In First Kings, chapter eight, verse thirteen, the fact that God lived in the temple did not mean that He dwelt in no other place, for God is everywhere, as in verse twenty-seven. God’s presence and glory would manifest uniquely in the temple in the same manner Christ’s presence with His people: Especially when they gather together in His name, as in Matthew eighteen, verse twenty.
Solomon saw this word of Jehovah realized in the filling of the temple with the cloud and learned that the Lord would dwell in this temple. Hence, being firmly convinced of the presence of Jehovah in the cloud, which filled the sanctuary, he adds the theme verse. However, it is to be explained partly from the contrast to the previous abode of God in the tabernacle, which from the very nature of the case, could only be a temporary one since a tent, such as the tabernacle was, is not only a moveable and provisional dwelling, but also a very perishable one, and partly from the promise given to David in Second Samuel seven, fourteen through sixteen, that the Lord would establish the throne of his kingdom for his seed for ever. This promise involved the eternal duration of the gracious connection between God and Israel, which embodies the dwelling of God in the temple. The contact was an eternal one, even if the earthly form, from which Solomon at that moment abstracted himself, was temporal and perishable.
Solomon had spoken these words with his face turned to the Most Holy Place. In First Kings eight, verse fourteen, he turned his face to the congregation standing in the court and blessed it. Then in the following verses fifteen through twenty-one, he praises the Lord for having fulfilled with His hand what He spoke with His mouth to his father David in Second Samuel chapter seven.