1 Kings 8:46

VII. PETITION FOR ISRAEL WHEN THEY ARE MADE CAPTIVES AND CARRIED AWAY TO ANOTHER LAND

"If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far off or near; yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly; if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause; and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron); that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them whensoever they cry unto thee. For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah."

THE THEOLOGY OF KING SOLOMON

The theological views of Solomon are crystal clear in this prayer:

(1) The omnipotence of God is evident in his conviction that God was able to hear and answer prayer in any land on earth "far or near" (1 Kings 8:46).

(2) Although God's name was associated with the house Solomon built, God's "dwelling place" is emphatically declared to be "in heaven" (1 Kings 8:32,34,36,39,43,45,48) no less than seven times.

(3) Both the ubiquitousness and the omniscience of God appear in the declaration that God knows "the hearts of all the children of men" (1 Kings 8:39). Also in the view that "the heaven of heavens" (1 Kings 8:27) cannot contain him, there is further evidence that God is everywhere throughout his whole universe.

(4) The fact of God's displeasure with sin and the certainty of his punishing it appear in such verses as 1Kings 8:33,35,1 Kings 8:46. (5) That God's forgiveness is contingent upon the condition of the sinner's turning away from his transgressions is a major thesis of the prayer (1 Kings 8:33,35,48). (6) That God is not merely the God of the Jews but of all the peoples of the earth is the burden of 1 Kings 8:41-43. (7) God's forgiveness of sins is repeatedly promised upon the condition of its being prayed for. "If they make supplication" (1 Kings 8:33,47); "if they pray" (1 Kings 8:35,48); "when he shall pray" (1 Kings 8:42); "if thy people pray," (1 Kings 8:44).

These profoundly beautiful and correct thoughts regarding God's nature and character were not the result of, "The Deuteronomic editors having placed these words upon Solomon's lips,"[22] as claimed by Dentan and other critical writers. As a matter of fact, Solomon's prayer was recorded in this same form independently of the Biblical books, namely, in The Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41), of which the account here is obviously an abridged account. And certainly that mythical "Deuteronomist" never had anything to do with The Acts of Solomon!

"When thy people are defeated ... because they have sinned ... if they turn again, etc." (1 Kings 8:33). "This reminds one of the cycle in the Book of Judges: apostasy, defeat, repentance, deliverance."[23] This shows Solomon's thorough familiarity with that book.

"All the peoples of the earth may know thy name, etc." (1 Kings 8:43). "There is no record of any foreigner ever worshipping in Solomon's Temple,"[24] but after the captivity, Alexander the Great, and Ptolemaeus Philadelphus are reported by Josephus to have worshipped in the Second Temple."[25] Also 2 Maccabees 3:2,3 states that Seleucus worshipped there.

"There is no man that sinneth not" (1 Kings 8:46). "The idea of total hereditary depravity is not supported in the Bible, but it is nevertheless an observed and undeniable fact that all men are sinners."[26] "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:10).

"We have sinned, and done perversely, we have dealt wickedly" (1 Kings 8:45). "There are three words for sin in this verse: [~chata'], meaning to miss the goal, [~`awah], meaning iniquity due to deliberate action, and [~rasha`], meaning irregular and abnormal wickedness."[27]

"The furnace of iron" (1 Kings 8:51). "This is a metaphorical reference to Egypt as a place of severe trial and affliction."[28]