“and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.” – 1 Kings 8:5 NIV

They had finally finished the temple after 7 years of construction and are now sacrificing a crazy amount of animals. That brought me to the question of if it couldn’t be counted, did they go overboard? I’d argue no. The completion of the temple was a major milestone as it was the first time God had a proper place of worship. My brain immediately went to Luke 14 which says,

“And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” – Luke 14:27, 33 NIV

Material things do not matter in the grand scheme of things. We need to be able to deny ourselves of them and give them to Christ when he asks for them. I believe the ability for them to sacrifice an absurd amount of animals shows their hearts were truly focused on God and not on the material sacrifices they were losing in the process of that. We should also be willing to offer countless sacrifices for God.