Solomon’s Blessing
As the
presence of the Lord fills the temple, Solomon remembers how it was that the
Lord made Himself known among the Israelites when they left Egypt. Solomon remembers that the Lord filled the
tabernacle as a smoky cloud once it was built.
{See Numbers 9:15-23} During the exodus, the Lord demonstrated His
will for the people by filling or vacating the tabernacle. Solomon now takes the fact that the Lord has
filled the temple as a sign of God’s pleasure with what has been built.
As we
continue through the blessing, notice to whom Solomon gives the credit. In verse 4 and again in verse 10, Solomon
tells us that it was through the hand of the Lord that the temple was
built. Furthermore, Solomon reminds us
that the Lord had promised this reality to David. The Lord has fulfilled His own promise with
His own hand. Yes, the Lord used human
laborers to bring about His promise, but Solomon is quick to give the Lord the
credit.
I think
that this is significant as we put this text in the context of the
chronicler. The chronicler has a people
who have just returned from exile. Most
if not all of the other nations that went into exile with them have been
destroyed and will not reappear. However,
the Hebrew people have managed to emerge for one reason or another. Certainly the chronicler would make the case
that the return of the exiles was also at the hand of the Lord and fulfilling a
promise that the Lord made before the people went into exile. As we saw yesterday in the chapter on
worship, the circumstances of the Hebrew people could not be any more different
than between the people of Solomon’s day and the people of the chronicler’s
day. But that doesn’t mean the steadfast
love of the Lord is any less potent or real in both circumstances.
Solomon’s Entreaty Towards God
Solomon
constructs a large bronze platform and goes up upon it before all the gathered
people. Here he begins a great
prayer. Notice that the prayer largely
begins with humbleness. Solomon knows
that no construction of human hands can contain the Lord’s presence; however
God still looks upon the Hebrew people.
Note also
that Solomon declares in this first statement that there is a condition upon
which God will continue to look favorably upon His people. That condition is simple. The people – specifically the sons of David
in this case – must pay attention to their life. They must walk in the ways of the Lord.
Look at
these two conditions. I believe these
words speak powerfully into modern culture.
God desires that people be aware of their actions. He desires that we pay attention to what we
do. He desires that we understand the
consequences of our actions and our behaviors and our thoughts. God desires that we see ourselves not as living
in a vacuum but rather as living in a world with cause and effect, action and
reaction, initiation and consequence. God
desires that we live in accountability and responsibility. We do not have permission to live in a world
where everyone else is at fault and where we are simply “products of our
culture.”
Having
come that far, we also realize that God desires us not just to pay attention to
our life but to live in such a way as to reflect Him. We are to live according to His patterns and
His standards. We are to be subject to
His ways. We are to take our awareness
of our life rhythms and bring them into a reflection of Him.
Why do we
do this? There are many reasons
disclosed in Solomon’s prayer. First, we
do this so that we might be able to recognize sin. We all sin; being able to recognize sin,
repent of it, atone for it, and change who we are is a powerful tool
indeed. Second, we do it for the sake of
the foreigners in our midst. Solomon
knows that as we attune ourselves to God that foreigners will be attracted to
God and desire relationship with Him.
Third, we do this so that by aligning ourselves with God we might know
His will and go forward with His blessing.
Being in relationship with God is not just reactionary towards life but
proactive.
Rest, Oh Lord
At the
close of his prayer, Solomon invites the Lord to rest. What an intriguing idea! Can the Lord rest? What does it look like for the Lord to
rest? For the record, we do know that
the Lord rests as He Himself tells us in the creation account in Genesis. Of course the Lord rests.
From
Solomon’s perspective, the Lord has been mightily at work. The Lord has pulled His people out of
Egypt. He has defended them through the
time of the judges. He has led them
through the process of turning from being a loose confederacy of tribes into a
people underneath a king. {Even if it wasn’t God’s desire to do so.} God had been at work over many
centuries. Solomon now invited God to
come into His temple and rest.
Solomon
also invites the priests of the Lord to be clothed in salvation. His desire is for those who are closest to
the Lord to be carriers of that which is most important to the Lord. This just makes sense. If the priests of the Lord are rooted in
salvation, then they should be able to convey such a state into the people as
well. Through this, the saints of the
Lord should be able to rejoice.
At the close
of his prayer, Solomon has given us a blueprint. The more we focus on God’s ways and pay
attention to our life, the more in tune we will be with the redemptive and
salvific work that He desires to do within us.
The more our religious leaders are clothed in salvation the more that
God’s ways should be able to be transmitted to us. The more we are in tune with God’s ways, the
more His people should be able to go into the world and bring others (foreigners)
into relationship with God.
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