“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.
Solomon has finished his long prayer at the new temple. Now he stands to bless the whole assembly of Israel. His words look back over centuries, and they give a verdict on the whole history from Moses to that day: everything God said, He did.
The rest that God Himself brought in
Solomon's praise begins with rest. One writer ties that rest to what had just happened inside the temple.
H. L. RossierSolomon knelt before the Lord to pray for the people. Now he rises to bless the whole assembly of Israel. He praises God first because God has given rest to His people. That rest depends on the place the Lord has just entered — He Himself, with the ark of His strength. The king declares that God has fully carried out His Word.
A king who stands to bless
The man speaking is the king. Yet at this moment he stands in the priest's place before the people.
J. G. BellettIt was a brief, passing preview of the Kingdom. Solomon stood then in the joined glories of King and Priest. He was like a priest on the throne. The ordinary priests had been set aside. He, as the royal Priest, was about to bless the people and worship the Lord — as it will be in the days of the Kingdom that is still ahead of us.
Why Moses, and not Abraham
Solomon could have named the promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He names Moses instead, and commentators see a reason in that choice.
W. W. FeredaySo for the time being everything depended on the faithfulness of the king and the people. That is why 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.
Another writer finds in that choice what faith always does when God's people drift.
H. L. RossierThe further God's people drift from Him, the more faith goes back to what He set up at the beginning. God's ways with His people can change, according to whether they are faithful or unfaithful. A way of acting that suits one period of history may not suit another. But God's counsels never change. His purposes are eternal.
A rest given, and a rest still ahead
Solomon blesses God for rest. Yet one writer notes that Israel's story did not stop there.
James BoydThe Land of Promise was clearly the place where Israel was to find rest at the end of the wilderness journey. But the people never found rest, under David's reign or Solomon's. That is why we hear the Lord saying through Isaiah, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?"
The failure was never on God's side. A few chapters later, the man who spoke these words had turned away.
George BellHow blessed it would have been if God's people had returned His love to Him in obedience. But it wasn't to be so. Solomon himself loved many foreign women who "turned away his heart after other gods" (1 Kings 11:4). We are even told that "Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD" (ch. 11:6).
What the reminder was for
Solomon said this out loud, so a whole nation would hear it. One writer turns that onto the reader.
Leslie M. GrantHe spoke with a loud voice so the people would hear (vs.54-55). But he begins by blessing the Lord who had given rest to Israel from all their wars, acknowledging that "Not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He spoke by Moses His servant" (v.56). How good that the people were reminded 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 history on earth.
Summary
- Rest given. The rest came from God's side. It was tied to the Lord Himself entering the house with the ark of His strength.
- Rest promised. God gave that rest "according to all that He promised" — the promises through Moses, spoken when Israel came out of Egypt.
- Rest proven. Not one word had failed; the record from Moses to Solomon showed God true to every syllable He had spoken.
- Rest lost. David and Solomon never held it. Solomon's own heart later turned to other gods — the promise held, the people did not.
- Rest ahead. The larger promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still wait for Christ. Solomon's day, with a king blessing his people, was a preview of the kingdom still to come.