037. The Prayer Of Solomon At The Dedication Of The Temple.

The Prayer Of Solomon At The Dedication Of The Temple.

“It seemed as if a temple rose Before me brightly there, And in the depths of its repose, My soul o’erflowed with prayer.”

“Be mute who will, who can, Yet I will praise thee with impassioned voice.

Me didst thou constitute a priest of thine, In such a temple as we now behold, Reared for thy presence; therefore am I bound To worship.” The Prayer as recorded.—1 Kings 8:22-54. The Lord’s Answer.—1 Kings 9:1-5.

About a year after the completion of the temple, the ark of the covenant was placed in it, so that in a peculiar manner it became the abode of Jehovah in the midst of Israel. It was now to be dedicated to the service and worship of the living God. A large multitude of worshiping Israelites, and of the chiefs and heads of the tribes had assembled to witness the scene, and unite in the solemn prayer of Solomon. The temple was the visible pledge of God’s presence with his people, as long as they adhered to his ordinances and loved his commandments. In pleading with God in this prayer Solomon was a type of Christ. The Lord has said, “The silver and the gold are mine,” and freely bad it been brought to the temple, to add to its beauty and enlarge its walls; but Solomon reminds the people, that heaven, with its boundless shore, could not contain the Lord of all, much less this temple made with hands; the ark might abide within its walls, and God would be in the midst of those who came thither to worship and love him, but his presence would still fill immensity, and “God be everywhere.” In the “temple” He has however “recorded his name,” and the Israelites were to advert to it in all their prayers; when they journeyed far distant from Jerusalem their faces were turned to it, as an evidence their hearts were with its worshipers; and when near it they forsook not the assembling of themselves together. This prayer of Solomon’s is one of the most heartfelt and beautiful in the Bible, and the spiritual reader will find it highly suggestive. We are satisfied it was an outpouring of Solomon’s spirit to God, suggested by the occasion.