Praying About Your Future (1 Kings 8.44–53)

If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

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 come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken captive, and repent, and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly’; if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies, who took them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name; then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, 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 their captors, so that they may have compassion on them (for they are your people and heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron-smelter). Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant, and to the plea of your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to you. For you have separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your heritage, just as you promised through Moses, your servant, when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.

Background

In the last section, we looked at the first five of seven petitions in Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the Temple. Each of those addressed a particular circumstance in the life of individuals or the nation.

The last two petitions are for the nation of Israel: if they go out to battle (44–45) and if they are captured (46–51). Since Israel had been in many battles during her history, it is not surprising to hear Solomon pray about future conflicts. More interesting is the part about the nation being taken into captivity because a few centuries later they were taken away into exile. This section of the prayer is firmly tied to the history of Israel and specific events.

Meaning

In the first petition (44-45), Solomon prays that if the people pray towards the Temple, God will hear them, and “maintain their cause,” that is, support them in their battle. Today, God’s people rarely, if ever, go to battle as a people or nation because most are citizens of countries that are not theocracies. The New Testament takes this idea of God’s people going to battle and applies it to fighting the forces of evil in the world, against “…rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness…” (Eph 6.12). Instead of praying toward the Temple, we pray “toward” the Messiah, who embodies the functions of the Temple.