| I Kings 8:27
| Is it then to be thought that God should indeed dwell upon earth? for if heaven, and the heavens of heavens, cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built?
| Earth. Full of admiration, he breaks out into this pathetic exclamation, wondering that God should deign to accept of what he had done; and that, by the symbol of his presence, he should engage to honour this temple in a more particular manner, and to shower down his graces with a more liberal hand on those who should there present themselves before him.. This wise prince was not ignorant that God's immensity fills all places. --- Heavens. We know not how many haveans the Jews admitted. We find, 1. the air, 2. the region of the stars, 3. the residence of God, thus specified; and this last is here denoted as the most excellent of all. St. Paul styles it the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2. The Basilidians counted as many heavens as there are days in the year. (St. Irenaeus 1:23.)
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