The Prayer of Solomon

By Dss. Teresa R. Johnson

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Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant. (II Chronicles 6:40-42 KJV)

Solomon’s prayer begins with praise to the covenant God who had kept His oath to King David. Having reminded God of His covenant, Solomon asks God to keep His promise that David would always have an heir on the throne of Israel, a petition that was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Then Solomon asks a most prophetic question. While wondering how the God of the universe could be contained, even in such a spectacular building as the Temple, Solomon asks “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth?” The answer, of course, is that God would not only deign to visit his people in the Temple as they worshiped Him in spirit and in truth, but would also stoop to dwell with men on earth in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Solomon continues his prayer by describing several specific instances in which prayer might be offered in the Temple, asking that God would hear the prayers of His people and would judge righteously by rewarding the faithful, forgiving the penitent, and punishing the wicked. He ends by again reminding God of His covenant.

God answers Solomon’s prayer immediately and dramatically by first consuming the sacrifices and then so completely filling the Temple with His glory that even the priests could not enter. After the Israelites spent several days in sacrifices and celebrations, God revealed Himself again privately to Solomon to reinforce His intent to honor Solomon’s requests so long as His conditions are met. He assures Solomon as follows: “If My people who are called by My name will 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” (II Chronicles 7:14). Thus He inextricably links prayer with holiness. As the Psalmist says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:13). Eventually, the Israelites’ failure to keep God’s Law caused God to destroy Solomon’s Temple, and that same failure is what wrought such fury in our Lord Christ when He visited Jerusalem and saw the moneychangers.

The Gospel reading for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity shows our Lord’s righteous anger over the desecration of the Temple of His day. Though Solomon’s Temple had long since been destroyed and another edifice built on its foundation, the purpose was the same. The Temple—the house for God’s Name—was intended to be a place for His people to meet with Him in prayer in a special way. Just as Adam and Eve before the Fall could have communed with God at any time during the day but had a special time in the evening to “walk” with God, the Temple served as a setting for corporate prayer in the special presence of God with His people. The reason for Christ’s fury at those who used God’s house to cheat His faithful people can be traced back to the dedication of the Temple, with Solomon’s prayer and God’s response to it. Seeing such rampant sin hiding behind lip-service to God’s Law, Christ judged righteously to re-sanctify God’s house of prayer.

This call to holiness is no less real in our day for the Church, the new Israel. St. Paul tells us that each of us is the temple of the Holy Spirit. As such, we are to be people of constant communion with God in prayer and to shun every evil thing that would hinder our prayers and separate us from Him. But we are also to meet in corporate worship, joining our hearts in prayer before the Lord. One of the most beautiful features of the Anglican liturgy is its emphasis on corporate prayers which are woven from the Holy Scriptures and therefore align our petitions with the revealed will of God. Let us strive to keep our hearts stayed on God so that we will pray according to His will and receive His blessing on our families and our parish.

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O Lord, who hast taught us that where thy faithful people are, there art thou in the midst of them; be present, we pray thee, in thy Church’s worship, that our prayer and praise may be in thy Name and that all men may know that our fellowship is with the Father and thee, his only Son, to whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

(Prayer found in The Pastor's Prayerbook by Robert Rodenberry. New York: Oxford, 1960)