And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in [thy] goodness.
Solomon has just finished the long prayer that dedicated the temple. He closes it by asking God to move into the finished house, and by asking for two gifts: priests clothed with salvation, and a people glad in God's goodness.
These closing words match a prayer in Psalm 132. One writer explains why such a prayer gets answered.
It is very interesting to see how closely this psalm matches the words of Solomon at the dedication of the temple. Both were taught by the Spirit, and in both alike... there is communion with Jehovah's own desires and purposes. This is the secret of effective prayer. The Lord Himself taught His disciples, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
Israel already had words for the ark from the days when it still travelled. Solomon asks for something different.
When the people were to journey, Moses said, "Rise up, Jehovah, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You." This was when the ark went before them to search out a resting place for them. When it rested, he said, "Return, O Jehovah, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel." But, when God had up to a certain point given rest to Israel, they did not know how to enjoy it... But the faithfulness of God is lasting. He has now stepped in with grace and power, and the throne stands as the vessel of this power and grace. So another word is given: "Arise, O Jehovah, into Your rest, You and the ark of Your strength" (Psalm 132:8).
Solomon asks God to enter His own rest. That rest shapes what the believer wants too.
Into God's rest we are to enter, when His love will be satisfied and His nature perfectly met through the fruits of it... So it is God's rest and the ark of His strength — a new thing... But then man's, the saint's, rest is only in this: "Surely I will not come into the tent of my house, nor go up to my bed... until I find a place for Jehovah, a dwelling for the mighty God of Jacob." His rest, his heart's rest, could only be in the rest of God perfectly glorified.
That name looks back at what the ark had already done.
The millennial day, foreshadowed in this scene, will indeed be a rest for God and His people, but also for the "ark of His strength." The One in whom God showed His strength is the One who made it possible for Jehovah to enter His rest, the rest that remains for the people of God. The waters fled at the Jordan. The strong walls fell at Jericho. Among the Philistines, the idol Dagon fell and broke. In each place people saw the strength of Jehovah in the ark.
Psalm 132 asks for priests clothed with righteousness. Here the word is salvation — and that is the word God Himself uses when He answers.
So the desire (v. 9) is that Jehovah's priests be clothed with righteousness, like John the Baptist's father. The answer (v. 16) is, I will also clothe her priests with salvation — the full final deliverance of God. The desire is right: righteousness suits them. The answer is from God, and suits Him in the power of His grace.
One writer explains what that clothing secures, and what kind of person the word "saints" points to.
"I will also clothe her priests with salvation" — a security greater than any personal righteousness of man. "And her pious ones" — not holy ones, in the sense of being separate from evil, but godly, with a heart for God — "shall shout." Yes, they shall shout aloud for joy.
One writer reads this closing request as prophecy of a coming day of rest.
But the prophetic prayer of Solomon includes a return and a gathering of all back again to their land. He reaches forward to the millennial day.
- Rest — Moses once asked God to rise and scatter enemies. Now the throne stands, and Solomon asks Him to rise and sit down.
- His rest, not ours — The rest asked for is God's own, where His love is satisfied. Our hearts rest only when He is glorified.
- Strength at rest — The ark is named for the power it carried at the Jordan, at Jericho, and among the Philistines. That strength makes the rest possible.
- Clothing given, not earned — Asking righteousness for the priests is right. God answers with salvation, a greater security than any righteousness of man.
- Joy last — Rest for God, strength proven, priests clothed — and then a people with a heart for God shouting aloud for joy.
Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed remember mercies to David thy servant.
Solomon has just finished a long prayer at the dedication of the temple. He ends it with words that were not his own — a petition David had already made in Psalm 132. He does not point to his own record, or the nation's. He asks God to look on His Anointed and remember what He promised David. Older translations read "the mercies of David your servant" where the ESV has "your steadfast love for David your servant." The commentators below use that older wording.
These closing words are borrowed. God's answer came at once.
Solomon prayed and asked Jehovah that His eyes would be open and His ears attentive to the prayers offered to Him in that place. He quoted David's petition in Psalm 132, and used His mercies to David as a plea. Then the fire comes down and consumes the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Jehovah fills the house… The public acceptance of the sacrifice sets the people in public connection with God, and makes them confess that Jehovah is good and that His mercy lasts forever.
Solomon had spent the whole prayer imagining Israel's future sin, defeat and exile. The people had no record to plead. God's promise to David was their only ground.
They and their fathers have failed, but God had made promises to David. Where they could not speak of themselves, they could tell of the promises. David had died, but the promises held good. His children had failed, but God's words could not… How gracious of our God! He did not only plan. He promised His servants, long since dead, what He would do for them and their people. So when failure comes in — and the only right place for the people is to admit it — they can still lay hold of promises.
Who is this anointed one? Grant looks past Solomon to Christ.
Last and most important, he draws attention to the grace of God's Anointed. Christ alone is the Center of blessing for mankind, God's anointed King. He maintains all the interests of believers, and all God's interests too. The closing sentence is precious too: "Remember the mercies of Your servant David." This points to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 13:34). Solomon did not realize what it meant when he spoke.
David died, and his sons failed. So how could anything promised to him be called "sure"?
We must have Christ's resurrection even to get the earthly blessings of Israel. Israel could not have them without death and resurrection. So the sure mercies of David are proof of resurrection. Nothing was sure till that. If they trusted in a living man, all failed.
This plea leans on David, not on the man who prays it. Dennett carries that into Christian prayer.
The believer will enter into this. He knows that God hears his prayers only as they come in and through the One whom David pictures. What power and what perseverance in prayer this should give the Lord's people! They can plead all the infinite acceptability of Christ Himself before God. Yes, He has said, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:14.)
Psalm 132 makes the same request. The reply overshoots it.
The answer (verses 17, 18) is also more. The horn of David is to bud. God ordains a lamp there for Him, and His crown shall flourish on Him. That is, He goes beyond the wish. But note it is "there" — in Zion.
That lamp held through generations of failure.
God says, "I have prepared a lamp for my anointed." Man may fail, as the priests did, but God will not. This promise came up several times in their history, when nothing but God's forbearance and faithfulness could hold off the punishment they deserved: when Solomon had sinned (1 Kings 11:36), when Abijah reigned (1 Kings 15:4), and when Jehoram walked in the ways of Ahab (2 Chronicles 21:7).
The same king who asked God not to turn away His face later turned his own away.
The first idol came after the temple was built and the Lord's name was called on. It appeared in the family of the king — the very man who had prayed so hard that the Lord God would not turn away the face of His anointed… The man who had led the people in the worship of Jehovah is now, in this way, the leader in idolatry.
- Plea — Solomon ends by quoting David's words, asking God to act on a promise rather than on performance.
- Person — "Your anointed" reaches beyond Solomon to Christ. He is the one Center who holds every interest of God and of His people.
- Proof — These mercies are "sure" because they rest on resurrection. Trusting a living man left everything uncertain.
- Promise — The reply in Psalm 132 exceeds the request: a budding horn, a lamp, a flourishing crown.
- Warning — The man who prayed this later brought in the first idol. The plea's strength was never in him.