1 Kings 8:15

And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15-21) His address to the people—apparently preceded by a silent blessing with the usual uplifting of the hands—is the counterpart and expansion of the few abrupt words which he had just uttered before God—calling them to bless God with him for the fulfilment of one part of His promise to David, in the present acceptance of the Temple. The record of that promise is given in 2Samuel 7:5-16; 1Chronicles 17:4-14. Here it is freely cited with some variation, so far as it relates to the Temple. It is remarkable that in quoting it, David twice (1Chronicles 22:8; 1Chronicles 28:3) adds to it the instructive reason for the prohibition, that (unlike Solomon the Peaceful) he had “shed blood abundantly, and had made great wars.” With much grace of filial piety, Solomon refrains from mention of that reason, though there seems to be some allusion to it in his words to Hiram (1Kings 5:3). On the other hand, he does add—what is not found in the earlier records—the declaration that, though David was not to build the Temple, “he did well that it was in his heart” to build it.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 8:15-16. Which spake with his mouth unto David, &c. — He acknowledges the grace and goodness of God in making the promise, and his truth and faithfulness in fulfilling it. I chose no city — Until David’s time; for then he did choose Jerusalem. That my name might be therein — Not only, which should be called by my name, namely, the house of Jehovah: but that my presence, and grace, and worship, and glory, might be there. But I chose David — And in and with him the tribe of Judah, to which he belonged, and Jerusalem, where he dwelt.

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

The exact words of 2 Samuel 7 are not reproduced; only their general sense is given. In 1 Kings 8:18, what was merely tacitly implied was regarded as actually "said."

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

Praised be God, both for his grace in making such a promise, and for his goodness and truth in fulfilling it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Israel,.... All praise and glory, honour and blessing, be ascribed to the Lord; who had afresh shown himself to be Israel's covenant God, by taking up his residence among them in the temple he had filled with his glory:

which spake with his mouth to David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it; who graciously promised him he should have a son that should build an house for him, and which he had by his power and providence faithfully performed; or rather which spake concerning David, so Noldius (x); for God did not speak with his mouth to David, but to Nathan, of him: saying; as follows.

(x) Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 117. No. 596. So Sept.

Geneva Study Bible

And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. the Lord God of Israel] R.V. ‘The Lord, the God of Israel.’ This change, which should be constantly made, will not be further noticed. See chap. 1 Kings 1:30.

which spake with his mouth unto David my father] The allusion is to the words of 2 Samuel 7:5-7, where God by the prophet Nathan forbids David to build Him a house. The prophet is regarded so entirely as the mouthpiece of Jehovah, that Solomon can use words like these both here, and in 1 Kings 8:24, ‘Thou spakest also with thy mouth.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel [1 Kings 1:48], which spake with his mouth unto [or, concerning; אֵל after verbs of speaking has the force of de (Genesis 20:2; Jeremiah 40:16; Psalm 69:27). David my father [The words were really spoken to Nathan], and hath with his hand [i.e., power; cf. Job 34:20; Acts 4:28; Acts 13:11; Ezra 7:6] fulfilled it [the spoken word He has fulfilled in deed], saying, [The reference is to 2 Samuel 7, of which Solomon merely gives the substance. Much of what he says here is not recorded there.] 1 Kings 8:15

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).