Then Solomon assembled - It has already been observed that Solomon deferred the dedication of the temple to the following year after it was finished, because that year, according to Archbishop Usher, was a jubilee. "This," he observes, "was the ninth jubilee, opening the fourth millenary of the world, or A.M. 3001, wherein Solomon with great magnificence celebrated the dedication of the temple seven days, and the feast of tabernacles other seven days; and the celebration of the eighth day of tabernacles being finished, upon the twenty-third day of the seventh month the people were dismissed every man to his home. The eighth day of the seventh month, viz., the thirtieth of our October, being Friday, was the first of the seven days of dedication; on the tenth day, Saturday, November 1, was the fast of expiation or atonement held; whereon, according to the Levitical law, the jubilee was proclaimed by sound of trumpet. The fifteenth day, Friday, November 6, was the feast of tabernacles; the twenty-second, November 13, being also Friday, was the feast of tabernacles, which was always very solemnly kept, 2 Chronicles 7:9; Leviticus 23:36; John 7:37; and the day following, November 14, being our Saturday, when the Sabbath was ended, the people returned home.

"In the thirteenth year after the temple was built, Solomon made an end also of building his own house, having spent full twenty years upon both of them; seven and a half upon the temple, and thirteen or twelve and a half upon his own." - Usher's Annals, sub. A.M. 3001.

A.M.

3000 B.C.

1004
Solomon This did not take place, according to Abp. Usher, till the year after the temple was finished, because that year after the temple was finished, because that year was a {jubilee}. `The

8th day of the

7th month, {viz.} the

30th of our October, being Friday, was the first of the seven days of dedication; the

10th day, Saturday, November

1 Kings 8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel...

, the fast of expiation or atonement was held; whereon, according to the levitical law, the jubilee was proclaimed by sound of trumpet. The

15th day, Friday, was the feast of tabernacles, which was always very solemnly kept; and the day following, Nov.

1 Kings 8:14 And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;)

, being our Saturday, when the Sabbath was ended, the people returned home.'

2 Chronicles 5:2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel...

assembled

Joshua 23:2 And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers...

Joshua 24:1 And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges...

1 Chronicles 28:1 And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes...

2 Chronicles 30:1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh...

Ezra 3:1 And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities...

chief of the fathers. [heb] princes

Numbers 7:3 And they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for two of the princes...

that they might bring

2 Samuel 6:1,2,6,12 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand...

1 Chronicles 13:1-5 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader...

1 Chronicles 15:3,25 And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD to his place, which he had prepared for it...

out of the city

1 Kings 3:15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD...

2 Samuel 5:7-9 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David...

2 Samuel 6:12-17 And it was told king David, saying, The LORD has blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertains to him, because of the ark of God...

1 Chronicles 11:7 And David dwelled in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David.

1 Chronicles 15:29 And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal...

1 Chronicles 16:1 So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it...

Psalm 9:11 Sing praises to the LORD, which dwells in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

Psalm 102:21 To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus said the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone...

Isaiah 46:13 I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry...

1 Peter 2:6 Why also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious...

The Next Words Are, which Art in Heaven. ...
The next words are, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. From this we are not to infer that he is enclosed and confined within the circumference of heaven, as by a kind of boundaries. Hence Solomon confesses, "The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee" (1 Kings 8:27); and he himself says by the Prophet, "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isa. 56:1); thereby intimating, that his presence, not confined to any region, is diffused over all space. But as our gross minds are unable to conceive of …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Whole Heart
LET me give the principal passages in which the words "the whole heart," "all the heart," are used. A careful study of them will show how wholehearted love and service is what God has always asked, because He can, in the very nature of things, ask nothing less. The prayerful and believing acceptance of the words will waken the assurance that such wholehearted love and service is exactly the blessing the New Covenant was meant to make possible. That assurance will prepare us for turning to the Omnipotence …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

The Gospel of John
As we turn to the fourth Gospel we come to entirely different ground from that which we have traversed in the other three. True, the period of time which is covered by it, is the same as in the others; true, that some of the incidents that have already been looked at will here come before us again; and true it is that he who has occupied the central position in the narratives of the first three Evangelists, is the same One that is made preeminent by John; but otherwise, everything here is entirely …
Arthur W. Pink—Why Four Gospels?