And Solomon sacrificed a sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he sacrificed to Jehovah, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.
Solomon has finished his prayer. Now the new temple must pass into God's hands, and blood marks the handover — on a scale Israel had never seen. So why does dedicating a house to God need sacrifice at all? And why these offerings?
Dedication was not just a ceremony. It cost blood. One writer states the rule, then points past it to a greater sacrifice:
The dedication of the temple required sacrifice. Anything dedicated to the Lord must come with sacrifice. This was true even of the Lord Jesus, when He was consecrated to God soon after His birth (Luke 2:22-24). The sacrifice then spoke of His own sacrifice, which is infinitely more valuable than 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep.
The peace offering was the one sacrifice everyone shared. That sharing is its meaning:
But apart from His claim, the peace offering was for communion in joy, not at all for making atonement. It was thanksgiving. It was not for Aaron and his sons, like the grain offering. It was for the united joy of all who took part: the LORD, the priest, the offerer and his guests.
So the house opened with a shared meal, not with atonement. Another writer says what these offerings pointed to:
These were peace offerings. They speak of the fellowship between God and the people, brought about by the sacrifice of Christ. That sacrifice made the way clear for God to dwell with mankind, as the temple illustrates.
The numbers grew too big for the altar itself:
On this day come countless sacrifices: burnt offerings, grain offerings, and peace offerings (v. 64). Joy and fellowship fill the whole scene. As peace offerings alone Solomon offers 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. The bronze altar was too small for all these offerings, so he sets apart the middle of the court for the sacrifices.
One writer sets that day's count beside what animal blood could never do:
The sacrifices of that day almost stagger the imagination — 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. The altar was very large, but there were too many sacrifices for it... Yet we read in Hebrews 10:4, "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Oh, the value of the one offering of the Lord Jesus. On a single day, by the offering up of Himself, He settled the whole dreadful question of our sins once and for ever. "For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). We are now God's worshippers, cleansed once and for all (Hebrews 10:2).
The verse does not say Solomon dedicated the house. It says the king and all the people did. The size of the offering matched the size of the nation:
"King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen" — the nation was so very great that a thousand would not do now — "and 120,000 sheep."
The timing matters. The dedication fell during the last of Israel's festivals, and one writer reads that setting as a picture of a future rest:
Final indeed, for the dedication of the temple takes place during the great days of the Feast of Tabernacles. That feast closes the series of Jewish feasts (Leviticus 23)... It was the symbol pointing ahead to the marvellous reign of Christ. Then the people will live in joy and safety in their tents, remembering the testings in the wilderness, which are past forever. It speaks of the joy of that coming reign, after the forty years of discipline the people brought on themselves by rebellion.
Yet the peak did not hold:
This was the high point of Israel's splendour and glory. That glory soon faded, and Israel will never win it back until the Lord Jesus takes His place as King of Israel. Then the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former (Haggai 2:9).
- Cost. Dedicating anything to God takes sacrifice — the temple, and the Lord Jesus Himself, consecrated to God soon after His birth.
- Communion. The peace offering was the sacrifice all shared. The LORD, the priest, the offerer and his guests had joy in one victim.
- Overflow. The offerings outgrew the altar, so Solomon set apart the middle of the court — abundance that no altar could hold.
- Contrast. 142,000 animals in one day could not take away sins; one offering of Christ settled the question once and for all.
- Shared. King and people dedicated the house together — a picture of the coming reign when the people's joy and their King's glory meet.
The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah; for there he offered the burnt-offerings, and the oblations, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Jehovah was too small to receive the burnt-offerings, and the oblations, and the fat of the peace-offerings.
Solomon's dedication day ends with a problem of plenty. The offerings were so many that the bronze altar could not hold them, so the king set apart the middle of the courtyard for sacrifice. Why does a king consecrate ground, and what does an altar that proves too small tell us?
Notice who acts. Not the high priest, but Solomon. One writer traces this back to a promise given long before, when God said He would raise up a faithful priest who would walk before His anointed:
The king, not a priest, now. How is that? It is exactly what is predicted at the beginning of 1 Samuel — that it would not be merely the anointed priest now, but another anointed. He would raise up a faithful priest before the Lord's anointed. Zadok is the type of that faithful priest, but here is another anointed — a greater anointed. In the days before the kings, the great anointed one was the priest; but when the king was established he takes the superior place — the clear type of Christ. The priest retires into a secondary place.
The verse names burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. The fat matters most here. No one ever ate it. It went up in fire as God's own portion. One writer warns against reading that as a picture of our devotion:
It was neither our good offered up, nor our bad put to death. It was the inward energy of Christ Himself — the perfect and lasting ground of communion for God and His family. For God's grace would have His children enjoy a common portion with Himself. And the special aim of the peace offering is to show how the sacrifice of Christ secures this blessed fellowship for us.
No one could dedicate the house without sacrifice. The scale of these offerings points to what they picture:
The dedication of the temple required sacrifice, just as anything dedicated to the Lord must come with sacrifice... These were peace offerings. They speak of the fellowship between God and the people that the sacrifice of Christ accomplished. That sacrifice makes the way clear for God to dwell with mankind, as the temple illustrates. When these were offered, the house was dedicated. At the same time Solomon consecrated the middle of the court for the offering of these sacrifices, because they were too many to offer on the copper altar.
The overflow is the point. The appointed altar had a fixed size; the offerings did not.
And yet this staggering total achieved less than we might assume. One writer sets the day's numbers against the letter to the Hebrews:
The sacrifices of that day almost stagger the imagination — 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. The altar was very large, but not big enough for so many sacrifices. So "the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord," and there they killed and burned the animals. Yet we read in Hebrews 10:4, "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Oh, the value of the one offering of the Lord Jesus. On a single day, by the offering up of Himself, He settled the whole dreadful question of our sins once and for ever.
The altar was too small for the offerings. The offerings were too small for sin. Then One came whose single offering never needs repeating.
The record in Chronicles covers the same moment. It adds something Kings leaves out:
First the cloud had appeared. Now the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. And the glory of the Lord filled the house. Nothing is mentioned of this answer by fire upon the sacrifices in the book of Kings. And now all the children of Israel saw the fire and the glory of the Lord. They bowed down and worshipped, praising the Lord and saying... "He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever." So in a future day all Israel will see the glory of the Lord and the coming Lord in glory, and will worship Him.
- King. The king consecrates the ground, not the priest. The priest steps into second place, and the pattern of Christ appears.
- Fat. God's portion is not our devotion offered up. It is the inward energy of Christ — the ground on which God and His family share one portion.
- Overflow. The offerings outgrew the altar, so the king consecrated the court itself. Fellowship with God was too large for one vessel to hold.
- Limit. Even so, bulls and sheep by the thousand could not take away sins; one offering, on one day, did what this whole day could not.
- Glory. Chronicles adds the fire and the glory filling the house. All Israel will yet see such a day and worship the Lord as good, whose steadfast love endures forever.