1 Kgs 8:22-30 · Read 5 min · think and write 15 min
In Solomon’s days, “Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry” (1 Kgs 4:20); “Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon” (1 Kgs 4:25). “God gave Solomon abundant wisdom, understanding, and breadth of mind like the sand that is on the seashore” (1 Kgs 4:29). The passage records: “He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand five” (1 Kgs 4:32); “People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom” (1 Kgs 4:34).
He sent word to Hiram king of Tyre: “Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father” (1 Kgs 5:5). That promise is in David, Lesson 5. While he was building, the word of the LORD came to him: “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel” (1 Kgs 6:13). “So he spent seven years building it” (1 Kgs 6:38).
When the house was finished, the priests brought the ark into the inner sanctuary (1 Kgs 8:6). “It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the LORD’s house” (1 Kgs 8:10), “so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house” (1 Kgs 8:11).
This lesson reads Solomon’s prayer on that day.
22Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven;
23and he said, “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;
24who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.
25Now therefore, may LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’
26“Now therefore, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.
27But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
28Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today;
29that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.
30Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
Hands toward heaven. “Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven” (v. 22).
Covenant and loving kindness. He began by saying what God is like: “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart” (v. 23).
Spoken and fulfilled. “Who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today” (v. 24). Then he asked God to keep the rest of the promise: “There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me” (v. 25).
How much less this house. The house had just been finished, and the glory had just filled it; yet he asked: “But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (v. 27).
Toward this place. “Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, LORD my God” (v. 28); “that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day” (v. 29). What he asked was: “Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive” (v. 30). The house was a place to pray toward God; what he asked was that God, ‘in heaven’, would hear.
For the foreigner. He went on to pray for many kinds of people, among them “the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake” (1 Kgs 8:41), asking “that all the peoples of the earth may know your name” (1 Kgs 8:43).
No one who doesn’t sin. Asking God to forgive his people, he said: “for there is no man who doesn’t sin” (1 Kgs 8:46).
Not one word has failed. When he had finished praying, he blessed the assembly: “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant” (1 Kgs 8:56).
Later. In the next lesson, a queen comes from a far country.
When David had wanted to build a house for the LORD, the LORD said to him by the prophet Nathan: “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in?” (2 Sam 7:5); “For I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought the children of Israel up out of Egypt, even to this day, but have moved around in a tent and in a tabernacle” (2 Sam 7:6). This is in David, Lesson 5.
Readers can see this: on the day the house was finished, Solomon too asked, “But will God in very deed dwell on the earth?” (v. 27).
Perhaps you often feel that God can hear you only in a certain place or a certain meeting; perhaps something has weighed on your heart for a long time, and you are not sure God still wants to listen.
This lesson does not say that places do not matter and anywhere will do; nor does it say that God hears only when you pray in a certain place. What it shows you is this: Solomon had built the house, and yet he said, “heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you” (v. 27); he asked God, “Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive” (v. 30). The New Testament also says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
This week: Each day this week, find an ordinary place — the kitchen, the car, the way to work — and pray there once about one thing. If something has weighed on your heart for a long time, pray once in Solomon’s words: ‘When you hear, forgive.’
Scripture: World English Bible.