1 When King Solomon had finished these works, these large and beautiful buildings, and had laid up his donations in the temple, and all this in the interval of seven years; and had given a demonstration of his riches and eagerness in it; so much that anyone who saw it would have thought it must have been an immense time before it could have been finished; and would be surprised that so much should be finished in so short a time: short I mean if compared with the greatness of the work: he also wrote to the rulers, and elders of Hebrews, and ordered all the people to gather themselves together to Jerusalem, both to see the temple which he had built; and to remove the ark of God into it. And when this invitation of the whole body of the people to come to Jerusalem was everywhere carried abroad, it was the seventh month before they came together: which month is by our countrymen called Thisri; but by the Macedonians Hyperberetæus. The feast of tabernacles happened to fall at the same time: which was celebrated by the Hebrews as a most holy and most eminent feast. So they carried the ark, and the tabernacle which Moses had pitched, and all the vessels that were for ministration to the sacrifices of God, and removed them to the temple.⁠a The King himself, and all the people, and the Levites went before, making the ground moist with sacrifices, and drink-offerings, and the blood of a great number of oblations; and burning an immense quantity of incense; and this till the very air itself everywhere around was so full of these odours, that it met, in a most agreeable manner, persons at a great distance; and was an indication of God’s presence: and, as mens opinion was, of his habitation with them in this newly built and consecrated place. For they did not grow weary either of singing hymns, or of dancing, until they came to the temple. And they carried the ark in this manner. But when they should transfer it into the most secret place, the rest of the multitude went away; and only those Priests that carried it set it between the two cherubims: which embracing it with their wings, for this was how the craftsman had shaped them, they covered it as under a tent, or a cupola. Now the ark contained nothing else but those two tables of stone that preserved the ten commandments, which God spoke to Moses in mount Sinai; and which were engraved upon them. But they set the candlestick, and table, and the golden altar, in the temple, before the most secret place, in the very same places in which they stood till that time in the tabernacle. So they offered up the daily sacrifices. But for the brazen altar, Solomon set it before the temple, opposite the door: that when the door was opened, it might be exposed to sight, and the sacred solemnities, and the richness of the sacrifices might be from there seen. And all the rest of the vessels they gathered together, and put them within the temple. 2 Now as soon as the Priests had put all things in order about the ark, and were gone out, there came down a thick cloud and stood there, and spread itself, after a gentle manner, into the temple: such a cloud it was, as was diffused, and temperate: not such a rough one as we see full of rain in the winter season. This cloud so darkened the place, that one Priest could not discern another: but it afforded to the minds of all a visible image, and glorious appearance of God’s having descended into this temple, and of his having gladly pitched his tabernacle in it. So these men were intent upon this thought. But Solomon rose up, (for he was sitting before) and used such words to God as he thought agreeable to the divine nature to receive, and fit for him to give. For he said, “You have an eternal house, Lord, and such a one as you have created for yourself out of your own works: we know it to be the heaven and the air, and the earth, and the sea, which you pervade: nor are you contained within their limits. I have indeed built this temple to you and your name; that from there when we sacrifice, and perform sacred operations, we may send our prayers up into the air; and may constantly believe that you are present, and are not remote from what is your own. For neither when you see all things, and hear all things, nor now, when it pleases you to dwell here, do you leave the care of all men; but rather you are very near to them all: but especially you are present to those that address themselves to you, whether by night or by day.” When he had thus solemnly addressed himself to God, he converted his discourse to the multitude; and strongly represented the power and providence of God to them. How he had showed all things that were come to pass to David his father: as many of those things had already come to pass; and the rest would certainly come to pass later. And how he had given him his name, and told to David what he should be called before he was born: and foretold that when he should be King, after his father’s death, he should build him a temple: which since they saw accomplished according to his prediction, he required them to bless God; and by believing him, from the sight of what they had seen accomplished, never to despair of anything that he had promised for the future, in order to their happiness; or suspect that it would not come to pass. 3 When the King had thus discoursed to the multitude, he looked again towards the temple, and lifting up his right hand to the multitude, he said, “It is not possible by what men can do to return sufficient thanks to God for his benefits bestowed upon them. For the Deity needs nothing: and is above any such requital. But so far as we have been made superior, Lord, to other animals by you, it becomes us to bless your majesty; and it is necessary for us to return you thanks for what you have bestowed upon our house, and on the Hebrew people. For with what other instrument can we better appease you, when you are angry at us, or more properly preserve your favour, than with our voice? Which as we have it from the air, so we know that it ascends upwards through that air towards you. I therefore ought myself to return you thanks in this way, in the first place concerning my father; whom you have raised from obscurity, to so great glory; and in the next place concerning myself; since you have performed all that you promised to this very day. And I beg you for the time to come to afford us whatever you, God, have power to bestow on such as you do esteem; and to augment our house for all ages, as you have promised to David my father to do, both in his life-time, and at his death; that our Kingdom shall continue, and that his posterity should successively receive it to ten thousand generations. Do not therefore fail to give us these blessings, and to bestow on my children that virtue in which you delight. And besides all this, I humbly beg you that you will let some portion of your spirit come down and inhabit in this temple; that you may appear to be with us upon earth. As to yourself, the entire heavens, and the immensity of the things that are in them, are but a small habitation for you: much more is this poor temple so. But I beg you to keep it, as your own house, from being destroyed by our enemies for ever: and to take care of it as your own possession. But if this people are found to have sinned, and are then afflicted by you with any plague, because of their sin; as with dearth, or pestilence, or any other affliction which you use to inflict on those that transgress any of your holy laws; and if they flee all of them to this temple, beseeching you, and begging of you to deliver them; then hear their prayer, as being within your house, and have mercy upon them, and deliver them from their afflictions. Moreover this help is what I implore of you, not for the Hebrews only, when they are in distress; but when any shall come here from any ends of the world whatever, and shall return from their sins, and implore your pardon, then pardon them, and hear their prayer. For this will teach everyone that you yourself were pleased with the building of this house for you; and that we are not ourselves of an unsociable nature, nor behave ourselves like enemies to such as are not of our own people; but are willing that your assistance should be communicated by you to all men in common; and that they may have the enjoyment of your benefits bestowed upon them.” 4 When Solomon had said this, and had cast himself upon the ground, and worshipped a long time, he arose up, and brought sacrifices to the altar: and when he had filled it with unblemished victims, he most evidently discovered that God had with pleasure accepted of all that he had sacrificed to him. For there came a fire running out of the air, and rushed with violence upon the altar, in the sight of all; and caught hold of and consumed the sacrifices. Now when this divine appearance was seen, the people supposed it to be a demonstration of God’s abode in the temple, and were pleased with it; and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. Upon which the King began to bless God, and exhorted the multitude to do the same; as now having sufficient indications of God’s favourable disposition to them: and to pray that they might always have similar indications from him; and that he would preserve in them a mind pure from all wickedness, in righteousness and religious worship; and that they might continue in the observation of those precepts which God had given them by Moses: because by that means the Hebrew nation would be happy; and indeed the most blessed of all nations among all mankind. He exhorted them also to be mindful, that by what methods they had attained their present good things, by the same they must preserve them sure to themselves, and make them greater and more than they were at present. For that it was not sufficient for them to suppose they had received them on account of their piety and righteousness; but that they had no other way of preserving them for the time to come. For that it is not so great a thing for men to acquire something which they lack, as to preserve what they have acquired; and to be guilty of no sin, by which it may be hurt. 5 So when the King had spoken thus to the multitude, he dissolved the congregation: but not till he had completed his oblations, both for himself, and for the Hebrews. So much that he sacrificed twenty and two thousand oxen; and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. For then it was that the temple did first of all taste of the victims; and all the Hebrews with their wives and children feasted in it. Besides this, the King then observed splendidly and magnificently the feast, which is called the feast of tabernacles, before the temple, for twice seven days; and he then feasted, together with all the people. 6 When all these solemnities were abundantly satisfied, and nothing was omitted that concerned the divine worship, the King dismissed them; and they everyone went to their own homes: giving thanks to the King for the care he had taken of them, and the works he had done for them; and praying to God to preserve Solomon to be their King for a long time. They also took their journey home with rejoicing, and making merry, and singing hymns to God. And indeed the pleasure they enjoyed took away the sense of the pains they all underwent in their journey home. So when they had brought the ark into the temple, and had seen its greatness, and how fine it was, and had been partakers of the many sacrifices that had been offered, and of the festivals that had been solemnized, they everyone returned to their own cities. But a dream that appeared to the King in his sleep informed him, that “God had heard his prayers; and that he would not only preserve the temple, but would always abide in it; that is, in case his posterity, and the whole multitude, would be righteous. And for himself, it said, that if he continued according to the admonitions of his father; he would advance him to an immense degree of dignity and happiness: and that then his posterity should be Kings of that country of the tribe of Judah, for ever. But that still, if he should be a betrayer of the ordinances of the law, and forget them, and turn away to the worship of strange gods, he would cut him off by the roots; and would neither allow any remainder of his family to continue; nor would overlook the people of Israel, or preserve them any longer from afflictions; but would utterly destroy them with ten thousand wars and misfortunes; would cast them out of the land which he had given their fathers, and make them sojourners in strange lands; and deliver that temple, which was now built, to be burnt and spoiled by their enemies; and that city to be utterly overthrown by the hands of their enemies; and make their miseries deserve to be a proverb; and such as should very hardly be credited for their stupendous magnitude: till their neighbours, when they should hear of them, should wonder at their calamities, and very earnestly enquire for the occasion, why the Hebrews, who had been before advanced by God to such glory and wealth, should be then so hated by him? And that the answer that should be made by the remainder of the people should be, by confessing their sins, and their transgression of the laws of their country.” Accordingly we have it transmitted to us in writing, that thus God spoke to Solomon in his sleep.