The Bible OverBrew - Bible in a Yearनमुना

Week 14. Day 3. 1 Kings 8-10.

Ch 8 Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the temple. Note the references to the Exodus from Egypt in 8:16, 21, 53. The temple is being presented here as the fulfilment and goal of the Exodus!

The temple (built on a mountain) is a reversal of Babel (Gen 11):

• v20 it is built for the name of the Lord (not to make a name for sinful humanity)
• v41-43 the nations will come there to worship (c.f. the scattering of nations at Babel)

This gathering of foreign nations is what God describes in Isaiah:

these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer (…)
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations. (Is 56:5-7)

Ch 10. The high point of the kingdom. This is as good as things ever get in Israel. This is the best expression of the ‘kingdom of God’ that we see in the OT.

• Imagine yourself in Jerusalem under Solomon, and think what you would have experienced in your five senses.
• How is it like Eden?
• How has the commission to Adam been (partially) fulfilled?

In the coming of the Queen of Sheba, we see a partial fulfilment of the nations coming to worship at God’s house, as Solomon has just prayed for in 8:41-43, and also a fulfilment of God’s promise through Abraham to bring blessing to the world (Gen 12:1-3)

NOTE: Days 1-5 of each week contain the scripture reading for that week. Day 6 has just the 'key chapters'. If you want a briefer version of this plan that still takes you through the whole Bible, you could just read the key chapters featured on day 6. Day 7 has the podcast video where we discuss the week's reading.