1 Kings 8:23-53

The Prayer of Dedication.

In how many and varied ways is Solomon a type of the Divine Solomon, the true Son of David Even in this respect they are alike—that each has "taught us how to pray" ( Luke 11:1 sqq.) For we may be sure that the Prayer of Dedication is for our instruction and imitation, otherwise it would hardly have been recorded, and recorded at such length, in Scripture. "After this manner therefore pray ye" ( Matthew 6:9 ).

I. LAYMEN MAY OFFER PUBLIC PRAYER . This is no monopoly of priests. The Hebrew king might not sacrifice or burn incense ( 2 Chronicles 26:18 ), but he might lead the prayers both of priests and people, and that on the greatest day in the history of Israel. Even so, though "we give not to our princes the ministering either of God's word or of the sacraments" (Art. 37.), still we do not deny them any "prerogative which we see to have been given always to all godly princes in Holy Scripture" ( ib .), and least of all the prerogative of prayer exercised by David, Solomon, Asa ( 2 Chronicles 14:11 ), Jehoshaphat ( ib ; 1 Kings 20:5-12 ), and Hezekiah ( ib ; 30:18-20). It was Constantine, a layman, presided at the Council of Nice.

II. KINGS SHOULD BE PROUD TO TAKE PART IN RELIGIOUS FUNCTIONS . Whatever divinity doth hedge them about, they are not greater or wiser than Solomon, and the proudest moment of his life was when he led the ark to its resting place; the happiest, when he "blessed all the congregation of Israel" ( 1 Kings 8:14 ). Never is king so great as when he takes his proper place before God. Alas! that religion should have ever been brought into such contempt that kings should be ashamed or afraid to be the "nursing fathers" of the Church ( Isaiah 49:23 ). Solomon's prayer is "a testimony that a wisdom which can no longer pray is folly" (Bähr).

III. PRAYER SHOULD BE PRECEDED BY PRAISE . It was not until Solomon had "blessed God" ( 1 Kings 8:15 ) that he prayed to God ( 1 Kings 8:23-53 ). "praemissa laude, invocatio sequi solet . " This was the rule of the early Church (see Psalms 65:1 , Psalms 65:2 for the scriptural order; cf. Philippians 1:3 , Philippians 1:4 ; Philippians 4:6 , and see Howson's Hulsean Lectures, No. 4; for the combination of thanksgiving and prayer in St. Paul's Epistles). And Solomon not only began but ended with blessing ( 1 Kings 8:56 ).

IV. TRUE PRAYER IS ASKING GOD FOR WHAT WE NEED . Not rhetorical display, not sesquepedalia verba, not a mere string of texts and hymns, but the simplest, humblest cry of the heart. Which of us has not heard prayers like the Pharisee's—without one word of prayer ( i.e; petition) in them? And how many prayers are made painful by their pretentiousness. Perhaps a child has been ordained our pattern ( Matthew 18:2-4 ), that from it we should learn to pray. "In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart" (Bunyan).

V. PRAYER SHOULD BE OFFERED FOR ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN . Not for self only. It is not "my Father," but "our Father." Perhaps selfishness is nowhere more conspicuous or more hateful than in our prayers. We are members one of another. It is in the Pharisee's prayer that we find so much "I." Notice how varied were Solomon's petitions, and cf. 1 Timothy 2:1 , 1 Timothy 2:2 , 1 Timothy 2:3 . Tennyson says—

"For what are men better than sheep or goats

That nourish a blind life within the brain,

If, knowing God, they lift not hands in prayer

Both for themselves and those who call them friend?"

And he does not stop there, but adds that thus

"the whole round world

Is bound by golden chains around the feet of God."

This prayer of dedication was a veritable Litany (verses 31, 33, 37, 41, 44, etc.)

VI. PRAYER SHOULD BE SCRIPTURAL , i.e; conceived in the spirit and expressed in the words of Scripture. This prayer was pre-eminently so What St. Cyprian says of the Lord's prayer, "Quanto efficacius impetramus quod petimus in Christi nomine, si petamus ipsius oratione," may suggest to us that that prayer is most likely to move God's hand which is based on God's Word. Supplication should be shaped by revelation.

VII. PRAYERS MAY BE LITURGICAL . The Scripture references, its artificial structure, and indeed, its very preservation, prove that this prayer was a precomposed form. A form need not involve formalism. All Christians use forms of praise ; why not forms of prayer ? (See Hooker, V. 26.2. 3.)

VIII. OUTWARD FORMS ARE NOT TO BE DESPISED . Solomon "kneeled upon his knees, with his hands stretched out towards heaven" (cf. Daniel 6:10 ; Acts 7:60 ; Acts 9:40 ; Acts 20:1-38 :86; Acts 21:5 ; Ephesians 3:14 , and, above all, Luke 22:41 and Luke 24:50 . Also Psalms 28:2 ; Psalms 63:4 ; Psalms 134:2 ). Ritualism is a question of degree, for we all use some rites. So long as we have bodies, we can never have a purely spiritual religion, but must "glorify God in our bodies and spirits" ( 1 Corinthians 6:20 ). That forms have their foundation in human nature, and may be impressive and edifying, is proved by the fact that "no nation under heaven either doth or ever did suffer public actions which are of weight to pass without some visible solemnity" (Hooker, IV . 1.8), and for this reason, that

"Sounds which address the ear are lost and die

In one short hour; while that which strikes the eye

Lives long upon the mind: the faithful sight

Graves on the memory with a beam of light."

It is only when forms usurp the place, or mar the reality, of spiritual worship ( John 4:24 ) that they are really reprehensible.