Today in the Bible

Tishrei 8, 5784; from sunset September 22, 2023, to sunset September 23, 2023

This is the name “Shelomoh” (שְׁלׄמׄה – Solomon) as seen in the Aleppo Codex, written over one thousand years ago. The name Solomon stems from the verb-root “shalam” meaning “to be complete, sound, or peaceful.” It’s the same root that the familiar word “shalom” comes from.

We’re taking a break from our deep dive into the Day of Atonement to remember King Solomon’s dedication of the Temple.  Let’s read up a bit on the events leading up to it.  Before he died, King David gathered together all of the important leaders in Israel for a meeting.

Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God.  So I had made preparations to build it.  But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood…’ And He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him…’”

Then David gave to his son Solomon the plan of the porch of the temple, its buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat; and the plan of all that he had in mind, for the courts of the house of the LORD, and for all the surrounding rooms, for the storehouses of the house of God, and for the storehouses of the dedicated things… – 1 Chronicles 28:2-12

You can read the full story of David’s instructions for building the Temple in 1 Chronicles 28 and learn how Solomon set about fulfilling them in the subsequent chapters.  Let’s skip ahead and read about the completion of Solomon’s Temple.

In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv [the second month].  And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans.  So he was seven years in building it. – 1 Kings 6:37-38

So Solomon completed the Temple in the eighth month.  The Temple sat unoccupied for eleven months so that it could be inaugurated during the Feast of Booths (also known as the Feast of Tabernacles).  That brings us to Today in the Bible; 1 Kings 8:65 tells us that King Solomon held a seven-day assembly before the Feast and then celebrated the seven-day long Feast itself.  The celebration lasted 14 days in all.  It started today, Tishrei 8, and lasted through the Feast of Booths.  On the eighth day, the day after the seven-day-long Feast of Booths, he sent the people back to their tents.

At that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days– fourteen days.

On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the LORD had done for His servant David, and for Israel His people. – 1 Kings 8:65-66

In just one week, we’ll read about how the “Glory of the LORD” descended upon the Temple and hear the beautiful prayer Solomon delivered during the ceremony.

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