1-kings 9:2

The Lord appeared to Solomon - The design of this appearance, which was in a dream, as that was at Gibeon, was to assure Solomon that God had accepted his service, and had taken that house for his dwelling-place, and would continue it, and establish him and his descendants upon the throne of Israel for ever, provided they served him with an upright heart; but, on the contrary, if they forsook him, he would abandon both them and his temple.

This appearance is fixed by 1 Kings 9:1 to Solomon's twenty-fourth year, the year in which he completed his palace 1 Kings 6:37-38; 1 Kings 7:1. The fact seems to be that, though the temple was finished in Solomon's eleventh year, the dedication did not take place until his twenty-fourth year. The order of the narrative in Kings agrees with this view, since it interposes the account of the building of the palace 1 Kings 7:1-12, and of the making of the furniture 1 Kings 7:13-51, between the completion of the building of the temple 1 Kings 6:38 and the ceremony of the Dedication 1 Kings 8.