Read: 1 Kings 8
We skipped over chapter 7, where Solomon builds a palace for himself. It also contains some additional details on the furniture in the temple.
In this chapter, Solomon dedicates the temple with a prayer. Wow, what a prayer! Solomon acknowledges God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises to David and asks Him to continue to do that. He realized that Israel was going to fail to keep their commitments to God and wanted God to forgive them when they turned from their sin and prayed. He also saw that people who are not Israelites would come to worship God when they saw how God blessed Israel.
We can pray similar things, but don’t need a temple. God dwells in us and is ready to keep His promises and forgive and attract other to Himself through us.