22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: |
23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart: |
24 Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. |
25 Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. |
26 And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. |
27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? |
28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: |
29 That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. |
30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive. |
31 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: |
32 Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. |
33 When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house: |
34 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. |
35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: |
36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. |
37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; |
38 What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: |
39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) |
40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. |
41 Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; |
42 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house; |
43 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name. |
44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name: |
45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. |
46 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; |
47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; |
48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: |
49 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, |
50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: |
51 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: |
52 That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. |
53 For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD. |
54 And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. |
55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, |
56 Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. |
57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us: |
58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. |
59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require: |
60 That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else. |
61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day. |
8 The chief men of Israel called together, Ki1 8:1-2.
The ark fixt in the most holy place, Ki1 8:3-9.
God takes possession of it by a cloud, Ki1 8:10-12.
Solomon tells the people the occasion of their meeting, Ki1 8:13-21.
The prayer of dedication, Ki1 8:22-53.
He dismisses the assembly with a blessing and an exhortation, Ki1 8:54-61.
Offers abundance of sacrifices, Ki1 8:62-66.
8:22 Stood - Upon a scaffold set up for him in the court of the people, Ch2 6:13.
8:24 Hast kept - That branch of thy promise concerning the building of this house by David's son.
8:25 Keep - Make good the other branch of thy promise.
8:27 But will - Is it possible that the great, and high, and lofty God should stoop so low, as to take up his dwelling amongst men?The heaven - All this vast space of the visible heaven.And heaven, etc - The third and highest, and therefore the largest heaven,called the heaven of heavens for its eminency and comprehensiveness.Contain - For thy essence reacheth far beyond them, being omnipresent.Much less - This house therefore was not built as if it wereproportionable to thy greatness, or could contain thee, but only thattherein we might serve and glorify thee.
8:28 Yet - Tho' thou art not comprehended within this place, yet shew thyself to be graciously present here, by accepting and granting my presentrequests here tendered unto thee.
8:29 Open - To behold with an eye of favour. My name - My presence, and glory and grace. This place - This temple, to which Solomon didnow look, and towards which, the godly Israelites directed their looksin their prayers.
8:30 In heaven - Which he adds to direct them in their addresses to God in this temple, to lift up their eyes above it, even to heaven, whereGod's most true, and most glorious dwelling - place is. Forgive - The sinsof thy people, praying, and even of their prayers; which, if not pardoned,will certainly hinder the success of all their prayers, and the course ofall thy blessings.
8:31 Trespass - If he be accused of a trespass.Laid on him - Either by the judge, or by the party accusing him, or bythe accused person himself: which was usual, when there were no witnesses.Thine altar - For here God, who was appealed to as witness, was especiallypresent. Hence the Heathens used to swear at their altars.
8:32 His way - The just recompence of his wicked action.Give him, etc - To vindicate him, and manifest his integrity.
8:33 Confess - Give glory to thy name, by acknowledging their sins, and by justice; and by accepting the punishment of their iniquity; and bytrusting to thy power and goodness alone, for their deliverance.
8:35 Heaven - The lower heaven in which the clouds are.Shut up - Heaven is compared to a great store - house in God's keeping,out of which nothing can be had, so long as it is close shut up.
8:36 Good way - The way, of their duty, which is good in itself; and both delightful and profitable, to those that walk in it. Give rain - Theorder of Solomon's prayer is very observable; first and chiefly, heprays for their repentance and forgiveness, which is the chief blessing,and the only solid foundation of all other mercies: and then he prays fortemporal mercies; thereby teaching us what to desire principally in ourprayers; which also Christ hath taught us in his perfect prayer; whereinthere is but one petition for outward, and all the rest are for spiritualblessings.
8:38 The plague - His sin, which may be called the plague of his heart, in opposition to the other plagues here mentioned; so the senseis, who, by their afflictions are brought to a true and serious sense oftheir worse and inward plague of their sins, which are most fitly calledthe plague of the heart, because that is both the principal seat of sin,and the fountain from whence all actual sins flow.
8:39 Thou knowest - Not only the plagues of their hearts, their several wants and burdens, (these he knows! but he will know them from us,)but the desire and intent of the heart, the sincerity or hypocrisy of it.
8:41 A stranger - A proselyte. But cometh - That he may worship, and glorify thy name.
8:43 Calleth for - Agreeable to thy will and word. It is observable, that his prayer for the strangers is more large, and comprehensive, than forthe Israelites; that thereby he might both shew his public - spiritedness,and encourage strangers to the worship of the true God. Thus early were theindications of God's favour, toward the sinners of the Gentiles.As there was then one law for the native and for the stranger, so therewas one gospel for both.
8:44 To battle - In a just cause, and by thy warrant or commission.Shall pray - Whereby he instructs them, that they should not trust, eitherto the strength or justice of their arms, but only to God's help andblessing. Chosen - For thy dwelling - place, and the seat of thy temple.Towards the house - For to it they were to turn their faces in prayer; toprofess themselves worshippers of the true God, in opposition to idols; andto strengthen their faith in God's promises and covenant, the tables whereofwere contained in that house. Soldiers in the field must not think itenough that others pray for them: they must pray for themselves. And theyare here encouraged to expect a gracious answer. Praying should always goalong with fighting.
8:48 And return - Sincerely, universally, and steadfastly.
8:49 Their course - Heb. their right, against their invaders and oppressors. For they had forfeited all their rights to God only, but not totheir enemies; whom tho' God used as scourges to chastise his peoples sins,yet they had no pretence of right to their land.
8:55 He stood - He spoke this standing, that he might be the better heard, and because he blessed as one having authority. Never were wordsmore pertinently spoken: never was a congregation dismissed, with thatwhich was more likely to affect them, and to abide with them.
8:56 Blessed, etc - This discharge he gives in the name of all Israel, to the everlasting honour of the Divine faithfulness, and theeverlasting encouragement of all those that build upon the Divine promises.
8:58 Incline - That he may not only bless us with outward prosperity, but especially, with spiritual blessings: and that as he hath given us hisword to teach and direct us, so he would by his holy Spirit, effectuallyincline us to obey it.
8:61 Perfect - Let your obedience be universal, without dividing; upright, without dissembling; and constant, without declining.