1 Kings 9:1-9

II. THE REVELATION TO SOLOMON 9:1-9

TRANSLATION

(1) And it came to pass when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the house of the king, and all Solomon's desire which he had desired to do, (2) that the LORD appeared unto Solomon a second time as He appeared unto him in Gibeon. (3) And the LORD said unto him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication which you have made before Me. I have sanctified this house which you have built, to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart shall always be there. (4) But as for you, if you continue to walk before Me as David your father walked with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all which I have commanded you, and My statutes and My judgments you continue to keep, (5) then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever as I spoke unto David your father, saying, A man shall not be cut off to you from upon the throne of Israel. (6) If you surely turn, you and your sons, from after Me and do not keep My commandments, My statutes which I have set before you, and you go and serve other gods, and worship them, (7) then I will cut off Israel from upon the face of the kind which I gave to them, and the house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast away from before Me, and Israel shall become a byword and a taunt among all peoples. (8) And this house shall be high, all passing by it shall be astonished and hiss and say, Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house? (9) And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God who brought their fathers from the land of Egypt, and they seized other gods, and bowed down to them, and served them; therefore, the LORD brought upon them all this calamity.

COMMENTS

After Solomon had completed his building projects (1 Kings 9:1) the Lord appeared to him a second time as He had appeared unto him in the dream at Gibeon (1 Kings 9:2). Solomon had received a message from the Lord during the course of the Temple building, but that message had probably come through the lips of a prophet (cf. 1 Kings 6:11). In this divine communication there is constant and unmistakable reference to the dedicatory prayer of Solomon which was recorded in the previous chapter. In fact, this second dream appearance of the Lord must be regarded as God's answer to that earlier prayer. Now if the dedication of the Temple took place immediately following the completion of that structure, and the second dream appearance followed the completion of the palace complex, then it would appear that at least thirteen years elapsed between Solomon's dedicatory prayer and the answer to it (cf. 1 Kings 9:10).[242] Solomon was now at the height of his prosperity. With his building projects completed his heart was puffed up with pride. His love for the Lord was waning and he had already begun that spiritual decline which eventually led to idolatry. The divine warning served to remind him of that wonderful prayer and youthful devotion which he was in danger of forgetting.

[242] Slotki (SBB, p. 70) suggests that the prayer and supplication to which God alludes in 1 Kings 9:3 is not the dedicatory prayer, but some similar and unrecorded prayer offered by Solomon several years later.

The divine message to Solomon is given in greater detail in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 7:12-22). As far as the present account is concerned, God assured Solomon that he had heard his dedicatory prayer which had been made several years before and, as a consequence of that prayer, had sanctified the Temple. Probably the Lord is alluding to that manifestation described in 1 Kings 8:11 where the cloud of divine glory settled upon the house. Solomon had offered the house to God and God had put His name there, i.e., he accepted it as His own special dwelling forever. Solomon had asked that God's eye might be upon the house; God now assured him that His heart would be there as well as His eyes (1 Kings 9:3). But if Solomon was to continue to enjoy divine favor he must continue to walk in the ways of his father David. The integrity of David consisted of his steadfast loyalty to the true God, his allegiance to the truth. Solomon prayed that David's dynasty might be established over Israel forever just as God had promised his father (1 Kings 8:26); God reminded Solomon that the promise to David was conditional. Only if Solomon kept all the commandments of the Lord (1 Kings 9:4) would David's dynasty be established (1 Kings 9:5).

The warnings against unfaithfulness in 1 Kings 9:6-9 are stern and uncompromising. If Solomon or any of his children turned from following the Lord and failed to keep His commandments (1 Kings 9:6), then God would deprive the nation of the land He had given it, and He would utterly reject the Temple He had so recently acknowledged. The condition of Israel would become so deplorable that people would allude to Israel when they wished to use an apt illustration of folly and unfaithfulness (1 Kings 9:7). A byword and a taunt is an expression found in Deuteronomy 28:37 expressive of extraordinary calamity. The fate of Israel would be an example and admonition to others, a figure for disaster. The house of God would be high[243] in that day, i.e., it would be a conspicuous example of the fate which befalls an unfaithful people. The Temple stood upon a high mountain so that its ruins could not fail to attract the attention of all who went past. Those who observed the ruins of that once sacred spot would hiss or whistle in derision and perhaps astonishment, and ask one another why the Lord would have treated the land of the Temple in this manner (1 Kings 9:8). The answer would come back from those close to the scene that Israel had forsaken the God that had formed their nation and had brought them out of Egypt (1 Kings 9:9).

[243] Another possible rendering though it be high, everyone passing by shall be astonished. .s