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The Most Stunning Prayer in the Old Testament
The books of 1 and 2 Kings aren’t overly interested in presenting powerful models of godliness. Even the accounts of Judah’s best kings like Hezekiah and Josiah, which interrupt the colorful procession of unspiritual kings of Israel and Judah, provide evidence of their long-term failure and missteps, rather than giving us patterns to follow (e.g., 2 Kings 19:14–19; 20:12–20; 23:28–30).
In particular, the writer seems to have little interest in the prayers of God’s people. The prominence given to Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8 is, therefore, all the more remarkable. Solomon’s richly biblical-theological prayer focuses on God’s sweeping covenant faithfulness—his determination both to clear a way for us to enjoy his presence and to draw people from every nation to himself.
Solomon’s Surprising Spirituality
Solomon is an enigmatic figure in the books of Kings. From the first mention of his name, in the context of David’s shameful inactivity in 1 Kings 1, there’s a pervading sense that his reign will begin in chaos and be marked by ambiguity.
The first specific mention of Solomon’s wisdom comes in the context of David’s instruction to him to “act . . . according to [his] wisdom” (2:6, 9) by killing Joab and Shimei. This comment suggests readers of 1 Kings should think carefully about Solomon’s attributes and godliness. This discomfort continues as his divinely received wisdom is first displayed in the less-than-ideal circumstances of identifying the mother of a child in a context that looks remarkably like a brothel (3:16–28).
As the narrative continues, Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter at the beginning of 1 Kings 3 stands in direct contravention of Deuteronomy 17. His provision of a palace for his Egyptian queen in the temple complex and the fact that his palace dwarfs the temple itself (1 Kings 7) raise troubling questions about Solomon’s “heart” (see Deut. 17:17, 20; 1 Sam. 16:7). His reign’s trajectory is explicitly set out in 1 Kings 11–12, and it seems fair to say that whatever positives are highlighted, his legacy is at best mixed. One effect of this uncomfortable narrative, however, is to make the radiance of his prayer in 1 Kings 8:22–53 blaze all the more brightly.
If it’s surprising that Solomon’s prayer is the spiritual high point of the books of Kings, it’s even more unexpected that the prayer is so theologically rich. It stands beside the prayers of Hannah, Ezra, and Nehemiah in terms of theological depth but exceeds them all in terms of scope. As an expression and development of the theological agenda established by Moses (expressed particularly in Deuteronomy), this prayer is without peer.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the prayer is that, despite its setting, there’s little focus on the temple building or furniture being dedicated. Nor is there direct reference to the nuts and bolts of its daily operations. Instead, Solomon’s prayer concentrates on the temple’s role in the future spiritual trajectory of the nation. His prayer turns out to be both theologically rich and deeply pious.
God’s Faithfulness
The basic premise of Solomon’s prayer (vv. 22–26), like virtually every prayer recorded in the Bible, is built on the foundation of the faithfulness of the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. Essentially, biblical prayer asks God to come through on his promises. While prayers may contain other elements, including adoration and confession, the core of the address to God is a request to do what he has promised.
The most striking feature of the prayer is that, despite its setting, there’s little focus on the temple being dedicated.
This focus is clear from the beginning of Solomon’s prayer: In verses 23–26, he doesn’t start with the establishment of the temple but with the promise Yahweh had made to Solomon’s father David in 2 Samuel 7. The provision of a temple building is subservient to the promise of a Messiah—an anointed king in David’s line. Solomon realizes that the commitment to send an individual both outstrips and gives context to the provision of the building.
These ideas are the building blocks of the insistence of Jesus and the apostles that Jesus is both the Davidic King and the true tabernacle/temple. With that, Solomon turns to the subject of “theology proper.”
God’s Presence
Drawing heavily on Deuteronomy 4 (see especially vv. 32–40), Solomon begins to reflect on God’s command to build a temple and commitment to be present with his people in that temple. Solomon poses a critical question in 8:27: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?” This raises the issue of God’s transcendence and immanence. Like Moses, Solomon robustly insists both concepts are vital. The God of the universe, who sits on his cosmic throne, is also the God who makes himself present with his people at the sanctuary.
Even more surprisingly, in verses 28–30, Solomon appears to subvert the entire sacrificial system. Despite the bloodiness of the temple’s daily operations that were about to commence, he makes no reference to animal sacrifice. Rather, he asks God to respond to the prayers of his people for forgiveness (v. 30). I’d argue this is simply an explicit recognition of the theological reality that undergirds all the Old Testament teaching on sacrifice: It isn’t ultimately the blood of bulls and goats that procures the forgiveness of sin—forgiveness somehow comes “on request” by grace through faith.
The Nations and Israel’s Future
Remarkably, verses 41–43 expand the prayer’s horizons to the nations. In a way reminiscent of Deuteronomy 4:5–8, an outsider hears of what God has done for Israel in the exodus. What then is the foreigner to do? He or she “comes and prays toward this house” (1 Kings 8:42).
Solomon expresses the ultimate goal to God: “That all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name” (v. 43). So the temple’s establishment is a key step in the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and in Israel’s role as a light to the nations (Isa. 42:6; 49:6).
It isn’t ultimately the blood of bulls and goats that procures the forgiveness of sin—forgiveness somehow comes ‘on request’ by grace through faith.
In the prayer’s final movement, Solomon returns to the high-level question of Israel’s future in the land and the eventuality that the temple (and the city of Jerusalem) will be lost to God’s people (1 Kings 8:44–45). It turns out that even after the loss of everything (including the temple), the key remains. Solomon asks God that Israel might “pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name” (v. 48).
The God of the exodus (v. 51) will not give up on his people but will hear them and bring them home (presumably through a new exodus). Solomon roots this future hope in the commitments made to and through Moses (v. 53).
Solomon’s prayer powerfully expresses the application of Deuteronomy’s theology to a key moment in the life of the nation. Strikingly, he de-emphasizes the building being dedicated and focuses on the God of the covenant. Its prominence in the Solomon narrative (and in the books of Kings as a whole) functions as a powerful commentary on the ensuing attitudes and actions that led to the catastrophic events of the Babylonian exile.
But most importantly, this prayer, like many others in the Old Testament, encourages us to call on the God of salvation to do what he has promised by gathering a people for himself and bringing them home to him, ultimately in the new creation.
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