and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done iniquity, we have dealt perversely;
Solomon is dedicating the temple. In the middle of the celebration he looks ahead to the worst thing that could happen to his people: defeat, exile, and life in an enemy's land. This verse is the turning point of his long prayer. It asks what a ruined people can still do, and gives the answer: a changed heart and an honest confession.
Solomon has just said that there is no one who does not sin. He then treats captivity as the end of the road for a people under law. Even so, he finds something left to appeal to.
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.
The confession Solomon gives them piles up three admissions with no excuse attached. One writer has no doubt Israel will say these words one day, and names what has to break first.
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 repenting happens far from home — in the land of the enemy, with the temple out of reach. So the prayer points past the building to God's own dwelling place.
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.
Centuries later Daniel, an exile in Babylon, prayed with his windows open toward Jerusalem. One writer explains what he was standing on.
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).
Commentators read this part of the prayer as still reaching forward to our own day.
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.
The king who prays here is only a faint picture of someone greater.
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.
Solomon's words about sin are not about Israel only. One writer takes them as a picture of the whole human race, and then points to the cross.
"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.
- Cause — Captivity comes from sin, and Solomon assumes it will happen, because no one is sinless.
- Turn — The one thing left to a ruined people is a changed heart and an honest confession with no excuse in it.
- Reach — God hears from heaven, so distance from the temple is no barrier; the far country is close enough.
- Proof — Daniel prayed on this promise in Babylon, resting not on the ruined building but on God's word about it.
- Result — Forgiveness and restoration. Commentators see this as still ahead for Israel, and the cross secures it for every sinner.
and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;
Solomon is still on his knees at the dedication, picturing the day when his people will be prisoners in a foreign land, far from this new house. The verse describes what will bring them back — not a journey, but a turning of heart and a direction of prayer.
Solomon does not pray only for the good days ahead. One writer sees his prayer reaching over the whole future of the nation, its fall and its recovery together:
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.
Another commentator notes how sure Solomon is that this day will come, and reads these verses as reaching to Israel today:
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.
The condition Solomon names is total: heart and soul, with nothing held back. One writer points out who produces that turning:
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.
They pray toward the land, the city and the house because God had chosen that place and spoken about it:
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.
Years later Daniel, far from home, opened his windows toward a city in ruins. One writer explains why that was not his own idea:
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.
God had already answered Solomon's prayer, and Daniel rested on that answer:
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).
Solomon prayed for a whole nation, yet one man in trouble leaned on the same words. A commentator traces Jonah's hope back to this prayer:
Words like these gave Jonah authority from the Lord Himself to count on God's mercy to forgive his sin and rescue him.
The same writer looks past the present scattering to a repentance still ahead:
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.
- Foreseen — Solomon prays for a disaster that has not yet happened. His prayer is a forecast of the nation's history.
- Given — the whole-hearted return he asks for comes from God's grace working in them, not from hardship.
- Aimed — their repentance has a direction: the land, the city and the house God chose. That is where He said His eyes and His heart would be.
- Enough — ruins did not cancel the promise. Daniel opened his windows on a word God had already heard, and Jonah leaned on the same word.
- Unfinished — the long scattering shows how hard the human heart is. The answer still waits for the day a remnant prays this prayer.
then hear thou in the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right;
Solomon's prayer at the temple's dedication reaches its lowest point here. He pictures his people defeated and carried off to a foreign land, with no altar and no way to reach the house he has just built. From there they still pray, and Solomon asks God to hear from heaven and take up their case.
The cloud of God's presence had just filled the house, and the priests could not stand to minister. Yet Solomon still points prayer upward. One commentator draws out why that matters.
When the cloud, the symbol of the divine presence, filled the house, so that because of it the priests could not stand to minister, one might have thought that heaven would stop being recognised as a place where the Lord was to be sought and found. But Solomon begs God to hear from heaven, "Your dwelling place," when anyone prayed toward that house. This is very instructive, since otherwise we might conclude that, because God has a dwelling place on earth, He is to be found there, if I may put it that way, as One who has abandoned heaven.
The same writer sees the early Christians learning this too. The Holy Spirit was clearly among God's people. Yet Stephen, as men put him to death, looked up into heaven and found all his resources there.
Verses 46-53 describe the end of Israel's history as a responsible people. Solomon sees it coming before it happens.
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 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 appeal to the law, but to grace. By pure grace the God of the promises had saved His people out of Egypt — could He deny that grace, even under the system of law? They are His people; will God abandon them? No: if in repentance they turn toward the land, the city, and the house, God will listen to them.
The same writer looks past Solomon himself. Solomon "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."
The captive has no temple to enter and no proof left that he belongs to God. One writer comments on the same repeated cry in 2 Chronicles. He shows where it points such a person.
The Holy Spirit, through His inspired instrument, gives this repeated cry: "Then hear from the heavens, Your dwelling place." It teaches the contrite 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 of their still being 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.
Centuries later, Daniel prayed in Babylon with his windows open toward Jerusalem. One writer traces that habit back to this verse.
There was a reason for his windows being opened towards Jerusalem. At the dedication of the temple Solomon had prayed like this about the people, should they be carried away into captivity in the enemy's land, far or near… Daniel was therefore resting on the sure word of God in praying this way, for the Lord had said to Solomon, "I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me" (1 Kings 9:3).
One writer looks at Israel's long dispersion and still expects this prayer to be answered.
Their present dispersion has lasted for nearly 2000 years. This shows the stubbornness of the human heart. But God will yet work in the hearts of at least a remnant of Israel, to break them down in repentance and to make them pray earnestly for His restoring mercy. Then He will answer according to the goodness of His heart.
- Sin — the worst has already happened. Solomon prays for people carried into captivity, "for there is no man who does not sin."
- Grace — Solomon does not appeal to the law they broke. He appeals to the God who saved them out of Egypt by pure grace and cannot deny His promises.
- Heaven — the cloud filled the house, yet Solomon still sent prayer up to God's dwelling place. No ruin on earth cuts the line.
- Faith — Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem because he rested on the sure word God had already given Solomon.
- Restoration — the answer rests on the intercession of the true King. Solomon is only a weak picture of Him, and that answer is still ahead.