Episode 5: 1 Kings 8:22-66: God's Mercy
With an extraordinary prayer, Solomon displays not only his own heart for the people, but ultimately Christ's heart for all his people. Come and join us as we take time to dwell on the nature of his prayer.
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Read the prayer a couple of times - as you read it, what do you notice about the repeated themes?
What comforts you as you consider Christ, God's King who forever lives to intercede for you?
What stops you coming to God in prayer?
How does this prayer bring assurance of your standing before God?
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This episode is sponsored by P&R Publishing
P&R are dedicated to publishing excellent books that promote biblical understanding and godly living. They have a wide range of titles that aim to serve Christ and his church.
US listeners can visit the P&R Publishing website to purchase books.
UK listeners can purchase books from our 10ofThose partner page.
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Felicity: You're listening to the Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book over the course of the season and drive it to our hearts. And this season we're in the first 11 chapters of First Kings. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we're so pleased you're here.
Sarah: We're thankful to be partnering with P&R Publishing this season and alongside their Heart Talk series, we want to highlight their new range of devotionals for teenagers. So far, anxiety, body image and identity are covered in the series. They're based on a verse or two each day with concise and perceptive application, along with some prayer prompts to follow at the end of each day. Lindsay Carson has written Identity, Discovering Who You Are in Christ. And as I've read through it, I've appreciated her grounded wisdom rooting key truths and verses in ways that are particularly pertinent for teenagers. She doesn't assume a ton of biblical knowledge, but gently and persuasively gives her teenage audience deep roots in the love of Christ as they consider who they are and what their purpose is. Pick up a copy for any teenagers in your life, wherever you get your books. The links are in the show notes.
Felicity: Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea. My name is Felicity and I'm in the States. I'm here as ever with my sister Sarah. She's in the UK and we're really enjoying our season in First Kings. This week we are going to be doing a deep dive into chapter eight and Solomon's Prayer. We're excited for it. I can't believe we got to chapter eight already, Sarah. Cup of tea in hand, no biscuit actually at this point.
Sarah: No biscuits for each of us this week!
Felicity: So we have been, as we've been going through First Kings, we've been talking quite a lot about salvation story and where this sits in the midst of all of that. But that's not the only way of reading scripture, is it? And we are always wanting to get into the detail as well. How does that sit? These two ways of reading scripture, what does it look like for you in that?
Sarah: Yeah, it's a helpful question. think the reality is that we need both, don't we? And I think that's what we're seeing as we head through First Kings, that we need the big picture of Scripture and the salvation story for the whole way through the Bible to be able to put this into context and to understand its meaning in the bigger picture. But actually we really need the deep dive, we really need the kind of in-depth study, the kind of slowing down and noticing the details and really doing that because it feeds the bigger picture and it feeds our worship of Christ as we see him fleshed out in the details. So I just think it's really important to have both. We don't need to be, there's ways of doing that without kind of feeling totally overwhelmed and guilt ridden with, gosh I need to be reading the whole Bible and I need to be doing in-depth study and I just can't manage that because that's just crazy. There's ways of doing that without feeling overwhelmed. Felicity, give us a couple of ideas of what that could look like.
Felicity: Well, there is the kind of taking it little chunk by chunk as you go through and kind of going for a Bible read through in that kind of sense. And that can take a year, two years, however long. And there's also various books that can help us with that. We really enjoy one called God's Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts. That can be really helpful. In terms of then getting into the detail, I mean, those same things that we talk about quite a lot of just looking for repeated words, looking for the logic, looking for, especially in a narrative, like what is the narrator drawing our attention to? Where are the moments where we're just feeling a bit of tension? Where are the climaxes and why is that the case? And often it's just asking the why questions that is really helpful in that. Sarah, you're going to read for us chapter eight.
Sarah: I'm going to read for us. Yeah, so we're going to be reading Solomon's prayer. I'm going to read from chapter 8 verses 22 through to verse 61. Let me read.
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven 23 and said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today. 25 “Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ 26 And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true. 27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. 31 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 32 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence. 33 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, 34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors. 35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance. 37 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— 39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), 40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors. 41 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— 42 for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. 44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; 48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy; 51 for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace. 52 “May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. 53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.” 54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: 56 “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. 58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. 59 And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, 60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. 61 And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
Felicity: Thank you, Sarah. Long chunk, but just so worth it. Rich.
Sarah: I think so. So worth reading all of that, isn't it?
Felicity: But before we even get into the body of what he's saying, let's just take note, verse 22, Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly, he is praying on behalf of the people. Solomon is interceding for the people here. And so God's King, we've been seeing who God's King is, how God's King demonstrates just what it is to be that King. And a key aspect of that is interceding for God's people and that, I mean, I know we want to stick with Solomon for a bit, let's just take it to Jesus!
Sarah: Yeah, take it to Jesus already, it's worth it, do it. It's just such a brilliant visual picture of what that is to do that, isn't it? And he starts the prayer full of praise of who God is, that he is faithful to his words and his actions, always tally, they always kind of marry up with one another. He starts the prayer acknowledging that God cannot dwell in a temple made by human hands. He's kind of acknowledging the grandeur of God himself, isn't he? And then the whole way through this prayer we've got the repetition, haven't we, hear and forgive. And just that, just even to kind of rest on those two words for a moment, that actually by his grace the Lord does hear the King's prayer on behalf of the people and the Lord does forgive.
Felicity: Yeah, that, you know, we, think, this side of the cross, that just seems like just, of course that's what happens. He hears our prayers and he forgives because of Jesus. But where Solomon and the people are at, that wow, that he, this God who Solomon has just declared to be too big to dwell in a temple, that he would hear and he would forgive. I found it actually really helpful just to kind of just go through these different groups. We've got seven actually, seven kind of groups of people who are talked about in these prayers and there's a few different responses. All of them hear, forgive, but sometimes act as well and draw people back and these kind of things, I think in the seven, I was helped in this by John Woodhouse's commentary, he points out that seven could mean that then representative of essentially all of God's people. So all of God's people are represented through these different groups.
Sarah: That's really helpful. I think what really struck me as well, which again, Sach and Henderson brought out in their book, the kind of gradual, like it talks about sin a lot, doesn't it, in each different kind of part of this prayer. And in each point, we've got basically a journey away from the temple. We've got them starting by praying by the altar, then it's in the temple, then it's looking toward the temple, then it's in a land that isn't the land but looking toward the temple and just that kind of journey, their sin is gradually taking them away, away from the Lord, away from this physical place and yet in verse 52, may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. So actually whilst the physical place is hugely significant and important in this part of Bible history, there's also the conviction here and the assurance here that whenever, whenever you pray, whenever you come and acknowledge your sin, he will hear and he will forgive. And I think we were kind of saying this before we pressed record, just the reality of seeing here, the way that Solomon describes and the way that he prays, he's acknowledging that God knows people's hearts. There's no escape from sin. There's no one who does not sin. And just the reality that you can still come you don't have to hide in that. The approachability in this is just quite extraordinary I think.
Felicity: It really is. And if you think that the people who are originally hearing this are those in exile, how reassuring and encouraging. I mean, they will be very aware that the reason they're in exile is because, yes, they've been defeated by the end, but actually sin has been handed over to that. And that there is actually repentance and forgiveness and restoration in that and you can pray in line with that and as you say, the assurance that God knows, that this is not a surprise to him, that his people, hearts are inclined away from him. And yet there is provision, there is provision for that.
Sarah: And God's King knows that here and he's prophesying isn't he in that sense of what's going to happen and God's King is there to intercede. He's there to stand before the Lord Almighty on behalf of the people and say hear my prayer and forgive them and again just that I mean I've just been so encouraged dwelling then on Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25 where it describes Christ as always living to intercede for us. And just that going to town on Jesus being the fulfillment of that, that Solomon is just a shadow, isn't he? Of that forever interceding that Christ does for on behalf of his people. He is forever praying and interceding for us. And we have such assurance and such confidence that we can come. And I think we, I mean, we didn't read it right at beginning, but remember the context of this prayer. Remember that sacrifices have happened, blood has been shed in order for him to come and pray and in order for forgiveness to happen. And just the Hebrew language is actually, you can come in full assurance because of the sacrifice of Christ and that he forever lives to intercede for you. And just that all of it culminates in Christ himself in that way.
Felicity: It's just amazing, isn't it? When you just think about it, when you think who God is and who we are, and I like that we have reference to the heart throughout all of this, because it's not that we can just sort ourselves out and polish it off and just do better. This is heart level issues that we have that mean that without the intercession, without Christ himself, our hearts can never be in relationship with the Lord. And yet because of the work of Christ and because of his intercession, we are able to come back, to pray in this way, to be in unending relationship with the Lord. And all the way through this. There's just a real clarity that God's people never stop being God's people. You've got wherever you are, whether you're exiled, whether you're defeated by enemies, whether in fact even you're a foreigner who has heard of God and has come to worship him. I feel like you get that very much so in verse 51. There's people whom you brought out of Egypt out of that iron smelting furnace, again, reference to Exodus. The Exodus is unchanging. And for the people then, that's Egypt's rescue. But that is one big fat signpost towards who we are because of the cross. We are rescued people, redeemed, who are able to pray like this, are able to be forgiven, restored and be in relationship with the Lord.
Sarah: Which is just so crucial, isn't it? I think when we think about that kind of reality of, you know, this talks about the sin, sin, sin, and our hearts, hearts, hearts, and actually when we really feel that in our own selves and we really feel the conviction of our sin and we really feel like, Lord, I just keep messing up and I just can't seem to kind of get a handle on living this godly life and this just feels so hard. I just think this prayer is such an encouragement that he's still saying come, come, come, because the work has been done, Christ's work has been done in order to pave that path for you to come. I love this phrase that I was reading by Calvin and it says, people who pray are entirely dependent on the mediating work of Christ who appears on our behalf, who bears us on his shoulders, who binds us on his breast and allows us to be heard in his person. And just that it's such a sure done deal that we can come and pray. We don't need to hide, we can freely confess because we can pray whenever and wherever knowing that the Lord will hear, knowing that he will forgive. And that then spurs us on that kind of the end part from verse 56 onwards. It's a spur isn't it that Solomon is saying now leave, now leave in a way that honours the Lord because of this is who he is and what he you know how you're able to approach him and just that yeah just all of this. It's so good.
Felicity: And I think a big part of it is assurance, isn't it? Like for us sitting here, that when I feel like I can't, when I feel like, I've really mucked up, or I'm just feeling like I'm not in a good spot, this assures me Christ intercedes for me. I can pray. I can come to the Lord. He knows, and he hears, and he forgives. And I think this is just a relief, a relief. And yeah.
Sarah: Yeah, is. It's like, again, it's another exhale, isn't it? It's another breath out of like, yeah, I remember. The throne of grace. I remember. come. I can approach in confidence. Yeah.
Felicity: Yeah, Sarah, why don't you do that for us? Do want to pray for us?
Sarah: I'd love to. Heavenly Father, it feels very hard to pray on the back of this astounding prayer. And yet we just praise you so much for who you are. We praise you for your faithfulness. And we praise you that in Christ we can always come. We praise you that the work has been done and he forever lives to intercede for us. We praise you for the assurance of that truth today and every day. And we pray, Lord, please would you grow our confidence to come to you. Lord to confess our sin and to plead for you to do your work in our lives. And we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Felicity: Amen. Just wonderful. I know.
Sarah: I know it doesn't feel like there's many words to follow this kind of prayer does it? I think we both want to just sit in it a bit longer. Do sign up to receive each episode straight into your inbox if that would be helpful for you. We have prayer prompts that go with those emails along with some discussion questions. The link is in the show notes if that would be a helpful resource for you. But we will see you next time as we get into chapter 9 of One Kings and we can't wait to keep going on this journey and we look forward to seeing you then.
Felicity: See you then, bye bye.
Sarah: This episode has been sponsored by P&R Publishing.
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