“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake
So far Solomon has prayed for Israel — their sin, their captivity, their famine, their turning back. Then, at the dedication of Israel's own temple, he prays for someone who is not an Israelite at all: a foreigner drawn from a far country by nothing but God's name.
The Outsider Who Comes by Faith Alone
Every earlier request in the prayer turns on Israel's obedience and repentance. With the foreigner, the terms change.
H. L. RossierThere are also resources for the stranger (vv. 41-43). He would come from far away, having heard of the great name and the power of the Lord. He would bring his request to Him, facing toward this house. God would hear him in heaven and answer him. For the king wants all the peoples of the earth, as well as his people Israel, to know the name of the Lord and fear Him. Here there is no judgment, no conditional blessing at all. The stranger, outside the circle of the law, approaches God by faith and receives a full blessing.
Drawn by the Name
The foreigner comes for one reason: God's name. He has no covenant and no law, only a report of what that name has done. One commentator finds the first answer to this prayer in a queen who came asking about that name.
W. W. FeredayThis Queen's visit was the first answer to Solomon's prayer. In 1 Kings 8:41-43 he asked God to take notice of the stranger who was not of His people Israel, who might come to His house from a far country for His name's sake. The Holy Spirit expressly records that it was "concerning the name of the LORD" that the Queen of Sheba consulted king Solomon (1 Kings 10:1). Blessed be God, He has always had true sheep outside the fold... Whatever His dispensational dealings, and these in that age were with Israel, there has always been room in His great heart for those who wanted Him, wherever and whatever they might be.
A House Built with Foreigners in Mind
The temple itself already carried the same message — in the ground it stood on, and in the men who built it.
W. W. FeredayWe note also that the Temple was to be built on the threshing floor of a Gentile. Hiram, King of Tyre, another Gentile, worked heavily with both David and Solomon in the great work (1 Kings 5). So Israel's God had Gentiles before His mind to share the blessedness of His presence on earth among His people. "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isa. 56:7). Just a hint in advance of the largeness and universality of God's grace in this Gospel day.
More Than Solomon's Own Day Could Hold
Only a handful of foreigners ever prayed in that temple. One writer reads the size of the request as proof that Solomon's words reached past his own day.
The Bible TreasuryThe stranger is prayed for, and comes in to share in Israel's blessings and privileges, even to pray in this house. The Lord said it was written "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations" (Mark 11:17). The relatively few strangers who worshipped in that temple cannot be the full answer to Solomon's request. The prophetic Spirit of God carried him beyond his own time to the day when all Israel will know the Lord. He goes on to say "that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, as Your people Israel do."
Answered at a Different Address
Centuries later a woman from Canaan asked and received. One writer sees Solomon's prayer answered in her — though the place she turned to had changed.
The Bible TreasuryTo this house the woman of Canaan came, lifting up her hands in dim but true faith. She turned not to the temple on Mount Zion, where no glory then dwelt, but to the Word of God made flesh and living among men... This "stranger" woman was not allowed into the temple at Jerusalem. When she "heard of Him" she came to Jesus as the true Temple of God on the earth. He answered her according to all that she asked of Him.
Summary
- Name. The foreigner stands outside the law. All he has heard is the report of God's great name and power — and that report alone starts him walking.
- Faith. Every earlier request in the prayer rests on Israel's repentance. This one rests on faith alone, with no judgment and no conditions.
- Design. The house stood on a foreigner's threshing floor, and a foreign king helped build it. God had outsiders in view before Solomon ever prayed.
- Reach. The few strangers who prayed in that temple cannot account for a request this wide. Solomon spoke past his own age, to the day when all the peoples of the earth know God's name.
- Answer. A woman shut out of the temple courts came to Christ instead. She received everything she asked for — the same prayer answered at a new address.