Chapter 8 of Melachim A is the chapter of the dedication of the Temple. The work of building has been completed, and now it is time to begin operating the Temple: to bring in the vessels, to raise up the Ark, to sanctify the courtyard and to inaugurate the Temple. In the chapter before us we will learn how this was done, what the secret of the Ark and its staves is, what the difference is between the resting of the Shechinah in the Mishkan and the resting of the Shechinah in the Temple, and why it was specifically Shlomo and not David who built the Temple.
אָז יַקְהֵל שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת־זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־כׇּל־רָאשֵׁי הַמַּטּוֹת נְשִׂיאֵי הָאָבוֹת לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם לְהַעֲלוֹת אֶת־אֲרוֹן בְּרִית־יְהֹוָה מֵעִיר דָּוִד הִיא צִיּוֹן׃ - Then Shlomo assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the children of Israel, to King Shlomo in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the covenant of Hashem from the City of David, which is Zion.
Why did Shlomo need all these distinguished men? Because it is not possible to make a courtyard or to add to it on one's own. The halachah, as we learned in the first Mishnah of Tractate Sanhedrin, is that the sanctification of the courtyard is done specifically by a court of seventy one. Therefore he gathered the elders of Israel and the heads of the tribes, who are the Sanhedrin. Without sanctification, this place is merely a building that you have built. What gives it its validity and its holiness? The sacrifices that were offered, the shofars that were sounded and the trumpets that were blown. They had an entire procedure for how one sanctifies the courtyard, so that the place would become a holy place in which the Shechinah could rest. Therefore, before bringing up the Ark from the City of David, Shlomo gathered the Sanhedrin.
וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה כׇּל־אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּיֶרַח הָאֵתָנִים בֶּחָג הוּא הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי׃ - And all the men of Israel assembled to King Shlomo in the month of the Eitanim, at the festival, which is the seventh month.
Note this: no one invited the men of Israel. Shlomo gathered only the elders, the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the ancestral houses. The nation did not need to be invited, for the moment they saw all the great ones of Israel setting out, all of Israel understood that they were about to witness a lofty event, and in the sense of who sees them going out and does not go out himself. They all came of their own accord.
What is the month of the Eitanim? This is the month of Tishrei. It is called this after the festival of the ingathering, in which the fruits and the grains are gathered into the home, and Eitanim is a term of strength, for the grains and the fruits strengthen a person's life. The Metzudat David adds another meaning of strength: in the month of Tishrei are found the strongest festivals, which straighten a person toward completeness: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret. The strongest festivals are concentrated in a single month, and therefore it is called the month of the Eitanim. And our Sages expound further: the month in which the Patriarchs were born, who are the mighty ones of the world. And the Targum translates 'בירחא דעתיקיא דקרן ליה ירחא קדמאה בחגא', the month that in the past was called the first month, for Tishrei was formerly first, and only following the Exodus from Egypt was it said 'this month shall be for you the first of months'.
And in whose honor did they gather? The verse says 'to King Shlomo'. There was not yet a mitzvah of pilgrimage here, and therefore one cannot say they came because of the festival. Rather, they wished to celebrate the festival in the holy city, and everyone wished to behold the pavilion that King Shlomo had made. For this reason they gathered on their own.
וַיָּבֹאוּ כֹּל זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּשְׂאוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים אֶת־הָאָרוֹן׃ - And all the elders of Israel came, and the Kohanim carried the Ark.
Our Sages teach that there are places in which the Kohanim, and not the Levi'im, carried the Ark, and these are the places where a higher level was required. Here the Ark is being brought into the Holy of Holies, into the Devir, and only the Kohen Gadol would enter there, and even he only once a year. The Kohen Gadol cannot do it alone, for the halachah is that the Ark is carried by four. And even though the Ark carries those who carry it, the halachah requires four. Therefore they take the four most sanctified ones, who are the Kohanim.
From here the Ralbag learned a principle: when repairs must be made in the Holy of Holies, they are not carried out by ordinary people, but rather they seek specifically those of the highest spiritual level and stature. And how did they repair the Holy of Holies? They had a box closed on three sides and open on the opposing side, which they would lower by rope from above, and the craftsman would descend inside it like a kind of elevator, with only the small part he was working on exposed before him. All this so that he would not feast his eyes on the sacred, that he would not gaze at the place of the Ark and the place of the Keruvim and the most sanctified places. He was wrapped on all sides, and repaired only the place that needed repair. We see in several places in Tanach that there was a need to strengthen the maintenance of the House, and Hashem made the Beit Hamikdash in a natural way that it would require repair, because this is our privilege: to repair and sanctify the House of our God.
וַיַּעֲלוּ אֶת־אֲרוֹן יְהֹוָה וְאֶת־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְאֶת־כׇּל־כְּלֵי הַקֹּדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר בָּאֹהֶל וַיַּעֲלוּ אֹתָם הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם׃ - And they brought up the Ark of Hashem and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred vessels that were in the Tent, and the Kohanim and the Leviim brought them up.
The Ark had until now been in a tent, in a curtain. David brought it there, and about this he said: Behold, the Ark dwells within a curtain while I dwell in a house of cedar. This is what aroused David to want to build a house for Hashem, and then Hashem told him that not he would build it but Shlomo his son. Now, after Shlomo built it, he brings the Ark into the Holy of Holies.
And what is the Tent of Meeting that they bring up? This is the tent that Moshe Rabbeinu built, and they stored it away. They bring it up together with all the sacred vessels that were in it in order to store them away in the upper chambers of the Beit Hamikdash. In the Mikdash, some of the vessels of the Mishkan were put into use and some were stored away: the Menorah, for example, was the same Menorah, whereas the copper altar was stored away, since it was no longer used but rather the great stone altar that stood in the center of the courtyard. Some of the vessels Shlomo made anew and some were stored away. And this is the meaning of the verse: the Tent of Meeting and the vessels were brought up by the Leviim, whereas the Ark, as stated, was carried only by the Kohanim.
וְהַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה וְכׇל־עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל הַנּוֹעָדִים עָלָיו אִתּוֹ לִפְנֵי הָאָרוֹן מְזַבְּחִים צֹאן וּבָקָר אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִסָּפְרוּ וְלֹא יִמָּנוּ מֵרֹב׃ - And King Shlomo and the entire congregation of Israel who were assembled to him with him before the Ark were sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted nor numbered for their abundance.
Earlier it said 'they gathered' and here it says 'assembled by appointment.' There are no two identical words in the Holy Tongue, and each word expresses a different matter. The Malbim explains: 'no'ad' means that a time was appointed for him and he was called to come, that is, a gathering by prior invitation. 'nik'hal' means that they came on their own without being invited. And see how precise the language of the verse is: 'the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him' are the elders and heads of the tribes whom he invited in the first verse with a special invitation, and therefore they were assembled to him. Whereas the people, of whom it is said in verse 2 'and all the men of Israel gathered to King Shlomo,' were not assembled by appointment but gathered, for they came and gathered on their own.
וַיָּבִאוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים אֶת־אֲרוֹן בְּרִית־יְהֹוָה אֶל־מְקוֹמוֹ אֶל־דְּבִיר הַבַּיִת אֶל־קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים אֶל־תַּחַת כַּנְפֵי הַכְּרוּבִים׃ - And the Kohanim brought the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem to its place, to the inner sanctuary of the House, to the Holy of Holies, to beneath the wings of the Keruvim.
The Keruvim that Shlomo made were in addition to the Keruvim that Moshe made. With Moshe there was the Ark and above it Keruvim spreading their wings upward, screening with their wings over the covering that is the lid of the Ark. Shlomo added Keruvim ten cubits in height, each five meters, that stood with their backs to the wall. One entering the inner sanctuary would see them spreading their wings: one wing touching the wall and one wing touching the wing of its fellow, and likewise the second, so that the four wings were spread from end to end. The Ark they brought in the middle, at the place where the wings kissed one another, which is the center of the Holy of Holies. And this is 'beneath the wings of the Keruvim,' the great Keruvim that Shlomo made.
The Malbim explains that the relationship of the Ark to the general body, which is the Beit Hamikdash, is like the relationship of the soul in the brain to the particular body, which is man. The soul has three aspects: its dwelling place and its location in the upper world, as we learned in Nefesh HaChaim that the source of the soul is in the upper world and it sends its light to the intellect, to the brain (while the spirit dwells in the heart); its being confined, as it were, within the brain, where the inner thoughts are and where the study of Torah is, which is the flashing of the light of the soul; and its influence upon the entire body, for all decisions and all thoughts are made in the main processor and from there are sent to the whole body.
This is exactly the case with the Ark. First, the Ark is like the soul in the supernal divine abode, so to speak in the upper worlds, and therefore it did not even occupy space, for the place of the Ark is beyond measure. Second, the influence of holiness that goes out from it within the Holy of Holies is like the soul confined within the body. Third, the holiness that goes out from there and influences the entire Temple and all of Israel is like the soul that resides in a person's thoughts and acts upon the entire body. All the divine flow that descends and unfolds comes through that Ark in the Holy of Holies, and from there sends its light across the entire world.
Therefore, says the Malbim, notice that these three levels are the three stages of raising the Ark described in the verse: 'to the inner sanctuary of the House,' which is the entrance that faces the Sanctuary, the outer part; 'to the Holy of Holies,' which is the inner part; 'beneath the wings of the Cherubim,' which alludes to the emanation of the supernal spiritual powers from which holiness descends and is drawn down to between the Cherubim.
כִּי הַכְּרוּבִים פֹּרְשִׂים כְּנָפַיִם אֶל־מְקוֹם הָאָרוֹן וַיָּסֹכּוּ הַכְּרֻבִים עַל־הָאָרוֹן וְעַל־בַּדָּיו מִלְמָעְלָה׃ - For the Cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the Ark, and the Cherubim covered the Ark and its poles from above.
As we saw, the wings of the Cherubim were made on a kind of hinge, so that they could be spread out. The Malbim says that here a miracle occurred: when the Ark arrived, the Cherubim raised their wings and covered over it. There is a state in which their wings are closed and a state in which they spread their wings, and here they spread them and covered over the Ark and its poles, which are the staves with which the Ark was carried.
וַיַּאֲרִכוּ הַבַּדִּים וַיֵּרָאוּ רָאשֵׁי הַבַּדִּים מִן־הַקֹּדֶשׁ עַל־פְּנֵי הַדְּבִיר וְלֹא יֵרָאוּ הַחוּצָה וַיִּהְיוּ שָׁם עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה׃ - The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside; and they are there to this day.
The poles are the staves with which the Ark was carried, made of wood overlaid with gold. One should not confuse this 'bad' with 'bad' meaning cloth, but rather like 'badei aravah,' which means willow branches, that is, staves. The poles were on the two sides of the Ark. In principle, when the Ark entered inside, the poles too could all have been within, since there was enough room along the length of the Holy of Holies, but they extended outward and protruded against the curtain like two breasts, in the language of the Gemara. Whoever looked from outside saw the bulge of the two poles.
And what does this express? That the supernal spiritual holiness within influences outward. There is the concept 'may her breasts satisfy you at all times,' and breasts always symbolize abundance and its outflow, for they are the source of the infant's nourishment through which it develops and grows. So too the protrusion symbolizes the spiritual flow that goes out from the Temple.
And the poles themselves are like the spinal cord: the spinal cord is straight and originates in the brain and sends sensations to the entire body. If, God forbid, the spinal cord is injured, a person becomes paralyzed, because the activity of the brain descends through the spinal cord to all the limbs. So too the poles, which are straight like the spinal cord, influence from within the Holy Place outward, to the Temple and to the entire nation. And as is known, even the power of procreation originates in the brain and passes through the spinal cord down to the foundation, and from there is the source of the seed, the influence being the influence of the brain. So too here: from the most exalted place, which is the Ark, a spinal cord goes out, namely the poles, which influence outward upon the entire nation.
אֵין בָּאָרוֹן רַק שְׁנֵי לֻחוֹת הָאֲבָנִים אֲשֶׁר הִנִּחַ שָׁם מֹשֶׁה בְּחֹרֵב אֲשֶׁר כָּרַת יְהֹוָה עִם־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּצֵאתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃ - There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone which Moshe placed there at Chorev, where Hashem made a covenant with the Children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
The Radak writes: this is proof that there were neither the broken tablets nor a Torah scroll in the Ark, and the ark that contained the Torah scroll was apparently placed in the treasuries of the House of Hashem together with the Tent of Meeting and the vessels. That is, in his opinion the Ark contained only the tablets that Moshe brought down the second time, since it is explicitly written 'there was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone.'
But Chazal cite a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Meir: Rabbi Yehuda says that the fragments of the broken tablets rested in the Aron, while Rabbi Meir says that the Torah scroll written by Moshe rested in the Aron. And this is difficult: we hold as a rule that a verse does not depart from its plain meaning, and here it is written in a way that leaves no room for argument: "there was nothing in the Aron except the two tablets of stone." An additional derasha on the verse is acceptable to us, but a derasha that contradicts the verse, how is that possible?
The Malbim says: whoever raises such an objection has not studied, has not understood, and has not tasted the flavor of the holy tongue. Chazal say that a limitation after a limitation comes only to include, and this in itself seems astonishing. If I said "no," then it is no, and if I said "no" twice, does that make it a yes? A father who tells his son "you are not going downstairs," and again "no, you are not going down," and the son goes down and says: you said it twice, and a limitation after a limitation comes only to include. On the face of it, the two instances of "no" are merely a strengthening of the negation.
But the Malbim explains it simply. Had the verse wished to say that there was nothing in the Aron but the two tablets, it should have said "there is nothing in the Aron ki im (except) the two tablets." For we never find in Scripture the word "rak (only)" coming after a negation; after a negation comes "im": "this is nothing ki im (but) the house of God," and not "this is nothing rak (only) the house of God." Likewise "by the life of Pharaoh, im (unless) you come out from here," meaning you shall not come out except when your youngest brother comes. The reversal of the negation is done with the phrase "ki im," without the word "rak." And when it is written "there is nothing in the Aron rak," the "rak" is an additional limitation, and a limitation after a limitation comes to include.
And how does it include? If I say "Reuven is not wise," you understand that he is foolish. And if I say "Reuven is not not-wise," you understand that he is wise. There you have a limitation after a limitation that includes. And so one should read the verse as a question of wonder: is there nothing in the Aron but the two tablets of stone? There is more. Had it wished to say only two tablets, it would have written "there is nothing in the Aron ki im (except) the two tablets of stone," or "in the Aron only the two tablets of stone." Why both "ein (there is nothing)" and "rak (only)"? Rather, to teach that there is not only two tablets in it but there are additional things, and about this they disputed: whether the additional item is the fragments of the tablets or the Torah scroll that was placed there. This is how Chazal learned verses, not the way we read them.
וַיְהִי בְּצֵאת הַכֹּהֲנִים מִן־הַקֹּדֶשׁ וְהֶעָנָן מָלֵא אֶת־בֵּית יְהֹוָה׃ וְלֹא־יָכְלוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים לַעֲמֹד לְשָׁרֵת מִפְּנֵי הֶעָנָן כִּי־מָלֵא כְבוֹד־יְהֹוָה אֶת־בֵּית יְהֹוָה׃ - And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Hashem. And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Hashem filled the house of Hashem.
The Malbim notes a difference between the Mishkan and the Mikdash. At the completion of the work of the Mishkan it says "and the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Hashem filled the Mishkan," meaning the glory within and the cloud outside. Whereas here both are within: both the cloud filled the house of Hashem and the glory of Hashem filled the house of Hashem.
And what is the difference? The indwelling of the Shechina in the Mishkan was not permanent. The Mishkan in itself is temporary, dismantlable, made of things that wear out and decay, and was meant to answer a temporary need until the Mikdash would be built. Therefore there the glory was revealed without its garment: the glory of Hashem within the Mishkan, and the cloud, which is as it were the garment, only above. This indicates that this is not a permanent place. In contrast, in the Mikdash the glory came with its garment, both together within the house, similar to the standing at Mount Sinai, about which it says "and Hashem descended in the cloud," for Hashem descended with the cloud, the glory with its garment.
The Malbim points out a further difference. In the Mishkan they first placed the Aron, then the vessels of the Heichal, the Table and the Menorah and the golden altar, and after them the vessels of the courtyard, and then "the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting." In the Mikdash it was the reverse: first the outer vessels, the vessels of the courtyard and the Heichal, and only at the end the inner Aron.
The reason: in the upper world the chain of emanation descends from above to below, from the more important to the less important. Thus the worlds are ordered: Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah. And so too in the human body: the intellect, then the brain, then the heart, and after them the rest of the limbs, and this is the path of influence. But in the lower world it works the opposite way, from below to above: inanimate, plant, animal, speaker. And not only in order but also in the manner of development: the inanimate is a vessel of development for the plant, the plant lives from the earth, the animal lives from the plant, and man lives from the animal.
In the Mishkan the Shechina did not dwell in a permanent manner below, but rather came to dwell among them from the upper world, like one who comes for a visit. And since it came from above, the sequence follows the way of the upper world: first the Aron, corresponding to the upper world and to the aspect of the intellect, then the vessels of the Heichal, corresponding to the middle world, and after them the vessels of the courtyard, corresponding to the lower world. But in the Mikdash the Shechina came to dwell a permanent indwelling in the earthly world, and therefore its action is done according to the earthly order, which is from below to above: first the lowlier vessels, after them the more elevated, and finally the Aron, which is the highest spiritual level.
אָז אָמַר שְׁלֹמֹה יְהֹוָה אָמַר לִשְׁכֹּן בָּעֲרָפֶל׃ בָּנֹה בָנִיתִי בֵּית זְבֻל לָךְ מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ עוֹלָמִים׃ - Then Shlomo said: Hashem said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built You a house of habitation, a place for You to dwell forever.
This is what Shlomo meant: from what I see, that the glory of Hashem dwells in the cloud and in the thick darkness, that the cloud covers the glory, I know that this is a permanent dwelling. Therefore, 'I have surely built You a house of habitation, a place for You to dwell forever,' I know that in this place the Shechinah will rest in a permanent manner. For in the Mishkan the cloud was only above and not within the house, while here the cloud filled the house of Hashem, and the glory of Hashem arrives when the cloud covers it.
וַיַּסֵּב הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־פָּנָיו וַיְבָרֶךְ אֵת כׇּל־קְהַל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכׇל־קְהַל יִשְׂרָאֵל עֹמֵד׃ - And the king turned his face and blessed the entire congregation of Yisrael, while the entire congregation of Yisrael stood.
The Radak notes that the text of the blessing itself was not written down, but the prayer that follows it was written, and we will see it further on.
וַיֹּאמֶר בָּרוּךְ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּפִיו אֵת דָּוִד אָבִי וּבְיָדוֹ מִלֵּא לֵאמֹר׃ - And he said: Blessed is Hashem, God of Yisrael, who spoke with His mouth to David my father, and with His hand fulfilled it, saying.
Shlomo gives thanks: the promise that Hashem gave to my father, He ultimately fulfilled through me. Hashem gave David precise details about the building of the house, but told him, 'Your son who will arise after you, he will build the house for My name.'
The Malbim says: the speech of the Creator brings the matter about immediately, as if the thing has already been done. When a person says he will do something, it may be done and it may not. But when the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks, His speech is His decree, and it is already in the category of action. However, all this applies to things that do not depend on beings of free choice. In matters that depend on a being of free choice, it is within his power, so to speak, to prevent what Hashem said, and this too is by His blessed will. And do not err: this does not mean that there is a force here that opposes His blessed will. The Holy One, blessed be He, created His world with clear rules of the game, and gave man the power of choice to do even things opposed to His will. His blessed will is that man observe the commandments, yet man has the power to transgress and to blaspheme and revile. And if Hashem had not wanted us to have this power, we would not have it. Likewise, the sitra achra is not a true force in creation, but rather a force that the Creator of the world established for the sake of balance and free choice and the receiving of reward, so that there would be in the world something that draws man toward evil, in order that man be able to receive reward for the good deeds that he does.
And should you say: it is still in the power of a being of free choice to prevent it, for had Shlomo decided to be wicked he would not have wanted to build the house. And indeed there were kings who had great destinies, and Yeravam had an immense destiny, yet he chose to serve idolatry and to cause Yisrael to sin. Concerning this the verse says 'and with His hand fulfilled it,' meaning the Holy One, blessed be He, moved my desires and my will to do His blessed will, as though He intervened even in free choice and inclined my will and my aspiration.
מִן־הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אֶת־עַמִּי אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם לֹא־בָחַרְתִּי בְעִיר מִכֹּל שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִבְנוֹת בַּיִת לִהְיוֹת שְׁמִי שָׁם וָאֶבְחַר בְּדָוִד לִהְיוֹת עַל־עַמִּי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - From the day that I brought My people Yisrael out of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Yisrael to build a house for My name to be there, but I chose David to be over My people Yisrael.
In this verse there is seemingly an internal contradiction. If you began with 'I did not choose a city,' you should have concluded 'and I chose Yerushalayim.' What has David to do here? Had it said 'I did not choose a king and now I have chosen David,' we would understand it (though even that is not precise, since He did choose Shaul), but 'I did not choose a city and I chose David' is not understandable in terms of the syntax of logic.
The Radak answers: I did not make known My choice of Yerushalayim until I chose David over My people Yisrael. In other words, 'I did not choose a city' means I did not reveal which city I had chosen, until I chose David, and then I showed him the place where I desired a house to be built for My name.
The Malbim adds: the unification of Yisrael depends on two things. The first is unification into a single body, and this comes about through Yerushalayim, as it says, 'Yerushalayim, built up as a city joined together to itself.' This does not mean, as some hold, the connection between eastern and western Yerushalayim, for the verse was said long before Yerushalayim was ever divided. 'A city joined together to itself' means the place that gathers all of Yisrael together, as the verse continues, 'for there the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord.' The city connects all the tribes. And there is an opinion among Chazal that Yerushalayim was not divided among the tribes: each tribe had its cities, but Yerushalayim was not registered in the deed under any particular tribe. In its origin it belonged to Yehudah and Binyamin, but the city itself was not registered in their names; rather it belonged to all of Yisrael, and everyone would go up to it for the festivals, and all had a share in it. Yerushalayim is therefore like the heart, which sends life and blood to all the foundations of the body, giving life to and gathering within it all of Yisrael.
The second thing is the kingship, the kingship of the house of David, which is a leadership encompassing all of Yisrael, as the verse continues, 'for there thrones were set for judgment, thrones for the house of David.' The kingship resembles the brain in the body, which sends out intellect and feeling, for the seat of the intellect is in the brain, and it gives life to the limbs. And above this is the Beit HaMikdash: if Yerushalayim is like the heart, the Beit HaMikdash is the more exalted place, like the soul. There the Shechinah dwells, there holiness rests, and from there flow influence and abundance to all of life.
And this is Shlomo's intent: until now we were in a state of being scattered and separated, we had no Yerushalayim. Now there is one city that unites all of Yisrael. 'I did not choose a city' and I did not choose a man to be ruler, and today both things have come about: I chose a man, David My servant, and I chose a city, Yerushalayim. And from now on it is possible to unite the people of Yisrael both through the city and through the kingship, the two things that make the people into a single unit.
וַיְהִי עִם־לְבַב דָּוִד אָבִי לִבְנוֹת בַּיִת לְשֵׁם יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Hashem, the God of Yisrael.
We have already expanded on this matter, and we will recall it briefly. The verse says that David fought the wars of Hashem, and the Holy One, blessed be He, told him: you shall not build a house for My name because you have shed much blood. Yet when Shlomo sends word to Chiram he says that his father did not build because he had no leisure, for he was occupied with wars all around. The Malbim asked: but this is not the reason that Hashem gave him. And we also asked: what does 'shed much blood' mean? He killed the enemies of Yisrael. If an attacker comes with explosives and someone shoots him, would we say to him 'you have shed much blood'? On the contrary, it is a mitzvah to destroy them, and his reward is immense, for he shields and protects Yisrael, and whoever saves a single Jewish life. How is this a reason for him not to build the house?
The Malbim answered: throughout the entire section dealing with the building of the house one expression recurs again and again: to build a house for the name of Hashem. Here too, 'to build a house for the name of Hashem, the God of Yisrael,' and likewise in verse 18, 'since it was in your heart to build a house for My name,' and in verse 19, 'he shall build the house for My name,' and in verse 20, 'and I have built the house for the name of Hashem, the God of Yisrael.' And the explanation is: without the house being built for the sake of Hashem, it has no virtue and no advantage at all, and the Shechinah will not rest in it at all. The entire virtue of the Beit HaMikdash is that the house is built for the sake of Hashem, and therefore 'for My name' recurs so many times.
And this is the reason David could not build. In the very building of the house there is protection for all of Yisrael, and an immense spiritual and physical abundance that descends and flows upon the people. And since David was immersed in wars with the enemies around him, there was a concern that a thought might slip into his heart: now we will have a Beit HaMikdash and we will have rest from our enemies, for in the merit of the house they will not be able to prevail against us. And then the 'for My name' is lacking. He builds and says it is for the sake of Hashem, but there is some feeling, subtle beyond examination, an inner sentiment that perhaps he does not even sense, that through the house we will have economic abundance (for David's era was not an era of abundance like Shlomo's era) and we will have quiet from our enemies (for in his days there were wars). Therefore Hashem told him 'you have shed much blood,' and the intent is not to condemn what happened in the past, but rather: since you are engaged in wars, it is not possible for you to go and build a house purely for the sake of Heaven.
But Shlomo, of whom it was said at the outset that Hashem gave him rest from all his enemies around and he dwelled securely, he is able to build a house for the sake of Hashem. He is not building so that he will not have wars, for he has no wars. And his era was a tremendous era of wealth, and all the kings of the earth would bring him tribute. Shlomo can build without any intention of economic prosperity resulting from the building mixing in. It will be a house purely for the sake of Hashem. And with David the goal indeed was for the sake of Hashem, the God of Yisrael, only there was a concern that some thought might slip in that was not entirely for the sake of Heaven.
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־דָּוִד אָבִי יַעַן אֲשֶׁר הָיָה עִם־לְבָבְךָ לִבְנוֹת בַּיִת לִשְׁמִי הֱטִיבֹתָ כִּי הָיָה עִם־לְבָבֶךָ׃ - And Hashem said to David my father: since it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.
The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: You did well with this desire. The very will to build a house for the sake of My name is so precious a merit in My eyes that I consider it as though you had built the Beit HaMikdash. This is what we mean when we say: a good intention the Holy One, blessed be He, joins to the deed. 'You did well that it was in your heart', the very desire itself. And what could David do, when he was compelled by the word given to him not to build. The desire itself is such a mighty thing that it is reckoned to him as though he had already built the house.
רַק אַתָּה לֹא תִבְנֶה הַבָּיִת כִּי אִם־בִּנְךָ הַיֹּצֵא מֵחֲלָצֶיךָ הוּא־יִבְנֶה הַבַּיִת לִשְׁמִי׃ - Only you shall not build the house, but your son who shall come forth from your loins, he shall build the house for My name.
The entire difference is that you in practice will not build. The desire is reckoned to you as though you had built, and the actual doing your son will carry out. 'Only you shall not build the house', only the act of building itself you will not do, and everything else is done by you and is reckoned to you as though you had built. And who will build? Your son who comes forth from your loins, Shlomo, who is a man of rest and therefore he is able to build.
וַיָּקֶם יְהֹוָה אֶת־דְּבָרוֹ אֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר וָאָקֻם תַּחַת דָּוִד אָבִי וָאֵשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהֹוָה וָאֶבְנֶה הַבַּיִת לְשֵׁם יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And Hashem has fulfilled His word that He spoke, and I have risen in the place of David my father and sat on the throne of Israel, as Hashem spoke, and I have built the house for the name of Hashem, God of Israel.
What does 'in the place of David my father' mean? By what merit did I rise? By the merit of being his replacement and filling the place of David my father. And by what merit did I have rest from enemies? By the merit of David my father, for everything that needed to be gone through my father already went through. And when I arrived, I received the kingdom ready and established, without fear of enemies and without economic troubles, all in order. And I sat in such a way that I had rest, and I built the house for the name of Hashem, God of Israel.
וָאָשִׂם שָׁם מָקוֹם לָאָרוֹן אֲשֶׁר־שָׁם בְּרִית יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר כָּרַת עִם־אֲבֹתֵינוּ בְּהוֹצִיאוֹ אֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃ - And I set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Hashem that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
I set a place for the ark, and that is the Dvir, the Holy of Holies.
The chapter opens with the gathering of the Sanhedrin for the consecration of the courtyard, and continues with the raising of the ark by the Kohanim to between the wings of the great Keruvim that Shlomo made. We learned the distinction between 'appointed' and 'gathered', the parable of the ark as the soul in the mind that influences the entire body and the staves as the spinal cord that conducts the flow outward, and the teaching of Chazal 'there is no limitation after a limitation except to include' from which they learned that in the ark there were also the fragments of the tablets or a Sefer Torah. We saw the difference between the Mishkan, in which there was glory without its garment and the order was from above to below in the manner of the upper world, and the Mikdash, in which the cloud and the glory of Hashem were together and the order was from below to above in the manner of the lower world, a sign that this is a permanent dwelling of the Shechinah: a foundation for Your dwelling forever. And finally we learned the two foundations of the unity of Israel, the city and the kingdom, and the secret of 'for My name' that recurs again and again: the entire greatness of the house is that it is built for the sake of Heaven alone, and therefore it was built specifically by Shlomo, the man of rest, while David merited that his pure desire be reckoned to him as a deed, for a good intention the Holy One, blessed be He, joins to the deed.