CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1 Kings 8:28. Prayer, supplication, and cry—תְּפִלָּה, מְּחִנּה רנּה are respectively prayer in general (whether praise, petition, or thanks), entreaty or supplication (petition for grace and help), and praise (prayer as the joyful expression of praise and thanks).—Keil.
1 Kings 8:31. If any man trespass—Solomon here passes from general prayer, and begins to specify distinct cases. Seven particular cases are given in which God’s merciful interposition would be needed: concerning the observation of the oath (31, 32), captives (33, 34), drought (35, 36), land plagues (37–40), strangers (41–43), Israelites when absent from Zion (44, 45), captives (46–50). 1 Kings 8:51-53. A concluding argument by which Solomon urges his prayer. 1 Kings 8:54-61. Solomon counsels and blesses the congregation—He arose from the altar, … and he stood and blessed, &c.
HOMILETICS OF 1 Kings 8:22-53
A MODEL DEDICATORY PRAYER
THIS is a prayer of unusual length, of great compass and pathos in its petitions; and is “remarkable as combining the conception of the Infinity of the Divine Presence with the hope that the Divine Mercies will be drawn down on the nation by the concentration of the national devotions, and even of the devotions of foreign nations towards this fixed locality.” It consists of three parts—
1. Adoration for the fulfilment of the promise to David (1 Kings 8:23-24).
2. Prayer for its continued fulfilment, and for blessings upon the concentration of worship at the Temple (1 Kings 8:25-30).
3. Supplication for specific blessings (31–53); e.g., in cases of trespass, when smitten before enemies, in times of drought, famine, or plague, for the devout stranger, for success in battle, and for deliverance from captivity. These prayers for specific blessings are seven, thus corresponding in number with the seven petitions of the Lord’s prayer. We may regard the whole prayer as illustrative of and embodying the three principal ideas which governed the religious life of the Jewish people—the ideas of God, of sin, and of a coming deliverance. Just as the Grecians represented the philosophic and artistic culture, and the Romans the legislative capacity, of the human race, so the Israelites represented the religious principle—the greatest force of all, and that which was destined to interpenetrate all other forces, and use them for the advancement and salvation of the race. An examination of the scope and matter of this prayer will show how the three leading ideas referred to were ingrained in the national consciousness of Israel. The whole prayer is an excellent model that may be appropriately followed in the dedicatory services of every sanctuary solemnly set apart for Divine worship.
I. This prayer is illustrative of the Israelitish idea of Jehovah. The whole world was overrun with polytheism, and the idea of one God was in danger of being utterly extinguished. Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation, was rescued, by the special call of heaven, from the darkness and bewilderment of heathenism, and became the great apostle of monotheism. With his descendants was deposited the precious truth, which, though at first a strictly national possession, was ultimately to enrich and exalt mankind. The Israelites cherished the loftiest ideas of Jehovah—
1. As a Being of Incomparable Majesty: “There is no God like Thee” (1 Kings 8:23). Jehovah is not compared here with other gods; but, on the contrary, is described as the only true God (compare Deuteronomy 4:39; Joshua 2:11; 2 Samuel 7:22; 2 Samuel 22:32). God is recognized as the living and personal God, who is the source and power of all things, and in comparison with whom all is emptiness and vanity.
2. As a Being of Infinite condescension: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?” (1 Kings 8:27). The omnipresence and infinitude of Jehovah are acknowledged. This is at once a refutation of the anthropomorphic notions of God such as heathenism made in its temples, and which it might seek to associate with His dwelling, no longer a movable tent, but in a permanent building; and also a refutation of the pantheistic notion of Deity, which the highest philosophy of heathendom, by identifying God and the world, imagined. “The Israelitish idea of God knows nothing of a contradiction between the supernal, infinite, and absolute being of God, and His entering into creaturely, finite, and limited being. Just because He is infinite and unsearchable, He can communicate with the finite; and because He is everywhere, He can be peculiarly present in one place, centring His presence and displaying His absolute sublimity.”
3. As a Being of unutterable purity. From Him proceeds the law which discovers sin in us and holiness in Him, and which law is the rule to regulate our earthly life. The whole Levitical economy, in its elaborate particularity, was so constructed as specially to detect and unveil sin in man, and to foster the most exalted conceptions of Divine purity.
4. As a Being of boundless mercy: “Who keepest covenant and mercy;” “And when thou hearest, forgive” (1 Kings 8:23; 1 Kings 8:30). He is the gracious and merciful God to whom the poor and afflicted may look for help, and all the world for blessing. In the new covenant we no longer call upon God as the God of Israel, but as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has revealed Himself to us through Christ, and through Christ alone do we find in Him the true God, the God of grace and mercy (Ephesians 1:3; John 17:3). We have glimpses now of the depth and vastness of God’s mercy which the most pious Israelite never saw.
5. As a Being of unchangeable faithfulness (1 Kings 8:24-25). Through the ages of the past, notwithstanding the failures and sins of His chosen people, Jehovah continued steadfast to His part of the covenant. The course of Jewish history is studded with wondrous and convincing evidences of the unswerving fidelity of God; and the sacred writers are never wearied in rehearsing the mighty acts which were done in defence and preservation of His people, and in the accomplishment of His promised Word. The believer of to-day has the same invulnerable fidelity to fall back upon: “Faithful is He who hath promised, who also will do it.”
II. This prayer is illustrative of the Israelitish idea of sin. Israel is the nation conscious of sin, conscious as no other nation ever was or could be. The best of men in the pre-Christian age were conscious there was something radically wrong, but they had no just conception of the nature of the wrong, and were utterly powerless to devise a remedy. Convinced that things could not go on as they were, they looked for the destruction of the world, and despaired of mankind. The piety and religions of the ancient world resolved themselves into stoical scepticism on the one hand, and superstitious despair on the other. There was no nation in whom the consciousness of sin was deeper, more genuine, or more powerful than in Israel. The law was a constant remembrancer and a constant convicter of sin. Sacrifice was the central point of all the rites and ceremonies of the law. The sacred fire was to be burning incessantly upon the altar; sacrifices were to be offered day by day; and the climax of all sacrifice was that offered on the great day of atonement, on which the high priest, as the representative of the nation, laid upon the sacrificial animal the sins of the whole people, bore the blood of atonement into the place of God’s typical presence, and sprinkled with it the mercy seat, that the people might be absolved from sin, and reconciled to God. Not only is universal sinfulness expressly asserted—“There is no man that sinneth not;” or, rather, That may not sin (1 Kings 8:46)—but the living consciousness of sin is interwoven with every thought. This is the more characteristic, as it was not a penitential ceremony at which the prayer was offered, but a joyful thanksgiving festival, and it was offered by a king who was the wisest of his time, and had reached the summit of power and prosperity. It is evident, then, how deeply rooted was this consciousness of sin in Israel, and how inseparably it was blent with their religious ideas. (Consult Luthardt’s Fundamental Truths, Lecture viii., and Lange’s Com.) The deeper our sense of sin, the more awful does the holiness of God appear, and the more eagerly do we welcome and prize His mercy.
III. This prayer is illustrative of the Israelitish idea of future deliverance and glory. Israel was the nation of hope. Ancient prophecies of a Redeemer and of a glorious redemption, in which the whole world was to share (1 Kings 8:60), existed among this people, and ever kept their view directed to the future. These prophecies assumed a form ever increasingly definite, while their fulfilment was confided to an ever narrowing circle—to the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Judah, the house of David. And now Israel, in the reigns of David and Solomon, has reached the climax of its history and the maturity of its national development and glory; and this era is a type of the victorious conflicts and universal peace of the future, when a greater than Solomon shall reign over a vanquished and ransomed world. It is remarkable that while Solomon is offering this prayer, at the very flood-tide of national prosperity and triumph, as if gifted by prophetic insight, he foresees the defeat and captivities of Israel in the future, and earnestly supplicates for their restoration, that the Divine purpose in advancing the good of mankind and His own glory might not be frustated (1 Kings 8:46-53—compare with 1 Kings 8:43-60). “The common talk of vulgar rationalism, about Jehovah being only a God of the Jews and of their land, appears in all its emptiness and folly when contrasted with the official acknowledgment of Israel’s world-wide mission, and which acknowledgment was made on a most solemn occasion.” The continual approach of a great deliverance and of an era of happy, peaceful, and glorious government, is the great theme of all the Hebrew prophets. Diversely as the records may read, penned as they were under such different circumstances, all the varying features of the prophetic utterances combine to form one great, bright picture of future blessings. The history of Israel to the present is a witness to the veracity of the prophecies and to the wondrous facts of Christianity. The prince who, on one occasion, asked his chaplain to furnish him with the evidence of the truth of Christianity, but to do so briefly, for he had no time to spare, received as an answer the words—“The Jews, your majesty!”
LESSONS:—
1. Prayer is a humble admission of personal dependence and helplessness.
2. Must be offered to the only living and true God.
3. Should be comprehensive in its topics.
4. Should be urgent and persevering in supplication.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Kings 8:22. Solomon stands before the altar, bows the knee, stretches out his hands; the people stand around, the worshippers turn their faces towards the sanctuary (1 Kings 8:38; 1 Kings 8:44; 1 Kings 8:48; 1 Kings 8:54). In prayer the ancients used to spread out the palms of their hands, as it were to receive a blessing from God (Exodus 9:29; Psalms 44:20; Psalms 143:6). Outward forms for the worship and service of God are not to be rejected when they are the natural unbidden outflow of inward feeling. They are worthless when they are regarded as meritorious, and man puts his trust in them (Luke 18:11). They are sinful and blameworthy if they are performed merely for appearance’s sake, or to deceive men (Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:16). The Lord knows the hearts of all men; one cannot serve the living God with dead works. The Lord Himself and His Apostles prayed upon their knees (Luke 22:41; Ephesians 3:14). No one is so exalted that he ought not to bow his knee and clasp his hand.
1 Kings 8:23-53. The prayer of Solomon.
1. A witness to his faith. He confesses the living, holy, and one God before all the people.
2. To his love. He bears his people upon his heart, and makes intercession for them.
3. To his hope. He hopes that all nations will come to a knowledge of the true God. From Solomon we may learn how we ought to pray—in true reverence and humiliation before God, with earnestness and zeal, with undoubting confidence that we shall be heard. What an elevating spectacle—a king upon his knees praying aloud in the presence of his whole people, and in their behalf! Although the highest of them all, he is not ashamed to declare himself a servant of God, and to fall down upon his knees; although the wisest of them all, he prays, as a testimony that a wisdom which can no longer pray is folly; although the mightiest of all, he confesses that nothing is done by his power alone, but that the Lord is the King Eternal; therefore it is that he does not merely rule over his subjects, but as an upright king supplicates and prays for them likewise.—Lange.
1 Kings 8:27. Reflecting upon God’s performance of His promise concerning the building of the Temple, Solomon breaks forth into admiration. Is it possible that the great and high and lofty God should stoop so low as to take up His dwelling here amongst men! O, astonishing condescension! The heaven—all this vast space of the visible world:—And heaven of heavens—the third and highest and therefore the largest heaven, called the heaven of heavens here (as also Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalms 148:4), for its eminency and comprehensiveness—cannot contain Thee, for Thy essence reacheth far beyond them, being omnipresent. How much less this house that I have builded! This house, therefore, was not built as if it were proportionable to Thy greatness, or could contain Thee, but only that therein we might serve and glorify Thee.—Pool.
By the sentence that the heaven of heavens—i.e., the heaven in its most extended compass; the illimitable space above the visible heaven or firmament which lies immediately over the earth—cannot contain God, Solomon strikes down all rationalistic assertions, that the Israelites imagined Jehovah to be only a finite national god. The infinite and supra-mundane exaltation of God cannot be more clearly and strongly expressed than it is in these words. That, however, Solomon was addicted to no abstract idealism is sufficiently apparent from this, that he unites this consciousness of the infinite exaltation of God with the firm belief of His real presence in the temple. The true God is not merely infinitely exalted above the world, has not only His throne in heaven (1 Kings 8:34; 1 Kings 8:36; 1 Kings 8:39; Psalms 2:4; Psalms 11:4; Psalms 103:19; Isaiah 66:1; Amos 9:6), He is also present on the earth (Deuteronomy 4:39), has chosen the temple for the dwelling place of His name in Israel, from which He hears the prayers of His people.—Keil.
—Although the heaven of heavens cannot contain the Unmeasurable and Infinite One, and no building, how great and noble soever, can suffice for Him, yet, in His mercy, He will make His dwelling place (John 14:23) in the heart of that man who loves Him and keeps His word, and it will truly become a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). He will dwell with those who are of a humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15; Psalms 113:5-6).
1 Kings 8:27-30. The greatness and condescension of God. I. God is too great to be confined by anything that has limits.
1. He is greater than all created things: “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee” (1 Kings 8:27). Solomon wonders that God should appoint a temple to be erected to Him upon the earth, when He is not contained in the vast circuit of the heavens; His essence is not straitened in the limits of any created work. He who was before the world, and place, and all things, was to Himself a world, a place, and everything: He is really out of the world in Himself, as He was in Himself before the creation of the world. As because God was before the foundation of the world we conclude His eternity, so because He is without the bounds of the world we conclude His immensity. He is above and outside of all His creatures, and governs all the possibilities of their existence
2. He is present everywhere. Everything is filled by God; but that which is filled is different from that by which it is filled. The Omnipresent God is the inmost fundamental Being of everything that exists: He is the life of all that lives, the Spirit of all spirits. And as He is all in all, so is all in Him. As the bird in the air, as the fish in the sea, so do all creatures live and move and have their being in God. The world of time and space, of nature and history, is contained in Him. But although creation is contained in God, God is not contained in His creation. Although the Omnipresent One is essentially present in every leaf and every grain of wheat, He dwells and moves freely in Himself, in virtue of His eternity. The fundamental error of Pantheism is the notion that God is Omnipresent of necessity. God is present in one way in nature, in another way in history; in one way in the church, in another way in the world: He is not, in the same sense, present alike in the hearts of His saints, and in those of the ungodly; in heaven and in hell (Martensen). II. God condescends to make His church His dwelling place.
1. Here His presence is especially realized: “The place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there” (1 Kings 8:29). The choice of Jerusalem as the place seems to have been made by special revelation to David (Psalms 78:68; Psalms 132:13, comp. with 1 Chronicles 22:1). The Name Jehovah is synonymous with the nature and perfections of Jehovah; and it is here intimated that He would be present in His temple to show forth His power and glory by enlightening, quickening, pardoning, sanctifying, and saving the devout and sincere worshipper. As the prayerful Jew directed his gaze towards the Temple of Jerusalem, so the believer must address his prayers to God through Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the spiritual church (Daniel 7:10, with Hebrews 10:19-20; Colossians 1:18).
2. Here His word is deposited. The church is commissioned to hold inviolate the sacred trust, and to disseminate the Word in all its purity and power. The hoarded riches of ancient cities were paltry compared with the inexhaustible wealth of revelations which are treasured up in the church of God—treasured up not to lie unused and unproductive, but to enrich the world.
3. Here His mercy is dispensed. The ark of the covenant, with its mercy seat, was in the Temple—a symbol of hope and a pledge of deliverance to the transgressor. III. God is graciously pleased to hear and answer the prayer of the humble suppliant (1 Kings 8:28; 1 Kings 8:30).
1. Prayer may be offered anywhere. The exclusiveness of the Jewish religion was a preparation for, and made possible, a religion that was to be adapted to universal man. In the old dispensation prayer was offered in or towards Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:30): in the present dispensation the command is that “Men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8). Both tabernacle and temple were types of Christ—God manifest in the flesh; and He was and is the Mediator between God and man. The human nature of Christ is the temple in which dwell all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; therefore all prayer, to be acceptable and entitled to a hearing, must be offered to God through Him. There is no restriction as to locality. From the crowded sanctuary or the quiet home-circle, from the dingy prison or the pathless seas, the worshipper may direct his prayers to the Great Helper of the helpless.
2. Prayer, to be successful, must be fervent. Solomon speaks of the “cry” and the “supplication” (1 Kings 8:28; 1 Kings 8:30). The more vividly the soul realizes its need and its peril, the more pathetic and passionate will be its cry for help. Spite of the hollow sneer of modern scientists, prayer has an indefinable something about it that moves the heart of God, and brings Him consciously nearer to the praying soul. The most coveted prizes in religious experience have been won by wrestling prayer.
LESSONS:—
1. The greatness of God is manifested in His merciful condescension.
2. He is worthy of ceaseless adoration.
3. The most abject sinner who turns to Him will not be rejected.
1 Kings 8:29. The eye of God looks upon every house where His name is honoured, where all with one mind raise heart and hand to Him, and call upon His name (Psalms 121:4). To every church the saying is applicable—My Name shall be there. The object of every church is to be a dwelling-place of divine revelation, i.e., of the revealed Word of God, in which, upon the strength of that Word, worship, praise, and prayer shall be offered to the name of the Lord.
1 Kings 8:30. The houses of God, above all else, must be houses of prayer (Isaiah 56:7): they are desecrated if devoted to merely worldly purposes of any kind whatsoever, instead of being used for prayer and supplication. The hearing of prayer does not, indeed, depend upon the place where it is offered (John 4:20), but prayer should have an appointed place, where we can present ourselves, even as God wills that, together with one voice, we humbly exalt His name (Romans 15:6; Psalms 34:4). Where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is in their midst; how much more will He be where a whole congregation is assembled to call upon Him.—Lange.
1 Kings 8:31-50. The seven petitions of the prayer teach us—
1. In all necessity of body and soul to turn to the Lord, who alone can help, and call upon Him with earnestness and zeal (Psalms 50:15; Psalms 91:14-15).
2. In all our straits to recognize the wholesome discipline of an holy and just God, who will show us the good way in which we must walk (Psalms 94:12; Hebrews 12:5).
3. To confess our sins, and to implore forgiveness in order that we may be heard (Psalms 32:1; Psalms 32:5; Psalms 32:7).
4. Not only for ourselves, but also for others, in their time of need, should we pray and supplicate, even as the king does here for all individual men, and for his entire people.—Lange.
1 Kings 8:31-32. The solemn appeal of the accused.
1. That cases will arise where it is difficult to convict the wrong-doer of his crime. Sin is subtle in its movements and deceptive in its appearance. It often wears the garb of the saint, while it is enacting the enormities of the most vicious. How often is the truth concealed by the most miserable equivocation. A sudden lie may be sometimes only manslaughter upon truth; but, by a carefully constructed equivocation, truth always is, with malice aforethought, deliberately murdered. It is difficult to detect the real culprit, amid the mystifications he has himself originated, as it is to seize the cuttlefish by groping in the inky waters it has itself discoloured.
2. That the final refuge of baffled justice is to allow the accused an appeal to the judgment of God.
1. This appeal has been often abused. In the ruder stages of human development, very painful methods were resorted to as tests of innocence. Fire and sword were freely used for this purpose. In the dark ages a fire was kindled within the church, not far from the great altar; a bar of iron was heated, and, after an elaborate ritual of prayers and abjurations, the accused was required to carry the red-hot iron nine yards from the flame. The moment he laid it down, he was borne by the priests into the vestry: there his hands were wrapped in linen cloths, sealed down with the signet of the church; and, according to the condition in which the hands were found on the third day, was he declared innocent or guilty. A belief was common among the northern nations that the corpse of a murdered person would bleed on the touch or at the approach of the real murderer; and this test was often applied with great and imposing ceremonies. In Borneo, we are told, when two dyaks have to decide which is in the right, they have two equal lumps of salt given them to drop into water, and he whose lump dissolves first is deemed to be in the wrong. Or, they put two live shell-fish on a plate—one for each litigant—and squeezing lime-juice over them, the verdict is given according to which man’s mollusc stirs first. The Siamese, again, have a curious way of deciding the truth between two parties in the absence of witnesses: their method is to ascertain which of the two can stay longest under water. Such are specimens of the varied plans which reveal the craft, the audacity, and the folly of mankind.
2. This appeal must be solemn and sincere (1 Kings 8:31). Though the method may be abused, we may and must call upon God to help the innocent man to his rights, and, even in this world, to reward the evil man according to his deserts. It is allowable for a pious man to entreat God to administer his just cause; yet, must he not wish evil to his neighbour in mere human vindictiveness (Psalms 109:1). The oath is a prayer, a solemn invocation of God in testimony of the truth: the false oath is not merely a lie, but an insolent mockery of God, and God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7; Exodus 20:7). Bear in mind, when thou swearest, that thou art standing before the altar, i.e., before the judgment-seat of the Holy and Just God, who can condemn body and soul to hell. Where the oath is no longer held sacred, there the nation and the state go to ruin.—(Starke).
3. That the Judgment of God is infallible in the punishment of the guilty and the vindication of the innocent (1 Kings 8:32). The sinner cannot triumph for ever; and the cries of the injured for justice are not in vain. The retribution of the wicked is often swift, and is always terrible: God “brings his way upon his head.” This He hath done on those who have taken false oaths of execration, as may be instanced in the three false accusers of Narcissus, the bishop of Jerusalem; in the case of Earl Godwin; and in the case of one Anne Averies, who, forswearing herself in a shop in Wood Street, London, in 1575, praying God she might sink where she stood, if she had not paid for the wares she took, fell down speechless and instantly expired. Verily, there is a God that ruleth in the earth, and every act of man shall receive its due recompense according to its character.
LESSONS:—
1. The innocent need not fear the strictest scrutiny.
2. Sin it certain to be discovered and punished.
3. The appeal to Divine Justice it not in vain.
—Personal injuries. I. Should not be lightly inferred. Here an oath was taken of the man who had inflicted the injury. This oath was to be taken before God’s altar.
II. Should be committed into the hand of God. The Judge of all the earth will do right. Prayer to God when we smart under injury will—
1. Prevent a vindictive spirit.
2. Lead us to desire the triumph of righteousness.
1 Kings 8:33-34. The terrible scourge of war.
1. That the defence of a nation depends upon the bravery of its people.
2. That sin saps the foundation of natural courage.
3. That war is sometimes an instrument of punishment for national offences.
4. That war is ever attended with terrible suffering.
5. That defeat often drives a nation to seek help and deliverance in prayer.
6. That God hears the cry of the humble and penitent captives, and brings them out of their distresses.
—I. The commission of sin producing national calamities. Israel smitten before the enemy, “because they sinned.” This result may be brought about by the operation of natural laws—not necessary to suppose any miraculous intervention. Sin weakens—sin destroys.
II. The means that should be employed in times of calamity.
1. Reformation—“Turn again to thee.”
2. Confession of sin—“Confess thy name.”
3. Prayer to God—“And pray.”
—A victorious enemy is the whip and scourge with which the Lord chastises a nation, so that it may awake out of sleep, confess its sins, turn unto Him, and learn anew its forgotten prayers and supplications. To those who are taken captive in war, and, far from fatherland, must dwell beneath a foreign yoke, applies the Word of the Lord (Luke 13:2). Therefore, they who are prospering in their native country must pray for them, believing in the words of Psalms 146:7.
1 Kings 8:35-36. The abuse of prosperity and its Nemesis. I. Prosperity is a blessing from God. He controls the food-producing elements—opens or stops “the bottles of the sky,” fills the earth with fruitfulness, or binds it up with the iron bands of sterility. II. Prosperity is encompassed with many perils. Of a reckless and thankless indulgence—of a proud self-sufficiency—of an impious forgetfulness of God. III. The abuse of prosperity is followed with inevitable punishment. Hard, harassing, and unremunerative labour—general scarcity—life-long disease, personal and social sufferings. IV. The teachings of adversity tend to correct the errors of prosperity. The proud and thoughtless are humbled—man is taught his absolute dependence on God—a spirit of genuine devotion is encouraged—a wise and generous use of prosperity is inculcated.
—Introduces a question about which there has been much angry discussion Can human prayer modify or influence the operation of natural law? If so, to what extent, and under what conditions? Probably a thorough and satisfactory solution of the problem will never be obtained. No necessary conflict between prayer and natural law.
I. The possibility of a great calamity arising from natural causes. “Heaven shut up.” “No rain.”
II. The connection of this calamity with human sinfulness. “Because they have sinned against Thee.”
III. The Scriptural method of terminating this calamity.
1. Confession of sin.
2. Abandonment of sin.
3. Prayer of God.
—Inasmuch as fruitful seasons, instead of leading to repentance, as being proofs of God’s goodness, so often tend to create pride, haughtiness, and lightmindedness, therefore the Lord sometimes shuts up His heavens. But then we should murmur not against Him, but against our own sins (2 Samuel 3:39), and confess that all human care and toil for obtaining food out of the earth is in vain if He give not rain out of heaven and fruitful seasons. Fine weather is not brought about by the means of processions, but by true repentance and heartfelt prayer (Leviticus 26:3-4). When God humbles us, He thus directs to the good way (Psalms 119:67; Deuteronomy 2:3; Deuteronomy 5:8).—Starke.
1 Kings 8:36. The good way.
1. Is Divinely revealed.
2. Is maintained by Divine instruction.
3. Is lost by disobedience.
4. Is found in the pathway of suffering and trial.
5. Leads to everlasting blessedness.
1 Kings 8:37-40. National calamities and their lessons. I. That national calamities are varied in their character (1 Kings 8:37).
1. Famine, a scarcity, or total want of bread, necessarily springing from the preceding cause, want of rain.
2. Pestilence, any general and contagious disease.
3. Blasting, anything by which the crops are injured, so that the ear is never matured, but, instead of wholesome grain, there is a black offensive dust.
4. Mildew, anything that vitiates or corrodes the texture of the stalk, destroys the flowers and blossoms, or causes the young shaped fruits to fall off their stems.
5. Locust, a well-known curse in the East, a species of grasshopper that multiplies by millions, and covers the face of the earth for many miles square, destroying every green thing, leaving neither herb nor grass upon the earth, nor leaf nor bark upon the trees.
6. Caterpillars, the locust in its young or nympha state. The former refers to ocusts brought by winds from other countries, and settling on the land; the latter, to the young locusts bred in the land.
7. An enemy, having attacked their defenced cities, the keys and barriers of the land.
8. Any other kind of plague, that which affects the surface of the body—blotch, blain, leprosy, ophthalmia, &c.
9. Sickness, whatever impaired the strength, or affected the intestines, disturbing or destroying their natural functions. II. That national calamities are aggravated by individual offences.
1. Sin is the fruitful source of all calamities, and is itself the greatest of all.
2. That a personal consciousness of sin is the discovery of man’s greatest moral plague (1 Kings 8:38). III. That national calamities should lead to national humiliation and prayer. IV. That the removal of national calamities should intensify and augment national piety (1 Kings 8:40).
—Divine judgments and means of discipline are very various in their kind, their degree, and their duration. God in His wisdom and justice metes out to a whole people, as to each individual man, such measure of suffering as is needed for its salvation, for He knows the hearts of all the children of men, and He tries no man beyond His power of endurance. He hearkens to him who calls upon Him in distress (2 Samuel 22:7; Psalms 34:18; Isaiah 26:16). Distress teaches us how to pray, but often only so long as it is present with us. God looks upon our hearts, and knows whether our prayer is a mere passing emotion, or whether we have truly turned to Him. How entirely different would our prayers often sound if we reflected that we were addressing Him who knows our heart, with its most secret and mysterious thoughts, expectations, and wishes. The effect of an answer to our prayers must be that we fear the Lord, and walk in His ways, not only in the time of need and trouble, but at all times as long as we live. It is a priceless thing that the heart remains constant.—Lange.
1 Kings 8:38. The moral plague of humanity. “Shall know every man the plague of his own heart.” I. The moral plague of humanity is sin. II. Is inward and individual. III. Is terrible when it intensifies itself into the form of a conscious and deserved judgment of God. IV. Is an unspeakable blessing when it induces man to escape from its ruinous consequences by a timely repentance. V. Can be removed only by a believing application of the Divine Remedy.
—“The plague of his own heart.” His own iniquity (Psalms 18:23): the cause of his calamity, as he well understandeth when sin and wrath meet in his soul and make a wound in it: the cure whereof he seeketh of God by prayer, which hath a pacifying property, and fetcheth out the stain and sting of sin.—Trapp.
1 Kings 8:39. The divine knowledge of man.
1. Is infallible.
2. Universal.
3. Minute.
4. Is specially concerned with his moral condition.
5. Enables God to reveal man’s true state to himself.
6. Should foster in man a spirit of vigilance, circumspection, and awe.
1 Kings 8:40. The fear of God is again connected with forgiveness in Psalms 130:4, as if he should not fear, unless we could hope. So Milton makes Satan say, “Then farewell Hope; and with Hope, farewell Fear.” And Aristotle speaks of fear as inseparably connected with hope (Rhet. 1 Kings 2:5).—Speaker’s Comm.
1 Kings 8:41-43. The unifying power of prayer. I. All men are alike in their moral needs. II. The exercise of prayer is an invisible but all-active power that unites the entire race—irrespective of rank, of nationality, of creed, or outward circumstances. III. Prayer is a divinely-appointed means of bringing all men to a true knowledge of God. IV. Prayer recognises the fact of a universal brotherhood.
1 Kings 8:41. Nothing is more remarkable in the Mosaic law than its liberality with regard to strangers. Not only were the Israelites forbidden to vex or oppress a stranger (Exodus 22:21), not only were they required to relieve the stranger who was poor or in distress (Leviticus 25:35), not only had they a general command to “love the stranger” (Deuteronomy 10:19); but, even in religious matters, where anciently almost all nations were exclusive, they were exclusive, they were bound to admit strangers to nearly equal privileges. Such persons might make offerings at the tabernacle under exactly the same conditions as the native Israelites (Numbers 15:14-16); and they might be present at the solemn reading of the law, which took place once in seven years (Deuteronomy 31:12). It is quite in the spirit of these enactments that Solomon, having first prayed God on behalf of his fellow-countrymen, should next go on to intercede for the strangers, and to ask for their prayers the same acceptance which he had previously begged for the prayers of faithful Israelites.—Speaker’s Com.
1 Kings 8:41-43. Even Solomon bore witness that the house he had built could not encompass Him whom the heavens cannot contain, so likewise he testified that the covenant made by God with Israel did not exclude all other nations from salvation, but rather aimed at leading all men to a knowledge of the truth. If a Solomon prayed for the attainment of this object, how much more does it become us to pray for the conversion of the heathen, and do our utmost that the people who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, may come to Him, a light set by God before all nations to lighten the heathen (Luke 2:31). He who desires to know nothing of missions to the heathen, fails to know the God who wills that help should be given to all men, and that all should come to the knowledge of Himself (1 Timothy 2:4). Solomon hoped that the heathen, when they heard the great deeds which the Lord did in Israel, would turn to that God; how much stronger becomes this hope when the infinitely greater scheme of salvation in Christ Jesus is declared to them!—The acknowledgment of the name of God necessarily causes the fear of God. If an individual, or an entire nation, be wanting in the latter, they will, alas! lack a true knowledge of God, let them boast as they will of enlightenment and enlightened religious ideas.—Lange.
1 Kings 8:43. Here is one of the Old Testament intimations of the universality of the true religion and true worship of God. Though the national consciousness of Israel was that of separateness from all other nations, yet at times the Spirit lifted it above that exclusiveness, and thrilled it with a momentary grasping after universal brotherhood.—Terry.
1 Kings 8:44. This refers to wars undertaken by Divine appointment—“Whithersoever thou shalt send them”: for in no other wars could they expect the blessing and concurrence of the Lord; in none other could the God of truth and justice maintain their cause. There were such wars under the Mosaic dispensation; there are none such under the Christian dispensation: nor can there be any, for the Son of Man is come, not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. Except mere defensive war, all others are diabolic; and if there were no provocations, would there be any attacks, and, consequently, any need of defensive wars?—A. Clarke.
1 Kings 8:44-45. Prayer a preparation for conflict.
1. Every man is called to wage unceasing warfare against evil.
2. Man can conquer evil only by Divine aid.
3. He who prays the most will fight the best.
4. Prayer will win the conflict when all external tactics fail.
5. God will prosper and maintain the cause He has made His own.
—A people who undertake war should, above all, be sure that it is under the guidance of God. That alone is a just war which is undertaken with God’s help and in the cause of God, of truth, and of justice. A host going forth to battle should remember this:—Nothing can be done in our own strength; we are soon quite ruined (Psalms 33:16), and thereupon we should pray and entreat the Lord, from whom alone proceeds victory (Proverbs 21:31; Psalms 147:10).—That soldier can never answer it to God that strikes not more as a justicer than as an enemy. Soldiers must fight and pray, and pray and fight.
1 Kings 8:46-50. Captivity and freedom. I. Captivity is a bitter experience to the ardent lover of liberty. It is the badge of defeat—the loss of home and country—exposes to exasperating taunts and pitiless cruelties. II. Captivity to sin, and on account of sin, is most degrading, and fraught with unutterable distress. III. The first step towards freedom begins in repentance and prayer (1 Kings 8:47). IV. Freedom from sin involves restoration to the Divine favour and inheritance.
—Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Proverbs 14:34). Thus the people Israel is a living example for all times as a warning and as an admonition (1 Corinthians 10:2.) The Lord has patience with each person as also with whole peoples and governments, for He knows “there is no man that is not sinful.” But when the riches of His goodness, patience, and long-suffering are despised, and a nation given over to hardness of heart and impenitence (Romans 2:4), He casts it away from before His face, and wipes it out as a man wipeth a dish (2 Kings 21:13), so that it ceases to be a people and a kingdom. The world’s history is the world’s final doom. The wrath of God towards all ungodly conduct of men is not a mere biblical form of speech, but a fearful truth, which he who hearkens not will learn by experience.—The saying: “There is no man that sinneth not”—that may not sin—must not be misused to apologize for sin as a natural weakness; it should rather warn and exhort us that we must not give the reins to that will which lieth even at the door, but rule over it (Genesis 1:4; Genesis 1:7); for he who committeth sin is the slave of sin (John 8:34). The statement is not made with reference to the possibilities of gracious attainment in the Christian life, but to the ordinary facts of human history. The meaning is, there is no man and no nation that can claim to be beyond the possibility of sinning. Israel must not assume that because they are the chosen people that may not, by running into sin, draw down the Divine anger in bitter judgments upon them. But here is surely no such universal proposition as to involve, as some assume, that even the New Testament saint, whose life is hid with Christ in God, sees never in this life the hour in which he does not sin. The confession, “We have sinned” (1 Kings 8:47) must come from the depths of the heart, and must be in connection with the conversion of the whole soul to the Lord; for he alone can obtain forgiveness of all his sins in whose spirit there is no guile (Psalms 32:2). But how often in days of fasting and humiliation is this confession made only with the lips! How, then, can a man hope for mercy and forgiveness through the hearing of prayer? The Lord, who guides the hearts of men as water-courses, can bestow upon our enemies a forgiving and merciful heart, even as Israel experienced. For this, and not for the destruction of our enemies, we ought to pray.—Lange and Whedon.
1 Kings 8:50. Solomon probably means, not merely such compassion as Evil-Merodach showed towards Jehoiachin in alleviating his sufferings and ameliorating his condition (2 Kings 25:27-30; Jeremiah 52:31-34), but such as Cyrus and Artaxerxes showed in allowing the captive Jews to return to their own land (Ezra 1:3; Ezra 8:13; Nehemiah 2:6, compared with Psalms 146:4-6).
1 Kings 8:51. “The midst of the furnace of iron.” The disciplinary aspect of affliction. I. Is very painful to endure. II. Tests the faith and patience of the sufferer. III. Purifies and ennobles the whole man. IV. Magnifies the grace and power of God in sustaining and delivering. V. Prepares for a loftier mission and more extended usefulness.
1 Kings 8:51-53. Arguments in pleading with God. Based on—I. Intimacy of relationship: “They be thy people.”
1. Specially chosen: “For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth.”
2. Specially prized: “Thine inheritance.” II. The fact of great suffering: “The midst of the furnace of iron.” III. The memory of past deliverances: “Which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt.” IV. The record of Divine pledges and promises: “As thou spakest by the hand of Moses.”
—In the midst of our cries and prayers we should remember how dearly the Lord has purchased us for His own by the blood of His Son (Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Revelation 5:9). The grace of God in Christ is the foundation of our assurance that the Lord will deliver us from all tribulation and sorrow, and will lead us to. His heavenly kingdom. For this do we close our prayer with the words—For the sake of thine eternal love. God does not leave His people in the furnace of misery, but always guides them forth from it (Job 3:22). Our prayers from beginning to end must be grounded on the Divine promises (2 Samuel 7:25).—Starke.