1 Kings 8:22-53--Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

1 Kings 8:22-53
English Standard Version

Solomon's Prayer of Dedication
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, 23 and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; 24 you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. 25 Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ 26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.

27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, 29 that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 30 And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

31 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, 32 then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

33 “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 34 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.

35 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, 36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

37 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 38 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, 39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), 40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

41 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake 42 (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, 43 hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

44 “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 45 then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

46 “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, 47 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 48 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, 49 then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause 50 and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51 (for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace). 52 Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. 53 For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God.”

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Solomon now prays to the LORD so that all the people of Israel could see and hear him.  He begins with adoration proclaiming that there is none like the LORD our God and then thanking him for fulfilling His word He had spoken to David.  Solomon then quotes the Word of the LORD back in prayer asking the LORD to confirm the Davidic covenant with him as the descendant of David who was currently sitting on the throne.

Solomon then realizes again that no house or temple can contain the LORD, but Solomon asks that the Name of the LORD would rest on this place and on His people, and that the LORD would hear whenever the people come to pray or even when they pray towards this place in faith that the LORD would hear them and answer them.

Solomon asks that this place would be a place where both the guilty and the innocent would be revealed and dealt with accordingly when they bring their sacrifices to the LORD, and a place for the corporate sin of Israel to be dealt with when they realize they have sinned because the LORD lets their enemies defeat them in battle.

Solomon also asks that this be a place the the people can come to repent when the LORD shuts the heavens and keeps the rain from falling to cause drought and famine for He promised that rain and good harvest would come year after year if His people were obedient to Him and these too are to get their attention.  Solomon likewise prays that the LORD would hear the people after He sends them pestilence and drought and blight to get their attention when they are sinning (we'll see a pattern of them falling into idolatry and sexual immorality among other sins and the LORD using all these means mentioned above to try to get their attention and to get the people to listen to the words of the prophets He would send to them).

Solomon calls on the LORD to hear the prayers of the foreigners that would come to visit the Temple, for he understood that the Word of the LORD was not just for Israel, but also for its Gentile neighbors.  He asks that when they came to the LROD by faith that the LORD grant every request they would make of Him so that they would know that the LORD was the true and living God and that there was none other than Him.  

Solomon asks that even if the Israelites must go far away into battle that they may be able to pray towards Jerusalem and the LORD would hear them.  Solomon even asks that the LORD hear the prayers of the people should He allow them to be taken captive and taken out of the Land (something that the LORD said would happen in the Law, but the people hoped would never happen to them).  We'll see that Daniel will pray towards Jerusalem three times a day while he was in captivity in Babylon, probably in accordance with this request that Solomon made.  So then, it seems that Solomon has covered all the bases to ask the LORD to always hear the prayers of the people, especially when they repent, no matter where they may be.  He asks for the LORD to forgive His people and have compassion on them, for they are the ones He has chosen, and called by His name, and they are the ones that He redeemed when He brought them up out of the land of Egypt.  He made them a nation and a people holy unto Himself and the only way they hope to be preserved to see the fulfillment of His covenant with them is if He is gracious and merciful, for they know that all sin deserves server judgment and all of them will sin against the LORD.  All they can do is pray that the LORD will forgive them when they not only sin accidently, but to forgive them when they intentionally rebel against the LORD and commit iniquity (if we are honest, I think all of us would say that we have moments when we intentionally rebel).

All of this that Solomon prays points forward to the need for a better King, a better High Priest, a better Sacrifice, and a better understanding of the good news that we call "the gospel of Jesus Christ."  Solomon could see enough to know that the people needed to repent and cry out to the LORD for forgiveness wherever they were and whether they were Jew or Gentile, that the LORD would hear them and forgive them, but he's missing the means by which this will be accomplished.  David seemed to get glimpses of this is the Psalms, but it seems that perhaps Solomon did not understand what his father David did.  To Solomon, it seems that all he understands the Davidic Covenant to be about is the physical kingdom, but we know that ultimately, Jesus will sit on the throne and He, the Son of David, will reign forever and ever.  His kingdom will be a kingdom without border and without end.