1 Kings 8:57–58

Solomon knelt before the Lord to intercede for the people. Now he rises to bless the whole assembly of Israel. He praises God first because He has given rest to His people. That rest depends on the place the Lord has just entered, He Himself and the ark of His strength. The king declares that God has fulfilled His whole Word: "Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant" (v. 56). He offers his own words of intercession as a reason for God to bless His people. The result of that blessing should be "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other" (v. 60). It will all come true in Christ's thousand-year reign, and all this history, as we have often noticed, points us to it. But this blessing has one condition. The heart of Israel must be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in His statutes and keeping His commandments. Once again a legal condition, impossible for this failing king and people to meet — a condition Christ alone will fulfil!

Here is another striking feature. In his prayer Solomon goes back further than David, all the way to Moses. The more the people of God drift away from Him, the more faith returns to what was set up at the beginning. God's ways with His people may vary according to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness. 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.

For the time being, everything depended on the faithfulness of King and people. So Solomon pointed back, not to the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but to those made to Moses when God brought Israel out of Egypt. God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob look forward to full and final blessing for Israel and for "all the families of the earth." They wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come and fulfil them.

"If you will walk in my statutes… I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel." The only condition God set for not forsaking His people was the king's faithfulness. All His blessing depended on meeting that condition.

God assures His people of His presence again. We need such a safeguard, even in times of joy, and it is always good! The time comes when the fresh bloom of truth tends to fade. If it is no longer a new thing, what will sustain a soul then? God Himself, in the sense that He is with us — in the sense of His will as alone wise and good and holy. There may be trial, difficulty and a thousand things our nature finds deeply repulsive. Even then, the sense of His presence supplies what is lacking and outweighs every apparent drawback. What can be missing when God is with us, and in perfect love?

In Hebrews 13:5 the writer quotes words spoken to Joshua (Joshua 1:5): "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He hands them on, as it were, to us. He then encourages the Christian to say boldly, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" He was faithful to Joshua, a military commander with heavy responsibilities. He was faithful to the widow and her child. We can trust Him to be faithful to us too.

After interceding with God, Solomon is free to bless the people, because their blessing depends on the pure grace of God for which Solomon had prayed. But he begins by blessing the Lord who had given rest to Israel from all their wars. He acknowledges, "Not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He spoke by Moses His servant." How good that the people heard again of God's perfect faithfulness to His word. And how good if we too remember that He has proven Himself true to us all through our own history.

In verses 57-58 Solomon asks that the Lord would be with Israel as He had been with their fathers, inclining their hearts to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes and His judgments. He also asks the Lord to remember the words of his prayer, so that Israel might be blessed. Then all nations on earth would have this witness: the Lord is God, the only God.

He offers his own words of intercession as a reason for God to bless His people. The result of that blessing should be "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other." This will come true in Christ's thousand-year reign, which all this history, as we have so often said, is pointing us toward. But for this blessing to happen, the heart of Israel must be "perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments." Again a legal condition — impossible for this fallible king and people to meet, and one that will find its fulfilment in Christ alone!

For the time being, everything depended on the faithfulness of the king and the people. So Solomon pointed back, not to the promises the Lord made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but to those He made to Moses when He brought Israel out of Egypt. The promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob look on to full and final blessing for Israel and for "all the families of the earth." They wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to be fulfilled.

"His wives turned away his heart." It is a terrible thing when something of the world settles in the heart and takes control of it. It turns our love away from its only object and towards things that are vile, shameful and guilty… Who would have believed that the Solomon of the temple, once on his knees with his hands spread out to God in front of all the people, would become an idol-worshipper?

He concludes his blessing by pleading with Israel to be loyal to the Lord God, walking in His statutes and keeping His commandments. The Old Testament is full of such appeals, but they did not keep Israel from disobedience. They needed what the New Testament reveals — a true knowledge of Christ and the value of His sacrifice.

I remember hearing someone say, "All urging to obey is legal." I answered, "Then a large part of the New Testament letters is legal." He saw his mistake at once. He had overlooked God's gracious work in giving us the will — in setting our hearts right with Himself. So when He urges us in His word as we read it, or through His word preached to us, we can count on our hearts wanting to respond.