⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD. ⁵And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. =5.= _twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep_] These high numbers appear also in 1 Kings. ⁶And the priests stood, according to their offices; the Levites also with instruments of music¹ of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks unto the LORD, for his mercy _endureth_ for ever, when David praised by their ministry: and the priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood. ¹ Or, _for the song of the LORD_. =6.= This verse, which is characteristic of the Chronicler, does not appear in 1 Kings. _instruments of music of the LORD_] margin, =instruments for the song of the LORD=. Compare 1 Chronicles xxiii. 5; Amos vi. 5. _the priests sounded trumpets_] Compare v. 12. ⁷Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat. =7.= _the fat_] Specially mentioned as the choice part of the sacrificial victim, a part never to be eaten but always to be burnt. Leviticus iii. 16, 17. _peace offerings_] See note on 1 Chronicles xvi. 1. _the brasen altar which Solomon had made_] Compare iv. 1; 1 Kings ix. 25. _meal offering_] an offering consisting of fine flour mixed with oil and frankincense. Compare Leviticus ii. 1‒7. ⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt. =8.= _the feast_] i.e. the Feast of Tabernacles (see note below on _seven days..._, verse 9). _from the entering in of Hamath_] See note on 1 Chronicles xiii. 5. _the brook of Egypt_] i.e. not the Nile, but the stream called _Shihor of Egypt_ in 1 Chronicles xiii. 5 (see note). ⁹And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly¹: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. ¹ Or, _closing festival_. =9.= _a solemn assembly_] margin, =a closing festival=. In the later stage of ritual, which is represented in the Priestly Code, an eighth day, to be observed as an holy assembly, was added to the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus xxiii. 36; Numbers xxix. 35). The earlier custom terminated the festival on the seventh day, and the people went away on the eighth (Deuteronomy xvi. 13, 15).