A psalm of David, which he wrote for the day of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple
David wanted to build a Temple for Yehovah, but was told that the work was to be done not by him, but by his son. So David took ‘great pains’ and made preparations on a vast scale for the building work to be done by Solomon. He prepared the site for the Temple, turning the top of Mount Moriah into a flat surface, ten times the size of a soccer field, supported by a substructure, with tunnels, chambers, and cisterns running beneath the Mount itself. He collected three and a half thousand tons of gold, thirty-four thousand tons of silver, and vast quantities of bronze, iron, costly wood and noble stone. He received the plans for the building under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He organized the Levites into guilds of singers to praise the name of Yehovah – something never envisaged by his predecessors. And he wrote this psalm, and the other Songs of Ascents that bear his name, for the liturgy of the ark’s entry to the Temple.
It was not given to David to see the great day of dedication, yet all the Temple and its ministry was his vision. It was not given Moses to enter the land, but he led his people to the border. It may not be given us to complete the work, but we are not free to neglect it.
David Mitchell
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