Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.
Solomon has finished the temple, and now he asks God to make good a promise given long ago to David. The plea is short, but it raises a hard question: how can a man ask for what God has already promised, when that promise carries a condition he cannot meet?
The king who prays as priest
Solomon prays here as a priest, and he appeals to two things in God:
H. L. RossierHere Solomon really fills the role of priest. He stands before the altar, facing all the congregation of Israel. There he stretches out his hands toward heaven, taking the character of intercessor. He acknowledges that God keeps His covenant — Israel had not kept it — and His mercy (v. 23). Without the latter, to keep His covenant would be the sure condemnation of His people.
Two grounds for the same prayer
Solomon prays on two different grounds. One commentator marks what sets this request apart from the pleas that come later in the chapter. He quotes an older translation: it reads "verified" where the ESV reads "confirmed."
The Bible TreasuryIn Solomon's prayer there seem to be two different grounds on which he stands to make his requests. The first ground he takes is the promise given to his father David on condition. In the second, it is the mercy of God that can forgive after sin is committed. In the second, Solomon is no longer on covenant ground. In the first, there is no sign of doubt or fear about his own, or the people's, keeping the law. In this his request is "let your word be verified." It is calling on God not to forgive, but to fulfil His promise. There seems to be this confidence in himself. Though he speaks of any man sinning, or even of all the people, he never says, "If we sin."
The "if" buried in the promise
Verse 25 gives the promise Solomon wants confirmed, and it carries a condition. One writer quotes that verse from an older translation and shows what the condition does to everyone under it:
H. L. RossierAnd now he asks God to keep with David what He had promised him (v. 25). All the faithfulness of God towards His own depends on what He has promised Christ. Here we would be entering upon the ground of pure grace if only there were not an if. "You will never lack a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, so that your children take heed to their way and walk before me as you have walked before me." How this "so that" or "if only" condemns us all! It absolutely condemned wise Solomon, and how much more ourselves, a worthless lot.
Another writer finds the same two sides running through these verses:
J. N. DarbyThe king's blessing was really thanksgiving, like almost everything called blessing. In it, and in his prayer, we find again the same principles we pointed out at first. The promises made to David are fulfilled as present blessing (verses 20-24). But enjoying that blessing depends on obedience (verses 23-25).
Where the word stands confirmed
Every king in David's line fell short. One writer shows where the promise holds:
The Bible TreasuryGod said to David, "You shall never lack a man to sit on my throne." There was always a man whose birthright it was to sit upon David's throne. Unworthiness was found in each, but the line of descent continues till Christ came. He is the Man on whom the Holy Spirit looks. In Him there was, and is, the divine right as well as the human title. He is the Son of God as well as Son of David. Whatever may come between the promise and its fulfilment, He will certainly sit there.
Praying a promise back to God
One writer sets Solomon's prayer beside a later prayer of God's people and finds the same Spirit behind both:
Edward DennettBoth alike were taught of the Spirit. Even if they do not fully take in the whole extent of the grace of God's heart (as we shall see they did not), there is communion with the Lord's own desires and purposes. This, indeed, 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." (John 15:7.)
Another writer states where prayer should start:
Truth & TestimonyThe best basis for prayer is the solid promises of God. Remind God of what He has said!
Summary
- Word spoken. God made a promise to David. Solomon rests his whole plea on that promise, not on the house he has just built.
- Word pleaded. Solomon is not asking for pardon here. He asks God to fulfil what He promised, with a confidence that never once says, "If we sin."
- Word conditioned. The promise has an "if" in it, and that "if" condemns the wisest of men.
- Word secured. Every heir fell short, yet the line ran on to Christ, Son of God and Son of David, who will certainly sit on that throne.
- Word returned. Effective prayer is communion with God's own purposes: take what He has said and ask Him for it.