1 Kings 8:37–40

There would also be times of famine, disease, blight or mildew, and swarms of locusts or grasshoppers. God would send these to draw attention to the plague of sin in people's hearts (vs. 37-38). If this produced self-judgment, so that people prayed toward the temple and recognized God's glory, then Solomon would expect the Lord to hear in heaven, to forgive, and to act in grace toward each person as He saw their need (v. 39). This forgiveness would plant a healthy fear of God in their hearts (v. 40).

However favoured and glorious Solomon might be, he was not Christ… He was surrounded by splendour, and he had wisdom and power beyond anything seen before. Yet Solomon felt that stability had not yet come. So his prayer is full of expected trouble… Knowing something of what weak human nature can do, Solomon used the word "forgive" before he mentioned any particular evil (verse 30). He then sets out the likely needs and troubles of the future: (1) Personal trespasses (verses 31-32) (2) Military defeat (verses 33-34) (3) Drought (verses 35-36) (4) Famine, disease, etc. (verses 37-40) (5) Danger in war (verses 44-45) (6) Captivity in a foreign land (verses 46-50)

The prayer places the people under a righteous government. That government overflows with kindness and forgiveness, yet it will not treat the guilty as innocent. And it presents God as the people's resource when the consequences of their sin fall on them, according to the principles Moses laid down in Deuteronomy and elsewhere.

He supposes that plagues, drought, famine, locusts, enemy attacks, or the like might strike the land because the people living in it were unfaithful. If they repented in heart, the prayer of only one man would be enough, as they stretched out their hands towards this house. May God then hear in heaven and forgive, while still giving each man what his ways deserve, so that He might be feared. It is still law, but with the mixture of mercy that law could allow if God found truth in the heart.

Forgiveness belongs to God in His dwelling-place, the heaven of heavens, and not to the house. For grace is sovereign, and its source is God dwelling in the heavens. The temple and its magnificence were well suited for the law and the covenant, but forgiveness is with God in His dwelling-place.

Earlier he had said, "If any man sin," as though sin would be the exception in Israel. But now in 2 Chron. 6:29, sin is everywhere, and the exception would be a man who prayed or confessed his sin.

Even in this desperate condition of the people, he says, "and render to each man according to all his ways"… He pleads, as it were, God's perfect and complete knowledge of the heart as a reason for forgiveness.

Solomon, in his prayer, speaks of every man knowing "the plague of his own heart," and points to the only way of relief — spreading it out before God (1 Kings 8:38). A plague in the heart is something known only to the individual, something that comes in to spoil his joy. It may be an unsettled question between the soul and God; it may be some secret sin left unconfessed. Faith, seeing the grace that is in the heart of Christ, can spread the plague out before Him and find deliverance from every evil influence.

God would send these to draw attention to the plague of sin in the hearts of people (verses 37-38). If this produced self-judgment, so that people prayed toward the temple and recognised God's glory, then Solomon would expect the Lord to hear in heaven and forgive. He would act in grace toward each person as He discerned their need (verse 39). This forgiveness would instil in hearts a wholesome fear of God (verse 40).

The prayer lists the different troubles and begs the Lord to hear and to forgive. It is the model prayer for Israel. Confession of sin and prayer for forgiveness run through all the petitions. It acknowledges sin as the one cause of all troubles and disaster. So Solomon's prayer taught Israel to cast itself on the Lord with supplication and repentance for sin. There Israel would find that the Lord hears and delivers His people.

God's house in Jerusalem was then the gathering place of His people, and there they were to pray in days of difficulty. Now the house of the Lord is the assembly, and its gathering centre is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I have the wonderful privilege today of bringing before God all that concerns Him, in the name of His own blessed Son. We can be sure that He will hear and help.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). The one who knows the plague of his own heart will be grateful for a statement like this. A principle such as grace gives hope to the most unworthy; in fact it opens the door for us all.

Each of us has his own weakness. It takes purpose of heart and self-judgment to keep that weakness from gaining power over us — "the sin which clings so closely" (Heb. 12:1). Each of us knows "the plague of his own heart" (1 Kings 8:38).

He is omniscient, all-knowing. He is the only Being able to do so. Solomon says in 1 Kings 8:39, "you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind". This can only be said of God. He knows the inward thoughts and feelings of every man.

The enemy cannot read men's hearts. "You only know the hearts of all the children of mankind" (1 Kings 8:39). He has no spiritual discernment. He cannot understand the purposes of God, nor the spiritual exercises of God's people. But he can form his own judgment from what men do, and he watches them closely.

Still in this desperate condition of the people, he says, "and render to each ... according to all his ways" (2 Chron. 6:30). But here forgiveness is blended with the law. Forgiveness had no place in the law as Moses gave it, though God did reveal His forgiving character to him on the mountain (Ex. 34:6-7). Now it stands out, and God's perfect and absolute knowledge of the heart becomes, as it were, the plea for forgiveness. Under the gospel it is not law alone. Nor is it law and grace mixed, as it was when Moses interceded. It is grace reigning through righteousness by Christ our Lord.

Should they repent in heart, the prayer of only one man would be enough, if they stretched out their hands towards this house. God might then hear in heaven and forgive, yet still render to each according to his ways, so that people would fear Him. It is ever law, but with that mixture of mercy that it might allow if God would find truth in the heart (vv. 35-40).

In his prayer, Solomon speaks of every man knowing "the affliction of his own heart." He points to the only way of relief: spreading it out before God (1 Kings 8:38). An affliction in the heart is something only that person knows, and it comes in to spoil his joy. It is some unsettled question between the soul and God. It may be some secret sin never confessed. Faith sees the grace that is in the heart of Christ. It can spread the affliction out before Him and find deliverance from every evil influence.

He who saw the faith of the five men read the reasoning of the scribes in His own omniscient spirit (cp. John 2:24; John 6:61). It was not by a power lent to Him for the moment, as it might have been with a prophet. Only God could see into the secret workings of man's spirit, as Solomon confessed in his prayer (1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chron. 28:9; 2 Chron. 6:30; Ezek. 11:5). By answering their thoughts, the Lord gave the Pharisees proof of the nature of His Person. Who else could "hear them thinking"?