Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday, Solomon finished building the temple, and now he needs to furnish it.

Today, he and the Levites move all of the holy furniture, including the Ark of the Covenant,

from the Tabernacle to the Temple. There's a good chance he's heard stories about the time his dad, David,

caused a man to die while moving the Ark improperly, so he makes sure to transport it according to

God's laws, on poles, carried by priests. The priest deposit the Ark in the Holy of Holies, and pretty immediately

God's cloud of presence swoops in and fills the place. As the priests are trying to leave the

temple, they're falling over because they can't even stand in the midst of such a heavy

concentration of God's presence. Even though God is everywhere, he can certainly dial up the saturation when he wants to.

Then Solomon offers up a blessing, praising God for fulfilling his promise to David, and he also says,

The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house,

a place for you to dwell in forever. We kind of have to cut

Solomon off right there because technically, no, it's a nice thought that God would live in this

particular house forever, but that's never been God's plan. God never said that. Okay, moving on.

In 1st Kings 829, Solomon makes an interesting statement.

He says, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, my name shall be there.

There are two things we need to address in this verse.

First, he says God's name will be in the temple.

Not God himself, just his name?

Here's what we need to know about this. It was likely

Solomon's helpful way of clarifying that God was not contained in this house. By saying his name was there,

kind of like God had said about Jerusalem at large, he was saying God's character and blessing and

...