2 Chronicles 6: 1 – 42
Something ain’t right here
6 Then Solomon spoke: “The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud. 2 I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.” 3 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. 4 And he said: “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, 5 ‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. 6 Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ 7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 8 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart. 9 Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.’ 10 So the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised; and I have built the temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 11 And there I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with the children of Israel.” 12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands 13 (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven); 14 and he said: “LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 15 You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 16 Therefore, LORD God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ 17 And now, O LORD God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David. 18 “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 19 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: 20 that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. 21 And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive. 22 “If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. 24 “Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers. 26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 27 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. 28 “When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 29 whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: 30 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), 31 that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers. 32 “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; 33 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name. 34 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause. 36 “When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; 37 yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; 38 and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: 39 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. 40 Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. 41 “Now therefore, Arise, O LORD God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, And let Your saints rejoice in goodness. 42 “O LORD God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed;
Remember the mercies of Your servant David.”
Solomon was, of course, quite unaware that he had fallen short in the way that he had built the Temple. He no doubt thought that he had followed God’s instructions to the best of his ability, using the finest expertise available. What he lacked was not a genuine desire to do the best for God, but full spiritual discernment. Thrown into a huge project by his father, and no doubt himself feeling inadequate for it, he had looked for expert help from people who knew all about Temple building and overlooked the fact that they were idolaters. He seemingly did it without even considering the question as to what was right or wrong in the matter. Strictly speaking, of course, he should have known. Moses had known, and the returnees from Exile would know when they built their Temple, and the writer of Kings would know when he wrote his account, that the building of the Sanctuary was a sacred task, and that it should only have been carried out by the holy hands of true believers. But Solomon was not spiritually sensitive enough to discern this. To some extent his kingship had gone to his head, and he thus looked at kings around him rather than looking in God’s Law. Though wrong it was to some extent excusable to one thrust into his position.
Far less excusable, however, was his use of slave labor obtained by a misuse of strangers. That was contrary to the Law of Moses, for he should have remembered that Israel were once strangers in the land of Egypt and have behaved accordingly (Leviticus 19.34). But again, he no doubt saw kings round about who used the same tactics and felt himself justified, especially as his father David had given him a bad example (1 Chronicles 22.2), although we do not know how far David intended to go in using strangers on the work, and whether he had intended permanent enslavement.
The truth is that his upbringing and environment had not prepared him for godly kingship based on Deuteronomy 17.14-20. He was clearly satisfied that in his activity he had not sinned by his own lights, and this was no doubt why God could accept his offering, but he had certainly come far short of the Scriptural ideal as the Scripture has brought out. Furthermore, the fact is that he did not have the responsive conscience of David. It was because of his tender conscience that David was so great a king. For in the end it caused him to listen to the voice of God, even when he had erred, and he subsequently knew how to repent. Solomon on the other hand seemingly blundered on without recognizing his shortcomings.
So, in what follows, part of which took place whilst the Ark was finally being brought into the Temple (6.41), it is quite clear that he spoke from a genuine heart. Solomon really did believe that he had done God’s will as best he could, and he prayed accordingly. And his prayer did show that Solomon had come to a deep recognition of what God was, and that he was confident in his own mind that he was fulfilling what God required of him (how wise we are not to be overconfident in ourselves lest we share his spiritual blindness). Indeed, his father’s own desires had left him in no doubt on the matter. That is why God was willing to accept his offering, in spite of its improper additives.
Furthermore, it was offered not only on his own behalf but on behalf of the people whose hearts in the matter were wholly genuine. For partly through ignorance of what Solomon had done and partly through lack of spiritual discernment, and through loyalty to Solomon about what they did know he had done, they accepted it without question. Many a head might have been shaken privately, but if so, none dared to speak against the king. On the other hand, it is significant that no later Temple had the freestanding pillars, or the bull-mounted sea, or the ten lampstands, or the ten tables, or the large Cherubim. The lesson had seemingly by then been learned.
In this segment, Solomon’s exceedingly long prayer at the dedication of the temple is considered. While this prayer is widely lauded, it is crystal-clear that most individuals fail to consider the true nature of this audacious prayer. It is frankly diabolical that Solomon delivered this prayer and this act was an affront and insolent to a degree rarely seen in the entire history of mankind. In this audacious prayer, King Solomon clearly delineates his defiant contempt, disdain and treachery, not only toward the people Israel, but also toward the Holy One of Israel.
Solomon delivered this prayer shortly after he had broken the Mosaic Covenant beyond repair. Scripture notes that Solomon and "all Israel with him" were present at this event. Although there were several other aspects of breaking the covenant that Solomon perpetrated, at this very assembly of the temple dedication all Israel failed to observe The Day of Atonement -Yom Kippur.
Failure to observe Yom Kippur for any Jew effectively breaks the Mosaic Covenant for them and their descendants forever. Since the Mosaic covenant was perpetuated based on heredity, once it was broken there was no possibility resurrecting it. This is to say that no further positive benefits can be obtained from the Mosaic covenant beyond the year preceding this event. This continues in perpetuity. The propitious aspects of the Mosaic covenant can never be revived again. Nevertheless, some long-term nasty consequences of the Mosaic covenant do survive unto this day. Leviticus 23 says, “26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27 “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”
The diabolical aspects of delivering this prayer are just incredible. To have the audacity to stand there in front of the whole nation he has destined for slaughter and be able to deliver this prayer with a straight face right in front of them is simply unfathomable.
Quite a lot of bible teachers have astutely observed that he seemed to possess great prescience in crafting this oratory work. However, since he contemptuously, willfully and knowingly broke the Mosaic covenant he knows from Deuteronomy chapter 32 exactly what is in store for this people. It is unfathomable that he has the gall to stand smugly in front of the whole nation that he has destined to famine, captivity and slaughter and tell them to their faces exactly what is going to happen. In fact, Moses told them exactly what is going to happen; and Solomon brought it abou“
32 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as raindrops on the tender herb, and as showers on the grass. 3 For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. 4 He Is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. 5 “They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation. 6 Do you thus dealwith the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you? 7 “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you: 8 When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For the LORD’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. 10 “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the]apple of His eye. 11 As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, 12 So the LORD alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him. 13 “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock; 14 Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs; and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the choicest wheat; And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes. 15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear. 18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you. 19 “And when the LORD saw it, He spurned them, because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. 20 And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. 21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled in My anger and shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23 ‘I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them. 24 They shall be wasted with hunger, devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, with the poison of serpents of the dust. 25 The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within for the young man and virgin, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs. 26 I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,” 27 Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, “Our hand is high; And it is not the LORD who has done all this.” ’ 28 “For they are a nation void of counsel, for is there any understanding in them.29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had surrendered them?31 For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. 33 Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of cobras. 34 ‘Is this not laid up in store with Me, sealed up among My treasures? 35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand,and the things to come hasten upon them.’ 36 “For the LORD will judge His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone, and there is no one remaining, bond or free. 37 He will say: ‘Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge? 38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise and help you and be your refuge. 39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. 40 For I raise My hand to heaven, and say, “As I live forever, 41 If I whet My glittering sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, and repay those who hate Me. 42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’ 43 “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.” 44 So Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 45 Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”
Additionally, one should consider the appropriateness of Solomon’s effrontery in leading the assembly with this extremely long prayer since this clearly was the duty of the Levites. The Levites bore the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood. Rather than attempt lengthy commentary on every point, it seems best to simply quote the prayer and interrupt with relevant quotes of scripture that are featured in a different color of type.
Now I want to say to all you who have been seeking more knowledge and presence of our Holy God in your life. I want you to take this away with you from this chapter. Our God Is an amazing Holy and Loving God. He loves us so much He puts up with the things we think, say and do that are wrong. I want you to meditate of how Great and Merciful our Holy Creator Is.
Solomon used the opportunity having the men of Israel and their families who come to Jerusalem to celebrate The Day of Atonement to dedicate the Temple. This day was to be unique to everyone to search their hearts, confess their sins and ask Adoni Yahweh to forgive them. As you know the High Priest would represent the whole nation in anointing the Ark with the blood from his sacrifice. This didn’t happen. It was all Solomon’s show. He had a platform erected so all the people could see him. We are now going to cover his prayer. You will note in his prayer he prays for others but for himself he sees no wrong.
6 Then Solomon spoke: “The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud.
The cloud that descended on the Temple was a reminder to Solomon that God ‘dwelt in thick darkness’, for that was how the consequence of the cloud at Sinai was described (Exodus 20.22). In other words that His glory was always hidden behind a veil of one kind or another. As the One Who was all-transcending light He dwelt in thick darkness lest that light break through and strike men down. He could never be fully seen or known.
2 I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.”
So in building a house of habitation for God to dwell in forever, this principle had been kept in mind. For that was the principle behind the Holiest Place. It was behind the Veil where no light penetrated and which no man could enter except under exceptional circumstances. His presence there was known by faith, but it could never be made visual. When He was manifested there, it was in a cloud. And even when the High Priest entered once a year with the atonement offering, he entered a place of darkness. All was a reminder of the mysteriousness and awesomeness of God.
Having prayed these words, Solomon now turned to the people.
There is much about this speech which gives the appearance of an attempt by Solomon to justify his actions in the face of the opposition of some of the people. Many would not be happy at the transfer of worship from the Tabernacle established in an ancient Israelite city to a Temple built on Phoenician lines in a city with pagan connections. This was Solomon’s attempt to convince them otherwise.
3 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.
At this point Solomon blessed the people and spoke to them.
4 And he said: “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, 5 ‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel.
He prayed that YHWH the God of Israel should be blessed (treated in high esteem), because He had spoken to them through the mouth of David his father and had then fulfilled His words with His hands (personally).
What follows is Solomon’s interpretation of history based on previous pronouncements of YHWH as interpreted by Solomon, with the aim of justifying his building of the Temple. So what follows is very much Solomon’s loose interpretation of what God had promised, looked at from his own perspective.
This statement is, of course, correct, although is not as God stated it. The basis behind it is almost certainly God’s words in 1 Chronicles 17.5-6 interpreted in the light of Deuteronomy 12.5. Nowhere did God speak of choosing a city out of all the tribes of Israel that His Name might be there. He referred to a ‘place’ (Deuteronomy 12.5). ‘City’ is Solomon’s interpretation.
The phrase ‘since the day that I brought them out of Egypt’ is found in 1 Samuel 8.8 where Israel’s request for a king is in mind. It is incorporated by Solomon here. ‘I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel’ is found in 1 Chronicles 17.5. Combining this with elements in Deuteronomy 12.5, 11, 14, where reference is made of YHWH ‘choosing a place for His Name to dwell there’ (although there is no mention of a ‘house’. The reference is rather to a ‘place’) we have a fair basis for Solomon’s words. Seeing this in the light of the fact that both David and Solomon had misinterpreted 1 Chronicles 17.12 as referring to Solomon building a physical house, we have the basis for Solomon’s statement. The statement is in fact true, but it is not presented in genuine words of YHWH spoken at any time.
This is not strictly true, and could not therefore have been said by God, for He specifically declared that He had chosen Saul to be prince/king over His people Israel (1 Samuel 10.24). Saul was God’s chosen king, chosen for His people’s sake. We could, of course, argue that He meant that He had not previously freely made such a choice, (although God could hardly be said to have been forced to act), but we have no real Scriptural grounds for arguing that, if He had not originally chosen Saul contrary to His own initial intentions, He would still have chosen David to be king over them, for the whole point of the argument in 1 Samuel was that it was He, YHWH, Who was king over them and should have remained so. Both Saul and David were His concessions to Israel. Solomon is therefore reflecting his own view of the situation based on those early denials and promises. And this is confirmed in what follows.
6 Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’
Like YHWH’s willingness for Solomon to build a Temple in view of David’s great desire, this ‘choosing of Jerusalem’ was an aftermath of decisions made by David. God ‘chose’ Jerusalem, because David had first selected it as his capital city and had brought the Ark (on which His Name was called) into it. Out of love for David YHWH then concurred and made it His choice too for David’s sake.
There is no suggestion anywhere prior to this that David took Jerusalem because God had chosen it, nor that YHWH had specifically chosen Jerusalem. In the middle of a section where David regularly ‘enquired of YHWH’ (2 Samuel 2.1; 5.19, 23) there is no suggestion that he enquired of YHWH about taking Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5.6-10). It was clearly a political decision. It removed a Canaanite fortress and provided him with a base which had belonged to neither Judah nor Israel. So as with the building of the Temple, YHWH’s choice of Jerusalem was based on David’s choice. Solomon then read Deuteronomy 12 into it and put the idea into the mouth of YHWH. (It was thus his interpretation of what YHWH meant, and not what YHWH meant).
7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
This was true. Indeed, it had become a passion with David to build a great house for YHWH. However, that it was initially in David’s heart but not in God’s heart is made clear in 2 Samuel 7.2-7; 1 Chronicles 17.1-6. God’s desire was not that he build a house of cedar but that he builds up a godly dynasty. And 1 Chronicles never presents the idea of building a physical house as God’s idea but as David’s, which God acceded to.
8 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart.
There are no record of such words in spite of the fact that David’s intention to build a house for YHWH is mentioned a number of times. Scripture makes clear that YHWH did not consider that David’s intention to build a physical house for YHWH was to be approved of. He specifically rejected the idea (2 Samuel 7.5-7; 1 Chronicles 17.4-6), only conceding it later because David was so set on it. So, this is rather Solomon’s impression gained from the fact that God did finally give David permission to build such a house because he wanted to so much. It is the kind of paraphrasing that we indulge in when trying to declare the mind of God.
The statement is correct that it was well that it was in David’s heart, simply because his motive was good and it resulted from his love for YHWH. He wanted to exalt YHWH. But it was not because YHWH approved of the essence of the idea. His desire was to dwell in the Tabernacle. Strictly speaking if David had done what YHWH wanted he would have placed the Ark in the Tabernacle. Placing it in Jerusalem was his way of ensuring that God blessed Jerusalem, and that Israel looked towards Jerusalem.
9 Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.’
The original command and promise was that David should not even consider building for Him a house of cedar, but rather that YHWH would build for David a dynastic house, which his descendants would continue to build (1 Chronicles 17.1-14). Such a dynastic house was to be built by ‘one who comes from your sons’, (one of the descendants of his sons). It was David’s misunderstanding of these words which made him think that he had permission for his son to build a physical. But once his mind had become fixed on such an idea God allowed it on condition that it was built by a man of peace and rest, something which Solomon should have been, but turned out not to be. For Solomon’s legacy was that he made the people so restless that it broke up the kingdom (10.4-16). However, at this stage Solomon was confident that he was the man because that was what his father had declared (1 Chronicles 22.6-10; 28.3-7) and because he was oblivious to the suffering that he had caused. The Temple was not thus the consequence of God’s direct will, but of His permissive will.
10 So the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised; and I have built the temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
Now Solomon tried to convince his hearers that the building of the Temple was a performance of God’s word. But it was by a careful manipulation of the argument. What YHWH had promised was that he would sit on the throne of David. Solomon tags on the idea that it included the building of the Temple. Solomon was not the first, or the last, to think that he had wholly fulfilled God’s will when what he had done was fulfil his own will as permitted by God. Thus he declared that God had performed the work that He had spoken in that he, Solomon, was now sat on the throne of Israel in the place of his father David as God had promised, which was true, and that he had built the house for the Name of YHWH, the God of Israel (as He had permitted). But note that ‘as YHWH promised’ does not strictly apply to this last clause. Indeed, YHWH’s direct will was that such a house should not be built (1 Chronicles 17.4-6). But He yielded to his servant’s desire to build such a house and gave him permission to do so.
11 And there I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with the children of Israel.”
And Solomon then declares that in that house he had set the Ark in which was the covenant of YHWH. This meant a lot to Solomon. At this stage it was his desire that he and his people be faithful to the covenant. He was unconscious of how far he had already fallen short of that because of the fact that he had been taken up with building work at a heavy cost to his people, and with trading in Egyptian horses (contrary to Deuteronomy 17.16), rather than with building a sound dynasty. And there were hundreds of thousands of scarred backs, and no doubt many deaths, both of strangers and of Israelites (10.4, 11), to prove it. His way of building the Temple had denied the very basis on which he had been chosen to build it, for it had involved the shedding of blood. It was the very opposite of God’s vision that every man has his own land and live under his own vine, and his own fig tree (1 Kings 4.25). These workers were unwillingly dragged away from their own land and vines and fig trees to break their backs building the Temple under the lash of the taskmasters. The warning given to Samuel was being fulfilled (1 Samuel 8.11-18), contrary to what the king should have been according to the covenant (Deuteronomy 17.14-20).
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands 13 (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven); 14 and he said: “LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.
For any of you who counsel others I say make sure you pay attention to your own words.
He first declared the uniqueness of YHWH as the One Who was utterly faithful to what He had promised. There was no other who was like Him in either Heaven or earth. To those who walked before Him with all their hearts He could be relied on to be true to His covenant, and to show the love which the covenant promised and required. At this stage this was what Solomon was determined to be like himself. He was unaware of the inadequacies already in his life. How easy it is to sing ‘I surrender all’ whilst ensuring that we keep back what we do not want to surrender. Look what happened with Solomon contrary to what he just prayed.
1 Kings 11:4 “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not whole with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
1 Kings 11:9 “And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he kept not that which the Lord commanded.”
15 You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 16 Therefore, LORD God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’
Solomon connected the original covenant up with the matter that was now on their minds, the fulfilment of YHWH’s covenant with David as evidenced in the building of the Temple. He was saying that as recent history had demonstrated, YHWH had kept His promises to David, and that keeping of His promises had now resulted in the building of the Temple. That was, of course, Solomon’s view. The original covenant had been about ‘the house of David’ not about the Temple (2 Samuel 7.4-17).
Solomon was stating his confidence that while the kings of Israel proved worthy YHWH would ensure that there was always a descendent of David to sit on the throne of Israel and was praying that YHWH would maintain the dynasty until the king arose who would rule over the everlasting kingdom.
Solomon prayed that future descendants of his would obey this direction but look at what happened with Solomon in 1 Kings 11:11 “Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon: 'Forasmuch as this hath been in thy mind, and thou hast not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.”
17 And now, O LORD God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David. 18 “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!
So he prayed that God’s word to David would be ‘verified’, demonstrated as reliable and true, by its fulfilment. But what were they, In the book of Exodus 25:8 our Holy God said, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it.”
Solomon recognized that God was so great that even Heaven, could not contain Him. He could break out in power wherever He would, whether in Heaven or on earth. How then could He be contained in a man-built house?
19 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: 20 that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.
Solomon extended great emphasis on Yahweh God as a hearing God. ‘Have respect to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplications’. ‘Listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you.’ ‘Listen to the prayer which your servant will pray towards this place.’ He is desperate that God will hear and respond.
So he reminded God that He had promised to put His Name in the place which He chose which would be set aside by Israel for worship (Deuteronomy 12.5). Note his assumption that the Temple was that place, because the Ark of YHWH had been set up in it. The actual promise was not so specific and referred to any place where YHWH chose to reveal His Name. It had been true of the Tabernacle on which God had revealed His glory. But from Solomon’s viewpoint YHWH had promised David ‘he (Solomon) will build a house for My Name’ (1 Chronicles 22.10). And on those grounds, he prayed that God would day and night be attentive to any prayers prayed ‘towards’ the Temple and its courts, and would therefore hear His servant when he prayed to Him ‘towards the Temple’.
Note the assumption that to pray towards the Temple was as good as praying in it. Men might be far away, but they could still pray towards the Temple (Daniel 6.10). It was to be a channel of prayer. But the later history revealed that this was to put too much of a limitation on prayer, for godly men could pray to God anywhere at any time (Elijah and Elisha). In the New Testament the Temple was replaced by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the true Temple of God (John 2.19-21), and prayer was to be directed through Him (John 14.13-14) as men prayed in Spirit and truth (John 4.24).
21 And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.
He then included all of Israel with himself and prayed that YHWH would not only hear his prayers on behalf of the people, but would also hear their prayers as well, when they ‘prayed towards this place’. But whilst men were to pray ‘towards this place’ it was not because God was limited to ‘this place’, for he recognized that His dwelling place was in Heaven. It simply gave them a point of reference to which they could pray knowing that the God Who dwelt in Heaven would then hear them, and when He heard could forgive.
To his credit Solomon recognized that there could be no answered prayer except to those who were forgiven. In the words of the Psalmist, ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart YHWH will not hear’ (Psalm 66.18). Only one who has been forgiven can truly pray.
22 “If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.
The idea was that one who had in some way offended his neighbor in a serious way should be called on to swear an oath before the altar in the Temple court as to whether he was guilty or not. (This might be required of him by the priestly court). In such a case the prayer was that YHWH would respond justly and hear what was sworn, and act, condemning the guilty and bringing his judgment on his own head, and declaring the righteous to be righteous because he truly was ‘in the right’.
There now follow a series of different situations which might be expected to arise as a consequence of YHWH’s warnings to His people in Leviticus 26.14-45 and Deuteronomy 28.15-68. They refer to what were comparatively common problems in that day, invasion by an enemy, being taken captive, fierce drought, famine, pestilence, invasion by locusts, and so on. And these were being a consequence of sin.
It should perhaps be noted here that some of these were strange prayers from a king who was supposed to be ruling over a kingdom of peace and rest. He was anticipating his people being ‘smitten down before their enemies’ (verse 24), being ‘besieged in the land of their cities’ (verse 28), ‘going to battle against their enemies’ (verse 34) and being ‘delivered to their enemies so that they carry them away captive’ (verse 36). Unless he simply intended to leave them to their fate, if these things happened he would have no option but to take up arms on their behalf, thus becoming a ‘man of blood’. His being a king of peace was thus relative, not absolute. He clearly anticipated trouble. It might be prophesying that in the first stages of the kingdom of the coming Prince of Peace such things could happen, although not once the everlasting kingdom had been established.
24 “Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.
This next scenario was one where Israel were smitten before their enemies because they had sinned against YHWH, in consequence of the warning given in Leviticus 26.17; Deuteronomy 28.25; Joshua 7.1-5. His prayer was that if they then turned again to YHWH (repented), and confessed His Name (believed), and made supplication in the Temple as the place where YHWH had ‘established His Name’, then YHWH would hear from Heaven (not ‘from the Temple’), and forgive their sin, and would either restore them to the land (because they had been taken prisoner), or would allow them to remain in the land which He had promised and given to their fathers (not removing them from it). In other words, his prayer was that they might not be finally driven out of their land in the way that YHWH had commanded that they drive the Canaanites out of it. He was asking God to be attentive to their change of heart.
Rain was the life-blood of the land of Canaan. Egypt was watered by the Nile, Assyria and Babylon were watered by irrigation from the Euphrates and the Tigris, but Canaan was almost wholly dependent on rain. If there was no rain there was total famine. Its life-blood had been taken away.
26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 27 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.
The next example that Solomon took up was that of heaven being shut up so that there was no rain because they had sinned against YHWH. Palestine was especially dependent on rain because it had almost no permanent rivers. Thus, rain at the proper season was vital for their agriculture. It relied on the October/November rains and the April rains (the early and the latter rains).
Again, the thought was that if they prayed towards the Temple and confessed His Name (believed) and turned from their sin (repented) when He afflicted them in this way, He would hear in Heaven (note not in the Temple) and forgive their sins. And this would be the consequence of His teaching them the good way in which they should walk, with the result that rain came on their land, the land which was given to them as their inheritance.
Several possible natural disasters are now considered including disease, plant disease, sirocco winds, locust activity, invading enemies, etc.
28 “When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 29 whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: 30 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), 31 that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
Solomon then turned his thoughts towards the many natural disasters that could come on the land - famine, pestilence, blasting (by the Sirocco winds from the desert), mildew (a parasite fungus resulting from overmuch rain), locust (which descended on the land to strip it of vegetation), and caterpillar (young locusts infesting the land which could be almost as devastating as their full grown counterparts), belligerent enemies besieging their cities and wasting their land, sickness and plague of many kinds. Against all these things, without YHWH they had little protection. They simply had to endure them. But the idea here is that if they pray to YHWH concerning these things He will hear and respond.
The concentration comes now more on the individual, although recognizing that such things could affect all the people. For each man knows the plague that he is afflicted by and the sorrow that he has to endure. And if he then spreads forth his hands towards YHWH’s house (the Temple), Solomon asked that YHWH would hear ‘in Heaven His dwelling-place’, and would forgive, and, knowing his heart, would act towards him based on his new ways if they truly resulted from repentance.
Please notice again his emphasis on the fact that YHWH’s supreme dwelling place was not in the Temple but in Heaven, the need for repentance (a recognition of the plague in their own hearts), the necessary cry for forgiveness which would result from repentance, and the desire for the action of YHWH in restoring their hearts. Note also the desire for their continuation in the land which YHWH had given to their fathers in godly fear. There was ever before their thoughts the fact that God’s judgment on the Canaanites had been that they would be driven out of the land that they inhabited. Thus he prayed that the same might not happen to Israel.
In an unusual switch Solomon now prays that YHWH will also hear foreigners who pray to Him towards His Temple. It is significant that he failed to see the inconsistency of this prayer when compared with his own treatment of ‘strangers’. A question Solomon never asked himself was ‘what about all the slave labor he required of foreigners. How easily we are blind to our own faults.
32 “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; 33 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.
Solomon’s thoughts were not on those foreigners who had wanted to dwell with the Israelites and were conscripted by him to do all the intense and painful work on the Temple. He was thinking of a future time when a state of peace, expansion and prosperity like the time of Solomon, a time when Israel’s messengers and traders were going out to the world and were being received as honored guests, and when the fame of Israel was being spread abroad, a time when the nations were subject to his control (Psalm 2.8). Then foreigners would learn of YHWH’s greatness and of what He had done for Israel, especially in delivering them from Egypt, and would come to worship Him and pray in His Temple. (Solomon was trying to bring home to the people the great vision that he had in building the Temple). And his prayer was that YHWH would hear the prayers of such people, and that YHWH would answer them from ‘Heaven His dwelling place’, and do what they asked, so that all the peoples of the earth might know His Name, and fear Him, just as His people did. And the result would be that, because of their answered prayer, they would know that this Temple was distinctive from all others and was called by the Name of YHWH, because in a very real sense YHWH had manifested His presence there by answering their prayers.
Next in Solomon’s prayer was the idea of the people going out to battle because sent by YHWH rather than the idea of resisting invasion or being besieged. It was something that they had often done under David. But it is a reminder that Solomon also was not wholly a man of peace.
34 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause.
So from the land to which they have gone (‘by whatever way you shall send them’) they pray to YHWH towards the city which He has chosen, and the house which Solomon has built in His Name, he asks that YHWH will hear their prayer and supplication in Heaven, and hear and maintain their cause, giving them victory.
36 “When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; 37 yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; 38 and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: 39 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.
Here the ‘they’ must look back to ‘your people’ of verse 34. The idea is that sin removes the right of His people to expect YHWH’s protection so that they are delivered to the enemy and carried away captive. That he has in mind a multitude of different sins carried out by a multitude of different people rather than one corporate sin comes out in the qualifying ‘for there is no man who does not sin’. The assumption is presumably that they have grown careless about sin and about the covenant and are not coming to Him in repentance through sacrificial offerings.
This idea of being carried away captive did not require later history to make sense. In Leviticus 18.25-28; 20.22 YHWH Father God had warned about the possibility of His ‘spewing them out’. It was thus to be expected. There would have been many Israelites in captivity who had been there because of the wars described in the Book of Judges and since, and many more would be taken captive during the coming wars with Syria and other enemies. It was happening all the time. And it was Solomon’s prayer that when such people were carried into captivity they might remember YHWH and call on Him from wherever they were, and admit that they were sinners who had behaved sinfully (for as Solomon has pointed out there are none who sin not), with the result that their captors would treat them more leniently because YHWH had taken up their cause. It is not necessarily a suggestion of restoration from their captivity, although that would happen in many cases. It recognized that many of them would be there permanently and referred rather to compassion being shown to them in their captivity.
40 Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.
Here Solomon closed by pleading with God to have His eyes open to what went on in the Temple, and to have His ears attentive to what was prayed there.
These words are repeated in YHWH’s reply to Solomon, ‘My eyes will be open and My ears attend to the prayer which is made in this place’ (7.15).
41 “Now therefore, Arise, O LORD God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness.
The first line of this verse may have in mind the words that used to be spoken when the Ark set forth on the days journey and then rested at the end of it (‘Arise, O YHWH, and let your enemies be scattered’ - Numbers 10.35-36). For Solomon’s call as the Ark approaches its resting place in the Holiest Place in the Temple, is for YHWH God Himself to arise into His resting place along with His mighty Ark, the Ark through which He reveals His power. Because His Name (His essential character and Being) is permanently there in the Holiest Place, His priests will be ‘clothed with salvation’, either as they minister salvation to the people through offering sacrifices, or alternately by themselves revealing in their lives the saving power of God. Then His truly sanctified ones will rejoice in His goodness as they sense His forgiveness and salvation, or will themselves rejoice in the true goodness that YHWH has bestowed on them. This was a great moment for Israel as the separate Sanctuaries were being united, and Solomon’s hope was that it would produce a new sense of dedication in his people as described here.
42 “O LORD God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed; Remember the mercies of Your servant David.”
Solomon asks that Yahweh Father God not turn His face from him. In a way he is saying ‘Remember me Lord God and keep Your eyes of protection on me for I am David’s kid.’
