the other holy vessels from Mount Zion, and of the ancient Mosaic Tabernacle from Gibeon. The latter and

the various other relics of those earlier services were, as we have suggested, placed in the chambers built

around the new Sanctuary. In accordance with the Divine direction, the whole of this part of the service was

performed by the Priests and Levites, attended by the king, "the elders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, and

the princes (of the houses) of the fathers of Israel," who, as representatives of the people, had been

specially summoned for the purpose. As this solemn procession entered the sacred courts, amidst a vast

concourse of people, numberless offerings were brought. Then the Ark was carried to its place in the

innermost Sanctuary.125 As the priests reverently retired from it, and were about to minister in the Holy

Place,126 - perhaps to burn incense on the Golden Altar - "the cloud," as the visible symbol of God's

Presence, came down, as formerly at the consecration of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34, 35), and so filled the

whole of the Temple itself, that the priests, unable to bear "the glory," had to retire from their ministry.

But even here also we mark the characteristic difference between the Old and the New Dispensations, to

which St. Paul calls attention in another connection (2 Corinthians 3:13-18). For whereas, under the

preparatory dispensation God dwelt in a "cloud" and in "thick darkness," we all now behold "the glory of

God" in the Face of His Anointed.127

This was the real consecration of the Temple. And now the king, turning towards the Most Holy Place, filled

with the Sacred Presence, spake these words of dedication, brief as became the solemnity, "Jehovah hath

said, to dwell in darkness - Building, I have built an house of habitation to Thee, and a settling-place for Thy

dwelling ever!" In this reference to what Jehovah had said, it would not be any single utterance which

presented itself to Solomon's mind. Rather would he think of them in their connection and totality - as it

were, a golden chain of precious promises welded one to the other, of which the last link seemed riveted to

the solemnity then enacting. Such sayings as Exodus 19:9; 20:21; Leviticus 16:2; Deuteronomy 4:11; 5:22

would crowd upon his memory, and seem fully realized as he beheld the Cloudy Presence in the Holy House.

Thus it is often not one particular promise or prophecy which is referred to when we read in Holy Scripture

these words, "That it might be fulfilled," but rather a whole series which culminate in some one great fact

(as, for example, in Matthew 2:15, 23). Nor should we forget that, when the king spoke of the Temple as

God's dwelling for ever, the symbolical character alike of the manifestation of His Presence and of its place

could not have been absent from his mind. But the symbolical necessarily implies the temporary, being of

the nature of an accommodation to circumstances, persons, and times. What was for ever was not the form,

but the substance - not the manner nor the place, but the fact of God's Presence in the midst of His people.

And what is real and eternal is the Kingdom of God in its widest sense, and God's Presence in grace among

His worshipping people, as fully realized in Jesus Christ.

When the king had spoken these words, he turned from the Sanctuary to the people who reverently stood

to hear his benedictory "address."  128 Briefly recounting the gracious promises and experiences of the past,

he pointed to the present as their fulfillment, specially applying to it, in the manner already described, what

God had said to David (2 Samuel 7:7, 8).129

2. The Prayer of Consecration. - This brief address concluded, the king ascended the brazen pulpit -like

platform "before the altar" (of burnt offering), and with his face, probably sideways, towards the people,

knelt down with hands outspread in prayer (comp. 2 Chronicles 6:12, 13).

It seems like presumption and impertinence to refer in laudatory terms to what for comprehensiveness,

sublimeness, humility, faith, and earnestness has no parallel in the Old Testament, and can only be

compared with the prayer which our Lord taught His disciples. 130

Like the latter, it consists of an introduction (1 Kings 8:23-30), of seven petitions (the covenant-number,

vers. 31-53), and of a eulogetic close (2 Chronicles 6:40-42). The Introduction sounds like an Old Testament

version of the words "Our Father" (vers. 23-26), "which art in heaven" (vers. 27-30). It would be out of place

here to enter into any detailed analysis. Suffice it to indicate the leading Scriptural references in it, as it were,

the spiritual stepping-stones of the prayer and one or another of its outstanding p oints. Marking how a