旧约 - 列王记上(1 Kings)第8章

Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD'S covenant from Zion, the City of David.
All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,
and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up,
and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
The priests then brought the ark of the LORD'S covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.
The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.
These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.
There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD.
And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.
Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;
I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever."
While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them.
Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said,
'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.'
"My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart.
Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood--he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.'
"The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt."
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven
and said: "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below--you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.
You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it--as it is today.
"Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done.'
And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.
"But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!
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.
May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
"When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple,
then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.
"When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple,
then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.
"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,
then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
"When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,
and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel--each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple--
then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men),
so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.
"As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name--
for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm--when he comes and prays toward this temple,
then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
"When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,
then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
"When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near;
and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly';
and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name;
then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy;
for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.
"May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.
For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, O Sovereign LORD, brought our fathers out of Egypt."
When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.
He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
"Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.
May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us.
May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers.
And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need,
so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.
But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time."
Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.
Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.
On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him--a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.
On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.
列王纪上第八章   第 8 章 

  王上 8:1> 从可移动的会幕到固定的圣殿,意味着什么? 

  8:1 会幕与圣殿两者有什么不同?以色列人为什么要由会幕改变到圣殿来敬拜神?会幕是一个帐棚,是可以搬运的敬拜场所,是特为以色列人前往应许之地而设计的。圣殿则是以色列人在自己的地业上安居后永久敬拜神的场所。把耶和华的约柜搬入圣殿里,意味着那里真有神的同在。 

  王上 8:1-61> 所罗门在献殿礼上的训词,其中心思想是什么? 

  8:1-61 所罗门招聚以色列民的首领来到耶路撒冷,不但是为着献上圣殿,也是为把他们自己再一次献上,好服事神。他的训词也照样提醒现代人:“所以你们当向耶和华我们的神存诚实的心,遵行祂的律例,谨守祂的诫命,至终如今日一样”( 8:61 )。 

  王上 8:6> 8:6 基路伯是大能的天使。 

  王上 8:15-21> 有无圣殿并不影响神眷顾属灵领袖,为什么? 

  8:15-21 以色列人出埃及后的四百八十年间,神并没有吩咐他们为祂建造圣殿;祂反而要住在他们中间,并重视百姓对属灵领袖的需要。人很容易认为一座建筑物是神亲临并彰显大能的中心,但神却是拣选人、使用人去完成祂的工作。祂能使用你,远胜于木头石头所建造的房屋。建筑教堂或扩建敬拜的地方固然有其用处,但是绝不可本末倒置,忘却培训属灵的领袖。 

  王上 8:24> 我看到过神亲口应允亲手成就的事吗? 

  8:24 所罗门提到神在撒母耳记下对大卫的应许( 7:12-15 ):接续他作王的儿子必为祂建造圣殿。 

  王上 8:27> “天和天上的天”尚且不够神住的,那神住在哪里呢? 

  8:27 所罗门在献祭的祷告之中说:天和天上的天尚且不足神居住,祂却甘愿住在爱祂之人的心里。那是多么奇妙啊,创天立地的宇宙真神,竟住在祂所造的人中间。 

  王上 8:33-34> 为什么以色列民屡遭患难?这祷告后来竟应验,是的── 

  8:33-34 所罗门王朝以后,以色列人继续偏离神。所罗门在这两节中所描述的情景,在以后的朝代真的应验了。由于人民犯罪,神就听任他们多次被敌人打败、征服,甚至亡国被掳。后来在患难之中他们呼求神赦免,神又怜悯并使他们归回。 

  王上 8:41-43> 以色列人的使命是什么?最终由谁完成? 

  8:41-43 神拣选以色列族要使全世界得福(参创 12:1-3 ),这种福分在主耶稣身上实现了──祂是亚伯拉罕的子孙,大卫的后裔(参加 3:8-9 ),祂成为全人类的弥赛亚,包括犹太人与外邦人。以色列人初入应许之地时,神曾吩咐他们肃清当地的邪恶民族,因此旧约记载了许多战事。但是战争不是以色列人的第一要务,他们制伏邪恶的民族后,要作周围列国之光;可惜他们本身犯罪,属灵的心眼盲目,不能以神的爱感化普世各族。主耶稣来才完成了他们未完的工作。 

  王上 8:46-53> 神怜悯犯罪者的痛悔呼求,我悔改呼求了吗? 

  8:46-53 所罗门似乎有先知的眼光,洞悉以色列民未来会被掳(参王下 17:25 ),所以求神在人民向祂呼求的时候,向他们施怜悯,赦免他们、领他们归回本土。在以斯拉记一、 二两 章与尼希米记一、 二两 章中,都提到被掳与归回。 

  王上 8:56-60> 我通常为哪些事情祷告?是否过于狭隘?所罗门的祷告是── 

  8:56-60 所罗门赞美耶和华,并为人民祷告。他的祷告可以作我们的榜样。他有五项基本要求:( 1 )求神与人民同在( 8:57 );( 2 )渴望凡事遵行神的旨意( " 使我们的心归向祂 "8:58 );( 3 )使人民有心愿与能力去遵行神的律例诫命( 8:58 );( 4 )求神昼夜垂念祂的民的每日所需( 8:59 );( 5 )将神的国度扩展到全世界( 8:60 )。这些恳求事项,今日也同样重要。在你为自己的教会、家庭祷告的时候,你也可求神赐下这几件事。 

  王上 8:65> 8:65 小河或为干了的河床。──《灵修版圣经注释》