1 Kings 8:54-61
“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. He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: “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. May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. 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, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
To men, Solomon might appear most glorious when seated on his throne, and surrounded by all his courtiers; but in the eyes of God he never was so glorious, as when he was leading the devotions of all his people, and imploring blessings on them from above. Neither actuated by ostentation, nor restrained by shame, he erected a stage or pulpit in the court of the temple near the altar, and there in the midst of all the congregation kneeled down upon his knees, and with his hands stretched out to Heaven poured forth his soul in the devoutest supplications.
The prayer he uttered was of considerable length, and, as it should seem, the extemporaneous effusion of his own heart. How happy would it be, if all our kings were so disposed, or even if all the ministers of the sanctuary were alike earnest in their acknowledgment of God, and qualified to conduct from the abundance of their own hearts, the service of his sanctuary!
After having offered to God his prayer and supplication, he rose from his knees to bless the people. By “blessing them,” we are not to suppose that he pretended to have any fullness in himself, whereby to make them blessed; it is not in man, however great, to make others blessed; he can only ministerially declare what God has promised, or implore in their behalf the blessing of God upon them. This is what was done by the priests of old, Numbers 6:23-26, and this is what he did on this occasion.
The words in which he blessed them contain,
I. An address to God.
This consisted of two parts:
1. A thanksgiving for mercies received.
God had now fulfilled in its utmost extent the promises which he had given to Israel. “The whole land, from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, Genesis 15:18 with Deuteronomy 11:24,” was under Solomon’s dominion. The most perfect rest and peace prevailed throughout the whole empire, 1 Kings 5:4; and a place was now erected, on a spot chosen by God himself, for his worship and service, Deuteronomy 12:11. Of “all the promises which God had given by Moses, not one word had failed;” all was come to pass; and the whole nation enjoyed a state of unprecedented prosperity. For these things Solomon now “blessed the Lord,” both in his own name, and in the name of all the people.
Have we received such blessings from the Lord? Let us then bless him too. Have we a peaceable enjoyment of God’s ordinances, and freedom from the assaults of open enemies? Have we union also and harmony among ourselves? Let us be thankful for these mercies; it is not every Church that enjoys them; nor can anything but the peculiar favor of Heaven continue them to us.
But what if we have experienced an accomplishment of that promise of our Lord, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest?” What if we have obtained a victory over all our spiritual enemies, and are living in a sweet sense of God’s love, and the habitual enjoyment of his presence? Shall not we bless the name of our God, yes, bless him too with all our faculties and all our powers?
2. A prayer for the continuance of God’s mercies.
The presence of God with them comprehended every blessing that Solomon could desire; and therefore Solomon entreated God “never to leave them nor forsake them, verse 57.” This alone could “incline their hearts” to serve the Lord, verse 58; this alone could secure to them a complete enjoyment of their happiness, verse 59; this alone could enable them to glorify their God in the world, verse 60.
And what can anyone desire more in your behalf? If “God is with you,” and operates in you effectually for these ends and purposes, you are blessed, you must be blessed forever. On the contrary, “Woe be to them,” says God, “when I depart from them! Hosea 9:12.” Yes, if God departs, we shall have no more “inclination to walk in his ways,” but shall surely “walk after the imagination of our own evil hearts;” we shall no more be able to “maintain our own cause” against our spiritual adversaries, but shall fall a prey to every lust; we shall no more constrain the world to admire “the exceeding grace of God in us,” but shall rather cause them “to blaspheme his holy name.
May God therefore bless you with his continued presence and his effectual grace!
This address to God he concluded with,
II. An exhortation to the people.
Solomon would not dismiss the people without exhorting them to perform their duties to God, who had so loaded them with his richest benefits; he therefore besought them,
1. To be committed to the Lord.
Absolute perfection is not to be attained in this world, Ecclesiastes 7:20; James 3:2. But there is a commitment which every Christian must attain: a commitment of desire, of purpose, and of endeavor. We should desire such a beauty in holiness as to long for the utmost possible attainment of it. We should desire to “be holy as God is holy,” and “perfect as our Father who is in Heaven is perfect.” At this too we should aim at: the great object of our lives should be to mortify everything that is contrary to God’s will, and to get his law perfectly engraved upon our hearts. To be “cast into the very mold of the Gospel,” and to be “renewed after the perfect image of our God in righteousness and true holiness,” should be the ambition of our souls. After this also should we labor—never thinking that we have attained anything, while anything remains to be attained. This was the state of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14, and must be the state of every one that would be approved by his God, Philippians 3:15.
Is it thought by any, that, in requiring this, we require too much? I ask, For what has “God given us such exceeding great and precious promises,” but that “by them we may be partakers of the divine nature, and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust, 2 Peter 1:4.”
I ask again, What is the use which God teaches us to make of his promises? Is it not to “cleanse ourselves by their means from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, 2 Corinthians 7:1.”
I ask yet further, What is the desire which every pious minister will feel in behalf of his people; and to what will he endeavor, both in his private prayers and his public labors, to bring them? Is it not, “that they may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God? Colossians 4:12.”
Away then with all apprehensions that we require too much; we require only what God requires, and what every soul that shall ever be saved, must desire. In actual attainments there will, in spite of our utmost exertions, be much lacking; but in desire, purpose, and endeavor—we must be perfect, not willingly harboring the smallest imperfection, 1 Chronicles 28:9, but striving to “grow up into Christ in all things, as our living Head.”
2. To preserve continually the frame they now possessed.
The people now, as well as their king, were in a very devout and heavenly frame; there was nothing they would not now have done, or sacrificed, for the honor of their God. Solomon therefore says to them, “Be committed to the Lord, as at this day.”
Now there are times when every godly person has felt himself more especially alive to the concerns of eternity; he has been humbled in the dust under a sense of his own guilt and helplessness; he has been filled with admiration at the divine goodness to him; he has longed to have God ever with him, and to find all his happiness in the presence of his God.
If such, then, has ever been our state, is there not the same reason that it should be so now? Does God deserve less at our hands, than he did at the period referred to? Why then do we not feel the same towards him? Perhaps we may be disposed to look back upon such seasons with delight; but we should rather look upon all other seasons with shame and sorrow. O labor, brethren, to preserve upon your minds those better feelings which you have at any time experienced; and, instead of declining from them, to get them revived and strengthened from day to day!
Such is the blessing, which, were it at our disposal, we would bestow upon you; and such is the blessing which we entreat of God to confer on every one among you.
Charles Simeon