1 Kings 8: “Solomon Dedicates The Temple”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapter 7.

1.1.1. We saw that more than any other of God’s leaders that Solomon had this continual desire to build. His projects were incredibly huge, intricate and lush in every aspect, yet this did not scare him away from completing them.

1.1.2. We observed how that though the temple was in scale exactly twice the size of the tabernacle, that in many particulars the temple was constructed to multiply more than 10 times the worship and sacrifice that could be accomplished by the priests.

1.1.3. We saw the palace that Solomon designed for himself, as well as a vacation house, and we saw the house that he built for his wife who was Pharaoh’s daughter.

1.1.4. We saw that Solomon even built storage cities.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapter 8 and Solomon’s dedication of the temple.

1.2.1. Now that the temple is completed, Solomon organizes the men of Israel to go and to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the temple. We will see that the Lord accepts the temple which Solomon and Israel have made for the Lord.

1.2.2. Solomon makes a dedication prayer of the temple to the Lord.

1.2.3. We will observe in Solomon’s prayer for the temple that he sought the Lord to bless His people in seven different difficulties that they might find themselves in as they would be needing the Lord in His justice and mercy to act upon their behalf. In each of these cases Solomon implored the Lord to meet His people’s need and if they had sinned to forgive and restore them, if they have repented of their sin.

1.2.4. We will see in Solomon’s prayer how that he intercedes for Israel in all of their difficulties that they might find themselves in over the years. In almost every case the difficulties that the people might encounter as God’s people are the result of inheriting the curse of not keeping the covenant that they had made with the Lord. Under the covenant of the Law of Moses, the Lord promised “great blessings” upon Israel if they walked in obedience to His law keeping all of His commandments and precepts, however if they did not keep the Law then He also promised them “a great number of curses.” Duet. 28:15-68 describes the many curses Israel would inherit if they did not keep their part of the covenant with the Lord, “¹⁵ “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: ¹⁶ “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. ¹⁷ “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ “Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. ²⁰ “The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me. ²¹ “The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. ²² “The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish. ²³ “The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. ²⁴ “The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed. ²⁵ “The Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ “Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ “The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ “The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; ²⁹ and you will grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you. ³⁰ “You shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; you shall build a house, but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit. ³¹ “Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you. ³² “Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do. ³³ “A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually. ³⁴ “You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see. ³⁵ “The Lord will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. ³⁶ “The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. ³⁷ “You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the Lord drives you. ³⁸ “You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little, for the locust will consume it. ³⁹ “You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them. ⁴⁰ “You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off. ⁴¹ “You shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. ⁴² “The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. ⁴³ “The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ “He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you will be the tail. ⁴⁵ “So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ “They shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ “The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ “Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. ⁵² “It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ “Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you. ⁵⁴ “The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns. ⁵⁶ “The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, ⁵⁷ and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns. ⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. ⁶⁰ “He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ “Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed. ⁶² “Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ “It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. ⁶⁴ “Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. ⁶⁵ “Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. ⁶⁶ “So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. ⁶⁷ “In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see. ⁶⁸ “The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.””

1.2.5. In Solomon’s prayer he simply asks the Lord to fulfill the very promises that the Lord has made. This is a key to effective prayer: praying the promises of God.

1.2.6. Solomon’s prayer for God’s blessing on the nation is really is meant to be all encompassing of every way in which the Lord needs to work in the lives of His people through this temple.

1.2.7. At the end of Solomon’s prayer of dedication we will see the blessing that he speaks over God’s people.

1.2.8. After Solomon’s prayer there ensued an incredible two-week celebration of making sacrifices to the Lord and feasting.

2.VS 8:1-12 - “¹ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ³ Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. ⁴ They brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils, which were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen they could not be counted or numbered. ⁶ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles from above. ⁸ But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. ¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.” - Solomon brings the Ark of the Covenant into the temple

2.1. So, we see here that Solomon assembled all of the elders of Israel, all of the heads of the tribes, and all of the heads of families to Jerusalem to bring up the Ark of the Covenant to Mount Moriah where the completed temple stood.

2.2. They brought up the Ark, the tent of meeting, or tabernacle, (though I do not know what they did with it), and all of the utensils that were in the tent of meeting.

2.3. In compliance with the Law, the priests carried up the Ark upon poles.

2.4. The priests then carried the Ark up into the Holy of Holies in the temple.

2.5. The Ark used to have cherubim on its sides, but now the huge (15 feet tall and 15 feet wide) cherubim Solomon had created and placed in the Holy of Holies overshadowed the mercy seat on the Ark.

2.6. The only thing that was inside of the Ark itself was the stone tablets on which the Lord had inscribed the 10 commandments for Moses. Aaron’s rod and a jar of manna that used to accompany the Ark were no longer needed.

2.7. When the priests brought up the Ark and placed it in the Holy of Holies, the ‘thick cloud’ that used to accompany the Israelites in the wilderness came and filled the temple, and it was so thick that the priests could not stand to minister. This cloud is what the Old Testament refers to as the “Shekinah glory” of the Lord.

2.7.1. ‘The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud’ - There are several scriptures that Solomon may have been referring to that speak of the dark cloud that the Lord dwells in, including:

2.7.1.1. Psalm 97:2, “² Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.”

2.7.1.2. Psalm 18:11, “¹¹ He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.”

2.7.1.3. Leviticus 16:2, “² The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.”

2.8. When the ‘thick cloud’ came into the temple this was confirmation to Solomon and the Israelites that the Lord had accepted them and this temple which they had built for the Lord to dwell in. They knew that the Lord would now keep His part of the covenant that Israel had made with the Lord, the covenant which specified that He would be their God and bless them as they were diligent to keep the commandments of His Law and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

3.VS 8:13-16 - “¹³ “I have surely built You a lofty house, A place for Your dwelling forever.” ¹⁴ Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ¹⁵ He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’” - Solomon addresses the Lord concerning the temple he had built for Him, blessed the assembly of God’s people, then blessed the Lord for His gracious choice of Israel

3.1. Solomon tells the Lord that he has built for the Lord ‘a lofty house, a place for Your dwelling forever.’

3.2. Solomon blesses the Lord for choosing out of all Israel David, his father, to be over His people.

4.VS 8:17-21 - “¹⁷ “Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ “But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. ¹⁹ ‘Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.’ ²⁰ “Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ “There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt.”” - Solomon reminds Israel that his father David had wanted to build a house for the Lord but was forbidden to do so, and then David was told that his son would build this house

4.1. Solomon tells the people that the Lord had fulfilled His word which He spoke to David saying that David’s son Solomon would build the house of the Lord.

4.2. Note here that Solomon makes a point to emphasize to the people that the Ark of the Covenant was the center of the temple, telling them that in completion of the temple that he had now set the Ark ‘in which is the covenant of the Lord’ (the Ark contained the covenant because it contained the 10 commandments) in the temple.

5.VS 8:22-36 - “²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. ²³ He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, ²⁴ who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day. ²⁵ “Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.’ ²⁶ “Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.” - Solomon stands and lifts His hands toward heaven and begins to extol the Lord for His faithfulness in keeping His covenant promises, then asks the Lord to fulfill His promise to keep one of David’s descendants upon the throne as long as Israel keeps their part of the covenant with the Lord

5.1. Solomon declares that there is no God like the Lord, in heaven above or on earth beneath, who has kept His covenant and shown lovingkindness to His servants who serve Him with all of their hearts.

5.2. Solomon asks the Lord to confirm His word that He had spoken to David about keeping a descendant of David’s upon the throne as long as Israel kept their terms of the covenant with the Lord.

5.3. Verse 54 tells us that Solomon was kneeling here as he prayed, for he gets up from kneeling at the end of his prayer.

6.VS 8:27-28 - “²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! ²⁸ “Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today;” - Solomon acknowledges that no house can contain the Lord, much less this temple, then he asks the Lord to hear his prayer that he is about to pray

6.1. Both David and Solomon recognized that they could not put the Lord in a box. They had no exclusive franchise on God and that if Israel did not keep the terms of the covenant they had made with the Lord to obey His commandments, then God would discipline them and if they continued unrepentant eventually disown them.

6.2. Only because of the Lord’s covenant promises with Israel, Solomon was assured that the Lord would have ‘regard to the prayer of’ His servants.

7.VS 8:29 - “²⁹ that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.” - Solomon asks the Lord to have His eyes always upon this temple and listen to the prayers of His servants

7.1. Isn’t it wonderful that day or night of every day that the Lord hears and answers our prayers. I think that we Christians today take this fact for granted.

7.2. In Israel since the Lord said that He would dwell between the cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark that the people prayed towards the temple.

8.VS 8:30 - “³⁰ “Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive.” - Solomon asks the Lord to hear the prayers of His people when they pray towards the temple, to both hear and forgive

8.1. In the scriptures we see that when the Lord hears someone’s prayers that this means that He will hear and grant their requests according to His will.

9.VS 8:31-32 - “³¹ “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, ³² then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.” - 1^st Difficulty In Which A Person Might Be Needing The Lord To Act In Justice And Mercy On His Behalf: Solomon asks the Lord to justify the righteous man who coming to the temple has sustained an injury from another and yet has no evidence to back up his story except for the oath that he makes in the temple

9.1. In civil matters, many times it is very difficult to determine who is in the wrong, especially when both parties are telling opposite stories. Solomon’s prayer request is for the Lord to work providentially in these kinds of cases and reveal what truly has happened and to thereby assure that justice is carried out.

10.VS 8:33-34 - “³³ “When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, ³⁴ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.” - 2^nd Difficulty In Which A Person Might Be Needing The Lord To Act In Justice And Mercy On His Behalf: Solomon asks the Lord to forgive and restore Israel when her enemies defeat her in battle

10.1. The history of Israel (and really all mankind) reveals that we as people do sometimes fall into sin and thereby get ourselves into lots of difficulties. The Lord in His covenant promised victory to Israel as long as they were obedient to the covenant He had made with them. However, if they fell away from the Lord then He promised that they would be conquered by their enemies.

10.2. When Israel has been defeated but then afterwards realizes their sin and error in falling away from the Lord and confesses that sin to the Lord, then Solomon is requesting that the Lord forgive their sin and bring them back safely to their own land.

11.VS 8:35-36 - “³⁵ “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, ³⁶ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land, which You have given Your people for an inheritance.” - 3^rd Difficulty In Which A Person Might Be Needing The Lord To Act In Justice And Mercy On His Behalf: Solomon asks the Lord to forgive and restore Israel if they have sinned and as a result have encountered a drought, forgive and also to send rain

11.1. One of the many curses promised by the Lord for Israel should they break the terms of the covenant with Him is that famine would come upon them.

11.2. Here Solomon asks the Lord that when a famine has come upon Israel because of their having fallen away from the Lord and then they recognize their sin and turn from it, that the Lord would forgive their sin, teach them ‘the good way in which they should walk’ and then send rain again upon their land.

12.VS 8:37-40 - “³⁷ “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, ³⁸ whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; ³⁹ then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, ⁴⁰ that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.” - 4^th Difficulty In Which A Person Might Be Needing The Lord To Act In Justice And Mercy On His Behalf: Solomon asks the Lord to heal, forgive and restore His people if any of several afflictions come upon them

12.1. The things that Solomon enumerates here in which the Israelites would need the Lord’s healing and restoration are:

12.1.1. Famine.

12.1.2. Pestilence.

12.1.3. Blight.

12.1.4. Mildew.

12.1.5. Locust.

12.1.6. Caterpillar.

12.1.7. An enemy having attacked a city.

12.1.8. Any plague.

12.1.9. Sickness.

12.2. These enumerated difficulties are all some of the curses which the Lord said would befall Israel if they fell away from Him breaking the terms of His covenant with them.

12.3. Notice here that when any of these afflictions come upon God’s people that they came about as ‘afflictions of his own heart.’ Can we not all relate to this phrase because of intimate understanding of our own sins and shortcomings? A person once remarked, “The heart of every matter is the heart.”

12.4. Again, when God’s people have encountered any of these difficulties and then have recognized the error of their way and repented of their sin Solomon requests that the Lord would forgive them of their sins and heal and restore them.

13.VS 8:41-43 - “⁴¹ “Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your name’s sake ⁴² (for they will hear of Your great name and Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ hear in 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, to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.” - 5^th Difficulty In Which A Person Might Be Needing The Lord To Act In Justice And Mercy On His Behalf: Solomon asks the Lord to hear and answer the prayer of the Gentile proselyte when he comes and prays to the Lord at the temple

13.1. It was always the Lord’s desire that Israel reach out to the Gentiles and lead them to have faith in the Lord. Israel was called to be a light to the Gentiles and show them the way to the Lord. However, for the most part instead the Jews because of their religiosity despised the Gentiles for being unclean and thus they discouraged the Gentiles from coming to faith in the Lord. Note these Old Testament scriptures that taught that the Jews were to be a light to the nations and lead them to salvation:

13.1.1. Isaiah 42:6, “⁶ “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations.”

13.1.2. Isaiah 49:6, “⁶ He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””

14.VS 8:44-45 - “⁴⁴ “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, ⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.” - 6^th Difficulty In Which A Person Might Be Needing The Lord To Act In Justice And Mercy On His Behalf: Solomon asks the Lord if when His people go out to war against an enemy and ask the Lord in prayer for help in victory that He will give it to them

14.1. As part of the covenant promises for Israel the Lord promised them victory over their enemies as long as Israel kept their part of the covenant and walked in obedience to the Lord and His commandments.

14.2. Whenever the kings of Israel prayed and committed their way to the Lord before going into battle they were victorious.

15.VS 8:46-51 - “⁴⁶ “When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; ⁴⁷ if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’; ⁴⁸ if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name; ⁴⁹ then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, ⁵⁰ and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹ (for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace),” - 7^th Difficulty In Which A Person Might Be Needing The Lord To Act In Justice And Mercy On His Behalf: Solomon asks the Lord if when His people have committed some sort of sins (most likely idolatry and worship of the gods of the other nations) and then as a result they are attacked and taken captive to another land that the Lord would restore them back to relationship with Himself and return them from captivity to their own land to serve Him

15.1. Notice that in verse 46 that Solomon acknowledges that every man and woman sometimes sins. We as people are often found needed the forgiveness, healing and restoration to the Lord because of our sin. When we yield our lives to Christ in repentance to live the life that He wants us to live then the Lord does forgive and cleanse us from all of our sins.

15.2. At times we can all fall into “spiritual captivity” and need the Lord’s deliverance of us.

15.3. Another of the curses promised by the Lord to Israel for violating the terms of the covenant with the Lord was that the would be led captive by their enemies.

16.VS 8:52-54 - “⁵² that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. ⁵³ “For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord God.” ⁵⁴ When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven.” - Solomon reminds the Lord that Israel is the nation whom the Lord called to be His people, and for this reason Solomon beseeches the Lord on their behalf that His eyes be open to their supplications (prayers)

16.1. There is an important corollary to this prayer of Solomon’s in the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 6:41-42, “⁴¹ “Now therefore arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good. ⁴² “O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; remember Your lovingkindness to Your servant David.””

16.2. Notice here in verse 54 that when Solomon finished his prayer to the Lord that he got up from the kneeling position had been in while praying.

17.VS 8:55-56 - “⁵⁵ And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant.” - Solomon begins his blessing of the people by first blessing the Lord

17.1. Solomon blesses the Lord for giving ‘rest to His people Israel’ and this was ‘according to all that He promised.’ Under David Israel had fought war after war but finally just as the Lord had promised Solomon’s reign was one of peace and prosperity.

17.2. Solomon acknowledges here that the Lord had kept every promise He had ever made to Moses.

18.VS 8:57 - “⁵⁷ “May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us,” - Solomon blesses the people saying initially, may the Lord God be always with them and never forsake them

18.1. The Lord promised Moses that He would always be with him and never forsake him (Deut 31:6 , 17), then Joshua (Josh 1:5), and He has likewise extended this same promise to all of us as Christians (Heb 13:5).

19.VS 8:58 - “⁵⁸ that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers.” - Solomon blesses the people saying may the Lord incline their hearts to Himself to walk in His ways and keep His commandments

19.1. If the Lord in His grace does not work in our hearts to incline us to walk in His ways and keep His commandments then because of our sinful human natures we will wander off from the Lord and stumble in the darkness of sin and this sinful world. We should ask the Lord regularly to soften and mould our hearts to be willing to conform to His will and plans for our lives.

20.VS 8:59-60 - “⁵⁹ “And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else.” - Solomon blesses the people saying may these words which he has prayed in dedication of the temple to the Lord be always near to the Lord

20.1. Solomon requests the Lord to ‘maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people as each day requires.’ God’s people need Him day in and day out and thus the Lord must always have His eyes and His ears attuned to our needs so that He might hear our prayers and answer them according to His perfect will for us.

21.VS 8:61 - “⁶¹ “Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”” - Solomon blesses the people admonishing them to have their hearts always be wholly devoted to the Lord to walk in His ways and keep His commandments

22.VS 8:62-64 - “⁶² Now the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. ⁶⁴ On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, because there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings.” - Solomon and all Israel make an unprecedented number of sacrifices (22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep) to the Lord in celebration of the dedication of the temple to the Lord

22.1. The brazen altar in the temple was not big enough to hand all of the sacrifices that Solomon and Israel made on these two weeks of meeting before the Lord and therefore ‘the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord’ so that offerings could even be made in that place.

23.VS 8:65-66 - “⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, for seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David His servant and to Israel His people.” - Solomon then observed the feast with all Israel for 14 days, sending the people away on the 8^th day (of following day)

23.1. There was just one big joyous celebration and feasting for these 14 days of the temple dedication celebration.

24.CONCLUSIONS:

24.1. As we note all of the many difficulties that God’s people might encounter and thus call upon the Lord needing His help, note that in every case when God’s people had admitted their wrong and repented of their sins that the Lord desired to forgive, heal, and restore them. The Lord truly desires what is best for us and it is His desire to give us life.

24.2. There is a line spoken in the movie Brave Heart that contains spiritual truth, it says, “Everyone is going to die but very few live!” We as God’s people ought to be people who realize that we just want to experience life in its fullest. We truly want to have all of Christ that He has for us for in doing so we will have all of life that He can give us.

24.3. May God bless our church and ministry to Him using us and the work of our hands to bring blessing and salvation to the people of this world.

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