(12) Solomon’s Great Public Prayer

A KING upon his knees in public, leading the nation in humble supplication to God! Rare spectacle; but why: Kings are but men, even though their power is great. Millions may tremble before them; but what is any king in comparison with God? The haughty Nebuchadnezzar, who so insolently defied his Maker, and cast three of His faithful servants into the burning fiery furnace was brought to the lowest depths of degradation in order that he might learn his own littleness, and the greatness and majesty of God (Dan. 3:15; 4:35). This divine dealing with the first head of Gentile Imperialism was meant to be a lesson to all who might come after him. The only real difference between king and subject in the matter of prayer is this: the king needs prayer more than any man in his dominions, because of the heavy responsibilities resting upon him, for which he must someday give account to the Sovereign of the universe. All well-disposed persons should pray continually “for kings, and for all that are in authority” (1 Tim. 2:2).
God has looked down upon three delightful spectacles of kings humbly praying before Him in Jerusalem:
(1) Solomon at the dedication of the Temple, when all was well (2 Chron. 6:13).
(2) Jehoshaphat in a day of peril from a great invasion (2. Chron. 20.)
(3) Hezekiah when threatened by the blasphemous Rabshakeh, and the Assyrian hosts (Isa. 37:15).

Had these prayers practical value? Yes, a thousand times YES. It has been truly said, referring to Hezekiah, that “a king in sackcloth was more to be dreaded than a king in a coat of mail.” Solomon “stood before the altars of Jehovah in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands: for Solomon had made a brazen scaffold (or platform of bronze) of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven, and said, O Jehovah God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in the heaven nor in the earth” (2 Chron. 6:2-4). It would be a pleasure to transcribe the whole of the king’s comprehensive prayer, but space forbids. It can be read without irreverent haste by anyone in five minutes. It has been our misfortune to have to listen to public prayers which have taken much more time than Solomon’s, but which have contained much less definite matter. When shall we learn the lesson that we are not heard for our “much speaking?” (Matt. 6:7). Why do we not follow the example of the man who said, “Friend, lend me three loaves,” and who repeated his request until his need was met? (Luke 11:5). Definiteness and persistency in prayer are divinely commended in the Word of God.
Psalms 127 shows us how Solomon felt on the great occasion of the dedication of the Temple. The house was indeed finished, but only God could maintain it, and all that was connected with it. “Except Jehovah build the house, they labor in vain that build it, except Jehovah keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Lovely spirit of dependence upon God!
Solomon began his prayer by acknowledging the incomparableness of Israel’s God, always faithful to His word. He promised David that he should never want a man to sit upon his throne, but added, “if thy children take heed to their ways.” On the ground of responsibility all is lost. David’s throne has long disappeared; his family also. Even so, David does not lack a man to sit upon his throne. The genealogy of his true Heir is given in Matthew 1, and before His birth the angel said to the mother: “The Lord God will give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever: and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). On the Day of Pentecost Peter told his audience in Jerusalem that the promise of God to David centers in the One whom they had crucified (Acts 2:30-31). At present He sits at the right hand of God in heaven, rejected by Israel and by all; but He will yet enter triumphantly into Zion, welcomed by the heartfelt praises of His people (Psa. 118:26).
Solomon felt that it was wonderful that God should condescend to dwell with men upon earth. “Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee: how much less this house that I have built?” (1 Kings 8:27). Solomon’s Temple has gone, but a more wonderful thing has taken its place. The Church, composed of sinners drawn from amongst Jews and Gentiles, is now His Temple (1 Cor. 3:16); His house (1 Tim. 3:15); His habitation (Eph. 2:22). No mere glory cloud fills this; the Holy Spirit has come from heaven to form the building and to take up His abode therein. Every believer in Jesus is a “living stone” in God’s “spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). Privilege and blessing too immense to be described in words; but Satan has labored from the beginning to rob God’s saints of the realization and joy of it. The various brands of clergy which have crippled the spiritual life of the Church through the centuries would never have come into existence had the abiding presence of the Spirit of God been held in living faith. But to the end He suffices for every real need, and humble waiting upon Him will always reap a rich reward.
However favored and glorious Solomon might be, Solomon was not Christ. The contrast between the prayers in 1 Kings 8 and John 17 is great. Both prayers were uttered in Jerusalem. Although surrounded by magnificence, and possessed of wisdom and power without precedent, Solomon felt that stability had not yet come. Hence his prayer is full of anticipations of trouble. No such sentiments will be present in the mind of Solomon’s greater Son when He takes the throne. Knowing to some extent the possibilities of poor flesh, Solomon used the word “forgive” before mentioning any specific evil (vs. 30). The probable needs and troubles of the future are then stated:
(1) Personal trespasses (vss. 31-32).
(2) Military defeat (vss. 33-34).
(3) Drought (vss. 35-36).
(4) Famine, pestilence, etc. (vss. 37-40).
(5) Danger in war (vss. 44-45).
(6) Captivity in a strange land (vss. 46-50).
In the midst of these forebodings of disaster the king prayed for the stranger from afar who might hear of Jehovah’s great name, and come to His house in search of blessing. The Queen of Sheba and the Ethiopian eunuch are examples of this but with this difference: the Queen got the blessing in Jerusalem, for all was in divine order in her day; the eunuch got the blessing going away from Jerusalem, the Temple being then an empty shell, the Christ of God having been rejected.
Jerusalem was Jehovah’s earthly center, hence Solomon requested that every prayer directed towards the city and sanctuary might be graciously accepted by God. Daniel remembered this in his captivity. “His windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God” (Dan. 6:10). Here again we note a difference between Solomon and Daniel. Solomon said of Israel, “they be Thy people, and Thine inheritance” (1 Kings 8:51); but when Daniel said, “Thy city and Thy people” he was gently corrected by the angel, “thy people and thy holy city” (Dan. 9:19-24). The solemn “Loammi” sentence having gone forth, Daniel’s people were no longer the people of God (Hos. 1:9). The link of relationship must continue broken until Israel lies low in humble repentance at the feet of the long-rejected Messiah.
In the “Chronicles” account there is an important addition to Solomon’s prayer. “Now therefore arise, O Jehovah God, into Thy resting-place, Thou and the ark of Thy strength: let Thy priests, O Jehovah God, be clothed with salvation, and let Thy saints rejoice in goodness. O Jehovah God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant” (2 Chron. 7:41-42). Solomon had Psalms 132 in mind as thus he concluded his prayer. The full and final blessing of Israel is in view in that Psalm, which Christ alone can bring in. This seems more suitably quoted in “Chronicles” than in “Kings,” for the later record is more typical than the former.
Solomon rose from his knees, and “stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice” (1 Kings 8:54-61). He finished by exhorting the people: “Let your heart be perfect with Jehovah your God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments, as at this day.” Everything thus depended for the time being upon the faithfulness of King and people. This being so, Solomon was led to refer, not to the promises made by Jehovah to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but to those made to Moses at the time of the great deliverance from Egypt. The divine promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which contemplate full and final blessing for Israel and for “all the families of the earth,” await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for their fulfillment.