1 Kings 8:63

63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

1 Kings 8:63 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:63

And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he
offered unto the Lord
Part of which belonged to the offerer, and with those Solomon feasted the people all the days of the feast of the dedication, if not of tabernacles also; for the number was exceeding large, as follows:

22,000 oxen, and 120,000 sheep;
which, as suggested, might be the number for all the fourteen days; nor need it seem incredible, since, as Josephus ^F2 says, at a passover celebrated in the times of Cestius the Roman governor, at the evening of the passover, in two hours time 256,500 lambs were slain; however, this was a very munificent sacrifice of Solomon's, in which he greatly exceeded the Heathens, whose highest number of sacrifices were hecatombs, or by hundreds, but his by thousands:

so the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the
Lord;
devoted it to divine and religious worship by these sacrifices: hence in imitation of this sprung the dedication of temples with the Heathens; the first of which among the Romans was that in the capitol at Rome ^F3 by Romulus; the rites and ceremonies used therein by them may be read in Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, and others ^F4.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3.
F3 Vid. Liv. Hist. Decad. 1. l. 1. p. s. & l. 2. p. 33.
F4 Vid. Hospinian. de Templis, l. 4. c. 2. p. 451. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 14.

1 Kings 8:63 In-Context

61 Let your heart therefore be loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day."

62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord.

63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

64 On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

65 At that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven more days--fourteen days.