1 Kings, Chapter 8 (part 2) - The King on His Knees | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] Hello friends, welcome back to the prophets of Israel daily. This is part [music] two of first kings chapter 8. I'm Jeremy Gimpel here with my dear friend in Habuta Arya Bramitz and this is brought to you by the land of Israel network at [music] the land of Israel.com. All right friends, part one, chapter 8. The ark came home. The clouds of glory filled the house. Solomon declared that God kept his promise to David. And now the heart of the chapter, one of the most magnificent prayers in all of scripture. Solomon stands before the altar before all the assembly of Israel and he spreads his hands toward the heaven, kneels down the most powerful king on earth on his knees. And listen to how the prayer begins. Because for the man who just built this glorious house, it's pretty humble. Verse 27. Elohim, but will God in the very truth dwell on earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built? And Jeremy, that line, how much less this house that I've built, is such a powerful line for King Solomon to say, and I think it's it's really a key to Solomon's greatness at this moment, right? Because think about the situation. Solomon has just completed the single most magnificent building project in the history of his people. And I would argue in the history of the world, but that's I'm obviously I'm biased. But you know, seven years, cedar and gold, the finest artisans on earth, any other king in the ancient world would stand there and say, "Look at what I've built for my God. Surely no house is more worthy." And Solomon does the exact opposite. At the very peak of his achievement before the entire nation, he says, "The heavens themselves cannot contain God. How much less this house that I've built." Right? Everything I made is too small. God is infinitely bigger than the most beautiful thing human hands could ever create. and and and that Jeremy I really think is the paradox at the heart of the temple of the beta mikdash because it was never meant to be a box that holds God the way that pagans thought of their temples. It's a place where finite human beings can reach towards the infinite. Solomon understood the great danger of a of a beautiful building that you start to believe you've captured God inside it that you've got him where you want him. Right? So so at the very moment of triumph he shatters that illusion. He keeps God infinite and keeps himself humble. the greatest king in Jewish history is second to King David or the greatest builder in history bowing low saying what I made is nothing next to you know and really from that place of humility his prayer opens outward in just a really beautiful way because Schlommo goes over and over and he asks God for one thing just be in a relationship with us hear us he's not asking to control God. He's just asking for Hashem to listen. When your people pray toward this place, hear when they sin and repent and turn back, forgive them. When there's a famine or a plague or enemy or drought, they spread their hands toward this house, hear them from heaven, your dwelling place. It's like again and again, vishamata, and you shall hear. And then Schlommo says something that in the ancient world, it's really radical. It's even radical in today's world. He prays for the nations of the world. The stranger, the foreigner, the one who's not a part of Israel at all. He's the king of Israel, but he's not an isolationist Israel first guy. He cares and prays about all the nations of the world. Verses 41 and 43. Moreover, concerning the stranger who is not of your people Israel, hear in heaven and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for. For all the peoples of the earth may know your name. Yeah. And Jeremy, that prayer for the stranger is to me one of the most beautiful and important moments in the entire Tanakh because of what it reveals about what the temple was for, because what it reveals about what the nation of Israel is for, right? Solomon could have dedicated this house as a as a national shrine, Israel's God, for Israel's people and no one else. And that's precisely what every other nation's temple was. But instead, on the day of dedication, Solomon deliberately makes room for the nohi, the foreigner, the person explicitly not of your people Israel. Right? He prays that when a non-Jew travels from a distant land drawn by the name of the God of Israel and prays towards this place, God should answer him fully. Do everything he asks and listen to Solomon's reason because he says it out loud. So that all the peoples of the earth may know your name. The temple was never meant to belong only to Israel. It was meant to be, in the words of the prophet Isaiah that he would use later on, of course, a house of prayer for all nations, a light to the entire world. And friends, this is the very heart of Israel's mission. And honestly, it's the very heart of what we're doing here right now in the Prophets of Israel Daily, in the Fellowship, in the land of Israel network, in our mission since the very beginning. It's always been on our hearts, not because we decided for it to be, but because Hashem has infused it there, put it on our hearts and in the hearts of so much of our generation here in Judea and in the land of Israel because it's a part of the unfolding of redemption. I mean, look at because at this moment, people are listening to us from over a hundred countries, Jews and non-Jews from every corner of the earth, drawn by the name of the word of the God of Israel. Solomon prayed for exactly this 3,000 years ago that the nations would come to know God through this place through his people. And just what a privilege to be living inside the answer to Solomon's prayer. You know, it's really true. Sometimes life in Israel is so overwhelming because it's so epic. Like we are just the fulfillment of all of our ancestors prayers. like they all they prayed for was to return to the land of Israel and rebuild Jerusalem. Here we are doing it were just like the answer to so many generations of prayers and then it's in some ways it's the whole vision. And then Solomon prays the world that would carry our people through the darkest 2,000 years of our history. So already there Solomon's seeing the future because he sees the exile coming because he's a prophet. And if you read verses 46-48, Solomon says, "When they sin against you, he prays and you are angry and they're carried away captive to the land of their enemy far away. If they take it to their heart in their land of their captivity and they turn back and they pray toward their land which you gave their fathers, toward this city you have chosen and toward this house which I have built for your name. Hear their prayers." And just like that, for 2,000 years, every synagogue in the world has an architect that builds the synagogues facing Jerusalem. Every synagogue in Jerusalem faces the place that God chose to build his temple. We keep on praying and we're just waiting because we're seeing slowly but surely God is fulfilling as God is forgiving. And Jeremy, I have to say that this is it's really overwhelming because if you allow yourself to believe in a real real way that what is happening now is the unfolding of redemption and prophecy in a real way, which we know it is. It's just really hard to really let yourself believe it. Then we see that King Solomon is describing us. I'm not just talking about me and you, Jeremy. Everything that's happening in Israel, in the world right now in this fellow, everything. He's describing the whole of Jewish history, standing right there at the dedication before a single stone has fallen. Think about what he does here. On the happiest, most glorious day imaginable, the temple gleaming, the cloud of glory still fresh, the nation at its absolute peak, Solomon looks ahead and foresees the day it will all come crashing down. He foresees sin and destruction and exile to a distant land. Right? Who who who does that at a dedication? But he doesn't stop at the tragedy. He builds a lifeline right into the prayer. Even there, even scattered to the ends of the earth, if my people turn their hearts back and pray towards this land, towards Jerusalem, towards the God of Israel, God will hear. And friends, this is exactly what happened. For 2,000 years in every land of our exiled, Jews turned towards Jerusalem and prayed three times a day facing Jerusalem, praying the prayer Solomon gave us before we were ever even exiled. He handed us the map home before we were even lost. Right? And here's the miracle that we're living inside of. We are the answer. We are the generation that is coming home, that is brought back precisely as Solomon asked. precisely as the prophets promised. When you stand in Jerusalem today, you are standing inside the fulfillment of a prayer prayed 3,000 years ago at the dedication of the very first temple. You know what, Ari, that is just the mindblowing, astonishing truth of it all. And it's just undeniable because as long as the Jews are in Judea and the Jews are rebuilding Jerusalem, we are the living witness that God answers prayers. And so, you know, Solomon finishes. He rises from his knees, blesses the whole assembly with a great voice. Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel according to all he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise. And the celebration is overwhelming. Tens of thousands of offerings and a feast lasts 14 days. All Israel gathered from far north to the brook of Egypt. The verse 66, Solomon sends the people home joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness God has shown to David and to his people. And friends, that's what first Kings chapter 8 teaches us in two directions at the same time. First, just for our own lives, Schlommoik shows us the posture of a nama, a soul before God on his knees, his hands open, having built something beautiful, something he can be proud of. He knows the heavens cannot contain you. How much less with what I built? Like whatever great things that we could do, we always have to remain humble before Hashem. That's the balance we're called to live with, to work with everything we have and always stay humble. Just to always be humble before the infinite God that is greater than anything we could ever make. And the truest prayer isn't only asking God to bless us. It's opening our arms wide enough to pray for the stranger, to pray even for our enemies, to pray for everyone who's so far off. Abraham welcomed three pagans into his home and then he discovered, "Oh, those are actually angels of the Lord." The bigger our vision of God, the wider our hearts become. And so, may we be blessed, Hashem. May we be blessed, Israel. And my friends, may we see the holy temple in all of its glory built once again. And so before we go, I just want to say if you want to sponsor the prophets of Israel daily. It really does take a lot to bring these [music] to the world, join us. Click on the link below and just give us the power to keep on keeping on. Thank you so much. Go to landofisrael.com and partner with [music] us. Thank you so much. We'll see you tomorrow for chapter 9.