The Ark Comes Forth
When the
temple is complete, Solomon brings forth the Ark of the Covenant from where it
had been kept during the construction.
Note that not only was the Ark brought up but so were the tabernacle and
all the instruments that went with the tabernacle. Solomon is merging the tabernacle into the
temple so that there will still only be one place of worship.
As
Solomon and the priests move the Ark, you will note the extravagance of the
situation. There are more sacrifices
than can possibly be counted. The
priests and Levites are all there, essentially as one collective rather than
each paying attention to their prescribed duties. There is great singing and great
fanfare. What a scene that must have
been!
It is
important to know that communities occasionally need days in which to just let
loose. Communities need special, unique,
once-in-a-lifetime days of celebration where all the normal routines are cast
off. These aren’t days where we forget
our relationship with God with reckless abandon. These are days where because of our
relationship with God we step into celebration unlike normal.
Blessing Upon the Lord
As the
Ark arrives in the temple and is put into place, there is a great moment of
worship. The priests all call out, “He
is good, and His steadfast love endures forever.” I’d like to look at this comment from three
different perspectives.
First, we
look at the context of the story. The
Hebrew people have become the dominant influence in the Promised Land. David was king. He is now dead. Solomon is king, and the splendor of the
Hebrew people is increasing. It was
clear to the people at the time of Solomon that the Lord was with them. From their vantage point, they had every
reason to assert that the love of the Lord would be steadfast.
Next, I’d
like to look at this saying from the historical context of the chronicler, who
is writing this story down. The people
in his day and age are returning from exile.
They have just spent anywhere between 70-200 years in exile. Life has been difficult for the vast majority
of the communal memory. How different
these words must be. Whereas the priests
of Solomon’s day declare the Lord’s steadfast love out of their splendor, the
chronicler pens these words out of humbleness before God. God’s love has not changed, but the context
of the Hebrew people sure had!
The third
perspective that I’d like to bring to this passage is the lens of the current
reader. We are far removed from the
chronicler and even further removed from Solomon. Yet, the steadfast love of the Lord
remains. We now see just how much the
Lord loves us through the life, death, and resurrection of His only Son. We can know the cycle of repentance bought
through the blood and brought through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Not that we aren’t without our own faults and
our own communal struggles. But the
steadfast love of the Lord endures forever, does it not?
The Presence of the Lord
After the
Lord is blessed, the Lord fills the temple.
No doubt the Lord fills the temple as a response to the people. There can be no doubt that God fills the
temple to let His people know that what they have done is pleasing to Him.
However,
look at the effect of the presence of the Lord.
The glory of the Lord fills the temple so much that the priests have to
leave. No human work can get done. I love this description.
The
reason that I love this is because it is ultimately quite humbling. We think we are the be-all and end-all. We think our great works and sacrifices for
the Lord are something. But in the end,
when the Lord truly moves we see that He doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need our sacrifices to be
God. He doesn’t need our worship to be
God. When He fills a space, He fills
it. It is complete without us.
This
makes it really cool that we are in a relationship with God in the first
place. We aren’t in the relationship
because God needs us; we are in it because He desires us to be there. He wants us!
God is complete without us; but He wants us there anyway. How great is our God!
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