1 Kings 8:66

On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:62-66 Solomon offered a great sacrifice. He kept the feast of tabernacles, as it seems, after the feast of dedication. Thus should we go home, rejoicing, from holy ordinances, thankful for God's Goodness

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Their tents - i. e. "their homes." The word "tents" was used for "houses" from an old habit of speech, which had come down from the time when the Israelites were a nomadic nation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ki 8:65. The People Joyful.

65. from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt—that is, from one extremity of the kingdom to the other. The people flocked from all quarters.

seven days and seven days, even fourteen days—The first seven were occupied with the dedication, and the other seven devoted to the feast of tabernacles (2Ch 7:9). The particular form of expression indicates that the fourteen days were not continuous. Some interval occurred in consequence of the great day of atonement falling on the tenth of the seventh month (1Ki 8:2), and the last day of the feast of tabernacles was on the twenty-third (2Ch 7:10), when the people returned to their homes with feelings of the greatest joy and gratitude "for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Solomon having joined with the people in the solemn assembly, which was kept on the eighth day, in the close of that day and service he took his solemn farewell, and dismissed them with his blessing; and the next morning when the heads and elders who came to Solomon upon this special summons, above, 1 Kings 8:3, and with them divers of the people came to take their leave of the king, he sent them away. And so this place agrees very well with 2 Chronicles 7:9,10.

They blessed the king, i.e. they prayed to God to bless him, according to their duty and custom. Or,

they praised him, for his great care and pains in building of the temple, and setting up God’s worship among them.

The goodness that the Lord had done for David, in giving him a sure house, and a wise and religious son, by whom he had now fulfilled the promise made to David about the building of the temple.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

On the eighth day he sent the people away,.... That is, of the feast of tabernacles, the eighth from the first of that, which was a solemn day, and fell on the twenty second of the month; at the close of which the dismission was made, or they had leave to go, but they did not until the twenty third, according to 2 Chronicles 7:10.

and they blessed the king; returned him thanks for his care, and charge, and pains, in building the temple; for prayers for them, and the feast he had now made, and wished all health and happiness to him:

and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart; or to their cities, as the Targum, to their several habitations; being greatly delighted with what they had seen and heard, and partook of especially:

for all the goodness the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people; in 2 Chronicles 7:10, it is added, "unto Solomon"; for David, in giving him such a son and successor, who according to promise had built the house of the Lord; and for Solomon, in raising him up to such dignity, and enabling him to build such a temple for the worship of God and his glory; and for the people of Israel, in giving them such a king to rule over them, under whom they enjoyed so much peace and prosperity, and the full and free exercise of the true religion, with such accommodations, and in such a splendid manner as now.

Geneva Study Bible

On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

66. On the eighth day] i.e. Of the feast of Tabernacles, which had been preceded on this occasion by the feast of Dedication. Therefore this was the fifteenth day of the whole ceremony. It is defined in 2 Chronicles 7:10 as ‘the three and twentieth day of the seventh month.’

and they blessed the king] Josephus explains thus: ‘they went away thanking the king for his forethought about them, and for the conduct which he had exhibited towards them, and praying God to give them Solomon as their king for a long time to come.’

and went unto their tents] The expression is a survival from those times when the home was a tent. Cf. 2 Samuel 18:17; 2 Samuel 19:8.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 66. - On the eighth day he sent the people away [i.e., on the eighth day of the second feast, the "three and twentieth day of the month" (ib., ver. 10). The first impression is that the eighth day of the period of fourteen days is meant, but the context, to say nothing of the Chronicles, contradicts this. The feast of dedication began on the eighth day of the month Ethanim (ver. 2), and lasted until the fourteenth. The feast of tabernacles began on the fifteenth and lasted till the twenty-first. On the evening of the twenty-second, the "day of restraint" (Leviticus 23:36 marg.), he dismissed the people, who would depart to their homes next morning]: and they blessed [i.e., felicitated, saluted (on taking leave). Cf. Proverbs 27:14; 2 Kings 4:29; 1 Samuel 25:6, 14. Marg. thanked. See note on ver. 14] the king, and went unto their tents [i.e., homes - an archaic expression, dating from the times of the desert wanderings. Joshua 22:4; Judges 7:8; 2 Samuel 20:1; 1 Kings 12:16] joyful and glad of heart for an the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant [the real founder of the temple. Solomon had but carried out his ideas and had entered into his labours], and for Israel his people.



1 Kings 8:66

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Thus Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the neighbourhood of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, i.e., from the whole land in its fullest extent from north to south. "The district of Hamath," i.e., Epiphania on the Orontes, is mentioned as the northern boundary (cf. Numbers 34:8; Numbers 13:21; Joshua 13:5, etc.); and "the brook of Egypt" (מצרים נחל), Rhinocorura, as the southern boundary (cf. Numbers 34:8; Joshua 15:4). "The feast" (החג), which Solomon held with the people "seven days and seven days, fourteen days," is not the feast of the dedication, but, as in 1 Kings 8:2, the feast of tabernacles, which fell in the seventh month; and the meaning of the verse is, that on that occasion the feast of the seventh month was kept for fourteen days, namely, seven days as the feast of the dedication, and seven days as the feast of tabernacles. We are obliged to take the words in this way, partly on account of the evident reference to בּחג (at the feast) in 1 Kings 8:2 in the expression את־החג (the feast) in this verse, and partly on account of the statement which follows in 1 Kings 8:66, "and on the eighth day he sent the people away." The "eight day" is not the first day of the feast of tabernacles (Thenius); but the eighth day, as the conclusion of the feast of tabernacles, עצרת (Leviticus 23:36). The correctness of this view is placed beyond all doubt by the context in the Chronicles, which states more clearly that, "Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him ... and they kept עצרת (the closing feast) on the eight day; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days; and on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away." The feast of tabernacles lasted seven days, from the 15th to the 21st, with a closing festival on the eighth day, i.e., the 22nd of the month (Leviticus 23:33-39). This festival was preceded by the dedication of the temple from the 8th to the 14th of the month. The statement in 1 Kings 8:66, "on the eighth day he sent the people away," if we take the words in their strict sense, is at variance with the statement in the Chronicles, "on the 23rd day," since the eighth day of the feast of tabernacles was the 22nd day of the month; but it may easily be accounted for from want of precision in a well-known matter. Solomon sent the people away on the eighth day, i.e., on the afternoon or evening of the atzereth of the feast of tabernacles, so that on the morning of the next day, i.e., on the 23rd of the month, the people took their journey home, "joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to His servant David and to the people." David is mentioned, because the completion of the building of the temple was the fulfilment of the divine promise given to him. "Tents," for houses, as in 2 Samuel 10:1; Judges 7:8, and other passages.