1 KINGS LESSON 12


     We will begin this lesson in I Kings 8:22  "And Solomon stood
before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation
of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:"

     This is a picture of a man, who is surrendering himself to the
LORD. He stands with both hands raised to the LORD in praise, and then
kneels. We know he kneels, because of verse 54, which says the
following. I Kings 8:54 "And it was [so], that when Solomon had made
an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he
arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees
with his hands spread up to heaven." He raised his hands up to heaven
as if to say, LORD I surrender all to you. Solomon was not ashamed to
humble himself before God in front of the entire congregation. In my
opinion, the most beautiful prayer in the Bible begins here.

     I Kings 8:23 "And he said, LORD God of Israel, [there is] no God
like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant
and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their
heart:"

     Notice, this prayer begins by recognizing God for who He is, and
for His greatness. This prayer begins with praise. The Israelites had
been guilty of following false gods. Solomon explains that there is no
other true God. Solomon recognizes the omnipresence of the LORD God,
when he says in heaven, or on earth. God always keeps His covenant.
Men break covenants. God is merciful, and no one should know this
better than the Israelites, whom he had forgiven over and over.  The
only thing that the LORD wanted from them, and wants from us, is to
love him with all our heart.

     I Kings 8:24 "Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that
thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast
fulfilled [it] with thine hand, as [it is] this day."

     The fact that God had allowed Solomon to build the temple
reassures him that God does what He says he will do. God had promised
David that his son would build the temple, and now, it is done.
Solomon is totally aware that it was the hand of God that brought this
into being.

     I Kings 8:25 "Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy
servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall
not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so
that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as
thou hast walked before me."

     This does not anger God for Solomon to remind Him of the promise
He made to David, that the his descendents would sit on the throne for
ever. He does remember that this promise is conditional on the people
keeping the commandments of God. God will keep His part of the
agreement, if they will keep theirs.
     I Kings 8:26 "And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray
thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my
father."

     "Verified", in this particular instance, means built up. This is
a building up of the Word, that God had spoken to David. This is a
proving, if you will. The temple for God is built.

     I Kings 8:27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the
heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this
house that I have builded?"

     Yes, He will dwell on the earth and in the heavens all at the
same time. He cannot, however, be confined to one place at a time.
There is no house big enough to hold him. Deuteronomy 10:14 "Behold,
the heaven and the heaven of heavens [is] the LORD'S thy God, the
earth [also], with all that therein [is]."

     I Kings 8:28 "Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy
servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the
cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:"

     One of the most unexplainable things about God, is, since He is
so great that all the world cannot hold Him, why does He bother to
hear one man's prayer? And yet the very existence of man is an answer
to prayer. If God stopped listening to the prayers of individuals,
there would be no existence. Solomon knows that all his greatness, is
because God allowed it. He is great in the LORD.

     I Kings 8:29 "That thine eyes may be open toward this house night
and day, [even] toward the place of which thou hast said, My name
shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy
servant shall make toward this place."

     God has chosen this temple to glorify His name in. Solomon wants
the LORD to keep his eyes and ears turned toward the temple, and the
people, who are its congregation. Solomon calls himself, God's
servant. God's eyes are on us all. He sees and hears everything we do.
God, also, knows what is in our hearts. This temple will bear the name
of the LORD. Now, that God has revealed His presence in the temple,
Solomon will look to this temple, when he prays.

     I Kings 8:30 "And hearken thou to the supplication of thy
servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this
place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou
hearest, forgive."

     Solomon is crying out for the LORD to hear him and these people,
when they pray. He knows how forgiving God has been, but he wants Him
to forgive them, when they cry out to Him.

     I Kings 8:31  "If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an
oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before
thine altar in this house:" I Kings 8:32 "Then hear thou in heaven,
and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his
way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according
to his righteousness."

     Solomon recognizes the LORD as the righteous Judge in this. Only
God can decide many matters. Some will even swear a lie, but God knows
who is telling the truth. Only God knows who to condemn, and who to
bless.

     I Kings 8:33  "When thy people Israel be smitten down before the
enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to
thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee
in this house:" I Kings 8:34 "Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive
the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which
thou gavest unto their fathers."

     This has been the condition of Israel from the beginning. God
always wants to bless them, but sometimes they sin and go after false
gods. The wars they had lost were for that very reason. They were
unfaithful to the LORD, and He would cause them to lose a battle. The
minute they asked for forgiveness and turned back to the LORD, He
would forgive their sins and bless them again. They are scattered into
foreign lands over and over for their sins. Solomon prays that God
will forgive them, and bring them back home.

     I Kings 8:35  "When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain,
because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place,
and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest
them:" I Kings 8:36 "Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of
thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good
way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou
hast given to thy people for an inheritance."

     So much of this prayer is a statement of why it does not rain, or
why storms come, or any of the naturals disasters. The heaven is shut
up and it does not rain, because the people have turned against God.
The only solution to natural disasters, such as drought, is to pray
for forgiveness for our sins, and ask God to change the situation.
When God hears from heaven and answers the prayer, the drought is
over. God had promised them rain at the right time for their crops, as
long as they were faithful to Him.

     I Kings 8:37  "If there be in the land famine, if there be
pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, [or] if there be caterpillar; if
their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever
plague, whatsoever sickness [there be];"

     Notice, what causes these calamities. Notice, also, that these
come from God, not the devil. We might look at this Scripture, and ask
God to forgive us, so the plague of A.I.D.S would be stopped in our
land.  The only thing that will stop A.I.D.S.  is repentance and
prayer, and turning to God for help. Everyone gets hurt by a plague.
Some of the people, who get this disease, are innocent. Everyone must
return to true worship of God.
     I Kings 8:38 "What prayer and supplication soever be [made] by
any man, [or] by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the
plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this
house:"

     The "plague of the heart" is speaking of the conscience of man.
The heart is what we are. If a man has a heart stayed upon God, he is
in good standing with God. Those, who are evil in their hearts, are
not pleasing unto the LORD. They should look to this temple, because
that is where the LORD is.

     I Kings 8:39 "Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and
forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose
heart thou knowest; (for thou, [even] thou only, knowest the hearts of
all the children of men;)"

     A prayer prayed from a repentant heart will get results. When our
heart is changed, we are changed. Satan only knows what he sees and
hears, but God knows the heart of man. God even knows our thoughts. My
own personal belief is, that our heart is what will condemn us on
judgement day, or redeem us. Even our belief, must begin in our heart.

     I Kings 8:40 "That they may fear thee all the days that they live
in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers."

     This fear is speaking of reverence. This fear is as a child fears
a father.

     I Kings 8:41 "Moreover concerning a stranger, that [is] not of
thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's
sake;" I Kings 8:42 "(For they shall hear of thy great name, and of
thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and
pray toward this house;" I Kings 8:43 "Hear thou in heaven thy
dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to
thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear
thee, as [do] thy people Israel; and that they may know that this
house, which I have builded, is called by thy name."

     We know that people did come to see the magnificent temple, that
Solomon had built to the name of the LORD. The queen of Sheba is a
very good example of that. I believe this is much more far-reaching
than that, and is speaking of the Gentiles, who look to the LORD and
believe in His name. Solomon is praying for the salvation of the whole
world in this. It is speaking prophetically of the following
Scripture. Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things]
under the earth;"

     I Kings 8:44  "If thy people go out to battle against their
enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the
LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and [toward] the house
that I have built for thy name:" I Kings 8:45 "Then hear thou in
heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause."

     This is just asking God to be with His people in battle, as long
as they pray and ask for His help.

     I Kings 8:46 "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 captives unto the land of the
enemy, far or near;" I Kings 8:47 "[Yet] if they shall bethink
themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent,
and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them
captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have
committed wickedness;"

     This part of the prayer is speaking prophetically, again, about
the children of Israel falling into idolatry. They will lose their
battle, and be carried into the land of their captors. Specifically,
those from Jerusalem who do not die in the battle, will be carried to
Babylon.  They do repent, and God does return them to their land after
about 70 years of captivity.

     I Kings 8:48 "And [so] return unto thee with all their heart, and
with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away
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:"

     In the land of their enemies, they will be like slaves. It is
much easier to repent and turn to God, when you are in terrible
trouble.  This is asking the LORD to hear them in their distress, and
help them.

     I Kings 8:49 "Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication
in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause," I Kings 8:50
"And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their
transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give
them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may
have compassion on them:"

     They had been a sinful people, when God heard their cry from
Egypt and saved them. They became the wife of God on the trip across
the wilderness. They belong to God. They are God's people, even though
they have sinned. Solomon wants God to forgive them, again and again,
as He has already done. They will be freed from Babylon, and come back
to their homeland.

     I Kings 8:51 "For they [be] thy people, and thine inheritance,
which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the
furnace of iron:"  I Kings 8:52 "That thine eyes may be open unto the
supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people
Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee."
I Kings 8:53 "For thou didst separate them from among all the people
of the earth, [to be] thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand
of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O
Lord GOD."

     Our children never stop being our children, even when they are
disobedient. God's Israel never stops being His, because they have
disobeyed and been unfaithful. Israel belongs to God. Physical and
spiritual Israel belong to God. They are the chosen.

     I Kings 8:54 "And it was [so], that when Solomon had made an end
of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose
from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his
hands spread up to heaven."

     This prayer had been humbly given to God on Solomon's knees,
while lifting his hands into the air praising God.

     I Kings 8:55 "And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of
Israel with a loud voice, saying,"  I Kings 8:56 "Blessed [be] the
LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all
that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good
promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant."

     Notice, the blessing is directed to the LORD. Solomon tells them
God has kept His promise.

     I Kings 8:57 "The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our
fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:"

     This is a request to the LORD for himself and the people.

     I Kings 8:58 "That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in
all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his
judgments, which he commanded our fathers."

     Notice, in this, Solomon requests the LORD to cause them to turn
their hearts to Him. If their hearts are stayed upon God, they will
walk in His ways, and keep His commandments. God had given then His
law. It is up to them to keep it.

     I Kings 8:59 "And let these my words, wherewith I have made
supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and
night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his
people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:" I Kings 8:60
"That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD [is] God,
[and that there is] none else."

     The prayers of Solomon, and in fact, the prayers of all who put
their trust in God, are at the throne of God continually. Solomon
hopes that this temple will be a lighthouse to the world. That those
in darkness will see the Light, and come to it.

     I Kings 8:61 "Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD
our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at
this day."

     Solomon, and all these people, had very good intentions this day.
At this moment, they had experienced the presence of Almighty God.
This is a prayer for God to keep him and the people, as they were this
day.

     I Kings 8:62  "And the king, and all Israel with him, offered
sacrifice before the LORD."

     The sacrifices were shared by all.

     I Kings 8:63 "And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings,
which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an
hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of
Israel dedicated the house of the LORD."

     There were so many animals offered, because all would partake of
the meat, after the fat had been burned. Even though this speaks of
Solomon offering this, it means them all. He was representing all of
them in the sacrifice.

     I Kings 8:64 "The same day did the king hallow the middle of the
court that [was] before the house of the LORD: for there he offered
burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace
offerings: because the brazen altar that [was] before the LORD [was]
too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the
fat of the peace offerings."

     This is speaking of the court of the priests. The magnitude of
the offerings must have a large place. The brazen altar could not have
handled it all.

     I Kings 8:65 "And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all
Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath
unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven
days, [even] fourteen days."

     It seems, the feast and the dedication of the temple continued
for 14 days. There were people from all Israel there. For all good
purposes, all Israel celebrated in this.

     I Kings 8:66 "On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they
blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart
for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and
for Israel his people."

     This eighth day is speaking of the eighth day of the feast of
Tabernacles. It is interesting that "eight" means new beginnings. This
is a new beginning for all Israel. They are joyful, because the LORD
is with them, and they have a place of central worship.







                        1 Kings 12 Questions


1.  Verse 1 is a picture of what?
2.  How do we know that Solomon kneels to pray?
3.  When he raises his hands to heaven, it is as if he is saying what?
4.  What begins with verse 23?
5.  How does the prayer begin?
6.  Why does Solomon stress there is no other God?
7.  What did God want from this people?
8.  The building of the temple reassures Solomon of what?
9.  What had God told David about the throne of Israel?
10. What does "verified" mean in verse 26?
11. What question does Solomon ask in verse 27?
12. What does the author believe to be unexplainable about God?
13. Why was Solomon saying, to look to the temple to pray?
14. In verse 32, Solomon recognizes God as what?
15. What had been the condition of Israel from the beginning?
16. Why does Solomon say, there is no rain?
17. What is the only solution to natural disasters?
18. What is a modern plague in our land?
19. What is the "plague of the heart" speaking of?
20. What prayer will get results?
21. Who is a good example of a stranger, who came to see the
    magnificent temple?
22. Quote Philippians chapter 2 verse 10.
23. Quote 1 Kings chapter 8 verse 46.
24. Who do the children of Israel fall captive to, later?
25. Why should God forgive them?
26. When Solomon stopped praying, what did he do?
27. The blessings Solomon spoke were directed to the _______.
28. What would cause them to walk in the ways of God?
29. Where do our prayers go?
30. Who sacrificed?
31. How many sheep were sacrificed?
32. How long did the feast and the dedication last?
33. What does the number "eight" symbolize?