1 Kings 8:64
The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
The verse belongs to the history of the undivided kingdom under Solomon, recording part of the building and furniture of the temple and its dedication with prayer and sacrifices and the divine answer to Solomon's prayer, with the same events related in 2 Chronicles 1 to 9, which comes next in chronological order. It marks the period when Solomon subdued his enemies, organized his kingdom, and built and dedicated the temple, during which God greatly blessed his single-hearted devotion. The dedication of Solomon's temple at Jerusalem was held at the Feast of Tabernacles in the eleventh year of his reign, dated to 1020 B.C., and involved extensive sacrifices offered by Solomon and Israel.
The verse records that Solomon consecrated or set apart the middle of the court before the house of the LORD for worship and offerings because the bronze altar was too small to hold the large number of burnt offerings, meal or grain offerings, and fat of the peace offerings made at the dedication. Hallowing the middle of the court means setting many additional altars there and using more priests, with many offerings laid on one altar at once. About 10,145 offerings a day, about 845 an hour, were offered through fourteen days, a work carried on without difficulty with the great assembly and facilities at hand.
At the dedication Solomon and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the LORD, Solomon offering twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep for peace offerings. Solomon held the feast with all Israel, a great congregation from Hamath to the brook of Egypt, fourteen days, and on the eighth day sent the people away blessing the king and joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness the LORD had shown to David and to Israel. Solomon personally performed the sacrifices and consecrated the temple in the dedication, exercising duties associated with the priest's office, in a role compared with Moses' role in sanctifying the wilderness tabernacle. He continued to act as both king and priest by offering sacrifices and incense at the annual feasts and appointing the priests to their work.
Solomon's temple had two holy places and followed the same plan, vessels, and ministry as the tabernacle, showing it was a pattern of the heavenly temple. Its dedication included Solomon's prayer, which God answered by fire, and the sanctuary drew the attention of Israelites at home and abroad and pointed to the true tabernacle, where Christ performs His closing work as Mediator. The verse shows that the service God requires is not grievous or burdensome but joyful thanksgiving, as servants whose bonds the Lord has loosed offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving.