1 Kings 8:48

8:22-53 In this excellent prayer, Solomon does as we should do in every prayer; he gives glory to God. Fresh experiences of the truth of God's promises call for larger praises. He sues for grace and favour from God. The experiences we have of God's performing his promises, should encourage us to depend upon them, and to plead them with him; and those who expect further mercies, must be thankful for former mercies. God's promises must be the guide of our desires, and the ground of our hopes and expectations in prayer. The sacrifices, the incense, and the whole service of the temple, were all typical of the Redeemer's offices, oblation, and intercession. The temple, therefore, was continually to be remembered. Under one word, forgive, Solomon expressed all that he could ask in behalf of his people. For, as all misery springs from sin, forgiveness of sin prepares the way for the removal of every evil, and the receiving of every good. Without it, no deliverance can prove a blessing. In addition to the teaching of the word of God, Solomon entreated the Lord himself to teach the people to profit by all, even by their chastisements. They shall know every man the plague of his own heart, what it is that pains him; and shall spread their hands in prayer toward this house; whether the trouble be of body or mind, they shall represent it before God. Inward burdens seem especially meant.

Sin is the plague of our own hearts; our in-dwelling corruptions are our spiritual diseases: every true Israelite endeavours to know these, that he may mortify them, and watch against the risings of them. These drive him to his knees; lamenting these, he spreads forth his hands in prayer. After many particulars, Solomon concludes with the general request, that God would hearken to his praying people. No place, now, under the gospel, can add to the prayers made in or towards it. The substance is Christ; whatever we ask in his name, it shall be given us. In this manner the Israel of God is established and sanctified, the backslider is recovered and healed. In this manner the stranger is brought nigh, the mourner is comforted, the name of God is glorified. Sin is the cause of all our troubles; repentance and forgiveness lead to all human happiness.

And so return unto thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul,.... In the most sincere and cordial manner, with great ingenuity and uprightness; the Targum is, "return unto thy worship;'' relinquishing false worship they had given into, and serve the Lord in the best manner they could: in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive; and so at a distance from that temple, and the service of it, which

And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward {s} their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: (s) As Daniel did in Da 6:10.

Bethink themselves - literally, as in the margin - i. e. "reflect," "consider seriously." Compare Deuteronomy 30:1 . Sinned, done perversely, committed wickedness - The words here used seem to have become the standard form of expressing contrition when the time of the captivity arrived and the Israelites were forcibly removed to Babylon (compare the margin reference). The three expressions are thought to form a climax, rising from negative to positive guilt, and from mere wrongful acts to depravation of the moral character.

1Ki 8:22-61. His Prayer. 22. Solomon stood before the altar—This position was in the court of the people, on a brazen scaffold erected for the occasion (2Ch 6:13), fronting the altar of burnt offering, and surrounded by a mighty concourse of people. Assuming the attitude of a suppliant, kneeling (1Ki 8:54; compare 2Ch 6:24) and with uplifted hands, he performed the solemn act of consecration—an act remarkable, among other circumstances, for this, that it was done, not by the high priest or any member of the Aaronic family, but by the king in person, who might minister about, though not in, holy things. This sublime prayer [1Ki 8:22-35], which breathes sentiments of the loftiest piety blended with the deepest humility, naturally bore a reference to the national blessing and curse contained in the law—and the burden of it—after an ascription of praise to the Lord for the bestowment of the former, was an earnest supplication for deliverance from the latter. He specifies seven cases in which the merciful interposition of God would be required; and he earnestly bespeaks it on the condition of people praying towards that holy place. The blessing addressed to the people at the close is substantially a brief recapitulation of the preceding prayer [1Ki 8:56-61].

Verse 48. - And so return unto thee with all their heart [almost the words of Deuteronomy 30 . ver. 2, as those in ver. 47 are of ver. 1], and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, Which led them away captive [observe the paronomasia - שבו is here used in two senses], and pray unto thee toward [Heb. the way of ] their land [see Daniel 6:10 ] which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name. [There is apparently a climax here, "land," "city," "house."] 1 Kings 8:48

In the seventh prayer, viz., if Israel should be given up to its enemies on account of its sins and carried away into the land of the enemy, Solomon had the threat in Leviticus 26:33 , Leviticus 26:44 in his eye, though he does not confine his prayer to the exile of the whole nation foretold in that passage and in Deuteronomy 28:45 ., Deuteronomy 28:64 , and Deuteronomy 30:1-5 , but extends it to every case of transportation to an enemy's land. לבּם אל והשׁיבוּ, "and they take it to heart," compare Deuteronomy 4:39 , and without the object, Deuteronomy 30:1 ; not "they feel remorse," as Thenius supposes, because the Hiphil cannot have this reflective signification (Bttcher). The confession of sin in 1 Kings 8:47 , רשׁענוּ והעוינוּ חטאנוּ, was adopted by the Jews when in captivity as the most exhaustive expression of their deep consciousness of guilt ( Daniel 9:5 ; Psalm 106:6 ). חטא, to slip, labi, depicts sin as a wandering from right; העוה, to act perversely, as a conscious perversion of justice; and רשׁע as a passionate rebellion against God (cf. Isaiah 57:20 ).

Thomson’s The Land and the Book , ed. 2, ii. 634, 636 (with an illustration). open ] i.e., either without lattices at all, or without fixed lattices (cf. 2 Kings 1:2 ; 2 Kings 13:17 ) opp. to ‘closed windows’ ( Ezekiel 40:16 ; Ezekiel 41:16 ; Ezekiel 41:26 ), or ‘windows with closed wood-work’ ( 1 Kings 6:4 ), the lattices of which did not admit of being opened. toward Jerusalem ] To pray, turning towards Jerusalem—or, if in Jerusalem, towards the Temple—became in later times a standing Jewish custom: we do not know how early it began; but it was based doubtless upon 1 Kings 8:35 ; 1 Kings 8:38 ; 1 Kings 8:44 ; 1 Kings 8:48 (in this verse with reference to exiles in a foreign land), cf. Psalm 5:7 ; Psalm 28:2 . The custom is alluded to in the Mishna ( Běrâchôth , iv. 5, 6); and in Sifrê 71b it is said that those in foreign lands turn in prayer towards the land of Israel, those in the land of Israel towards Jerusalem, and those in Jerusalem towards the Temple. Mohammed at first commanded his disciples to pray towards Jerusalem; but afterwards he altered the ḳibla (‘facing-point’) to Mecca. and he continued kneeling.… and praying, and giving thanks before his God , forasmuch as he had been wont to do (it) aforetime ] inasmuch as it had been his regular custom, he still adhered to it. three times a day ] Cf. Psalm 55:17 (‘at evening, and at morning, and at noonday will I complain and moan’).