1 Reis 8
John MacArthur · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 Reis 8
MacArthur - Solomon recognized the thick darkness as the manifestation of the Lord's gracious presence among His people (cf. Ex 19:9; 20:21; Lev 16:2) (SEE NASB, MacArthur Study Bible) Believer's Study Bible on thick darkness (ESV, KJV) says "In no sense does Solomon's statement here contradict the general biblical thesis that God is light (1 John 1:5). The word translated "dark cloud" (`araphel, Heb.) refers to the Shekinah (Heb.) cloud (Shekinah glory cloud), the cloud of the glory of God, which is mentioned in the previous verse and connotes the awesomeness and mystery of God (cf. Ex. 20:21; Deut. 4:11)." Warren
1 Reis 8
MacArthur - GOD IS EVERYWHERE Strength for Today: Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith - Page 10 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee.” 1 KINGS 8:27 ✧✧✧ God is in all places; He is not confined by space. No matter how big the universe is, God is bigger. His being fills up all of infinity. He is omnipresent—everywhere present. God says, “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” (Jer. 23:24). Solomon said at the dedication of the temple, “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). There are no limits of time or space to His presence. Some may object to the doctrine of omnipresence, saying, “Wouldn’t the sin in the world defile an omnipresent God?” No. God is in the hearts of sinners convicting them of sin. He is also in Hell where He “is able to destroy both soul and body” (Matt. 10:28). Though God’s essence is everywhere, He never mingles with impurity. In a similar way, Jesus lived among sinners and was “tempted in all things as we are, yet [He was] without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Isaiah exhorts people to “call upon [God] while He is near” (55:6); yet Proverbs 15:29 says, “The Lord is far from the wicked.” How can He be near some people and far from others when He is everywhere all the time? To answer this, we must distinguish between God’s essence and His relation to people. He is everywhere in His essence, but with specific individuals He is far or near relationally. When we become Christians, Christ dwells in us. God can fill us with His fullness (Eph. 3:19), and the Spirit who lives in us can also fill us (1:13; 5:18). But before God’s Spirit indwelt us relationally, His essence convicted us of sin and saved us. The Old Testament tells us that God dwelt between the wings of the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. That location was a symbol of God’s presence. Today the church represents God’s presence on earth. In the Millennium, Christ’s rule on the throne of David in Jerusalem will represent God’s presence. In Heaven His presence will be represented by the throne of Revelation 4–5. Remember, though, that the symbol of God’s presence never restricts His essence. ✧✧✧ Suggestions for Prayer: Praise God that He is omnipresent, and thank Him that He lives in you. For Further Study: What does Psalm 139:7–18 teach about God’s omnipresence? ✧ What was David’s response (vv. 17–18)? THE TEMPLE-BUILDER - James Hastings But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!—1 Kings 8:27. 1. The actual history of the building of the Temple is rooted in the life of King David. David wished, as a thank-offering for the removal of the pestilence which followed or his numbering of the people, to build this house of God on the site of the threshing-floor of Araunah or Oman the Jebusite. He wished it to be a house “exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries.” But it was speedily revealed to him that, though he might design and prepare, this honour was not reserved for him. God revealed to him, “Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; he shall build an house for my name.” Still earnestly and faithfully the preparation went on; if David might not build, at least he might prepare. Stones, metal resources, materials of all sorts were collected. And at last Solomon entered on the achievement of his great purpose, and the Temple was built as a House of God; and God, in the emphatic words of the Bible, came to dwell there. It was the first work that Solomon undertook. The Divine word concerning himself, spoken to his father, sounded in his ears, and gave him no rest till he had set about obeying it. The motives of the great temple-builders of old, as they themselves expound them in hieroglyphics and cuneiform, were largely ostentation and the wish to outdo predecessors; but Solomon was moved by thankfulness and by obedience to his father’s will, and still more to God’s destination of him. ¶ Writing to his daughter Helen, on her twenty-first birthday, Mr. Gladstone says, “May every blessing attend you; and never forget that our blessings depend under God upon ourselves, and that none of them which come from without can be effectual, unless as the appendages of those which come from within; nor is any life worth living that has not a purpose, or that is not devoted from day to day to its accomplishment. Even in the humblest sphere, and where it has not pleased God to give powers adequate to more than very humble duties, this is an undoubted truth; and many lives of which the range is small are among the happiest and best, because they are most steadily and most completely given to their appointed purpose.”1 2. The stones for the Temple were brought partly from Lebanon, partly from the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, partly from the quarries which have recently been discovered under the Temple rock, and which are known by the name of the “Royal Caverns.” Hiram, king of Tyre, assisted, and his assistance was doubly valuable, both from the architectural skill of his countrymen, already employed in his own great buildings, and from his supply of the cedar of Lebanon, conveyed on rafts to Joppa. An immense array, chiefly of Canaanites, was raised to work in the forests, and in the quarries of Lebanon. In order to reconcile the spirit of the new architecture as nearly as possible with the letter of the old law, the stones were hewn in the quarries, and placed with reverent silence one upon another. The Temple “rose like an exhalation.” No hammer fell, no ponderous axes rung, Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung. It was a work of seven and a half years; and Solomon gave his best, whether of work or of health, to its completion. 3. When the Temple was finished, it was consecrated with great solemnity to Jehovah’s worship. In the midst of a vast procession of priests and representatives of all the tribes of Israel, the ark of the covenant was brought up from the citadel to the holy place prepared for it. Innumerable sacrifices were offered, and Solomon himself spoke the word of dedication: “The sun reveals itself in the heavens, But Jehovah is pleased to dwell in darkness. I have built thee an house of habitation, A place for thee to dwell in for ever.” The greatest moment in the life of Israel as a people had arrived—the ark entered, was placed in its splendid shrine, and the cloud, the Glory of the Lord, the accustomed token of the Sacred Presence in that early revelation, filled the House. The House was God’s, and He thus vouchsafed to claim it. 4. It was an enterprise of no less far-seeing policy to build the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem than it was to strengthen its fortifications. The historian himself enters into the description of this work with a fulness and zest which have indeed been plentifully supplemented by the hand of later editors of priestly proclivities, but they indicate plainly enough the knowledge and interest of one whose career must have been intimately associated with this same Solomonic Temple. Here was no ephod, no teraphim, perhaps no asherah, but traditions and a priesthood which went back to the days when Moses led the tribes up out of Egypt, and Joshua gained the first foothold in Canaan with the ark leading the united hosts of Israel. If anything could create a sense of national unity, it would be the religion of Jehovah centring in the shrine where this hallowed relic lay. The historian is right who dates the passing over of the favour of Jehovah and of Israel from Saul to David when Saul destroyed the priest-city of Nob, and Abiathar escaped with the ephod to David, and who dwells with such interest upon the bringing up of the long-neglected ark from Kiriath-jearim to David’s new capital. Solomon carries out the wisest element of his father’s wise policy in undertaking to build a house for Jehovah on the threshing-floor of Araunah, a sanctuary which shall be not merely a royal chapel, but a central focus for the religious consciousness of all Israel. ¶ One delights to think of the innumerable spots on the earth where truth and faith have combined with beauty and art; where the higher qualities of the spirit have joyously expressed themselves in the works of genius and religion. The Middle Ages, and chiefly the marvellous eleventh century, have left us imperishable monuments here, which sanctify the place they stand on. Who shall call that an inferior, an uninspired age which gives to Italy St. Mark’s at Venice, Pisa’s glorious pile, the cathedrals of Milan, Modena, Parma; which in North Europe broke out into a foam of lovely structures—Mayence, Treves, Worms, Basel, Brussels; J which in France blossomed into the Abbey Church of Cluny, with Chartres, Rouen, and the pile of Notre Dame; that in England saw Westminster and Canterbury grow to their majestic proportions, and Wells, that dream of beauty! To-day we do not build like that. We are smart and up-to-date. Our structures exhibit our wealth of means, our poverty of ideas. We can make brave show of our marbles and our gildings; but our stones are dead stones; there is no breath in them. It will be when faith is again found upon earth that we shall once more make buildings that are prayers and triumph songs; that stone, kindled once more by inspired breath, shall express again man’s sense of immortal life.1 5. Of similar magnificence, and doubtless of similar style, were the two palaces, the judgment-hall and the hall of assembly, with which Solomon embellished his capital; and in all he was served in good stead by his commercial treaties. That with Phœnicia not only provided him with timber from Lebanon, and brass and stone cast and cut by Phœnician hands, but also gave him a share in Hiram’s Mediterranean commerce with Tarshish in Spain, and ships and sailors for a venture of his own down the Red Sea from Elath. This expedition in turn brought about closer relations with Sheba in southern Arabia. The visit was returned by the queen of that region in person, doubtless for commercial reasons, with abundant interchange of “gifts”; but, in the view of the historian, whose eye seems to rest upon the fragment of an ancient folk-song, descriptive of the queen’s praises of Solomon, incorporated in his story, it was “to prove him with hard questions.” He answered the torturing questions and won the confidence of this woman who was groping in the dark, till he led her by the hand to the light. Solomon is the embodiment of his people. He does for the queen of Sheba what Israel was meant to do for the world. ¶ The God of the Founder of Christianity has His centre everywhere, His circumference nowhere. All barriers fall before His teaching, like the walls of Jericho at the blast of Joshua’s trumpets. He taught mankind the religion of pure inwardness, of true spirituality; and, by elevating love, or sympathy, to the throne in the world of spiritual realities, He revealed a principle of inexhaustible ethical and philosophical value. It is idle to pretend that this Teacher, and this teaching, can be explained within the lines of Jewish pietism. Christ bursts these cramping fetters at every movement. It was a new faith which He brought, a new view of time and eternity. Judaism could no more imprison the soul of this revelation than the tomb at Jerusalem could retain the body of its Founder. The universality of Christianity is based upon, and explained by, the universality of Christ. 1 D. C. Lathbury, Letters on Church and Religion of William Ewart Gladstone, ii. 193. 1 J. Brierley, Religion and To-Day, 193. 1 W. R. Inge, in The Parting of the Roads, 11. The Temple of God - Matthew Dowling But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! [1 Kings 8:27] When God instituted the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7 he told David he would work with David’s son when that son became king. The fullness of the Davidic covenant did not become visible until Solomon became king and the great symbols of the Davidic covenant were erected—the temple of God and the palace of the king. First Kings 6 and 7 describes the building, dimensions, structure, and furniture of the temple, as well as the special God-given palace of God’s viceroy, Solomon. The temple had an outer court, an inner court, an outer room (the Holy Place), and an inner room (the Holy of Holies). The Holy of Holies housed the throne of God, the ark of the covenant. The entire temple was the earthly palace of the High King of Israel. In the temple the ark, which had accompanied the people in their wanderings after they left Egypt, found a resting place at last. The building of the temple was the final climax of the exodus. Let us consider three aspects of the temple’s meaning. First, the temple signified the presence of God with the people. Particularly in terms of the kingdom covenant, it signified the presence of God with the king. The palace of the earthly sub-king was next to the temple, at the “right hand” of God, so to speak. This arrangement signified that the earthly king was to rule as God’s viceroy. Second, the temple showed God as house builder. The first house God built was creation itself in Genesis 1. The house also memorialized the defeat of an enemy. The tabernacle was built from the spoils of Egypt, the temple of the spoils of the Egyptians, and the post-exilic temple of the spoils of Babylon, sent to Israel by the kings of Persia. The temple symbolized God’s people as his true house, measured out and built according to the detailed specifications of his covenant law. Finally, the temple showed God’s holiness. Only ordained priests were allowed to set foot inside the outer room of the temple, on pain of death, and nobody except the high priest might enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year. God’s greatness, and his separateness from sin, were graphically represented by the temple. Coram Deo God’s new temple is the church. Once again he has built upon the spoils of the war with sin, namely reclaimed sinners. We are living stones, being built up into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). It also means that we are to live according to his measurements. Because Peter builds upon this imagery so extensively, read 1 Peter 2 in order to discover how you can display his beautiful presence through your life. 1 Kings 8:28 "Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; ESV 1 Kings 8:28 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, NET 1 Kings 8:28 But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today. CSB 1 Kings 8:28 Listen to Your servant's prayer and his petition, LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant prays before You today, LXE 1 Kings 8:28 Yet, O Lord God of Israel, thou shalt look upon my petition, to hear the prayer which thy servant prays to thee in thy presence this day, KJV 1 Kings 8:28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: GWN 1 Kings 8:28 Nevertheless, my LORD God, please pay attention to my prayer for mercy. Listen to my cry for help as I pray to you today. NAB 1 Kings 8:28 Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O LORD, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day. NIV 1 Kings 8:28 Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. NLT 1 Kings 8:28 Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today. YLT 1 Kings 8:28 'Then thou hast turned unto the prayer of Thy servant, and unto his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken unto the cry and unto the prayer which Thy servant is praying before Thee to-day, CJB 1 Kings 8:28 Even so, ADONAI my God, pay attention to your servant's prayer and plea, listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying before you today, NJB 1 Kings 8:28 Even so, listen favourably to the prayer and entreaty of your servant, Yahweh my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant makes to you today: NKJ 1 Kings 8:28 "Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: NRS 1 Kings 8:28 Regard your servant's prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; Yet have thou: 2Ch 6:19 Ps 141:2 Da 9:17-19 Lu 18:1,7 hearken: Ps 4:1 5:1 86:3,6,7 88:1,2 Related Passages: Psalm 141:2 "May my prayer be counted as incense before You." 2 Chronicles 6:19 “Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You; Yet (term of contrast) - What's Solomon contrasting? He has just described the fact that God is so great He cannot be confined to one space, and now appeals to Him to in essence condescend to hear his plea, as small as he is in comparison to God's omnipresence. Have regard to the prayer (tepillah; Lxx - deesis) of Your servant ('ebed) and to his supplication (teḥinnāh/techinnah), O LORD my God, to listen to the cry (rinnah) and to the prayer (tepillah) which Your servant ('ebed; Lxx - doulos) prays (palal; Lxx - proseuchomai) before You today - Solomon has called David God's servant 3 times (1Ki 8:24, 25, 26) and now declares (first of five times that) he is also the servant of Yahweh (1Ki 8:28, 29, 30, 52, 53) Solomon is recognizing that he is praying in the presence of God, who is supreme and sovereign. Even though God is transcendent and dwells in heaven (1 Kings 8:27), Solomon believes that prayer reaches Him directly.