1 Kings 8:22

SOLOMON'S LONG PRAYER OF CONSECRATION (1 KINGS 8:22-53);

SOLOMON'S PRAYER FOR HIS DYNASTY TO CONTINUE

"And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keepest covenant and lovingkindness with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart; who hast kept with David my father that which thou didst promise him: yea, thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day. Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, "There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me, as thou walkest before me. Now therefore, O God of lsrael, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father."

Solomon here prayed for the wrong thing, it seems to me, because, instead of praying for God to keep his word, he should have prayed that he himself and his evil sons would keep the Lord's commandments.

Despite this lapse on Solomon's part, however, this dedicatory prayer is rich indeed. "This prayer was most likely written down and preserved in The Book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41) or in The Book of Nathan the Prophet (2 Chronicles 9:20). It was evidently committed to writing at once, and it would no doubt, as a matter of course, have been religiously preserved.

As we certainly should have expected, radical "Critics deny the authenticity of this prayer because of its many references to the Pentateuch,"[17] which of course effectively disproves their favorite canard of a late date for the Pentateuch. Hammond cited Exodus 19:9; 22:11; Leviticus 5:1; 26:17,25; 26:40,42; Deuteronomy 4:20; 28:25 as Mosaic passages referred to in this chapter; but these are by no means all of them.