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<< 1 Kings 8: Solomon's Prayer >>
 While all the congregation of Israel stood in the courts of the finished temple, king Solomon gave thanks to the Lord for His mercy to His people. Then the king prayed to the Lord to be always near His temple and His people. As he prayed he stood before the altar in the presence of the people in the temple court, and kneeled upon his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Solomon knew that the heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain the Lord, much less a little temple. But he prayed that the Lord's eyes might be always open towards the temple and that He would hear and answer all prayers which the people should make towards that holy place.
The Lord had told the people before they crossed the Jordan that they should not worship Him in every place, but that they should bring all their offerings to the place which He would choose. The temple at Jerusalem was the chosen place, and in those days the Lord's holy presence and power were felt at the temple there more than in other places. Those who lived near came into the courts to pray; others in their homes turned their faces towards the temple; and even when they were captives far away Daniel opened his windows towards Jerusalem and kneeled in prayer three times a day. So Mohammedans to-day bow in prayer towards their holy city Mecca.
Solomon prayed for people in many kinds of trouble, that their prayers might be heard and answered. First, for one accused of doing wrong to his neighbor, that the Lord would judge who was guilty and who not; and finally for those who might be taken captive, and in a distant country turn with longing towards their dear land and the holy city and the temple.
Then king Solomon arose from his knees and blessed all the people and charged them to be faithful and obey the Lord. Thousands of sacrifices were offered; oxen and sheep, so many that they could not be offered on the altar, and the king that day hallowed the middle of the court for offerings. Chronicles adds that fire from heaven consumed the burnt offering, and all the people bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped.
As we read this wonderful prayer, we feel that Solomon upoke from the Spirit of the Lord, as David spoke in the Psalms.
And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence ofall the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward eaven: And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like hee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and ercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart: Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou romisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled t with thine hand, as it is this day. Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my ather that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take hed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked efore me. nd now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, hich thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I ave builded? Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy ervant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the ry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even oward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make oward this place. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy eople Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive. If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this huse: Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house; Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name. If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thyname: Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God.
And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us: 8:58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require: That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day. And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD. And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.---1 Kings VIII. 22-66.
Author: William L. Worcester 1904
Spiritual Correspondences
Spiritual Meaning
1 KINGS VIII
22And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:
22. And therefore the perfect man worships the Lord continually, this being manifest to the whole church on earth, and causing consociation with the angels of heaven accornpanied with the power of Divine Good and Truth in supplication for the salvation of mankind.
23And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:
23. Whence there is perception that the Lord is the source of all good and truth in the church, both as to internals and as to externals, and that He conjoins Himself with man, when he is in humility, and lives according to the Divine Commandments from sincere affection for the truth;
24Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.
24. Also that Divine Truth in the spiritual state of man, which precedes the celestial state, is unfailing in its operation, and results, because it proceeds from the Divine Good, and is embodied with full power in the regenerated life, and this continually.
25Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
25. And hence, therefore, the Lord in His glorified human life, and the angels of the celestial heavens being made perfect in good and truth, earnestly desire the salvation of the spiritual, by the government of Divine Truth, according to Divine Order from interior principles, provided onlythat they regulate their conduct according to truth grounded in good and leading thereto.
26And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.
26. And this is the desire also of the angels of the spiritual heavens, for they are in Divine Truth and in charity, which were acquired in the course of regeneration and according to Divine Order.
27But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
27. But still no finite human mind nor body can be a receptacle of the Divine Itself, and therefore neither the spiritual nor celestial heavens can receive it, much less, then, the regenerated natural mind.
28Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:
28. Nevertheless the celestial man, who acknowledges that he is a receptacle of good and truth from the Lord, earnestly desires and seeks for them, acknowledgIng also that he is without truth and without good except as he desires and receives them from the Lord continually,
29That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.
29. So that in every state of obscurity and brightness he may have intelligence from the Lord in the good from Him which is a receptacle, because it is of Divine appointment that man's state shall be according to the quality of the good he receives; and he will surely receive good in agreement with his acquired state.
30And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
30 And the spiritual man who also acknowledges that he is a recipient, earnestly desires good according to his acquired state and he receives that good from the Lord through the heavens, the effect of which is, that he acknowledges also that he is nothing but evil, and has received good, and will continue to do so, of the Divine Mercy.
31If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:
31. And therefore when, in the course of regeneration, the external man is opposed to the good of charity in the internal man, and yet truths are confirmed and good is determined by the worship of the Lord internally and externally;
32Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
32. Then is the Divine Operation of the Lord through heaven, as to both good and truth in the natural man, confirmed according to sincere desire, for evil states will surely be condemned or bring their own punishment, while states of good will be established according to man's co-operation.
33When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house:
33. Also when the man of the spiritual church or state, is overcome by his evils, because he has violated holy Divine Truths from the Lord, and he yet repents sincerely, acknowledging the Lord, earnestly desiring good and seeking truth;
34Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
34. Then is the operation of the Lord through heaven again confirmed, the evil of the spiritual man is remitted, and he returns into the state of good which is promised to him from the Lord.
35When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
35. Thirdly, when influx from the Lord through heaven is not received, because man lives contrary thereto, and yet repentance follows, involving a sincere desire for good, an acknowledgment of Divine Truth, and resistance to the evil, which has been the cause of the non-reception of good and truth;
36Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
36. Then is that influx again received; remission follows both as to evil and error; the literal sense of the Word, which teaches charity, is received and obeyed; its interior truths are also received and conjoined with good; and man becomes an inheritor of angelic life, no longer acting from external truths and motives only.
37If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
37. Fourthly, when there is with man a defect of knowledge, the presence of interior evils, the non-reception of good, the non-reception of truth, or falsities and evils on the sensual plane of his life; or when evil and falsity corrupt the good and truth of his doctrine; in short, whatever interior corruption or spiritual disease there may be ;
38What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
38. Whatsoever earnest desire for good and for truth there rnay be in particular or in general with the man of the spiritual church, each knowing his own special evil : while yet the will and the understanding are both directed and exerted in favour of the inmost good, which is, in each, the dwelling-place of the Lord ;
39Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
39· Then is the operation of the Lord through heaven indeed confirmed, and evil again is remitted, while good is established, each receiving the result of his own life, which is known to the Lord, because He alone is acquainted with the inmost desires of each individual.
40That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
40. And thus the spiritual man acquires a dread of doing evil which is perpetual, springing from a love or what is good, this love itself constituting the heavenly state which is given to the regenerate man by the Lord.
41Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake;
41. Fifthly, concerning the man of the external church, which is distinguished from the internal or spiritual church, whose state is remote from the spiritual, and who yet desires and seeks for instruction, from a principle of good;
42(For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;
42 . Because all such have some knowledge of, and some conjunction with, the Lord, acknowledging the Divine Power externally and internally; and therefore seeking after, and earnestly desiring instruction in truth and goodness;
43Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.
43. Therefore their prayers are answered, for they receive the influx from the Lord through heaven, and instruction, according to their state, and are thence led to acknowledge the Lord in His Divine Human, and to do His will even as the spiritual, and also to understand that their acquired heavenly character is from the Lord and has in it a Divine quality.
44If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:
44. Sixthly, whenever the spiritual man is brought into conflict against his evils, under the leading of Divine Providence, and earnestly desires help from Divine Good, acknowledging the truth which is from good, and the good which is from the Lord;
45Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
45. Then he receives help from the Divine influx of the Lord through heaven according to his state, as to good and as to truth, and is delivered from his evils by being established in good.
46If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;
46. And seventhly, when man of himself falls into sin-for all men do this-and thus averts himself, and is brought into the punishment of evil, so that he becomes its slave either externally or internally;
47Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
47. Yet if he reflects upon his evil state, that it is a state of bondage, and does the work of repentance from an earnest desire for good, acknowledging his evil state, as to the will, as to the understanding, and also as to the outward act;
48And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
48. And thus if his repentance proceeds from his ruling love, and from his spiritual intelligence, even while yet under the captivity of evil through the force of temptations; and if his earnest desire is still towards the good which is given to him from the Lord, and the truth which proceeds from that good, which constitute the dwelling-place of the Lord in him, being the work of the Lord and having a heavenly quality;
49Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,
49· Then is the influx of the Lord through the heavens, in response to sincere desire and earnest effort, again effective, and man is again established in good;
50And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:
50. For his evils are remitted although they have become actual as to the will and as to the understanding; and thus being filled with mercy even towards the evil, no further injury can he receive frorn them, yea although they may encompass him,
51For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:
51. In fact, he is then in Divine Truths and in Divine Goodness from the Lord having been delivered from the dominion of the natural man, and also from the falsities originating in the evils thereof.
52That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.
52. And therefore Divine Truths are manifested unto him in their own light from the Lord, through which he perceives that he is in conjunction with the Lord, grounded in humility of heart, in submission of the understanding receptive of truths, and in obedience, whence he receives and enjoys all the satisfactions of his life.
53For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God.
53. For it is of Divine Providence that good should be separated from evil in the man, who is conjoined to the Lord, and also that this should be effected by the power of truth from the Word, which is the Divine Law leading to good, whence, therefore, he is fully delivered from the dominion of the natural man, and is able to truly worship the Lord in the good and truth which are from Him.
54And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.
54. But when the Glorification of the Lord, or the Regeneration of man, wherein he earnestly desires conjunction with the Divine by good and truth, is completed, then is the human elevated to the Divine, having been conjoined therewith by the submission of the natural man in humility, and by the power of Divine Good and Truth flowing down from the Lord.
55And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
55, And then also, is perpetual conjunction effected between the Lord and the human race through the spiritual church, causing a grand revelation of Divine Truth,
56Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.
56. And giving perception that there is conjunction of the Lord with the man of the spiritual church according to Divine Truth. For Divine Truth cannot fail as to one jot or tittle, especially Divine Truth from Divine Good, which is in full power in the truth of the Word.
57The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:
57. Wherefore the man of the church is conscious of his continual dependence upon the Lord, and earnestly desires the Divine protection both as to good and as to truth,
58That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.
58. In order that his ruling love of good may be constant, and also his life according to truths; and thus that his internal and external obedience in worship, as well as his civil life, may be in harmony with the Word of the Lord, which is eternal.
59And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:
59. Because he acknowledges and perceives, in the celestial state of his life, that all the Divine Laws of the Word respecting the Glorification of the Lord and the Regeneration of man, are from Divine Good and Divine Truth, alike in states of brightness and of obscurity; and that it is from the Lord alone he is able to continue either as to his celestial or spiritual state, since he derives his life every moment from Him.
60That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.
60. And hence it is his earnest desire that the Lord in His Divine Human may be universally known and acknowledged in the church, as God alone, because He alone is Divine ;
61Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
61. And also that love to the Lord from the Lord, with a life according to that love, externallyand internally, may universally prevail and be perpetual.
62And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.
62. And therefore the perfect man, as to his ruling principle which is Divine Truth from Divine Good, and also as to all subordinate powers, worships the Lord,
63And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.
63. Devoting to His service all his natural and all his spiritual affections in their completeness, so that there is perfect peace and harmony between the Divine and the Human attended with full conjunction; and thus man becomes externally as well as internally the dwelling-place of the Lord;
64The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
64. And consequently, when man is in this state, the inmost of the natural mind, corresponding to the ultimate heaven, is sanctified, for there, in simultaneous order, is consecrated every celestial affection, every spiritual affection, and every natural affection in dependence on Divine Providence, and in freedom, since internal worship from natural good without corresponding external worship does not satisfy the regenerated man.
65And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.
65. And hence also it follows, that good and truth are appropriated by the whole man, resulting in the agreement of all his faculties, from celestial love even to the ultimate of the natural mind, in acknowledgment of Divine Good and Divine Truth, in a state of perfect holiness, and in full conjunction with the Lord.
66On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.
66. This then is the new state of the spiritual man conjoined with the celestial, by Divine Truth from Good, every faculty enjoying, in freedom, its own proper life, with delight both as to the understanding and as to the will, arising from the reception of life from the Lord through the Glorification of the Human and the Redemption of mankind.
Author: Rev. HENRY MACLAGAN (1905)
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