Day 150: The Dedication of the Temple

 Today's readings: 1 Kings 8, Ecclesiastes 3-5, and Psalm 6. 

I. 1 Kings 8 recounts the dedication of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem and marks the moment when the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the Temple, symbolizing God's presence among His people. This is paralleled in 2 Chronicles 5-7.

II. Ecclesiastes 3 has the famous "For everything there is a season..." section, which has even been made into a song by the secular band The Byrds in the 1960s. This portion of Ecclesiastes essentially is teaching us how to live when we cannot understand or control what God is doing with our lives. We don't control everything that was created; God does.

In the next chapter, Qoheleth becomes rather dark. He tells us that God will ultimately judge injustice, yet in this fallen world, there is injustice for now: oppression, rivalry, loneliness, and the instability of worldly success.

Ecclesiastes 5 gives us what we need in this sinful world: to take God seriously, for He is eternal while we and wealth are not. Our relationship with God, money, and the things we think will make us secure are covered by Qoheleth.

The BIY Companion, Vol II, has some good commentary on this:

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the "preacher" considers the passing nature of happiness on earth. The takeaway: we should have plans rather than dreams. In other words, we should set out to do what we say we will do. Ecclesiastes tells us that if we love money, we will never be satisfied with it. Many people make huge salaries but have no life outside of their work. They keep working harder, though, because they want to make even more money. We need to examine our own lives to see if we have a similar mentality regarding anything of this world. (p. 62)

III. Psalm 6 is, as the Ignatius Bible notes (verse numbers removed):

A lament psalm that Christian tradition counts as one of the seven penitential psalms, along with Pss 32, 38, 52, 102, 130, 143. The Psalmist has done wrong and feels himself under God's judgment. Sickness is the divine discipline from which he pleads to recover with tears of repentance. (p. 836)

That's it for today!