(for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron) --
Solomon is closing his prayer at the dedication of the temple, looking ahead to a day when Israel is captive in a foreign land. His last argument is not Israel's record but God's own claim on them.
Israel's failure is not denied here. The plea rests somewhere else.
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).
The furnace is Egypt, but not only Egypt.
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.
The furnace was not a place God stayed away from. Another writer draws the point out of the same vision:
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.
The rescue had a goal, named in the same breath as the furnace.
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."
Solomon stands where Moses once stood. One writer sets out how Moses pleaded for Israel.
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.
Centuries later Daniel prayed in Babylon with his windows open toward Jerusalem. The reason reached back to this prayer.
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).
One writer brings the same argument forward to us:
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.
- Furnace. Egypt is the iron furnace. The same name covers every season of Israel's suffering, down to the Babylonian captivity and their scattering since.
- Presence. God was in the furnace as much as in the lamp. He never left His people in the fire alone.
- Claim. The rescue was not just out of something but into something. God brought them out to be a people of His own inheritance.
- Plea. Solomon prays on that claim, as Moses did. He admits the sin, then argues from God's character, promise and ownership, not from Israel's worth.
- Reach. Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem on the strength of these very words. The same ground holds for everyone God has redeemed: we are His.
thine eyes being open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.
Solomon has just laid every future crisis of his nation before God — defeat, drought, famine, exile. Now he asks for one thing to hold it all together: that God keep watching and listening, to the king and to the people alike. But why should God listen to a people Solomon admits will sin? And what gives their mediator confidence to ask?
Solomon prays as a man who already sees the exile coming. Commentators read this closing part of his prayer as prophecy, not just hope.
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. … 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.
The plea rests on nothing in Israel. It rests on what God had made them — His own portion, brought out of Egypt.
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 (v.51). 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 (v.53). God had spoken of this to Moses, and He will certainly keep His Word.
Solomon asks God to hear them whenever they call. One writer follows that as far as it goes — to exiles with no temple to pray toward.
The Holy Spirit through His inspired instrument gives this repeated cry, "hear from heaven your dwelling place," So He teaches the humble and repentant to look up through the gloom around them to God's eternal dwelling place. It is a gracious hint. In the last days of the people's long captivity, when they are in a far country with no access to the temple, when every outward mark that they are still God's chosen people is gone — let them only look up to the highest heaven, and He Who sits on the throne will hear, and will forgive.
That prayer is still waiting for its full answer.
Their present dispersion has lasted almost 2000 years. That shows how stubborn the human heart is. But God will yet work in the hearts of at least a remnant of Israel. He will break them down in repentance and stir them to pray for His restoring mercy. Then He will answer according to the goodness of His heart.
Solomon's plea ends by naming Moses, back at the nation's beginning. One writer treats that as a pattern.
The more the people of God go away from Him, the more faith goes back to what God set up at the beginning. God's ways with His people may change with their faithfulness or unfaithfulness … but His counsels never change. His purposes are eternal. … This is also what causes Solomon to say: "For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD" (v. 53). It is always so. In darkest times faith finds its refuge in "that which was from the beginning."
Solomon knelt as an intercessor between God and Israel. One writer finds the same work going on today.
This role that Solomon filled on behalf of Israel is the very role the Lord fills today on our behalf. "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1-2). His office as Advocate rests on the propitiation He has accomplished. In the same way, Solomon could not intercede apart from that platform — a mysterious and wonderful picture of the altar.
- Cause — Solomon expects failure, not innocence. No one is without sin, so he pleads grace, not law.
- Gift — The plea rests on what God made Israel — His own people and inheritance, set apart by His word through Moses.
- Reach — God keeps watch over them anywhere. With no temple and no visible mark of belonging, the repentant can still look up to Him and be heard.
- Refuge — When things are darkest, faith goes back past recent history to what God set up at the beginning. His purposes never change.
- Result — Solomon kneeling between God and a guilty people is a faint picture of Christ. His intercession rests on propitiation already accomplished.
For thou hast separated them from among all peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spokest through Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.
Solomon's long prayer at the temple dedication ends where Israel began: God brought them out of Egypt and set them apart as His own. When the people he prays for fail, that beginning is all he can plead — what God said "through Moses your servant."
Solomon could have gone back only as far as his father David. He goes back much further, and one writer says why prayer tends to do that:
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 prays in a kingdom built on the law, and he knows his people will break it. So his appeal reaches past the law:
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's confidence does not rest on Israel's record. It rests on whose they are:
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.
Moses had prayed for the same people long before. God had called Israel Moses' own people. One writer shows how Moses answered:
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.
God had set Israel apart for Himself long before Solomon prayed. What happened next, in the nation and in the king himself, is the tragedy:
"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.
Being set apart could sound like a claim to be better than other people. One writer rules that out:
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.
Solomon's appeal did not end with him. Long afterwards, Daniel prayed on the very same ground:
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.
- Redeemed — Solomon's whole case rests on the rescue out of Egypt. He appeals to grace, not to law.
- Separated — that rescue set them apart from every other people. The ground was what God is, never that they were better.
- Owned — that made them His inheritance. God would not let that come to nothing.
- Forgotten — neither the nation nor Solomon himself valued that place.
- Remembered — in the darkest times, faith goes back to the beginning. Solomon went back to Moses; Daniel went back to Solomon.