Solomon's Prayer for Mercy

In 1 Kings 8, after finally building a temple for the Lord, Solomon offers a prayer of dedication for the temple.

He starts by praising God for His character, works, and Word. As it pertains to God's character, he asserts that "there is not God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath" (23). How was God's character reflected to Solomon? By "keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart" (23). And this was all in fulfillment of God's Word, for God "kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day" (24). The backdrop for all of this is the covenant that God made with David, promising an Heir who would reign eternally over His kingdom.

Not only does the opening of praise and gratitude give us an example of how we ought to begin our prayers--and how are hearts ought to be aligned before the Lord--but it is also fitting concerning what Solomon foresaw. While they are still in the act of praising, already Solomon is praying for mercy concerning the future: "And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive" (30).

Solomon, in his God-given wisdom, knows the heart of man and its inclination toward sin and its results (see Ecclesiastes). So he plans for future realities, not hypotheticals:

"When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you..." (33)

"When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they sinned against you..." (35)

He prays that God would forgive His people when they repent.

"Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel..." (34, 36)

When the situation is murky and it's hard to tell what type of individual or collective guilt is at work, he asks that "Whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind" (38-39).

This steady drumbeat of pleas for future mercy comes to its crescendo in verses 46-53. "If they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying 'We have sinner and have acted perversely and wickedly,' if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies...then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive..."

He prays that God would give "ear to them whenever they call to you" (52), because they are His people, the recipients of His Word, those redeemed by His hand (53). Thus, Solomon closes of the same not of appeal at the end as the beginning--that God, in accordance with His character, His saving works, and His Word, would forgive His people in their sin.

It could be argued that this prayer was partially answered when God allowed the exiles to return (see Ezra and Nehemiah), but the modest rebuilding efforts of the returned exiles would finally be thwarted with the destruction of the temple after the time of Jesus.

When we pray in Jesus' name, we pray in accordance with God's character, revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, and in accordance with His saving works, accomplished for us by Jesus Christ, and in accordance with His Word, in which every promise is declared "Yes and Amen" in Jesus Christ.

We pray with humility, knowing that in the brokenness of our world and our hearts, we will inevitably fall into sin, for the power of sin still remains, even as the Spirit puts it to death. As Solomon said in v46, "there is no one who does not sin." Yet, even with this knowledge, we do no despair.

Instead, we also pray with joy and gratitude. While we should approach God with repentant hearts, His response is not conditioned upon our own righteousness. As Solomon book-ended his prayer with praise for God's character, works, and Word, so we do the same. God sent His own beloved Son, Jesus, into exile for our sake. He was hung upon the cursed cross outside the village gates (Gal. 3). He was cast beyond reach of God's hearing, experiencing instead His wrath, so that in our pilgrim journey, we would never be cast beyond God's reach.

Even in the land of brokenness, I cannot ever escape God's presence (Ps. 139). Rather, He leads me in righteousness for His Name's sake and His rod and staff comfort me (Ps. 23). Solomon prayed that God would give "ear to them whenever they call to you" (52). Jesus prayed those words anew from the cross, offering His life and death in the process, and making that prayer an ever-rising fragrance, pleasant in the nostrils of our God, for His sake.