January 9, 2013 – 1 Kings 8 – 8:32

God comes down to the Temple and Solomon prays.  First a blessing of God.  Then he talks about the fulfilling of the promises that God made to David.  Then he ask that God forever dwell in this house.  But, he puts a big condition on that request.  God is only going to stay there if Israel abides by the laws of God.  It is an obvious condition, but still interesting that he puts it in there himself.  I also thought it was interesting that Solomon realizes that God cannot be contained in a house built on Earth by men, but that God bringing Himself and residing there is a humbling act of God.  It resembles the humbling act of God by coming to dwell in a human body in the form of Christ.  The cloud that God comes down in can be compared to the Spirit that overshadows Mary during the Assumption.  Both were events where God humbly comes down to dwell among His people.  Both He comes to a Temple (one of brick and mortar, one of flesh and blood).