Built, 961 B.C. to 950 B.C.
"Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nation whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.
And David found favor in God's sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him."
Acts 7:44-47
"Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of April... that he began to build the house of the Lord."
1 Kings 6:1
Messages from Solomon to King Hiram of Tyre:
Hiram had been a friend of David.
"You know that David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars which surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.
But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. And behold, I intend (Lit. say) to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying 'Your son, whom I will set on the throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.'"
1 Kings 5:3-6
"Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God dedicating it to Him, to burn fragrant incense before Him, and to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, for Sabbaths and on new moons and on the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, this being required forever in Jerusalem.
And the house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense (Lit. offer up smoke) before Him."
2 Chronicles 2:4-6
"Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite."
2 Chronicles 3:1
Construction Materials: stone, cedar and cypress timber, gold.
The Foundation
"Then the king commanded, and they quarried great stones, costly stones... to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones."
1 Kings 5:17
"And the house... was built of stone... and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built."
The Walls
Stone covered with beams and planks of cedar.
The Inner Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies
"Then he prepared an inner sanctuary with the house in order to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord... and he overlaid it with pure gold... And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until the house was finished. Also the whole altar which was by the inner sanctuary, he overlaid with gold."
1 Kings 6:19, 22
"Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, 'Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.'
So Solomon built the house and finished it."
1 Kings 6:11-14
"Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things dedicated by his father David, the silver and the gold and the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord."
1 Kings 7:51
The Dedication of the Temple
"Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion...
Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils, which were in the tent of priests and the Levites brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen they could not be numbered.
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark... There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeh, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
And it came about when the priests came from the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord."
2 Chronicles 5:11-14
"Then Solomon said, 'The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. I have surely built Thee a lofty house, a place for Thy dwelling forever.' Then the king faced about and blessed the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. And he said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand saying, "Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel."'
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven..."
1 Kings 8
Solomon's Prayer
"O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who art keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Thy servants who walk before Thee with all their heart... But indeed will God dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heavens of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house I have built!
Yet have regard to the prayer of Thy servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Thy servant prays before Thee today; that Thy eye may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which Thou hast said, 'My name shall be there,' to listen to the prayer which Thy servant shall pray toward this place.
And listen to the supplication of Thy servant and of Thy people Israel, when they pray toward this place, hear them in heaven Thy dwelling place, hear and forgive... For Thou hast separated them from the peoples of the earth as Thine inheritance, as Thou didst speak through Moses Thy servant, when Thou didst bring out fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord God."
1 Kings 8
"Now O my God, I pray Thee, let Thine eyes be open, and Thy ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, to Thy resting place, Thou and the ark of Thy might; let Thy priests, O Lord God be clothed with salvation, and let Thy godly one rejoice in what is good."
2 Chronicles 6:40, 41
"Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, 'Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.' Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord..."
2 Chronicles 7:1-4
"...My House shall be a house of prayer."
Isaiah 56:7
God's Reply
"Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, 'I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will heal their land.
Now My eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer of this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked even to do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, "You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel."
But if you turn away... and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and the house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, "Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?" And they will say, "Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their father, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore He has brought all this adversity on them."'"
2 Chronicles 7:12-22
Afterwards:
In the ensuing 300 + years there was much "turning away." First of all Solomon!
"Now King Solomon loved may foreign women... from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, 'You shall not associate with (lit. go among) them, neither shall they go among you, for they will surely turn you heart away after their gods.' Solomon held fast to them in love...
For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not complete with devotion to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father...
And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord... built a high place (for detestable idols) on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem... thus he also did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods...
Now God was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel... 'Because you have done this... I will surely tear the kingdom from you...'"
1 Kings 11:1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11
After Solomon there was a succession of many different kings, some evil, some who sought to return to God - and for short periods of time the people repented. But the final outcome?
"And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young male or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. And all the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasure of the house of the Lord... he brought them all to Babylon. Then they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its fortified building with fire, and destroyed all its valuable articles. And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths... to fulfill 70 years."
2 Chronicles 36:15-21
Jeremiah wrote a letter of hope to the exiles.
"For thus says the Lord God, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you... and I will restore your captivity and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you... and I will bring you back to the place where I sent you into exile.'"
Jeremiah 29:10-14