NOTES for Ki1 8:22-61
Solomon's prayer before the altar is one of the elevated speeches of prayer; here Solomon's words recall the most expressive lines of the psalms composed by his father.
Solomon lists dramatic situations and sorrowful events during which the people will come to the temple. Is it accidental that on the day of celebration Solomon speaks mainly about disasters and troubling circumstances, while joyful events, to which the temple is also called to bear witness, remain somewhere in the background? Has it been revealed to Solomon that the temple too will be destroyed and that the people will have to endure many disasters? Or is he unable, even on a joyful day, not to grieve over the sin that enslaves the world?
And yet Solomon turns to the Lord with hope, not doubting that He will hear and come to help. But Solomon asks not only for his own people: he calls on the Lord also to hear the prayer of the foreigner who comes to the temple. Solomon believes that not only the Israelites will come to the temple to worship the Lord, and he wants all peoples to know His Name.
Solomon spoke his prayer not only in his own name, but also on behalf of the whole people. On that day before the temple there took place a wondrous prayerful unity of the whole people standing before the Lord.