1 Kings 9:7

9:1-9 God warned Solomon, now he had newly built and dedicated the temple, that he and his people might not be high-minded, but fear. After all the services we can perform, we stand upon the same terms with the Lord as before. Nothing can purchase for us liberty to sin, nor would the true believer desire such a licence. He would rather be chastened of the Lord, than be allowed to go on with ease and prosperity in sin.

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.

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land I have given them,.... Suffer them to be carried captive into other lands, as the ten tribes were into Assyria, and the two tribes to Babylon; which is called a plucking them up by the roots in 2 Chronicles 7:20 . and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight: as it was when burnt by Nebuchadnezzar: and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people; both for their sins and for their miseries; see Deuteronomy 28:37, in 2 Chronicles 7:20 the house or temple is said to be made a proverb of.

(7) Then will I cut off. —These warnings were repeated with terrible force by Jeremiah on the eve of their fulfilment. (See Jeremiah 7:12-14 ; Jeremiah 24:9 ; Jeremiah 25:9 .) The destruction of the Temple is by him compared with that which fell on Shiloh—no doubt, after the great defeat by the Philistines in the time of Eli (1 Samuel 4, 5), although the history gives no record of it. The continued existence of the people, as a people, to be “a proverb and a byword,” through the Babylonish captivity, and through their present dispersion, is a fact to which the history of the world undoubtedly furnishes no parallel.

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a {c} proverb and a byword among all people: (c) The world will make a mockery of you for the vile contempt and abusing of God's most liberal benefit.

7 . then will I cut off ] We have once more a passage very parallel to Deuteronomy 4:26 ; Deuteronomy 28:37 ; Deuteronomy 28:45 ; Deuteronomy 28:63 , where ‘an astonishment, a proverb and a by-word’ occurs, as here. this house … will I cast out of my sight ] It is not here declared what shall be the consequence of God’s disregard but the idea of destruction must have been present to him who heard of God’s face being turned away. It is just the opposite of what the king had prayed for, that God’s eyes should be always open towards the Temple.

2. That—rather, "For." the Lord appeared—This appearance was, like the former one at Gibeon, most probably made in a supernatural vision, and on the night immediately following the dedication of the temple (2Ch 7:12). The strain of it corresponds to this view, for it consists of direct answers to his solemn inaugural prayer (1Ki 9:3 is in answer to 1Ki 8:29; 1Ki 9:4, 5 is in answer to 1Ki 8:25, 26; 1Ki 9:6-9 to 1Ki 8:33-46; see also De 29:22-24).

Verse 7. - Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them [Cf. Deuteronomy 4:26, 27 ; and for the fulfilment see 2 Kings 25:11, 21 ;] and this house which I have hallowed for my name [ Jeremiah 7:14 ] will I cast out of my sight [same expression, 2 Kings 24:20 ]; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people [the exact words of Deuteronomy 28:37 . Similar words in Isaiah 14:4 ; Micah 6:16 . Much the same punishment is denounced in Leviticus 26:14-38 , and Deuteronomy 4:45 , 63]: 1 Kings 9:7

1 Kings 9:4 , 1 Kings 9:5 contain the special answer to 1 Kings 8:25 , 1 Kings 8:26 . - 1 Kings 9:6-9 refer to the prayer for the turning away of the curse, to which the Lord replies: If ye and your children turn away from me, and do not keep my commandments, but worship other gods, this house will not protect you from the curses threatened in the law, but they will be fulfilled in all their terrible force upon you and upon this temple. This threat follows the Pentateuch exactly in the words in which it is expressed; 1 Kings 9:7 being founded upon Deuteronomy 28:37 , Deuteronomy 28:45 , Deuteronomy 28:63 , and the curse pronounced upon Israel in Deuteronomy 29:23-26 being transferred to the temple in 1 Kings 9:8 , 1 Kings 9:9 . - פּני מעל שׁלּח, to dismiss, i.e., to reject from before my face. "This house will be עליון," i.e., will stand high, or through its rejection will be a lofty example for all that pass by. The temple stood upon a high mountain, so that its ruins could not fail to attract the attention of all who went past. The expression עליון is selected with an implied allusion to Deuteronomy 26:19 and Deuteronomy 28:1 . God there promises to make Israel עליון, high, exalted above all nations. This blessing will be turned into a curse.

The temple, which was high and widely renowned, shall continue to be high, but in the opposite sense, as an example of the rejection of Israel from the presence of God. (Note: The conjecture of Bttcher, Thenius, and Bertheau, that עליון should be altered into עיּים, has no support in Micah 3:12; Jeremiah 26:18, and Psalm 79:1, and has all the ancient versions against it; for they all contain the Masoretic text, either in a verbal translation (lxx), or in a paraphrase, as for example the Chaldee, "the house that was high shall be destroyed;" the Syriac and Arabic, "this house will be destroyed;" and the Vulgate, domus haec erit in exemplum. - In 2 Chronicles 7:21 the thought is somewhat varied by the alteration of יהיה into היה אשׁר. For it would never enter the mind of any sober critic to attribute this variation to a misinterpretation of our text. Still less can it be an unsuccessful attempt to explain or rectify our text, as Bttcher imagines, since the assertion of this critic, that עליון is only used to signify an exalted position, and never the exaltation of dignity or worth, is proved to be erroneous by Deuteronomy 26:19 and Deuteronomy 28:1.)