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;)

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) And the king.—We are told in the book of Chronicles (2Chronicles 6:13) that the king stood on a “brasen scaffold” three cubits high, in the midst of the court before the altar of sacrifice, so that he could alternately turn towards the Temple and towards the people in the outer court.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 8:14. The king turned his face about — From the court of the priests and the sanctuary, to the body of the congregation who were in the court designed for the people. And blessed all the congregation — Probably in that form of words which God himself had prescribed, Numbers 6:23-25. All the congregation stood — In token of reverence to God, and respect to the king, and of their readiness to receive his blessing, and the blessing of God through his instrumentality.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:12-21 Solomon encouraged the priests, who were much astonished at the dark cloud. The dark dispensations of Providence should quicken us in fleeing for refuge to the hope of the gospel. Nothing can more reconcile us to them, than to consider what God has said, and to compare his word and works together. Whatever good we do, we must look on it as the performance of God's promise to us, not of our promises to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Solomon had spoken the preceding words, addressed to God, with his face directed to the holy of holies. He now turned around and looked outward toward the people. The people "stood" to hear him the attitude of respect and attention. This first blessing seems to have been without speech - an inward prayer accompanied by the ordinary gesture of blessing.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. the king turned his face about—From the temple, where he had been watching the movement of the mystic cloud, and while the people were standing, partly as the attitude of devotion, partly out of respect to royalty, the king gave a fervent expression of praise to God for the fulfilment of His promise (2Sa 7:6-16).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The king turned his face about, from the temple, towards which he was looking to observe that thick and extraordinary darkness, to the body of the congregation.

Blessed all the congregation of Israel, or, blessed (to wit, the Lord, which is easily understood from the following words; in which he only blesseth or praiseth God, but doth not bless the people at all) with (so the Hebrew eth is oft used, as hath been showed before) all the congregation. Although he might do both, first bless the congregation, which possibly he might do in that solemn and appointed form, Num 6; which therefore it was needless to repeat here; and then blessed God. And indeed he doth both here below, where these same words are used, 1 Kings 8:55,56, &c. The congregation of Israel stood; partly in way of devotion to God, whom they adored; and partly out of respect to the king.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the king turned his face about,.... He was before the altar, 1 Kings 8:22, with his face to that first, and looking towards the holy and the most holy place, filled with the cloud and glory; and now he turned himself and stood with the altar behind him, and looking to the court of the people:

and blessed all the congregation of Israel; either blessed the Lord before them, or prayed for blessings for them, or congratulated them upon the Lord's taking up his residence in the temple, which was so great an honour and favour to them:

and all the congregation of Israel stood: ready to receive the king's blessing, and in honour of him, and reverence to the divine Being. The Jews say, none might sit in the court but the kings of the house of David.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. And the king turned his face about] He had spoken at first looking towards the Temple, and beholding the cloud which told that God was there.

and blessed all the congregation] The words which follow (15–21) are not words of benediction on the people, but thanksgiving to God. We must suppose the language of blessing to have been like the blessing which follows later on in the chapter (57–61) where the king does ask for guidance and help for Israel.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - And the king turned his face about [He had been earnestly gazing toward the house where the cloud appeared. He now faced the congregation] and blessed [This word here, and in ver. 55, is used somewhat loosely. The blessing was in both cases addressed to God. The Hebrew king was not authorized to bless the people - that was the prerogative of the priests (Numbers 6:23; cf. Leviticus 9:22), and he is only said to bless here as felicitating, as wishing them a blessing. Dean Stanley ] "Jewish Ch.," vol. 2. p 218) characteristically asserts that Solomon "performed the highest sacerdotal act of solemn benediction." But the same word is used in ver. 66, of the people blessing the king. "Did the people," as Wordsworth pertinently asks, "also perform a priestly act?" The word is elsewhere used of saluting. See note on ver. 66, and Gesen. s.v.] all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood); [Heb. were standing (עֹמֵד); "stood" conveys the idea that the congregation rose as Solomon spoke, whereas they were standing already in the temple courts. 1 Kings 8:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Solomon extols this marvellous proof of the favour of the Lord. - 1 Kings 8:12. Then spake Solomon, "Jehovah hath spoken to dwell in the darkness." "Solomon saw that the temple was filled with a cloud, and remembered that God had been pleased to appear in a cloud in the tent of Moses also. Hence he assuredly believed that God was in this cloud also, and that, as formerly He had filled the tabernacle, so He would now fill the temple and dwell therein" (Seb. Schmidt). וגו יהוה אמר, which Thenius still renders incorrectly, "the Lord intends to dwell in the darkness," refers, as Rashi, C. a Lap., and others have seen, to the utterances of God in the Pentateuch concerning the manifestation of His gracious presence among His people, not merely to Leviticus 16:2 (I will appear in the cloud), but also to Exodus 19:9, where the Lord said to Moses, "I come to thee הענן בּעב," and still more to Exodus 20:21 and Deuteronomy 4:11; Deuteronomy 5:19, according to which God came down upon Sinai בּערפל. Solomon took the word ערפל from these passages. That he meant by this the black, dark cloud which filled the temple, is perfectly obvious from the combination והערפל הענן in Deuteronomy 5:19 and Deuteronomy 4:11.

(Note: Thenius, however, has built up all kinds of untenable conjectures as to alterations of the text, upon the erroneous assumption that ענן means the light and radiant cloud, and cannot be synonymous with ערפל. Bttcher adopts the same opinion, without taking any notice of the striking remarks of Bertheau on 2 Chronicles 5:14.)

Solomon saw this word of Jehovah realized in the filling of the temple with the cloud, and learned therefrom that the Lord would dwell in this temple. Hence, being firmly convinced of the presence of Jehovah in the cloud which filled the sanctuary, he adds in 1 Kings 8:13 : "I have built Thee a house to dwell in, a place for Thy seat for ever." We are not to understand עולמים as signifying that Solomon believed that the temple built by him would stand for ever; but it is to be explained partly from the contrast to the previous abode of God in the tabernacle, which from the very nature of the case could only be a temporary one, inasmuch as a tent, such as the tabernacle was, is not only a moveable and provisional dwelling, but also a very perishable one, and partly from the promise given to David in 2 Samuel 7:14-16, that the Lord would establish the throne of his kingdom for his seed for ever. This promise involved the eternal duration of the gracious connection between God and Israel, which was embodied in the dwelling of God in the temple. This connection, from its very nature, was an eternal one; even if the earthly form, from which Solomon at that moment abstracted himself, was temporal and perishable. - Solomon had spoken these words with his face turned to the Most Holy Place. He then (1 Kings 8:14) turned his face to the congregation, which was standing in the court, and blessed it. The word "blessed" (יברך) denotes the wish for a blessing with which the king greeted the assembled congregation, and introduced the praise of God which follows. - In 1 Kings 8:15-21 he praises the Lord for having now fulfilled with His hand what He spake with His mouth to his father David (2 Samuel 7).