Introduction

‘Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.” While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then he said: “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said, ‘Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel. But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’ “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. But the LORD said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’ “The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David, my father, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel.” 2 Chronicles 6:1-11

Solomon says, ‘the LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud’, 2 Chronicles 6:1 / 1 Kings 8:12. It would be dark in the holy of holies because there were no windows, and here this darkness is associated with the dark storm cloud which came over Mount Horeb at the giving of the Law, Exodus 20:18 / Psalm 18:10-11.

Common sense tells us that God wouldn’t literally dwell in the temple, 2 Chronicles 6:2 / 1 Kings 8:13 / 1 Kings 8:27-30 / Acts 7:48. Solomon is basically saying that the temple would represent God’s presence among His people.

Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.

‘It was under the appearance of a cloud that God showed himself present with Israel in the wilderness, Exodus 14:19-20. And at the dedication of the tabernacle in the wilderness, God manifested himself in the same way that he did here at the dedication of the temple, Exodus 40:34-35.’

After blessing the people, Solomon then goes on to quote God’s words to his father, David, 2 Chronicles 6:3-9 / 1 Kings 8:14-21 / 2 Samuel 2:13. However, if God had originally planned to choose a city and build a temple in the land of one of the tribes, then that tribe would have taken ownership of a visible symbol of God’s presence, but it never was God’s plan.

God didn’t want a temple in the first place, 2 Samuel 7:5-7. This temple was built for Solomon’s father, David, because it was David’s dream to build one, 2 Samuel 7:1-2. Solomon’s throne wasn’t established forever, and the temple he built, which bore God’s Name, was claimed to be such by Solomon and the Israelites.

God appears to allow the temple to be built and used for worship at this time, but the house which God was speaking about was referring to the Lord’s church, Acts 15:16-18.

Solomon goes ahead and expresses his gratitude that he was set upon the throne of David in fulfilment of the promise that God made to David, 2 Chronicles 6:10-11 / 1 Kings 8:20-21 / 1 Chronicles 28:6.

SOLOMON’S PRAYER OF DEDICATION

‘Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the centre of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. He said: “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you have promised, and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today. “Now, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’ And now, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true. “But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet, LORD my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.’ 2 Chronicles 6:12-21

In 2 Chronicles 6:12-40 / 1 Kings 8:22-53, we read about Solomon’s prayer of dedication. Some suggest that Solomon prayed for the wrong thing; instead of praying that God would keep His word, he should have prayed that he and his son would keep the Lord’s Word.

It’s possible that his prayer was written down and kept in The Book of the Acts of Solomon, 1 Kings 11:41, or in The Book of Nathan the Prophet, 2 Chronicles 9:20. Notice Solomon spread out his hands towards heaven, 2 Chronicles 6:12 / 1 Kings 8:22 / Psalms 28:2 / Psalms 134:2 / Psalms 141:2 / 1 Timothy 2:8.

Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning 2 Chronicles 6:13 / 1 Kings 8:22.

‘He ascended the brazen scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and then kneeled down upon his knees, with his hands spread up to heaven, and offered up the following prayer, 1 Kings 8:54 / 2 Chronicles 5:12-13. The spreading out of the hands towards heaven was a usual custom in all nations, in prayer the hands were stretched out to heaven, as if to invite and receive assistance from thence, while, humbly kneeling on their knees, they seemed to acknowledge at once their dependence and unworthiness.’

It’s incredible to think that here, Solomon openly declares that ‘there is no God like you’, 2 Chronicles 6:14 / 1 Kings 8:23, but as he approaches his later years of reign, he commits idolatry, 1 Kings 11:5-12. He acknowledged that God’s promise was fulfilled, 2 Chronicles 6:15 / 1 Kings 8:24 / 2 Samuel 7:13.

He also quotes God’s words again in saying, ‘you shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel’, 2 Chronicles 6:16 / 1 Kings 8:25.

This, of course, was God’s promise to David, and from him only God would recognise someone as the rightful king of Israel. Solomon asks God to be true to His word and His promise, 2 Chronicles 6:17 / 1 Kings 8:26.

Although Solomon declared earlier that the temple will be God’s dwelling place forever, 2 Chronicles 6:2 / 1 Kings 8:13, now Solomon answers his own question when he asks, ‘will God really dwell on earth?’ 2 Chronicles 6:18 / 1 Kings 8:27. He certainly knows that no one can confine God to one place, never mind a temple, 2 Chronicles 6:18 / 1 Kings 8:27 / Deuteronomy 10:14 / Acts 17:22-31.

Solomon asks God to hear his prayer and plea for mercy, and calls his ‘my God’, 2 Chronicles 6:19 / 1 Kings 8:28. The name of God, 2 Chronicles 6:20 / 1 Kings 8:29, or authority of God, was once displayed through the presence of the tabernacle, and now Solomon asks God to display His Name through the presence of the temple.

The problem, however, is seen in this: if the temple demonstrated God’s presence and it also displayed God’s authority over His people, then all the nations around could claim the same thing about their temples. He once again asks God to hear his prayer and, when God hears his prayer, that He would forgive, 2 Chronicles 6:21 / 1 Kings 8:30.

Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.

‘Both tabernacle and temple were types of our Lord Jesus, or of God manifested in the flesh, and he was and is the Mediator between God and man. All prayer, to be acceptable and to be entitled to a hearing, must go to God through Him. The human nature of Christ is the temple in which dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; therefore, with propriety all prayer must be offered to God through Him.’

‘When anyone wrongs their neighbour and is required to take an oath, and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence. When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. “When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance. When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts, or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of their afflictions and pains and spreading out their hands toward this temple—then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart), so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors. As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people, Israel, but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.’ 2 Chronicles 6:22-39

The text here is basically saying, if the Israelites don’t remain faithful to God and His Word, then there will be consequences to pay, famines, plagues, exile, etc., 2 Chronicles 6:22-39 / 1 Kings 8:31-53.

The terms and conditions that a person be in the presence of the temple to swear an oath, 2 Chronicles 6:22-23 / 1 Kings 8:31-32, or repent, 2 Chronicles 6:24-27 / 1 Kings 8:46-51, couldn’t be a condition for making binding oaths or bringing about personal repentance, simply because the temple was far away from most of the other Israelites.

Clarke, in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 6:22-23 / 1 Kings 8:31-32.

‘Solomon puts here seven cases, in all of which the mercy and intervention of God would be indispensably requisite; and he earnestly bespeaks that mercy and intervention on condition that the people pray towards that holy place, and with a feeling heart make earnest supplication. The first case is one of doubtfulness, where a man has sustained an injury, and charges it on a suspected person, though not able to bring direct evidence of the fact, the accused is permitted to come before the altar of God, and purge himself by his personal oath. Solomon prays that God may not permit a false oath to be taken, but that he will discover the truth, so that the wicked shall be condemned, and the righteous justified.’
Clarke continues in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 6:24-25 / 1 Kings 8:33-34.

‘The second case. When their enemies make inroads upon them, and defeat them in battle, and lead them into captivity, because God, being displeased with their transgressions, has delivered them up then if they shall turn again, confess the name of God, which they had in effect denied, by either neglecting his worship, or becoming idolatrous and pray and make supplication, then, says Solomon, hear thou in heaven-and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.’

Over and over again throughout these verses, Solomon speaks about God’s dwelling place is heaven, 2 Chronicles 6:23 / 2 Chronicles 6:25 / 2 Chronicles 6:26 / 2 Chronicles 6:27 / 2 Chronicles 6:30 / 2 Chronicles 6:33 / 2 Chronicles 6:35 / 2 Chronicles 6:39 / 1 Kings 8:32 / 1 Kings 8:34 / 1 Kings 8:36 / 1 Kings 8:39 / 1 Kings 8:43 / 1 Kings 8:45 / 1 Kings 8:48, not the temple or any other physical place.

Solomon asks that the beautiful temple, which he has built, be used as evidence of the existence of God when foreigners pass by, 2 Chronicles 6:32-33 / 1 Kings 8:41 / 1 Kings 8:43.

Notice Solomon asks God to hear their prayers when they are facing the temple, 2 Chronicles 6:29 / 2 Chronicles 6:32 / 2 Chronicles 6:34 / 2 Chronicles 6:38 / 1 Kings 8:38 / 1 Kings 8:42 / 1 Kings 8:44 / 1 Kings 8:48.

This is mentioned four times in his prayer, but we know God doesn’t ask us to pray in any specific direction. He hears our prayers wherever we are and in whatever direction we’re facing.

The sending of the rain, 2 Chronicles 6:26-27 / 1 Kings 8:35-36, is in correspondence with their obedience to the Law of God, and so, if they were disobedient, they would be taken into captivity. Solomon says that no one can say they haven’t sinned, and that is still true today, Romans 3:23 / 1 John 1:10.

Clarke continues in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 6:26-27 / 1 Kings 8:35-36.

‘The third case. When, because of their sin, and their ceasing to walk in the good way in which they should have walked, God refuses to send the early and latter rain, so that the appointed weeks of harvest come in vain, as there is no crop, then, if they pray and confess their sin, hear thou in heaven.’

Clarke continues in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 6:28-31 / 1 Kings 8:37-40.

‘The fourth case includes several kinds of evils.

1. Famine, a scarcity, or total want of bread, necessarily springing from the preceding cause, drought.

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. Caterpillar, the locust in its young or nymphal state. The former refers to locusts 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 defended 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.

9. Sickness, whatever impaired the strength or affected the intestines, disturbing or destroying their natural functions.

All such cases were to be brought before the Lord, the persons having a deep sense of the wickedness which induced God thus to afflict, or permit them to be afflicted, for only those who knew the plague of their own hearts, 1 Kings 8:38, the deep-rooted moral corruption of their nature, and the destructive nature and sinfulness of sin, were likely to pray in such a manner as to induce God to hear and forgive.’

Clarke continues in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 6:32-33 / 1 Kings 8:41-43.

‘The fifth case relates to heathens coming from other countries with the design to become proselytes to the true religion; that they might be received, blessed, and protected as the true Israelites, that the name of Jehovah might be known over the face of the earth.’

Clarke continues in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 6:34-35 / 1 Kings 8:44-45.

‘The sixth case 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 for mere defensive war, all others are diabolical and query, if there were no provocations, would there be any attacks, and consequently any need for defensive wars?’

Clarke continues in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 6:36-39 / 1 Kings 8:46-50.

‘This seventh case must refer to some general defection from truth to some species of false worship, idolatry, or corruption of the truth and ordinances of the Most High, as for it they are here stated to be delivered into the hands of their enemies and carried away captive, which was the general punishment for idolatry, and what is called, 1 Kings 8:47, acting perversely and committing wickedness.’

‘Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. “Now arise, LORD God, and come to your resting place, you, and the ark of your might. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness. LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David your servant.” 2 Chronicles 6:40-42

Notice that Solomon was kneeling to pray, 1 Kings 8:54. This is the first mention of kneeling for prayer in the Bible. By the time we get to the New Testament, most people stood to pray, Luke 18:11 / Luke 18:13. Solomon asks God to open His eyes and ears when prayers are offered in the temple, 2 Chronicles 6:40.

He asks God to arise, and come to His resting place, Him, and the ark of His might, 2 Chronicles 6:41. Not that the ark was in the temple, this represented the presence of God being in the temple, Numbers 10:35-36.

Solomon asks God that His priests be clothed in salvation, 2 Chronicles 6:41. In other words, the conduct of the religious leaders must be according to the righteousness of God.

He asks God not to reject His anointed one, 2 Chronicles 6:42, that is, Solomon himself. He doesn’t want God to hide His face through shame at having his prayers rejected, 1 Kings 2:16.

In his prayer, he says that God has been absolutely true to His word concerning His promises to Moses, 1 Kings 8:55-56 / Genesis 12:1-3. These promises had already been fulfilled, but Solomon wants Israel to know that they too must fulfil their part in being obedient to God, hence why they had to walk in all of God’s ways, 1 Kings 8:57-58.

Notice if Israel stuck to their covenant agreement with God by keeping His commandments, then ‘all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no other’, 2 Chronicles 6:41-42 / 1 Kings 8:59-60.

In other words, since God was the one who gave them the law, if they were obedient to His law, 1 Kings 8:61, this would show the world that their laws weren’t man-made and God was real, John 13:35 / John 14:15.

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