Prayer is a wonderful blessing beyond imagination. The mighty God, who is the creator of the vast universe, allows his tiny creatures to speak to him. But more than that, God allows his tiny sinful creatures to speak to him. The beauty of prayer is that it is even more than merely speaking to him; it is that he hears us and answers us according to his mercy and grace. Prayer is such a blessing that it should fill our hearts with immense gratitude to him for his goodness. But there is even more to be thankful to God for the blessing of prayer, and that is the reality that God helps us in our prayers to him when we struggle to pray. And we do struggle to pray. It is part of our human weakness. One of the ways God helps us as we struggle in prayer is through the numerous actual prayers we find in the Bible. They give us insight by the Holy Spirit to go deeper in prayer.
This is the second in a series of studies on the prayers of the Bible. In this study, we will focus on the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the newly built temple in Jerusalem. This prayer is found in 1 Kings 8:22-61 and in 2 Chronicles 6:21-42. We will follow the prayer in 2 Chronicles.
There are certain verses in the Bible that are so powerful and the promises found there are so great that they take on a life of their own outside the context in which they are found. One such verse that almost everyone knows is John 3:16. People who have never been to church or read the Bible can quote John 3:16 almost verbatim. There is another very famous verse in the Bible, especially in some Christian circles, that has similar weight, and that is 2 Chronicles 7:14. This verse is often used to express the need for revival and God’s promise of revival. “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
In order to fully grasp the meaning of this great promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14, one must have an understanding of the prayer of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 6. The Lord is responding to Solomon’s prayer by the promise we read in 2 Chronicles 7:14. Every element in the promise is found in Solomon’s prayer. It is, therefore, important to spend some time thinking about and praying about Solomon’s prayer.
Praises for the Covenant Keeping Lord
The flow of the prayer takes a very definite structure. The prayer begins with Solomon praising the Lord for being a covenant-making God and for being a covenant-keeping God (6:12-17). The relationship of the people to the Lord through the covenant is the foundation of the prayer. The Lord is faithful to keep the covenant promises he has made and calls his people to be faithful in obedience. Solomon ends the first part of the prayer by asking the Lord to continue in faithfulness to his covenant.
Hear My Prayer, O Lord
The second part of Solomon’s prayer is a plea to the Lord to hear the prayer he makes as he dedicates the temple to the worship of the Lord God. Solomon, the great builder of impressive structures, even this awe-inspiring temple, is humble before the Lord, recognizing that heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain the Lord, how much less this house Solomon had built. Before he makes any other requests, Solomon asks the Lord to hear him. Solomon also begs the Lord that he would hear the prayers of the people offered in the temple and toward the temple. In the coming years and generations, the people of God will come to the temple or pray toward the temple, the dwelling place of the Lord. They will pour out their hearts to him with their needs. Their only hope is the Lord. The temple is the place of the Lord’s name (6:20). In the New Covenant, we pray in the name of Jesus, who is the true temple of God. Praying in the name of Jesus is praying by his power and authority, praying for his purposes, and praying to his glory.
Have Mercy on Me a Sinner
In the third part of the prayer, we find seven kinds of prayers that the people of God will pray in and toward the temple (6:22-40). This part of the prayer is the heart of the prayer and its longest section. All these prayers have some common features. Each prayer begins with the word “if” or “when,” expressing a potential situation where the people experience some great need so that they cry out in prayer. The second feature of the seven prayers is that the situation that led to the great need in which the people find themselves is that they have sinned against the Lord. The predicament which led to the need that now weighs upon them was the result of turning from the Lord in sin. The third feature of each prayer is that the people turn from their sin and repent. Their pain forces them to see the connection between the problem and the sin. Then, as the people prayed in or toward the temple, Solomon prayed that the Lord would hear from heaven and forgive their sins. The flow of this process is first sin, then suffering, followed by repentance, and culminating with forgiveness and restoration. The seven kinds of prayer Solomon prayed for are (1) Personal conflict (6:22-23). (2) Defeat in War (6:24-25). (3) Drought (6:26-27). (4) Troubles of Life (6:28-31). (5) The Prayer of Foreigners (6:32-33). (6) Going into Battle (6:34-35). (7) Sin and Repentance (6:36-40). You might take some time to read through each of these and meditate on how they apply to you.
We Rejoice in Your Goodness
In the final section of Solomon’s prayer for the dedication of the temple (6:41-42), we find three concerns of Solomon that bring together all that the prayer seeks to communicate. The first is Solomon’s prayer for the Lord to take up residence in the temple. In the temple and the tabernacle before it, the dwelling place of the Lord was between the cherubim on the ark of the covenant. There were two cherubim, golden-winged angels, with one cherub on each side of the ark cover, called the mercy seat. The ark was in the most holy place, the inner sanctuary. Seven times in the OT, the Lord is said to be enthroned between the cherubim of the ark. Solomon desperately wants this house of worship he has built to be accepted by the Lord. Immediately after this prayer of Solomon, we find in chapter seven, verses one through three, the Lord entering the temple and filling it with his glory.
Solomon’s second concern in this final section of the prayer is for the people of God. He prays, “Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness” (2 Chronicles 6:41b). The priests wore holy garments to perform the priestly work of salvation. Through the service of the priests in the temple, the people know, love, and rejoice in the goodness of the Lord.
Solomon’s third concert was for himself. Solomon’s deep desire was that the Lord would accept him as the anointed heir of the David covenant. This desire was fulfilled by God’s grace through David’s greater son, Messiah Jesus. Jesus was the true temple, the ultimate anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of God. The temple built by Solomon was, by God’s design, the place of atonement for sin, the place of the presence of God, and the place of prayer, as this prayer of Solomon shows. But Jesus, as the true temple, is the true place of atonement for sin as he bore our sins in his body on the cross. He is the true presence of God as Immanuel, God with us, and Jesus is the true place of prayer as we make all prayer to the Father through the name of Jesus. Because of this, Jesus is our salvation, and as his saints, we rejoice in his goodness.