I Kings 8:54-61--Solomon's Benediction

1 Kings 8:54-61
English Standard Version

Solomon's Benediction
54 Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. 55 And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. 57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, 58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. 59 Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, 60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. 61 Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

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Solomon knows that the LORD has been faithful and the people have a history of being unfaithful, and the only chance that the people have of keeping the commandments of the Mosaic covenant (which is good, and which Solomon acknowledges that the LORD has never broken), is for the LORD to enable and cause them to be obedient against their natures.  Solomon asks the the LORD would continue to be with them as He was with their fathers and that He would never leave them or forsake them.  These are the words that the Commander of the LORD's Army (that's Jesus) gave to Joshua in Joshua 1:5, and Solomon asks that this still be true today for His people Israel.  The author of the book of Hebrews say that God surly still says this to His people in Hebrews 13:5 and is a reason that we can be content with whatever He has given us, because we have Him and need nothing us.,

Solomon knows that he will need the LORD to remember this request night and day every day because Solomon knows he will need the LORD's help every moment of every day.  You may know the hymn titled "I Need Thee Every Hour."  I think that was what Solomon was feeling here.  He was faced with a task that he knew was impossible for him to do alone or in his own power, and he knew his own heart and how he was prone to sin, and yet he was supposed to be the example of righteousness for the nation to follow.  In some areas, he's going to do okay, but in other areas, he will not not heed the warnings given by the LORD through Moses in the Law.

Solomon knows why this is so important though and it goes beyond just the people of Israel.  Solomon is one of the people in the Old Testament that we can point to that knew for sure that the message that the LORD had given to Israel was meant for all the nations of the world to hear (see verse 60).  He sees that even his prayer is among those words that the peoples of the nations need to hear, because they need to know that we need the LORD's provision every moment of every day, and that we have no hope of obeying Him and experiencing His blessings unless He first does something within us to cause us to be obedient.

Solomon then pleads with all who will listen to him that day to make their hearts devoted only to the LORD and to not give their hearts to any other gods.  They are to prove their love to Him by keeping all of His commandments and statutes that He has given them in His holy Law, and they are to live in a way that shows they have been set apart and that bring glory to Him and shows even a glimpse of who He is since they are a people who are called by His Name.  So we who are called "Christians" and take the name of being "Christ-like" upon ourselves should also love the Lord and keep His commandments (John 14:15) and live in such a way where we too will be holy and blameless because He made us that way (there are lots of New Testament references for this, but I'm primarily thinking of the book of Ephesians when I say this).  Ephesians also tells us that we are being built together and built up to be a temple whose purpose is not that different from the one that Solomon built so that we are indwelt by Him, but also so that everyone who looks on it from the outside can see how great the LORD must be, yet all the "good stuff" that was covered in gold was on the inside of Solomon's Temple and the world never got to see that--only the priest that ministered before the LORD (that's also us according to the book of Romans, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter) got to see that.  Our lives should want people on the outside (those who are not saved) to want to take a look at what's on the inside, but they can only see that by becoming part of the royal priesthood of believers.  So we are to be salt and light and call for everyone from every nation to come and see and "taste" that the LORD is good and let them know that salvation and eternal life are freely given to all who would repent and believe in the finished work of Christ by faith.  Solomon didn't have a full picture of the mission or message at the time the Temple was built, but he knew enough to know the message was for the whole world.  Jesus told us that too when He gave us The Great Commission, so we need to be taking the gospel to everyone both near and far.  No longer is the expectation for the world to come to the Temple, because now we are the Temple of the Lord, and we go out to them.