Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake;
Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel. Not only was prayer made in that house to be answered, but the petitions were to be granted in so conspicuous a manner that their accomplishment was to become, even to unbelievers, a proof of Yahweh's supreme existence and illimitable power. Solomon in this part of his dedication-prayer speaks of strangers, not of Israelite descent, repairing to worship God in that temple, as a known and allowable usage (cf Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17). There were probably a great number of foreigners resident in Canaan among the Jews, and it would certainly be increased in the reign of Solomon (see, for geer (H1616), the proselyte sojourner, at Exodus 12:19; Exodus 12:48-49; Leviticus 17:15; Leviticus 24:22; Numbers 9:14: and for toshah, or zar, dispersed stranger, at Exodus 12:45; Leviticus 22:10; Numbers 1:51). In this remarkable passage, which is the more decisive as it contains a solemn recognition of the principles and objects of the Jewish law, proceeding from the highest human authority, and sanctioned by the immediate approbation of God, whose glory filled the house of the Lord during the solemn supplication, we perceive it clearly laid down, not only that the Jewish scheme was adapted and designed "to make all the people of the earth know that the Lord was God, and that there was none else;" but also that the stranger from the remotest region, who should be led to believe in and to worship the true God, was not only permitted, but called and encouraged, to "pray toward the temple of Jerusalem," to join in the devotions of the chosen people of God, and equally with them to hope for the divine favour, and the acceptance of his prayers, without becoming a citizen of the Jewish state or submitting to the yoke of the Mosaic ritual or civil law. For the words of Solomon evidently suppose that the stranger whom he describes as thus supplicating God remained, as he had originally been, "not of the people of Israel"' (Graves, 2:, p. 368).