God Approves of His New Digs
- Just as Solomon finishes his speech, a huge ball of fire flies down from heaven and lights all the burnt sacrifices on fire. Nice touch.
- It's clear to everyone that "the glory of the Lord filled the Temple."
- The people at the festival start thanking God and Solomon offers more sacrifices. The priests, Levites, and temple musicians all sing God's praises. This Temple thing is really coming together.
- The people gather in the city and celebrate for two weeks because Solomon has finally finished what he set out to do—build a house for God.
- One night, God appears to Solomon for a second time.
- The Almighty confirms that he will in fact be residing in the Temple. Because he's in Jerusalem, people can always feel free to come in to chat.
- When the people sin and God is forced to show them who's boss (in the form of draughts, plagues, and pestilence), he lets Solomon know he'll be waiting for his apology in the Temple. If the people of Israel are humble and sorry about the things they've done wrong, God is totally willing to stop killing them with disease and famine.
- God promises to live in the Temple forever and that David's descendants will rule over Israel eternally.
- There's one catch. If the people of Israel turn their backs on God—by disobeying his laws or worshipping other gods—all deals are officially null and void.
- If that happens, God will throw them out of the land he's so generously given them and crush this new Temple to the ground.
- People might wonder why God would do this, but deep in their hearts they'll know the reason. They betrayed God and so he stopped taking care of them. It's that covenant thing.