Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
The cloud had just filled the house and driven the priests out, and Solomon's first words explain it: the God who came to fill His temple is the God who hides Himself. Why would God fill the house Solomon built for Him, and still stay out of sight inside it?
Darkness and the Closed Way In
The temple was no better than the tabernacle at the one point that mattered most: getting in. Yet Solomon's next words show he expected more.
H. L. RossierThis is what Solomon begins to establish in verse 12: "The LORD has said that He would dwell in thick darkness." The way of approach was not yet manifest. The order of things under the temple at Jerusalem was the same as under the tabernacle. The veil, even if it is not mentioned here, still stands (2 Chr. 3:14). Meanwhile Solomon knew this was not the last word in God's purposes. He had built Him a house, a fixed place, so that He might dwell there forever (v. 13).
Darkness as the Condition of God's Presence
In the wilderness God could live among a people as they were, but only if He stayed out of sight. That also meant they could not live with Him.
H. L. RossierAll around the temple, except at the entrance, were the side rooms where the priests lived. There was nothing like them in the tabernacle in the wilderness. There God was no doubt able to stoop down and dwell among a people according to the flesh, on condition that He would hide Himself in thick darkness. But there He could not allow man to come and dwell with Him. Man dwelling with God becomes real here under Solomon's glorious reign, and it will become real for us when the Lord brings us into the Father's house.
A Hidden God and No Certainty
Solomon's words meet a question people still ask: can I work my way into God's favour and know I have made it?
Frederick W. GrantWhen the temple was just built, and God came to take possession of it, the glory fills the building. What does it do then? Drives all the priests out. And Solomon says, "The LORD has said that He would dwell in thick darkness." If He dwells in thick darkness, what can you know about Him? If you, dear friends, are thinking of living for God to get into His presence, that is God's word for you. All the time the law lasted you saw His back and not His face.
Words a Christian Can No Longer Say
The phrase reaches back to Moses, who once stepped toward the darkness where God was. The words say how God dealt with people at that time. They do not say what God is in Himself.
W. W. FeredayThe words recall Exodus 20:21: "Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was." These passages show us the sharp contrast between knowing God as Lawgiver and knowing Him as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." No Christian could speak today as Solomon spoke. Moses and Solomon were very close to the God of Israel. Even so, they did not know Him as the humblest believer has the right to know Him now. God had not yet made Himself fully known. The only begotten Son, who is at the Father's side, had not yet come from heaven to make Him known (John 1:18)… "God is light" is another matter. Light is His nature. "In the light" and "in darkness" are terms that describe how He deals with people in different ages.
The Day the Cloud Did the Opposite
The scene at the temple has a counterpart. When God came to fill a house again, He drove no one out. The blood of Christ is the reason.
J. N. DarbyAll at once a rushing wind fills the whole house where they were sitting. It is like the cloud that filled the temple, so that the priests could not enter (1 Kings 8:11). But now men themselves were the tabernacle, and God was willing to dwell there. The blood of Jesus had cleansed them and made them fit to be the dwelling place of God through the Spirit… Instead of driving the priests away by His presence, God in His grace makes us His dwelling place!
The Distance Sin Had Made
Something built by human hands now stood on ground that sin had spoiled.
J. G. BellettIt was a wonderful thought. This earth is defiled and this world is in revolt. Yet something done or built here could invite the God of glory out of the distance into which sin had forced Him.
Summary
- Darkness named. Solomon is stating the terms of the old order: the veil still stood and the way in was not yet open.
- Darkness explained. Hiding Himself was the condition on which God could live among a people as they were — near them, but never with them.
- Darkness tested. If God hides, you can know nothing of Him. Working for acceptance leaves you seeing His back and never His face.
- Darkness dated. "In darkness" and "in the light" describe how God deals with people, not what He is. No believer today can speak as Solomon did.
- Darkness ended. A rushing wind later filled another house, and this time God drove no one out. The blood of Jesus made men themselves His dwelling place.