1 Kings 8:46–53

Again, in verse 46, Solomon says, "When they sin against You," not "If," and God in anger delivers them into an enemy's hand, so that they are carried captive. Then they repent and make supplication to the Lord, and he asked that God may hear in heaven and forgive them. This section (verses 46-53) bears directly on Israel's condition today. They sinned terribly against God by rejecting His beloved Son, and so they were carried away into other lands. Solomon likely did not realise that a dispersion would last for centuries, as it has.

Verses 46-53 mention the end of their history as a responsible people. Their sin brings them into captivity. Solomon is a prophet here. He sees in advance what must come upon this people under the law, for there is no man who does not sin. Yet a resource still exists. The house is there, and God cannot deny His promises. Solomon does not refer to the law, but to grace. By pure grace the God of the promises had saved His people from Egypt — could He deny this grace, even under the system of law? They are His people; will God abandon them? No. If they repent and turn toward the land, the city, and the house, God will listen to them. Daniel is an example (Daniel 6:10).

Forgiveness is linked with God in His dwelling place, the heaven of heavens, and not with the house. For grace is sovereign and has its source in 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... Up to this point Solomon's prayer is general. But he knows there is no one who does not sin. And he stands in the presence of the holiness and righteousness of God, who can only meet man on the ground of infinite mercy and sovereign grace. He did not know, as we do, how the cross of Christ secures that mercy — and indeed makes it overflow.

By his answer the ruler claimed he had kept the commandments. That showed how completely he had forgotten the confession of the wisest of men, that "there is no one who does not sin" (1 Kings 8:46).

How can He do it, and be consistent with God's holy name and righteous rule? That question we must ask as we draw near to Him, and He answers it. Look at the multitude He calls. "There is no one who does not sin," said Solomon, as he knelt and stretched out his hands in prayer to Almighty God. How can this question be met? Above that multitude of sinners a cross raises its rugged head, and to that cross Jesus went. On it He bore our sins in His own body. There He was wounded for our transgressions.

Was there any divine reason for Daniel's praying toward Jerusalem? There certainly was!... Jerusalem was God's centre. It was, it is, and ever shall be. True, it was in ruins — the temple was in ruins; but God's word was not in ruins, and here is faith's simple but solid warrant.

Verses 46-53 mention the end of their history as a responsible people. They are led into captivity because of their sin. Solomon is a prophet here. He anticipates what must necessarily come upon this people under the law, for there is no man who does not sin. Yet a resource still exists. The house is there, and God cannot deny His promises. Solomon does not refer to the law, but to grace. By pure grace the God of the promises had saved His people from Egypt. Could He deny this grace, even under the system of law? They are His people; shall God abandon them? No — if in repentance they turn toward the land, the city, and the house, God will listen to them.

There is no shadow of doubt that Israel will do this one day, though centuries have passed since they were scattered through the world. The pride of man's natural heart is so great that he keeps up his rebellion against God even while going through the forms of religion. But in the end the Great Tribulation will break down their arrogant pride, so that they make such a confession.

The Holy Spirit through His inspired instrument gives this repeated cry: "Then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place." It teaches the broken and humble to look up through the surrounding gloom to God's eternal dwelling place. It is a gracious hint for the last and closing days of the people's long captivity. They are in a far country with no access to the temple. Every outward mark that they are still the chosen people of God is gone. Let them only look up to the heaven of heavens, and He who sits on the throne will hear, and will forgive.

There was a reason his windows were open toward Jerusalem. Daniel was resting on the sure word of God when he prayed this way. The Lord had said to Solomon, "I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me" (1 Kings 9:3).

This section (verses 46-53) bears directly on Israel's condition today. They have sinned terribly against God by rejecting His beloved Son, and so they have been carried away into other lands. Solomon likely did not realise that a dispersion would last for centuries, as it has.

Solomon himself is only a weak picture of the true King, the true Servant of the Lord. Christ's intercession causes God to receive this people anew. He will restore them for the glory of Him who made the promises and for the glory of His Beloved.

"There is no one who does not sin," said Solomon, as he knelt and stretched out his hands in prayer to Almighty God. Above that whole crowd of sinners stands a cross. Jesus went to that cross. On it He bore our sins in His own body; there He was wounded for our transgressions.

Solomon's prayer looks onward to it, but takes up also the time in between. He counts, as it were, on the coming glory, and pleads for mercy in view of it; he sees the scattering of rebellious Israel. His prayer is a divine forecast of their history, put in the language of supplication. Grace will restore the nation to the rule and glory of Christ.

Again, in verse 46, Solomon says, "When they sin against You," not "If." God in anger delivers them into an enemy's hand, so that they are carried captive. Then they repent and plead with the Lord, and Solomon asked that God may hear in heaven and forgive them. This section (vv. 46-53) has a direct bearing on Israel's condition today. They have sinned deeply against God in rejecting His beloved Son, and so have been carried away into other lands.

It will be a work of God's grace in their hearts that moves all this. His grace causes them to return to the Lord with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity.

The great question remained: "What does Scripture say?" Did God give Daniel a reason to pray toward Jerusalem? He did! First, the Lord had said to Solomon about the temple at Jerusalem, "My eyes and my heart will be there for all time." Jerusalem was God's centre. It was, it is, and it always will be. True, it was in ruins — the temple was in ruins; but God's word was not in ruins, and here is faith's simple but solid warrant.

Faith always seeks and finds a warrant for its activities in the word of God. This is of the very deepest importance. Without God's warrant for praying toward Jerusalem, Daniel's conduct would have been absurd. It would have been the height of folly to rush into the lions' den just to carry out some theory of his own.

Daniel was therefore resting on the sure word of God when he prayed this way. The Lord had said to Solomon, "I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me" (1 Kings 9:3).

Words like these gave Jonah authority from the Lord Himself to count on God's mercy to forgive his sin and rescue him.

Their present scattering has lasted for nearly 2000 years. That shows the stubbornness of the human heart. But God will yet work in the hearts of at least a remnant of Israel, breaking them down in repentance to pray for His restoring mercy. Then He will answer according to the goodness of His heart.

Forgiveness is linked with God in His dwelling-place, the heaven of heavens, and not with the house. For grace is sovereign and has its source in God dwelling in the heavens. The temple and its splendour suited the law and the covenant well. But forgiveness is with God in His dwelling-place... For suppose God judged on the principle of law, on righteousness apart from grace. Then He would — yes, He must — forsake His house and leave Israel under the awful judgment of a broken covenant.

This section (vv. 46-53) bears directly on Israel's condition today. They sinned terribly against God by rejecting His beloved Son, and so they were carried away into other lands. Solomon likely did not realise that a dispersion would last for centuries, as it has.

God will indeed then grant them compassion before their enemies. Those enemies will show compassion to the people they once persecuted. Solomon pleaded with God on one basis: the children of Israel were God's people, God's inheritance, whom He had brought out of Egypt (v. 51). Though Israel's failures were great, Solomon had confidence that God would not give them up. He had in fact set them apart from all the peoples of the earth as His inheritance, and He would not let that setting apart come to nothing (v. 53).

But in their distress He could not but show His pity still; and His covenant of promise was a necessary limit to their chastisement. Through all their wanderings and in their captivity He still caused mercy to be shown to them by those who were His instruments to chasten them.

Yet a resource still exists. The house is there, and God cannot deny His promises. Solomon does not refer to the law, but to grace. By pure grace the God of the promises had saved His people from Egypt — could He deny this grace, even under the system of law? They are His people; shall God abandon them? No — if in repentance they turn toward the land, the city, and the house, God will listen to them... And this Solomon himself is but a weak picture of the true King, the true Servant of the Lord. Christ's intercession causes God to receive this people anew.

Surely Jonah's mind turned back to Solomon's prayer at the dedication of that temple... It was on the ground of words such as these that Jonah had authority from the Lord Himself to count on the mercy of God to forgive his sin, and deliver him.

There was no difference in this, no exception, for as Solomon said, there is no one who does not sin. And no man was able to deliver himself from the tempter's power, to break the yoke of sin, or wash out the stain of it.

Solomon pleaded with God on this basis: the children of Israel were God's people, God's inheritance, whom He had brought out of Egypt (v.51). Though Israel's failures were great, Solomon was confident that God would not give them up. He had in fact separated them from all the peoples of the earth as His inheritance, and God would not let this setting apart come to nothing (v.53).

Those two figures, the "furnace" and the "lamp," sum up the whole of Israel's history. The first stands for those periods when they passed through suffering and trial. Think of the long period of Egyptian slavery, their subjection to the kings of Canaan, the Babylonian captivity, and their scattered and degraded condition today. In the burning lamp we have those points in Israel's history where the LORD graciously appeared to help them. He rescued them from Egypt by Moses, and brought them back from Babylon by the decree of Cyrus. Their final deliverance comes when Christ appears in His glory. The way to the inheritance runs through the furnace. The darker the smoke of the furnace, the brighter and more cheering the lamp of God's salvation will be.

In later days we find both Moses and Solomon speaking of Egypt as the "iron furnace" — see Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51. How fitting, then, was what this vision showed! God was in the furnace just as much as in the flame of the lamp. It might be easy to see Him in the bright shining of the flame, but not so easy in the smoking furnace. But it was the guarantee that He would be with Abram's offspring when they were in the furnace. Then, when the hour struck, He would lead them out with Himself as a pillar of fire at their head.

Joseph's story may lend Egypt a certain glory, but its real character is found only in the hard and bitter slavery of Israel. Deuteronomy 4:20 describes their redemption: "But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day."

The prayer of Moses rested on the character of God — a most important matter in true mediation between God and man. He pleaded for God's people because they were His, and because He had redeemed them and brought them out of slavery with His powerful hand. He pleaded because of His promise to the fathers, and because the nations might otherwise say that the LORD was not true to His word. And he pleaded because they were — despite their sin and stubbornness — His inheritance, since He had made them so. These were his arguments, and he used them while fully admitting how deep Israel's sin was.

There was a reason his windows were open toward Jerusalem. At the dedication of the temple Solomon had prayed for the people, in case enemies should carry them away captive to a land far or near (1 Kings 8:46-49). So Daniel was resting on the sure word of God when he prayed like this. The LORD had said to Solomon, "I have heard your prayer and your plea" (1 Kings 9:3).

We are His. If God brought Israel out of Egypt, the iron furnace, we are the subjects of a more wonderful and spiritual redemption. For Israel this was the first argument of the law; for us it is what speaks above all of His title to us.

Another typical feature: in his prayer, Solomon goes back further than David, all the way back to Moses. The more the people of God go away from Him, the more faith returns to that which was set up in the beginning. The ways of God towards His people may vary according to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness. So a way of acting on God's part may suit one period of history and not another. But the counsels of God never change: His purposes are eternal. ... It is always so. In darkest times faith finds its refuge in "that which was from the beginning."

Solomon is a prophet here. He sees what must come upon this people under the law, for there is no one who does not sin. Yet a resource still exists. The house is there, and God cannot deny His promises. Solomon does not refer to the law, but to grace. By pure grace the God of the promises had saved His people from Egypt — could He deny this grace, even under the system of law? They are His people; shall God abandon them?

Solomon pled with God on the basis that the children of Israel were God's people, God's inheritance, whom He had brought out of Egypt. Though Israel's failures were great, yet Solomon had confidence that God would not give them up. He had in fact separated them from all the peoples of the earth as His inheritance, and He would not let this sanctification come to nothing. God had spoken of this to Moses, and God will surely fulfil His Word.

The Lord had said, "your people, whom you have brought out of Egypt." But Moses says, "They are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out." This is beautiful beyond words.

"You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine" (Lev. 20:26). Faith in Solomon responded to this in his prayer at the dedication of the Temple. ... But the people did not value their distinctive place of separation to God, Solomon himself becoming one of the worst offenders in this.

God's people are to be separated to Him. The ground of this is not that they are better than others. It is what God is, and what He would always have His people to be.

When Solomon dedicates the temple to God, he asks Him to always acknowledge it. He asks this according to God's principles of government, as God revealed them to Moses. Later the people sinned, and Jeremiah prophesied that there would be a special chastisement for seventy years. Daniel takes this up. He does not go back to the promises made to Abraham, but only as far as the words of Solomon and Moses.