the altar all the animals. There was no room. It is believed that he had built many altars for use ONLY for the dedication in addition to the main one. The amount of animals sacrificed was amazing. 22,000 bulls, 120,000 sheep, in addition to the peace offering and the grain offering. WOW !!!
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