#553 No Place Above Prayer

Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. 2 But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” 3 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 4 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 5 ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel;6 but 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 David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 8 But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 9 Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 10 Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 11 And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel.”

Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

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 Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits[a] long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,15 who 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. 16 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 in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 19 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, 20 that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 21 And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

22 “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, 23 then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

24 “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

26 “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[b] them, 27 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way[c] in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 29 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, 30 then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind,31 that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

32 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, 33 hear from 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.

34 “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

36 “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 a land far or near, 37 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 captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 38 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray 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, 39 then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

41 “And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your resting place,

you and the ark of your might.

Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,

and let your saints rejoice in your goodness.

42 O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one!

Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.” 2 Chronicles 6 ESV


Sister Passage 1 Kings 8

Though his father saw this at a distance, it was God that showed David, and though Solomon is carrying out the work in his reign, yet it is the hand of God that he credits with the work. This is the will of God done through the hands of men, and Solomon invokes it as part of and adding to their history in coming out of Egypt. Solomon kneels before God in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, if only we saw this as more than a one time thing, our ever existing place in time of trouble, and even more necessary in time of wealth and peace. All these things in God's time. 

For now Solomon bows outside, for he is not a priest and does not have entry into the most Holy. He dedicates the temple to God, on his knees with his hands stretched outward toward heaven. Everything I receive is from you, and everything I give or dedicate is from what we received from you. The prayer he prays is much like the prayer of Christ when the disciples ask Him how to pray. There is no God like You, hallowed be Thy name. If your sons pay close attention to their way, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. And listen from heaven, Your dwelling place, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, forgive as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lord, when we confess our sins, please forgive us our sins. When we repent of our sins, let us return to the place of Your presence. 

Verse 22 is a most humbling request for a king, for it is in his power but not always in his sight to do justice, so he prays that those that take an oath upon this place will be heard. If the man is lying in his oath, let it come upon his own head, like Ananias and Sapphira, but if a man be righteous in this, then please insure that justice is given. We do not always know the truth, and those who are supposed to investigate some things are not always blind as the scales of justice should be. Kings fail in respecting persons, family, or those that work for him may respect such things. People speak out against others falsely, sometimes for gain, for hate, appearance, laziness. Lord, please help us in these matter where it unclear, let right be what is true and just in Your eyes. 

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8

When the heaven is shut up, there is famine, pestilence, Solomon is giving good instruction here, asking for God's help and seeing that which is from nature as from the Lord. He is not asking here for God's justice, but rather His mercy, for His justice would be worse than famine. The temple is a place of God's grace, unmerited mercy, LOVE. Likewise the foreigner, so that all the world may know. Jesus Christ says it emphatically, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes unto the Father but by Me." There was not as many ways to be right with God as there were people, fancies, idols, customs, rituals or cultures. There was only one God Being, and He was and is always, eternally, these three persons, the Father, the eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit. It is truly a kindness and a beautiful heart that would not try to force religion upon the rest of the world, but rather proclaim the gospel and hold high that light. When they come because of Your great name, please hear their prayer as well. Remember Your steadfast love for David, Your servant. Lord, see me through the covering of Your Son. 

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10: 34-43