Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 8.

I love Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the temple.  He starts by proclaiming that God had kept the promise He had made to David by saying “with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it.”  Solomon then goes on to pray that God keep His other promises to David, using this one promise which had already been fulfilled as an example for those listening to hope and believe that He would fulfill the rest of those promises.  Solomon goes on to request that when people pray towards his temple that God would hear from heaven, and when He hears forgive them.  In his prayer, Solomon describes various bad circumstances people may place themselves in and He asks God that when His people turn to Him that He will hear them and forgive them.  Further, Solomon asks that when those who are not yet His people turn to Him and call on His name that He will hear them and forgive.  Solomon’s wish and prayer was that all the peoples of the earth would know and fear God.  In building the temple, Solomon sought to glorify God before all of the peoples of the world, so that they too might know that there is no other God.  I, and hopefully you, are evidence that God answered Solomon’s prayer in the fact that we fear and worship the God to whom Solomon prayed.  Let us likewise seek to cause others to turn to God and beg His forgiveness.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 8.

In the Book of Exodus we were told that Moses placed the tablets containing God’s law, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff in the ark of the covenant.  This passage tells us that when Solomon had the ark moved into the temple, it contained only the two tablets.  I am unsure if there is any significance to the fact that the jar of manna and Aaron’s staff were lost between the time of Moses and the time of Solomon, but I believe that the writer intended for us to be aware that they were indeed lost at that time.  I want to note that I am writing about this even though I do not see any spiritual significance to it, because it is a detail which I have never given much thought that strikes me today as something which may have spiritual significance.  I am hoping that by writing this in my blog today will make it something I remember if I come across another passage which gives it significance.

However, I want to focus on Solomon’s prayer dedicating the temple, as I do most years when I read this passage.  I want to comment on three aspects of his prayer.  First, Solomon acknowledges that God will not, and cannot, be contained within the temple, or any other structure or even geographical region.  God’s power to hear us and act extends to wherever we may find ourselves.  The second aspect is actually three part.  Solomon acknowledges that all of us will sin.  Solomon then asks God to forgive anyone who confesses their sin, turns away from it, and prays to God for forgiveness.  Solomon does not ask God to forgive those who refuse to admit that they have sinned, or even those who admit their sin but refuse to give it up.  No, in order to be forgiven, and healed, by God we must do three things:

• We must admit that we have sinned
• We must turn from that sin
• We must ask God for forgiveness

The same is true for when we have sinned against our fellows.  Finally, I want to note that Solomon asks God to extend His love and welcome into His family anyone who seeks Him.  I may be overstating what Solomon was asking, but he did indeed ask that God act so that all the people of the earth would know and fear Him as the people of Israel already did.  So, let us turn to God from our sin and call out to Him for forgiveness and let us recognize that God wishes to extend His love to those who have not yet met Him (and act so that they choose to turn to Him along with us).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 8.

When King Solomon dedicated the Temple which he had had built, he offered a prayer and a short sermon.  In his prayer, Solomon acknowledged that God will not be limited to a single building or place, that not even heaven can fully contain God.  In praying this way Solomon was acknowledging that God can be found everywhere by everyone.  Solomon prayed that whenever anyone cried out to God with a humble and repentant heart that God would hear them and act.  Further, he asked that God hear not just the prayers of the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, but those of anyone who called on God’s name.  In his prayer and the short sermon which followed, Solomon asked that God turn our hearts to Him, causing us to follow the commands which He has given to us.  We should desire to do these things so as to lead all people to that the Lord is God and that there is no other god.  Let us ask God the same things which King Solomon asked of Him: that He hear the prayers of those who call out to Him and act to relieve them of their suffering when they confess and repent of their sins.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 8.

I really like King Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the Temple. Solomon started by reminding those who heard the prayer that God had promised David that as long as his descendants faithfully obeyed God one of them would sit on the throne of Israel.  Then King Solomon made clear that he fully understood that no place could contain God, that God would not live in the Temple which he had built.  The Temple was there to unify the people of Israel in their worship of God, but God was not limited by it.  In his prayer, King Solomon encouraged people to physically turn towards the Temple when they realized they had sinned in order to symbolize turning towards God and repenting of their sins.  Perhaps the most powerful portion of his prayer is when he asks God to hear and answer the prayers of foreigners who turn to Him.  If God will hear and answer the prayers of those who were not part of His people, how can His people refuse to accept them?  The only other portion of Solomon’s dedication of the Temple is his injunction to fully commit our hearts to the Lord.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 8.

It tells me a lot about this passage when it tells us that all that was in the Ark of the Covenant when King Solomon moved it into the Temple was the two stone tablets.  However, in Exodus 16:34 we are told that a jar of manna was placed in the Ark in front of the stone tablets (Numbers 17:10 is worded in a way which could be interpreted that Aaron’s staff was placed there as well)..  This is one of those points where, if the author was just making it up, one would expect him to either not mention what was in the Ark, or to tell us that the stone tablets and the jar of manna were there (and possibly Aaron’s staff).  So, at some point between the death of Moses and King Solomon dedicating the Temple, the jar of manna and Aaron’ staff had been lost (Aaron’s staff may never have been in the Ark, but it would surely have been mentioned when Solomon later brought the Tabernacle to Jerusalem).

As part of dedicating the Temple, Solomon asked God to hear and honor the prayers of those who pray towards the Temple.  Solomon listed many sorts of situations where people would do so and asked God to bring deliverance and blessings to those who did so.  I believe that in all of the situations which Solomon listed, God will answer the prayers of anyone, and any group of people, who turn to Him in those situations.  Then Solomon turned to the people and invited them to pray with him in requesting that God give each and every one of them the desire to do God’s will and to follow His commands.  Let us join Solomon in praying that prayer and then follow through on the desire God gives us and do His will.