66 stood so little in opposition to divine rule, that it rather served to sustain the latter; the king not being an absolute sovereign, and, as in other Eastern states, God's vicegerent, but a servant of Jehovah, who had to execute His orders and to maintain the law (= covenant). Like the theocracy, the monarchy also had reached its highest point through David; and Solomon represents this culminating point. When, therefore, a spacious, splendid house was built for an abiding dwellingplace, a sign and monument of Jehovah's might and truth, instead of the tabernacle hitherto used, it was fitting that it should be a house corresponding with the greatness and prosperity of the kingdom. Therefore the building, which was a token and pledge of the theocracy, was followed by one which represented the kingdom; and both stood, according to their signification, on two opposite neighboring hills. [We must repeat our doubts of the author's topography here. See above, Exeget. on ver. 1.-E. H.] vessels... of gold. We are not to conclude | archy had become a necessary institution, and from the subject, Solomon," that Hiram made only the brazen vessels (Thenius). As Hiram also knew how to work in gold (2 Chron. ii. 13), it is far more likely that Solomon intrusted him also with the goldsmith's work. The golden vessels are evidently only named, and not described, because they were made like those of the tabernacle (comp. Ex. xxx. 1 sq.; xxv. 23 to 40), only upon a larger scale. The addition in 2 Chron. iv. 8: he made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left," is declared to be an error by modern interpreters; but we might just as reasonably strike out the account of the altar of burnt-offering, which is not given in our text. The account is so definite that it cannot be a pure invention; besides, soon after, in ver. 19, the plural occurs, and it is said also in 1 Chron. xxviii. 16: "And (David gave to Solomon) by weight gold for the tables of shewbread, for every table." Now when 2 Chron. xxix. 18 mentions but one table, this is no contradiction (Thenius); for it says in 2 Chron. xiii. 11: "and we burn, i. e., light, the golden candlestick every evening;" and yet, according to our text, there were 10 candlesticks. One asks, Why 10 tables? but we, on the other hand, ask, Why 10 candlesticks, if only one were lighted? There is no ground for the opinion that the rest of the tables served for the purpose of resting the candlesticks upon them; for then there must have been 11 of them, and instead of being called tables of shewbread (1 Chron. xxviii. 16) they must have been called tables of the candlesticks.-Which David had dedicated (ver. 51). According to 2 Sam. viii. 7-12; 1 Chron. xviii. 7-11, David had taken a quantity of brass, silver, and gold from the conquered Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites, which treasures he dedicated to sacred purposes. 1 Chron. xxii. 14, 16 also alludes to the great store of these metals. Immense as was the quantity of brass and gold needed for the temple, the supply was not exhausted. The rest consisted partly of unwrought gold and silver, Dartly of vessels, and was preserved in the sanctuary itself. Probably some of the side-chambers served as a treasury.* HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The king's house was the second large building that Solomon undertook. "After the comple1.on of the sacred building he began the ilding of an house which should shed lustre on the second power in Israel, the kingdom which was then approaching its culminating point" (Ewald). Chap. ix. 1 and 10 accords with our passage, in placing the two buildings near together. The section from ver. 1-12 is therefore no ad lition, interrupting the description of the temple building, but is purposely assigned that place; and the description of the vessels, ver. 14 -50, is a sequel to that of the temple, and forms the transition to chap. viii. To Israel the mon If the teader wish to investigate this subject any further, he can find some strange fancies, and occasionally good guesses, in dr. T. O. Paine's Solomon's Temple, &c., Boston, 1861, or chap. vii. The 2. The plan and arrangement of the king's house quite accord with the conception Israel had of the calling of the monarchy. When the people desired a king, they said to Samuel, "that our king may judge us, and fight our battles" (1 Sam. viii. 20). The first or foremost of the three buildings which together formed the royal palace, namely the armory, set forth the mission of the king against his enemies; and it represented his protecting war-strength; the next building, the porch of pillars and the porch of the throne, or of judgment, signified the vocation of the king in respect of his subjects, viz., judging and ruling (see above on chap. iii. 9; 1 Sam. viii. 5, 6; 2 Sam. xv. 4); it represented the royal elevation and majesty; lastly, the third and innermost building was the real dwelling-house, where the king lived with his consort; a private house which he had an equal right with any of his subjects to possess. plan of the palace thus was very simple, and follows so clearly from the nature of the relations, that we need not seek for the model of it any where. Least of all should we be likely to find such in Egypt, although Thenius does not doubt that "Solomon built the royal residence after Egyptian models," and then refers us to the palaces at Medinat-Abu, Luxor, and Carnac. Just the main feature in the one we have been considering, i. e., the three parts forming a completely united whole, is wanting in these Egyptian buildings, which besides were entirely of stone, and consequently quite differently constructed. Where is there anything in Egypt that in the least approximates to the house of the forest of Lebanon, with its numerous wooden pillars and galleries? Solomon's palace, as well as the temple, belonged entirely to the architecture of anterior Asia, but the fundamental idea upon which its plan and interior arrangement rested, was essentially and specifically Israelitish. 3. The calling of Hiram from Tyre to finish all the temple-vessels, was occasioned by the want of distinguished artists in Israel (see above on chap. v. No. 3). As Hiram's mother was an Israelite, which is expressly mentioned, we may well suppose that he was not unacquainted with the God whom his mother worshipped, and therefore was better able than all other Tyrian artists to enter into the right spirit and meaning of the works which Solomon intrusted to him. But besides this, the sending for Hiram is important, inasmuch as it shows that Solomon desired to have real works of art, and that he so little despised art as the handmaid of religion, that he even sent for a heathen and foreign artisan. In his "wisdom" he regarded the command, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, not as the prohibition of every species of religious sculpture. In this respect he rises far above the Pharisaism of Josephus, who accounts the images of the oxen supporting the molten sea, and the lions near his throne, as much breaches of the law as the peopling of his harem with foreign women (Joseph., Antiq. 8, 7, 5). Modern spiritualism, which rejects all plastic art in the service of the church, by an appeal to a false interpretation of our Lord's words in John iv. 24, is a lapse into the narrow-minded Jewish Pharisaism. [The service of art in the Christian Church, and its employment by Christians in behalf of the interests of religion, is always recognized except in periods of intense reforming life, when an iconoclastic spirit is apt to develop itself. The men who "denuded" the churches in the sixteenth and in the seventeenth centuries, regarded "ornaments as snares to the conscience, and as the foster-nurses of superstitions. The principle laid down and developed by Neander is the true one, viz., that the design of the Christian religion, which is to promote holiness of life, should be kept constantly in view; and that the beautiful should be observed and employed subordinately to this design. When the beautiful becomes, or tends to become, supreme in worship and in Christian art, then it becomes unlawful. Solomon, in the luxuriance of his nature, undoubtedly was exceptional in his taste for ornament; and, in this respect, he did not represent the genius either of Judaism or of the Hebrew And the tradition as being against him, was true to the instincts of the race.-E. H.] race. 4. The well-defined difference of the materials of the vessels used in Solomon's temple next strikes us. Those made for the interior of the building were all of gold; all those outside of it, of brass. The design of this is apparent. Gold (see Historical, &c., on chap. vi. No. 5), by virtue of its surpassing splendor, is the celestial metal, and was therefore fitted for the typical heavenly dwelling, where all is gold. Brass (see Exeget. and Crit. remarks on ver. 13) most resembles gold in color and brilliancy, but stands in the same relation to it that iron does to silver (Isai. Ix. 17); it approaches nearest to gold, and is fitted, not indeed for the building itself, but for its approaches, the porch and the outer court. There were, then, no new vessels unknown in the tabernacle; but the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, were new. There was the old ark of the covenant in the holy of holies (chap. viii. 3), the altar, candlestick, and table in the holy place, the altar of burnt-offering (brazen altar) in the outer court (2 Chron. iv. 1); the molten sea instead of the laver (Ex. xxx. 18), and the lavers instead of the basins, which it is to be presupposed from Lev. i. 13 were used. The increased size of some of these vessels, such as the altar of burntoffering and the brazen sea, as well as the multiplication of others, such as the candlestick, the table, and the "bases," was called for in part by the increased size of the sanctuary, and the rela tion of the house (palace) to the tent, and in part by the extension of the central-cultus. 5. The two pillars Jachin and Boaz were no more an innovation than the erection of a house instead of a tent; they owed their existence to the conditions that distinguished a new period of the theocracy. This we learn from their suggestive names. Jachin refers to the fact that Jehovah's dwelling-place, hitherto movable and moving, was now firmly fixed in the midst of His people; Boaz tells of the power, strength, and durability of the house. Both were monuments of Jehovah's covenant with His people, monuments of the saving might, grace, and faithfulness of the God of Israel, who at last crowned the deliverance from Egypt, by dwelling and reigning ever in a sure house in the midst of His people. It stands to reason that such pillars could not have been placed before the tent; they could only stand before the house, where they belonged to the porch, for it was the latter that gave to the dwelling-place the appearance of a house and a palace, in distinction from that of a tent. They were formed in accordance with their signification, being not of wood, not slender and slight, but of brass, thick and strong, which gave the impression of firmness and durability. The crown (capital), which is the principal characteristic of every pillar, consisted mainly, as did the brazen sea, of an open lily-cup. The Hebrew named the lily simply "the white," from a,.to be white ;) it is, therefore, a natural symbol of purity and of holiness to him. The priests, as the "holy ones" (Ex. iii. 27 sq.), were dressed in white (Num. xvi. 7), and the highpriest, the holiest of the holy, wore, on the great day of atonement, white garments, instead of his usual many-colored ones; and these white robes were called holy garments" (Lev. xvi. 4, 32). Inasmuch as "holiness" was the characteristic and fundamental idea of the Israelitish religion, the "white," . e., the lily, seems to have been their religious flower, as the lotus was the wellknown sacred flower of the Indian and Egyptian religions. Besides this, the lily is nowhere more indigenous than in Palestine (Matt. vi. 28; Winer, R.-W.-B., ii. s. 28), and it may therefore be named the flower of the promised land, as the palm was its tree (see above, Histor. and Ethical, in chap. vi. No. 6, b). If the capitals of the pillars were thus always and everywhere decorated with carvings of flowers, no more characteristic and suitable one could be chosen for the capitals before the "holy temple" (Ps. v. 7; lxxix. 1; cxxxviii. 2) than the lily. The pomegranates on the capital, and which were also on the high-priest's robe, are no less characteristic (Ex. xxviii. 33 sq.). As the apple is the figure generally of the word (Prov. xxv. 11), so the pomegranate, the noblest and finest of all apples, is the symbol of the noblest, most precious word, that of Jehovah, which is essentially law (= covenant). Just as this law is a complex unity, consisting of a number of single commands, that delight the heart and are sweeter than honey (Ps. xix. 9, 11), so the pomegranate encloses a number of presious, delicious, and refreshing seeds. The Chaldee paraphrast renders the words (Eccles. iv. 13, thus: "Thy youths are filled with (divine) laws, like pomegranates," and vi. 11: "if they are full of good works (i. e., of the law) like pome. granates." The Gemara also uses the expression בָּקָר The ox "Full of the commandments (of God) as a pome- | number ten (see above, Histor. and Ethic. on chap granate" (comp. Symbol. des Mos. Kult., ii. s. 122 vi. No. iv. b); it was ten cubits broad, five deep. sq.). Now the union of this symbol with the lily and there were ten flower-buds to every cubit of is very natura, for the law was the revealed sa- the wreath. The molten sea, as a priest's vessel, cred will of Jehovah, and the covenant, which was stood beside, on twelve young oxen. is identical with it, was a covenant of holiness. The symbol, therefore, bore the seal of the same num- not only the chief animal for sacrifice, but was the ber as the law and covenant, i. e., ten. Each row sacrificial animal of the priests, in distinction from of pomegranates consisted of ten times ten; they that of all who were not priests. The law ordered were adjusted to the different quarters of the a young ox to be the sacrifice for the high-priest heavens, exactly as the typical heavenly dwelling and his house, and for the whole priesthood (comp. was, the kernel and centre of the same being the Lev. iv. 3 sq. with vers. 23, 27, 32, and xvi. 11, law laid up in the ark. The nets, or net-work, with ver. 15; Ex. xxix. 10 sq.; Num. viii. 8); it connected with the significant symbols of the lily was specially the priests' animal. The twelve and pomegranate, cannot be viewed as mere orna- oxen, therefore, stood in the same relation to the ments, used only "for graceful and suitable fast- molten sea, as the twelve lions to the king's throne enings of the pomegranates" (Thenius). The num- (1 Kings x. 20), the lions being the royal animal. ber seven engraved on them (the symbolical num- It is plain that the number twelve was not chosen ber of the covenant-relation and of sanctification) merely for the sake of “symmetry" (Thenius), but (Symb. des Mos. Kult., i. s. 193) shows the con- had reference, like the twelve loaves on the table trary. But their signification cannot be exactly of shewbread, to the twelve tribes of Israel, and is known, through utter want of analogous objects to moreover confirmed by the fact that they were judge from. The later critics have declared these placed just like the twelve tribes in camp, viz., three pillars to have been only imitations of heathen each to a quarter of the heavens (Num. ii. 2-31). symbols, but this is a very uncritical and super- The twelve beasts, then, were the symbol of the ficial view. It borders on the ridiculous to look whole nation, not in its general, but in the peculiar on them as phallus-figures, or to compare them characteristic imparted to it when it was chosen with the phallus 180 feet high in the temple of the from all nations, as "a kingdom of priests, a holy Syrian goddess at Hierapolis (Lucian., de dea Syr., nation" (Ex xix. 6). As Israel stood in relation 28 sq.). It is also quite wrong to compare them to all peoples as a priestly nation, so one tribe with the two columns of the Phoenician Herakles, stood as the priest-tribe in relation to the whole or Saturn, who bears up or sustains the world, like nation; the special priesthood of the tribe rested Jehovah, and yet lives and moves eternally (Movers, upon the universal priesthood of the nation, and Rel. der Phöniz., s. 292 sq.); for these pillars were, was, as it were, borne by it. The whole carvedthe one of gold and the other of emerald (Herodot., work of the molten sea was rooted finally in this 2, 44); they were but an ell high, were square, great idea. Here, also, instead of explaining Isanvil-shaped, and stood, like all idols, in the inte- raelitish symbols by Israelitish ideas, just as with rior of the temple. It is not less astonishing to the brazen pillars, the effort has been made to look find these almost disproportionately thick, brazen around for heathen models, and such an one has pillars, taken for an imitation of the Egyptian been found in the egg-shaped stone giant-vessel stone obelisks (Stieglitz, Gesch. der Baukunst, s. of thirty feet in circumference, having four handles, 136), and to hear it asserted that "they originally and ornamented with an ox, which stood at Amarepresented, as needles (!) the power and force of thus in Cyprus; it is also asserted that the twelve the sun's rays." (Br. Bauer, Reliq. des A. T., ii. s. oxen were symbols of Time and the twelve months 92.) Why should the religion of Israel alone abso- | (Vatke, Bibl. Theol., s. 324, 336: Winer, R.- W.-B., lutely have had no peculiar symbols, but have bor-ii. s. 68, n). We need scarcely say that that vessel rowed all from the natural religions that stood so belonged completely to nature-religion; the mafar beneath it? terial (stone), the shape (that of an egg), the four handles (elements), the bulf (generation); everything, in fact, denotes the fundamental dogmas of nature-religion; nothing but the blindest prejudice and utter want of critical capacity could discover where the difference in outward form as well as in significance is so great-a likeness with the brazen sea, the purpose of which the biblical account itself states so clearly and definitely. 6. The molten sea was "for the priests to wash in" (2 Chron. iv. 6), i. e., "their hands and feet, when they went into the sanctuary or went up to the altar also, to offer incense before Jehovah" (Exod. xxx. 19 sq.), in fact before any of their priestly functions." It was, therefore, peculiarly the priests' vessel. Its form, that of an open lilycup, corresponded to its purpose. If all budding and blossoming signified holiness and priesthood (Num. xvi. 7, comp. with xvii. 20, 23; Ps. xcii. 14), the flower named the "white," i. e., the lily, must have been pre-eminently the priestly one. The forehead-plate of the high-priest, his insignia of office, was named "y, flower, and the head-cover-ing. They were, therefore, only placed there for ing of the ordinary priests nya, cognate with y flower-cup (Ex. xxviii. 36, 40). The form of the lily-cup showed every one that the vessel was a priestly vessel; the flower-buds also that adorned the edge like a wreath, showed the same. The measure of the sea was according to the number dominant throughout the whole sanctuary, i. e., the 7. The ten lavers on the movable bases were united to the brazen sea (2 Chron. iv. 6), for as the latter served for the purification of the priests at their functions, so the former were for the washing of the sacrifices brought to the altar for burn sacrificial service, the chief vessel of which was the altar of burnt-offering, and they stood in an inseparable though subordinate relation to it. As they were not independent, then, we need not seek any further signification for them, more than for the other lesser vessels, the pots, shovels, bowls. But if they were only useful articles, why does the text dwell so much at length on them, and describe them so exactly and carefully, while it fore his dwelling-house Solomon placed the courts of the throne and of justice, and before these the armory, for it is the high and noble privilege of royalty to administer judgment and justice within the kingdom to all the nation (1 Chron. xviii. 14; Ps. lxxxix. 14), and from without, 'to protect it by force of arms from all its enemies. [Accommodate and apply these remarks to the State, or nation, the body politic-to its public buildings and the rest, as well as to the reverence for law needed upon the part of the people, and they will be found useful for our American people to consider.-E. H.] Vers. 13-14. A wise prince, in the furtherance of his enterprises which aim at the honor of God, and the good of the nation, looks around for the best instruments, and in order to obtain them, seeks them wherever he can find them; for Prov. xxvi. 10. never once mentions the chief one, the altar itself? The altar of sacrifice seems to have been originally of earth, of unhewn stones (Ex. xx. 24 sq.); it had, therefore, only one covering, which gave it a definite shape, ir the tabernacle as well as in the ten ple (Ex. xxvii. 1-8). Solomon neither could nor would alter anything in respect of this law-appointed and significant simplicity; however, in order indirectly to impress upon this chief article of use the character of the glorious house of Jehovah, he made the vessels inseparably connected with it, and forming with it one whole, the more splendid and artistic, and decorated them with all the emblems which were the significant temple-insignia cherubim, palms, and flowers. He did not adorn them on their own account, therefore, but rather for the sake of the altar, which they were to beautify. All these figures-He who has learned anything thoroughly, and belonged properly to the interior of the sanctuary (see above, Histor, and Ethic. on chap. vi. No. 6). and they were placed here, on the vessels of the altar of sacrifice, to point to the interior of the sanctuary, and signified the intimate relation in which the outer court, and especially the altar for sacrifice, stood to it. When lions and oxen are particularly mentioned as next the cherubims, these are not to be understood as new figures, but only as single component parts of the cherub; as in Rev. iv. 6, 7, where all four are presented apart from each other. One may look in vain for a heathen parallel to these bases and lavers. "The whole arrangement, so full of meaning, appears quite peculiar to the Israelitish temple, for nothing of the kind is found anywhere else, either on Egyp-gifts, the calling, and the position of each individual tian or Assyrian monuments" (Thenius). HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 1-12. Solomon first builds the house of the Lord, then begins to build his own house. We must first render to God what is of God, and when this has been truly done, then to Cæsar what is Cæsar's (Matt. xxii. 21). He who strives first after the kingdom of God, will likewise succeed in what he undertakes for his personal and temporal welfare (Matt. vi. 33).-The building of the house for the king followed immediately upon the building of the temple; they belong together. Altar and throne stand and fall together, even as we have the two commandments: Fear God, honor the king (1 Pet. ii. 17; Prov. xxiv. 21). In the kingdom where religion and Christianity are cherished and highly honored, there royalty is most secure; a God-fearing people is the best, nay, the only support of the throne.-Kings and princes cannot, on account of their high position, choose to live in ordinary houses, or yet in poor hovels; it is simply folly to reproach them when they build castles for themselves. The building of palaces then becomes sinful and blamable only when they are built for the gratification of ostentation and insolence, or at the expense of a poor and oppressed people.-Be brought it to perfection in its especial province, must be sought out and held in esteem, whatsoever be his position or country.-Art is one of the noblest and best gifts which God has bestowed upon man; therefore, above all, it should be applied to the glorification of God, and not merely to the satisfaction and pleasure of the world. To scorn and reject art, in the service of the Church, is to reject Him who has given it.-Ver. 15 sq. As in the typical temple the implements were not all the same, but of very varied kinds, each one of which, gold and brass, primary and secondary or auxiliary, had its peculiar place and purpose, so it is also in the true and real temple of God, in the Church of the Lord (2 Tim. ii. 20). Thus, varied as are the in it, so each one must regard himself as an instrument of the Lord, remaining in that calling wherein he is called, and serving all the others with the gift which he has received (1 Pet. iv. 10; 1 Cor. xii. 28-31).-What signification have the holy vessels of the temple for the Church of the Lord, which is the true temple of God (Eph. ii. 20 sq.)? (1) The pillars, Jachin and Boaz, in the porch, are, as it were, the superscription over the temple, and declare its strong foundation and its permanence; the Lord declares both to His Church: Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. xvi. 18). Great, noble promise! (2) The brazen sea and the vases in the porch are there, that the priests may purify themselves, and the sacrifices which they bring there. The Church of the Lord is that holy priesthood which offers spiritual sacrifices, &c. (1 Pet. ii. 5). Those who wish to perform such service the prophet summons: Wash ye, &c. (Is. i. 16), and the apostle : beseech you, &c. (Rom. xi. 1). (3) The altar, the candlesticks, and the table stand in the building itself, which is a type of heaven, and show that for them who offer themselves pure and holy sacrifices, a divine light and life are prepared before the throne of God, and no other sacrifice is rendered except the incense of prayer, of praise, and worship of God (Ps. xvi. 11; Rev. v. 8-14). 1 B.-The Consecration of the Temple. CHAP. VIII. 1–66. 'THEN Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief' of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord [Je2 hovah] out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, 3 which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests 4 took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of the Lord [Jehoval], and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the 5 tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor num6 bered for multitude. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah] unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy 7 place, even under the wings of the cherubims. For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and 8 the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen 9 without: and there they are unto this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord [Jehovah] made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the 10 land of Egypt. And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy 11 place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord [Jehovah], so that the priests 3 could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord [Jehovah] had [omit had '] filled the house of the Lord [Jehovah]. Then spake 12 Solomon, The Lord [Jehovah] said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13 I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever." 8 14 And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of 15 Israel and all the congregation of Israel stood; and he said, Blessed be the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel,' which spake with his mouth unto David my 16 father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David 17 to be over my people Israel. And it was in the heart of David my father to 18 build an house for the name of the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to 19 build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was' in thine heart. Never theless, thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of 20 thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name. And the Lord [Jehovah] hath performed [established"] his word that he spake, and I am risen up [established in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord [Jehovah] promised, and have built an house for the name of the Lord 21 [Jehovah] God of Israel. And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah], which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord [Jehovah] in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: 23 And he said, Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy ser24 vants that walk before thee with all their heart: who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst [spakest to "] him: thou spakest 11 |