The King at the Altar Text: 2 Chronicles 1:1-6
Introduction: The First Business of a Kingdom
When a new administration takes over, what is the first order of business? In our day, it is a flurry of executive orders, a press conference to manage the narrative, and a strategic plan for the first one hundred days. The first business of man is business. The first business of the politician is politics. The first business of the secularist is to make sure God is kept securely locked away in the private closet of personal preference, where He can do no public harm. The world believes that power is secured through strength, wealth, and political maneuvering. Get your hands on the levers of power first, and then, if you have time, you can think about the gods.
The Bible presents us with an entirely different, and frankly, an entirely sane, model of reality. The book of 2 Chronicles opens with the consolidation of Solomon’s kingdom. After the turmoil of David’s later years and the attempted coup by Adonijah, the kingdom is now firmly in Solomon's hands. And what is his first public, national act? It is not a tax plan. It is not a foreign policy speech. It is not a building project. His first act is to lead the entire nation to the place of sacrifice to worship Yahweh. Solomon understood a foundational principle that our generation has utterly forgotten: a kingdom is established at the altar. All legitimate human authority flows from a right relationship with the ultimate authority. All lasting peace and prosperity are byproducts of right worship. If you get your worship right, God will take care of your politics. If you get your politics wrong, it is almost certainly because your worship was wrong first.
This passage is a lesson in the grammar of a godly society. It shows us that true strength is not autonomous. True leadership is covenantal. And true prosperity begins with extravagant, wholehearted, public worship. Solomon’s reign begins where all things must begin, before the face of God, at the place of blood atonement.
The Text
Now Solomon the son of David strengthened himself over his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him and highly exalted him.
And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households.
Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place which was at Gibeon, for God’s tent of meeting was there, which Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness.
However, David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.
Now the bronze altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out.
And Solomon went up there before Yahweh to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.
(2 Chronicles 1:1-6 LSB)
God's Presence, God's Exaltation (v. 1)
We begin with the foundational statement of the entire chapter.
"Now Solomon the son of David strengthened himself over his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him and highly exalted him." (2 Chronicles 1:1)
The first clause says Solomon "strengthened himself." This was an act of his own will. He took hold of the reins of the kingdom that God had promised to him. This was not passivity. He actively secured his throne, dealing with the threats posed by Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei as his father David had instructed him. He was being a king. But the verse does not stop there, and this is the crucial part. His self-strengthening would have been nothing more than the brutish power grab of any pagan princeling were it not for the second and third clauses.
"And Yahweh his God was with him." This is the secret. This is the engine of history. The presence of God is the determining factor in any human endeavor. Joseph was successful because the Lord was with him. David was successful because the Lord was with him. And Solomon is established because Yahweh is with him. This is the principle of Immanuel, God with us, which is the central promise of the entire Bible. Without God's presence, our finest efforts are wood, hay, and stubble. With God's presence, faithful obedience becomes an instrument of divine power.
Because God was with him, God "highly exalted him." Notice the sequence. Solomon acts in faith, God accompanies him with His presence, and God does the exalting. Man does not truly exalt himself. God is the one who raises up and puts down. Solomon’s rival brother, Adonijah, said "I will be king," and exalted himself. His exaltation lasted for about a day. Solomon strengthens himself by seeking God, and God establishes him permanently. This is the great reversal of the gospel: humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and He will exalt you in due time (1 Peter 5:6).
Corporate Worship at the Historic Site (v. 2-3)
Solomon’s first move demonstrates his understanding that he is not a king in a vacuum. He is a covenant king.
"And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households. Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place which was at Gibeon, for God’s tent of meeting was there..." (2 Chronicles 1:2-3 LSB)
This is not a private devotional. Solomon gathers the leadership of the entire nation. He understands that the health of the kingdom depends on the spiritual orientation of its leaders. He is leading the leaders. This is a corporate, public, national act of worship. He brings the military commanders, the judiciary, the civil leaders, and the heads of families. He is knitting the nation together by directing their collective attention toward Yahweh.
And where do they go? They go to Gibeon. Why? Because that is where the original "tent of meeting," the tabernacle of Moses, was located. This is a deliberate act of historical continuity. Solomon is not inventing a new religion. He is not a modernist looking for a more relevant way to worship. He is taking the nation back to its roots. He is anchoring his brand new administration in the ancient, established patterns of worship given by God to Moses in the wilderness. This is conservatism in the truest sense of the word: conserving the good things God has revealed.
Now, the mention of a "high place" should get our attention. Usually, high places are where the pagans conducted their detestable rites, and they were supposed to be torn down. But this high place was, for a time, sanctified by the presence of God's tabernacle. It was a legitimate, though temporary, place of worship. This situation itself points to the need for what Solomon was about to do: build a permanent house for God, the Temple, to centralize and purify the worship of Israel.
A Tale of Two Tents (v. 4-5)
The Chronicler then inserts a crucial detail that reveals the state of Israel’s worship at this time.
"However, David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim... for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. Now the bronze altar, which Bezalel... had made, was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out." (2 Chronicles 1:4-5 LSB)
Here we have a fascinating separation of holy things. The Ark of the Covenant, which represented the very throne and presence of God, was in a tent in Jerusalem. David, in a zealous and good-hearted act, had brought the presence of God into the political capital. But the Tabernacle and its main piece of furniture for dealing with sin, the bronze altar, were miles away in Gibeon. You had the throne of God in one place and the place of atonement in another. The worship of Israel was disjointed.
Solomon’s task, the great work of his reign, will be to unite them. He will build a magnificent Temple in Jerusalem to house both the Ark and the Altar. He will bring God's presence and God's provision for sin together under one roof. But before he can build that house, he must first honor the arrangement as it stands. He goes to Gibeon because that is where the altar is. He knows that you cannot approach the throne of a holy God without first dealing with sin at the place of sacrifice. The way to God’s presence is through blood atonement. There is no other route.
The mention of Bezalel is another anchor to the past. This is the very altar made by the Spirit-filled craftsman at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 38). Solomon is connecting his reign to the Mosaic covenant. He is demonstrating that he stands in a long line of faithfulness. And they "sought it out." This was not a casual trip. The Hebrew word is darash, which means to inquire, to seek with purpose. They went looking for the altar.
Extravagant Consecration (v. 6)
What Solomon does at the altar is staggering.
"And Solomon went up there before Yahweh to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it." (2 Chronicles 1:6 LSB)
He performs this act "before Yahweh." This is the audience that matters. This is coram Deo leadership. His concern is not public opinion, but divine approval.
And the offering is one thousand burnt offerings. A burnt offering was unique in that the entire animal, except for the skin, was consumed on the altar. It was wholly given to God. It represented total consecration, a complete surrender. To offer one was a significant act. To offer one thousand is an act of breathtaking, lavish, almost reckless devotion. This is not the calculated worship of a man trying to do the bare minimum. This is the hot-hearted worship of a man who is overwhelmed by the majesty and grace of the God he serves. He is not trying to bribe God. He is responding to the God who has already established him and promised to be with him. This is responsive gratitude on a national scale.
This act of worship is the foundation stone of his kingdom. Before he asks for wisdom, before he builds the temple, before he engages in diplomacy, he consecrates himself and the nation to God in this massive, public, and costly act. He is teaching all Israel, and us, that a nation's greatest resource is a right relationship with God, established through sacrifice.
The Greater Solomon is Here
This story is not just about Solomon. It is a signpost pointing to a greater King. Solomon had to travel to Gibeon to find the altar, and then return to Jerusalem to be near the presence. The worship was divided. But we have a greater Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has united these things perfectly and permanently.
Jesus is the true Ark of the Covenant, the very presence of God dwelling among us, Immanuel. And He is also the true Altar and the ultimate Burnt Offering, the one who offered Himself up completely, once for all, to make atonement for our sins. In Christ, the presence of God and the sacrifice for sin have met. The Temple is no longer a building made with hands; the Temple is Christ Himself, and by extension, His people, the church.
Solomon’s first act was to lead his people to the altar. Our first act, and our continual act, must be to come to the cross. All our strength, all our wisdom, all our prosperity flows from that place. And what is our response to be? Solomon’s thousand burnt offerings should shame our stingy, convenient, half-hearted worship. He gave lavishly because he had a high view of God. Our view of God has been shaped more by the therapeutic culture of self-esteem than by the fiery holiness of Sinai.
We are called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, our own version of the burnt offering (Romans 12:1). This means a total consecration of our lives, our families, our work, and our worship, holding nothing back. When we gather for public worship, it should be the high point of our week, a deliberate seeking of the altar, a joyful and extravagant offering of praise to the God who was with us, and who, in Christ, has highly exalted us to sit with Him in the heavenly places.