FEAST OF TABERNACLES - DAY 2

Fred Coulter - October 12, 2003

And greetings, brethren. This is day two of the Feast of Tabernacles – 2003. And let’s just pick up right where we left off yesterday. And remember the theme is “The Beginning and the Ending”. Now we’re going to see through the Bible there are many different beginnings and many different endings having to do with different people and Israel, and Judah, and so forth. So let’s take a look at this and let’s see how they began going into the Promised Land.

Now we know how they began when they left Egypt. And what happened there, and the ending was that they had to wander for forty years. And the children of Israel, all that were over twenty, died in the wilderness as it says there in the book of Hebrews, and their carcasses were strewn in the desert because of their rebellion against God. So we come to the book of Joshua and let’s see how God told Joshua that it was going to be. This is the beginning of going into the Promised Land.

Now Joshua, you remember, was the one who took over from Moses, and he was the one that God appointed to do it. And so here’s what God told Joshua to encourage him. And He said… Let’s just begin right here in Joshua 1:5. “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” And that is an important thing to remember because it is so easy for people to start drifting away from God because they think that somehow God has forsaken them, or somehow God has failed them. But that is not the case. God will let us go through trials. God will let us go through tribulations to test us, to prove us, to know what’s in our heart. And that’s why when you read Deuteronomy 8 He said that that’s why He allowed them to hunger, to thirst, to wander through the desert – to test them, to prove them, to know what was in their heart. And so we’re going to see every time God begins something this is the way that He starts it. And we will see how it ended, and what happened to the children of Israel, and what happened to the children of Judah.

“Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.” As we saw - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee:…” (vs. 6-7). Now this is an important thing. Most people don’t even realize it. He didn’t say, “Be courageous and go fight against the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, etc., the Jebusites.” No, He said, “You be strong and courageous because it’s more important for you to do what I command you.” And that takes more courage than fighting. And that takes more courage than anything else. Now you can even see that in yourself and the world today. And you can see that in people around you. Many people are courageous to do different things. But to be courageous to follow God, to love God, now that’s another whole story.

Now He says, “…turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. [And] This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;…” It’s going to be part of your heart, part of your mind, part of the way that you run your life so that you can have wisdom, and judgment, and understanding, so you can serve the people. “…Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (vs. 7-8). Now here’s a key. Success comes from loving and obeying God. Success comes from God’s blessing. Not just the physical things and positive thinking that people can do. While that in a measure will help carnal people in the world to a certain degree. Here is the true substance of success and the true substance of courage.

Verse 9, “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God [will be] is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” And so the children of Israel started conquering with a high hand. They went into the land. Jericho fell. And then someone got a little greedy, didn’t they? And they went to the city of Ai. And because someone took some of the things from the city of Jericho then God was not with them, because you see the people didn’t obey God. And so the enemy was able to defeat them. And they cried and moaned and groaned and said, “Oh what’s happening? Where is God? Why isn’t He with us?” And God told Joshua, you know, “Don’t come and moan and groan to Me. You get the priest and you go find out what this was that happened.” And so they found one of those from the tribe of Judah that had taken the wedge of gold, which God said all of that was to be dedicated to Him. And after that then they began to have more success. They drove them out of the land. They finally with all the battles and everything, they were able to conquer the land, and they had rest, and they had peace. And just as God told Joshua that He would be with them all the days of his life. So that’s how it started out.

Now then we go through the cycle. Just like it was when they came to Mt. Sinai, the children of Israel didn’t want to hear the voice of God. So they said, “Ok, we’ll listen to a voice of man. Moses if you speak, we’ll obey.” Well likewise here, you see, after Joshua was gone, and after the elders after him died out, then the children of Israel again began to go against God’s way. And so all the way through this…let’s just read it here…Judges 2:10. For the reason that we’re kind of doing an overview and a survey here, is so we can look at the beginning and then we can look at the ending. And we can also look at the revival, and we can look at the fall. And we can see that within the beginning and ending of a major thing there are many little beginnings and endings and ups and downs and cycles that the children of Israel went through, and all you have to do is read the whole book of Judges and you’ll understand that’s what they did, time and time again. So one of the lessons we need to learn is this: will human nature ever learn? And the answer is: without the Holy Spirit it becomes nye on to impossible. Because there’s a way that seems right to God, which is the way that He gives to us through His commandments, through His righteousness, through His truth. However the way that seems right to a man is different than God’s way. And it seems right, and it seems good, and it seems attractive. And it does something that satisfies human nature, which is this: human nature likes to come along and say, “God, let me do this. Now I want to do something for you.” Or, “God, I think You’re a little harsh on those other gods out there. After all these are nice people. How could it be so bad since these people are so nice?” Or whatever the reason may be.

Now notice what happened. It says, “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers:…” Now, there’s a generational change. Now we’ve experienced a generational change in the church, haven’t we? And what did the church do in this generational change? So you can look back and you can look at the beginning of what we understand the Church of God in our time to be, and you can look at the end of what happened to that Church of God. When there was a generational change the same thing happened to the church as it did to the children of Israel.

Notice, “…and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD,…” Which means they didn’t keep His laws, they didn’t know God’s way. That which happened in Egypt was old history, “And we’ve heard them tell that story over, and over, and over again. Let’s have something new.” And of course all the Canaanites were there to say, “Yea, we’ve got something new for you.” So let’s see what happened. And they didn’t know “…the works which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:…” (Judges 2:10-11). But to them that seemed like a right and proper thing to do, because there’s a way that seems right to a man but the ends thereof are the ways of death. So there again you have the beginning and the ending. So here we have the beginning of forsaking God and we will see what followed over and over again.

“And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger” (vs. 12-13). Now you see God is stuck because He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would be with the children, that He would give them the land, that He would watch over them. But He also promised this: when you go back and read Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26, He also promised that if they didn’t obey there would be punishments, there would be curses, and so forth. And so here we have these little mini beginning and endings all the way through the history of Israel. “And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtoreth.” Just like saying going back to Sunday worship. Going back to the, as we would say the Catholic Church today, which is nothing but an extension of that because Baal is Nimrod, and Ashtoreth is Semiramis.

“And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies” (vs. 14). You see, it’s not how strong you are, it’s not how mighty you are, it’s not how much courage you may think you have, but if you don’t have the courage to love God and obey Him there is no way you’re going to defeat the enemy. Now we can learn a parallel from that in our spiritual lives too, can’t we? Yes. If we don’t love God, if we don’t serve Him, and if we’re constantly going to God and complaining, and we’re constantly going to God thinking that we can add something on better, which is going to help God we’re going to end up in the same way that the children of Israel did. See because they figured that in doing this that they could also be serving God. Just like we have today in the ecumenical movement. Human nature is no different. Satan the devil is no different. It’s just a matter of which part of the cycle that we happen to be in, or see, or observe. And remember, how many were faithful to the end? Moses and Joshua. Not even Aaron. He was hardly even faithful in the beginning. So there are a lot of lessons we can learn here. And these are things that we can project over, and when we understand what we’re going to be doing in the kingdom of God this will help us deal with human nature. And this is why God has called you to help Him rule the world. So it’s important that we understand these things.

So He sold them off into the hands of the enemy and guess what? They cried and boo-hoo’d and God had mercy. They came back, repented. God gave them a judge, a righteous judge to tell them do this, do that, do the other thing, and they did. And then as soon as that judge died - you can read the whole thing in the book of Judges – as soon as that judge died, guess what? They went right back to worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth. So here is the conclusion of it. Let’s come to the last verse of the book of Judges. Judges 21:25, and we will see that again because God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… Now let’s understand this: that God had bound Himself in covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the obedience of the children of Israel then, did not mean that God was going to completely forsake them and give up on them, but as He promised in the covenant that He made with them, if they disobeyed then they would have to go through the things that we’ve just covered here.

Now here comes the beginning of the next step. Let’s read it, Judges 21:25. “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Now a little later we’ll talk about the king of Israel, and we’ll see what it was that the children of Israel wanted with a king, and how that God went along with it. Now sometimes when we ask for something and we complain and moan and groan and gripe, God will give it to us. Now sometimes He will give it to us to teach us a lesson. And that’s exactly what He did with the children of Israel.

Well, needless to say… Let’s come over here to 1 Samuel, just a few pages over from there. And you know the story about Samuel, how Samuel was born, and he was taken to the house of God and he was dedicated because that was the vow that Hanna had promised – that if she would have a son, be able to have children, then she would dedicate him to the Lord. So that’s how Samuel came to be at the temple. And he was probably dedicated to the temple at two or three years old, whenever he was weaned. And then here we have a dovetailing of an ending and another beginning. We have in 1 Samuel, we have the ending of Eli and his two sons as being high priests, and the beginning of Samuel being the high priest and leader of Israel.

Now, let’s understand something very important concerning what God will do even to those things that He said are sacred and holy to Him. Now you know the account. God revealed to Samuel to tell Eli what was going to happen to him. This is the third chapter. We’re not going to go…we’re just doing an overview of this and come to certain key important things that we need to do.

Ok, let’s continue on here. So again there was war. Now it’s interesting. I want you to think of some of the parallels that we are looking at today. So there was war between Israel and the Canaanites, the Philistines. And so, because God said He would be with them, He would fight with them, but the priests had to take the ark and go before the army, and God would deliver them. Well, because of the sins of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas, when they took the ark and they went out to do that, they lost. Worse yet, the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant. Phinehas and Hophni were killed in battle. A messenger ran back and told Eli, and he fell back, hit his head on a stone and died, and fulfilled the prophecy of Samuel that they would die in one day. Let’s stop and think about it – if the people are not right with God and if the priest, or we can say today, the ministers are not right with God He’s going to take away even that which is thought of as being the most holy thing. Because God is interested in the heart, He’s interested in the mind, He’s interested in that you love Him and obey Him.

So Samuel was a good priest. Samuel was a good judge. Now all through his life the children of Israel followed God. Now as we come to the ending of his life, we saw how it began, now let’s see another ending and another beginning. As a matter of fact, another phase. So let’s begin here in 1 Samuel 8, and let’s see what happened. And let’s again see how the people reacted.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 1. “And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.” Now that was a mistake because his sons were not fit. Now we also have to understand here that his sons also made their own choices. And I think he probably figured, “Well, you know, maybe if I put them in here they’ll do good.” But they didn’t. Verse 3, “And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment” (1 Sam. 8:1, 3). So now again we have corruption.

“Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him,…” (vs. 4). “Now look, you’re old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (vs. 5, paraphrased). Now again, they wanted to have someone between them and God, and let God be further removed. Now they didn’t look at it that way. They looked at it, “Well, we’re solving this problem because Samuel’s sons are the way that they are.” “But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us” (vs. 6). So be careful what you ask. That’s the moral of the story. Because if you ask and you get your will, and it’s not God’s will it’s not going to work out right and there may be some things which come along as little burdensome penalties. Well, as we’re going to see they had a burdensome penalty here.

“And the LORD said unto Samuel [after he prayed to Him], Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (vs. 7). Now we’re going to see how does God solve this problem, because this is a very important thing. You have judges – they still sin. Now you have a king, and we’re going to find out that they sin. And just exactly as some of the judges sinned so did the king sin. So let’s see how this began. So we have the new era. He said, “Ok, go ahead and do it.” He said, “But I’m going to tell you something. He’s going to take your sons, and take your daughters, and going to take your horses, and your mules, and he’s going to also take another tenth. So if you want this I’m going to give it to you, but here is the burden you’re going to bear.” And they said, “Well, that’s good. We’ll take that.” And so they selected a king. And the king was Saul. And you know the story there. And you know what happened there. Let’s take a look at it. So we find that they had an ordination ceremony, and anointing of Saul as king.

Now let’s come to 1 Samuel 10:17. We’re going to see that God kept warning the people, kept warning the people. “And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh; and said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you: and ye have this day rejected your God,…” Now that’s something, isn’t it? That even though they rejected God, we’re going to see God said, “Alright, I’ll still work with you provided that…” And we’ll see what He says. “…Rejected your God, who Himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto Him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands” (1 Sam. 10:17-19). So that’s when they went ahead and installed Saul as king.

Now let’s come over here to chapter 12 and let’s pick it up here in verse 1. “And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day” (1 Sam. 12:1-2). And so here we have an ending, we have a beginning. Let’s see what happened. Now here’s the condition. Even though…let’s come over here to verse 13…even though they had a king God said “Alright…” “Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you. If ye will fear the LORD, and serve Him, and obey His voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God: but if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers” (vs. 13-15).

So he said again. Let’s come over here to verse 20. Now you see the pattern that we’re following all the way through. “And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart; and turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. For the LORD will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you His people. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king” (vs. 20-25). And we might add, “and the temple of God”. Because remember, God wanted the tabernacle to be built so He could dwell with them. And every time God wanted to dwell with His people they always said, “No, give us a little breathing room, God. Put a man here and let him tell us. Ok, so now put a king here and let him lead us.” And God said, “Alright, I’ll do that, but I still want you to love Me, and obey Me, and keep My commandments.”

Now then, you know what happened to Saul. Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing? You look at the whole cycle of everything, see how Saul started out. When he was little in his own eyes he was fine. Now then here we have again, human judgment. God told Saul, “You take the people, and you go down, and I want you to punish Amalek because I remember what he did when you came out of Egypt.” He said, “You go down and utterly destroy (1 Samuel 15) all that they have and spare them not – but slay man and woman, infant and suckling, ox, sheep, camel, and ass.” Well you know what happened there. They went on down and they started doing the killing and they thought, “Well now, boy, look at all these fine cattle, and all these sheep.” And everything like that. “Surely God would not want us to kill those. Why we can take those and we can offer them to God. Now that will make it right.” Well no, that wasn’t so.

Now here’s a good lesson. Here’s a good lesson. Let’s come over here to verse 19. Here’s what Samuel said to Saul. 1 Samuel 15:19, “Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?” Now they thought they were doing right. Of course again, they had their way of doing it separate from God’s way. Saul said, “Oh I’ve kept the commandment of the LORD, with a few modifications. Because the people, they wanted to have the cattle. They wanted to do this.” And so forth. And then lo and behold, now we’ve got Agag too. And God was the one Who said, “Kill everybody.” Because of what they did, that was God’s judgment. So they didn’t do it.

“Why have you done this?” Verse 20. “And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD,…” Now how many people out there, who have their own way, are still thinking, “Well, I’m obeying God.” “…And have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people…” Always got to blame someone else, don’t you? “But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God…” (vs. 20-21). You know, it’s just like some people saying, “Well, if I can’t get the Sabbath off, I’ll go ahead and work on the Sabbath and I’ll give to God what I make on that day.” Does God need that? No. He wants you to keep the Sabbath. But you see the same reasoning here.

Now verse 22, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?” Now how many times have we read, just in these two days, “Obey the voice of the LORD”? That’s what God wants. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,…” God doesn’t need those animals. God doesn’t need the sacrifice. “…And to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king” (vs. 22-23). And so, you know the ending of what happened to Saul. He had a worldly repentance. He says, “Oh, I’ve sinned, but oh please, will you come and worship with me publicly so the people won’t think bad of me?” So finally Samuel consented and did so. A little political gesture, as it were. And then aged Samuel had to finish the work that Saul was supposed to do. And he got his sword and had to hack up the king of the Amalekites, Agag.

And so then from that point God said that’s going to be the end of Saul. But it didn’t happen right away. It took a period of time. But in the mean while God says, “I’m going to select Me a king. Someone after My own heart.” So the next thing He did, He sent Samuel over to Jesse’s house and said, “Well, out of his sons, I’m going to select a king.” And that happened to be the one who was not there – David, out watching the sheep. God selected him at a young age. David started out great. David was doing marvelously. David, perhaps of all the kings of Israel, was the most obedient of all with the exception of, as God says, the affair with Uriah the Hittite and Bathsheba. So God blessed David. He fought against the Philistines. He fought against the Canaanites. Then he had his other sin – numbering Israel. When he numbered Israel he didn’t listen. And Joab told him, “No, you don’t need to number Israel.” He said, “You go do it anyway.” But he stopped numbering Israel and then God had to punish him. God had to intervene.

And so that’s how the place where the temple would be located came about. So then David sent to Kirjath-jearim to get the ark of the covenant, and he brought it into his own house. And there he had a little tent, and there he would worship God, compose his psalms and sing them to God. And then he decided he wanted to build a house for God. Now here again, here again, he wanted to do a work for God. And it seemed good, it seemed right. Now what a marvelous thing – David sitting there, you know, strumming on his instrument of ten strings, and being inspired to write the psalms and sing them and be able to see God in the sanctuary there where the ark of the covenant was – at least the Shekhinah or the presence of God. He said, “Oh, I’d like to build a house for God.”

Now let’s come here to 2 Samuel 7, and let’s see – whenever you have some good intentions, and even if God let’s you do it, is it the right thing? We can answer the question: only if you obey the voice of God. So God sent Nathan. 2 Samuel 7:1, “And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies; that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.” Just a little…, you know, how can God be honored with this so humble thing? It’s just cloth. Let’s do something greater. “And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee. And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying,…” (2 Sam. 7:1-4). And we’ll paraphrase it. You can read it. “Go and tell My servant David, that I’m going to build a house for him. But I will let his son build a house for Me, which will be the temple of God. But not him because he was a bloody man.” So you would think, you would think that after God had given the plans, which He did to David for the temple, everything to do in the temple. You would think, “My, what a fantastic and tremendous thing that this is.” And how much that this would help the children of Israel. It would give them a central place of worship. Now they have a king to govern them. Now there’s going to be a temple where God will place His name, and He will dwell there at the temple, and it will be beautiful, and it will be magnificent, and it will be something that all the people can look to and see, and surely they will all love God. And surely they will obey Him.

So now we have Solomon starting out. And he started out…let’s come here to 1 Chronicles, the last part of 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 28, and let’s see the instructions that David gave to Solomon. So here we again have an ending, and we have a beginning. And the moral of the story is: it’s not how you begin, but it’s how you end. So let’s see what happens.

1 Chronicles 28:8, “Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the LORD, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek…” Now notice again, every time there is a new beginning it starts out almost the same way, doesn’t it? Obey the voice of the LORD. Keep and seek. Be diligent. That’s what David is telling Solomon. “…Keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever. And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind:…” Now there’s a great lesson for us here. How can we do the work of God in our lives today unless we’re doing this too? “…For the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts:…” Now again, here’s this little word “…if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever.” Now we’ll see what happens to Solomon. “Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, an do it” (1 Chron. 28:8-10).

Now just come over here a couple of other verses and let’s see how similar this is to the instructions that God gave Joshua when they first came into the land. Now verse 19, “All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing [that is, all the plans so that you can use the silver, you can use the gold, you can use the iron, you know, and here’s how to make it.] …even all the works of this pattern.” So he had the plans. I guess, rolled up in a scroll, and here’s how to do it. “And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD” (vs. 19-20). And so that’s what happened. He finished it. He did it. It was a magnificent project. And they had a great dedication.

Now let’s come over here to 2 Chronicles 5 and let’s see what they had with the dedication. Now here Solomon started out wisdom, blessing, understanding, he was humble. He said, “Oh God…”, after God appeared to him in a dream and vision, and said “What do you want Solomon? Anything you want I will give you.” He said, “Give me an understanding heart that I may judge your people.” And He said, “Because you have asked for that, you have wisdom, you have understanding, and because you didn’t ask for wealth I’m going to give you that in abundance also.” So he started out great. Built the temple. That was finished. Then they had the dedication ceremony. And all Israel then would know that it was God Who put His presence into this temple.

Let’s come here to 2 Chronicles 5:11. And here’s what happened. “And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: also the Levites which were the singers, all of them [so it lists all of them and their brethren]…arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)…” And this happened on the Feast of Trumpets. “It came to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one [a great and fantastic dedication to God], to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD:…” Just like we saw yesterday when God put His presence in the tabernacle, likewise He repeats it here. And it was so much, “…so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God” (2 Chron. 5:11-14).

So here you have a great a great beginning, don’t you? Solomon is a good king, an wise king, a rich king, and God blessed them. And we’ll see how much God blessed them, and we’ll see what God gave them, and then we will see what was the ending.