Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication ,.... For success: and maintain their cause ; do them justice, and avenge their injuries, as the Targum; let it appear that their cause is right, by giving them victory. read more
If they sin against thee ,.... The same persons when they were gone forth to battle, not observing the divine commands as they should: for there is no man that sinneth not ; such are the depravity of human nature, the treachery of the heart, and the temptations of Satan, of which Solomon had early notice, and was afterwards still more confirmed in the truth of, Ecclesiastes 7:20 . and thou be angry with them ; for their sins, and resent their conduct: so as to deliver them to... read more
Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives ,.... Or, "return to their heart" F1 והשיבו אל לבן "et reversi fuerint ad cor suum", Pagninas, Montanus, Vatablus. ; remember their sins, the cause of their captivity, and reflect upon them: and repent of them, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives ; though and while they are in such a state: saying, we have sinned, and have done perversely, we have... read more
And so return unto thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul ,.... In the most sincere and cordial manner, with great ingenuity and uprightness; the Targum is, "return unto thy worship;' relinquishing false worship they had given into, and serve the Lord in the best manner they could: in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive ; and so at a distance from that temple, and the service of it, which read more
Then hear thou their prayers, and their supplication, in heaven thy dwellingplace ,.... For their deliverance out of captivity: and maintain their cause; plead it, and do them justice, avenge their injuries, and deliver them. read more
And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee ,.... By returning them to their own land; by which it would appear that the Lord had forgiven their trespasses, as well as by what follows: and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them ; for it is in the power of God to work upon the affections of men, and dispose their minds to use his people well, and to... read more
For they be thy people, and thine inheritance ,.... Whom the Lord had chosen above all people, to be a special people to him, and to be his portion and possession; see Deuteronomy 7:6 . which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron ; hard and cruel bondage in Egypt: See Gill on Deuteronomy 4:20 . read more
That thine eyes may be open to the supplication of thy servant ,.... That is, attentive to it, meaning himself and his present supplication; or any other he should hereafter put up in this place: and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call unto thee : at any time, and upon any account; so far as may be agreeable to his will, make for his glory, and their good; see Deuteronomy 4:7 . read more
For thou didst separate them from among all people of the earth to be thine inheritance ,.... By his choice of them in his own mind, by the redemption of them out of Egypt, by the peculiar laws he gave them, and by the special blessings he conferred upon them: as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord our God ; it was he that spake this to Moses, and by him to the people, Exodus 19:5 and it was he that did it, namely,... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 8:22-53
Solomon having made a general surrender of this house to God, which God had signified his acceptance of by taking possession, next follows Solomon's prayer, in which he makes a more particular declaration of the uses of that surrender, with all humility and reverence, desiring that God would agree thereto. In short, it is his request that this temple may be deemed and taken, not only for a house of sacrifice (no mention is made of that in all this prayer, that was taken for granted), but a... read more