When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need,so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
The Dedication of the Temple: Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So, the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord.
On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.”
22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats go up in smoke! There are so many burnt offerings, grain offerings, and other offerings that the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple has to be consecrated to accommodate all these offerings. By this point, the smoke and the smell of burning flesh must pervade all of Jerusalem. The fellowship offerings probably represent animals whose fat is offered to the Lord while the meat is distributed to the people. The celebrations wind up lasting fourteen days. By any standards, this is an amazing event.
Solomon’s final prayer is well worth noting. Solomon affirms that God has given rest to His people Israel and that not one of Gods’ promises has failed. Then Solomon invokes God’s blessings on Israel. “May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
As was pointed out yesterday, God’s blessings have never left Israel. God has remained faithful, even as people have wandered away to serve demons. Amazingly, many times it is the pagan nations to which the Jews are exiled who will develop respect for the God of Israel. Sadly, God knows full well that the same people who are busy shouting his praises during this celebration will eventually turn away from worshiping Him to idolatry.
APPLICATION: There’s nothing wrong with worshiping God. When done properly, worship lifts us out of ourselves and places the focus squarely on God, to whom all praise and worship is due. But we must be careful to distinguish performance from worship. These days, Christian music videos are abundant. While the words of the songs and their tunes may be meaningful, these videos frequently show the artists posed in attractive clothing against multiple striking backgrounds involving expensive cars, houses, etc. If you turn off the sound and only watch the video, you will never get the message that is supposed to be conveyed.
Clearly, these videos are not worship but are performances and must be considered as such. The performance mentality has ruined much of Christian worship. Rather than allowing the Lord to be the center of attention, performers focus all the attention on themselves. Even in our small Ghanaian village, worship leaders frequently appear to be auditioning for Christian music videos. Those handling sound systems are so fond of the “echo” or “reverb” settings that words are distorted beyond the point at which they can be understood. Somewhere along the line, the total focus becomes the performance. Ironically, if the electricity goes out, the older people take out their traditional drums and begin singing the songs written when their fathers and grandfathers first rejected their fetishes. Real worship breaks out, and everybody can tell the difference.
The celebrations surrounding the dedication of the temple were awe – inspiring, lasting for two glorious weeks. But one wonders what happened when those who had taken part in the festivities returned home. Did they continue to worship God, or did they merely remember the extravagant trappings of the dedication? And did they use the fact that they could not stage such worship services themselves as an excuse not to worship at all?
There’s nothing wrong with celebrations. But daily life demands a daily re – dedication of our hearts to God. Church attendance on Christmas and Easter might be thrilling, but demanding that your spiritual life will be nourished by two celebrations a year is tantamount to demanding that you only eat a meal twice a year.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help everyone who reads these words to realize that You want them to worship in spirit and in truth and that such worship is not showy or performance – oriented. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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