12 Then Solomon said, O Lord, to the sun you have given the heaven for a living-place, but your living-place was not seen by men; 13 So I have made for you a living-place, a house in which you may be for ever present. 14 Then, turning his face about, the king gave a blessing to all the men of Israel; and they were all on their feet together. 15 And he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who himself gave his word to David my father, and with his strong hand has made his word come true, saying, 16 From the day when I took my people Israel out of Egypt, no town in all the tribes of Israel has been marked out by me for the building of a house for the resting-place of my name; but I made selection of David to be king over my people Israel. 17 Now it was in the heart of David my father to put up a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to David my father, You did well to have in your heart the desire to make a house for my name; 19 But you yourself will not be the builder of my house; but your son, the offspring of your body, he it is who will put up a house for my name. 20 And the Lord has made his word come true; for I have taken my father David's place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel, as the Lord gave his word; and I have made a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 In it I have made a place for the ark, in which is the agreement which the Lord made with our fathers, when he took them out of the land of Egypt.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Kings 8:12-21
Commentary on 1 Kings 8:12-21
(Read 1 Kings 8:12-21)
Solomon encouraged the priests, who were much astonished at the dark cloud. The dark dispensations of Providence should quicken us in fleeing for refuge to the hope of the gospel. Nothing can more reconcile us to them, than to consider what God has said, and to compare his word and works together. Whatever good we do, we must look on it as the performance of God's promise to us, not of our promises to him.