Sacrifices
and God’s Answer to Solomon; 1 Kings 9
When
Solomon finished his prayer he blessed the assembly. What 1 Chronicles points
out is that there is fire from heaven and it consumes the offering that he has
made, and that is not mentioned in this particular chapter. We read in verse 63
that Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings. That is important because
the peace offering pictures the peace, the reconciliation and the fellowship
between the nation Israel and God. The people who brought the peace offering
were to eat the meat of the offering and that would provide sustenance for
them.
In
Leviticus chapter seven we have the law of the peace offering. Leviticus 7:11 NASB
“Now this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which shall be
presented to the LORD.” Then he talks about each of the different kinds of
animals that would be offered. [12] “If he offers it by way of thanksgiving,
then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes
mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes {of well}
stirred fine flour mixed with oil…. [15] Now {as for} the flesh of the
sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten on the day of
his offering; he shall not leave any of it over until morning. [16] But if the
sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten
on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it
may be eaten; [17] but what is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the
third day shall be burned with fire.”
The
rumen is also known as the fermentation vat or paunch and it forms the larger
part of the first chamber in the digestive tract of ruminant animals. Ruminants
include cattle, goats, sheep, camels, bison, deer and antelope. It serves as a
primary site for microbial fermentation of ingested feed. So the food is mixed
with saliva and separates into layers of solid and liquid material. Solids
clump together to form the cud. The cud is then regurgitated, chewed slowly to
completely mix it with saliva and to break down the particle size. Plant fibre,
especially cellulose, is primarily broken down by microbes so that it can be
utilised by nutrition. Protein and non-structural carbohydrates are also
fermented.
The
law of Moses allowed only the eating of animals that
had split hooves and swallowed their food multiple times. They chewed the cud.
This distinction between clean and unclean animals approximately falls
according to whether the animal ruminates. Te word “ruminate” in English means
something else as well. A close relation to rumination is apparent in many
English translations of the Bible which use the word “cud” in an expanded sense
to indicate food that is re-chewed through rumination and again swallowed and
is also a word used for meditation, that which we have been taught from the
Word of God and we ruminate on it, we chew it over again and again in our minds
so that it strengthens our belief and reinforces the fact that Christianity is
a thought system. The Old Testament was based on thinking, not on the absence
of thinking.
As
we wrap up chapter eight there is one thing we need to emphasize, and that is
throughout this prayer Solomon us referencing to “your people,” God’s people,
and “your people Israel.” At the end there is the sacrifice, and then when it
is over with we read in 9:1 NASB “Now it came about when Solomon had
finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all that
Solomon desired to do, [2] that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as
He had appeared to him at Gibeon.” In chapter 9 of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles
chapter seven we are going to get God’s answer to this prayer.