SERIES L --- THE NATION DIVIDES --- LESSON 10

DEDICATION PRAYER

SOLOMON’S PRAYER OF DEDICATION

From 1 Kings 8:22-61; 2 Chronicles 6:12 -7:3

King Solomon stood on a platform set up before the altar in the centre of the outer courtyard of the temple. As he stood on this bronze platform, which was seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high, the people watched and listened. Solomon knelt before all of the people, lifted his hands toward heaven and prayed this prayer:

[Adonai YHVH of Israel, there is no other YHVH like You in heaven or earth. You lovingly keep Your promises to those who obey You and do Your will. You did all that You promised my father David, as we can clearly see here today. Now please keep Your promise to him that his descendants will always reign over Israel as long as they obey Your Laws. Make the words that You spoke to my father David come true. [Adonai, will You truly live on earth with us? We know that the heavens cannot contain You, so how can we expect this temple to be Your home? Listen to my prayers O Adonai and watch over this temple day and night, for it is Your home and the place that bears Your Name. Please listen to my prayers at all times and answer my petitions and the petitions of Your people. And when You hear us Adonai, please forgive us. When a man is accused of wronging another and swears before this altar that he is innocent Adonai, listen to him in heaven and decide what is right. When Your people Israel sin and so cause their enemies to defeat them, listen to them if they pray and forgive them if they acknowledge that You are their YHVH. Then let them have their land again, for it is land which You gave to their ancestors. When the skies refuse to give rain because the people have sinned, listen to their prayers if they pray toward this temple and confess Your name. Listen to them as they turn from their sin because You have punished them. Forgive them and teach them the way they should go. Send rain upon this land which You have given our people as an inheritance. When famine sweeps across this land or a plague or disease upon the fields of grain or insects infest the land or enemies come against our cities or any other plague or disease comes upon our people, listen to the prayers of Your people and forgive their sins. You know the hearts of the people, so give to each what he ought to have. Then our people will honour You and walk in the land You have given them. People of other nations will hear Your great name and will come and pray toward this temple. Hear them from Your home in heaven and grant their requests. Then the people of the world will honour You as Your people of Israel do and they will realize that this temple is truly Your house. If You send Your people to war against their enemies, listen to their prayers when they pray toward this city and this temple. Hear them and help them. If they should sin against You, as everyone does at some time and in Your anger, You let them be defeated and taken to another land, please listen to their prayers as they pray toward this city and temple, asking You for forgiveness. Forgive the sins of Your people and grant them mercy at the hands of their captors. Remember that they are Your people, Your inheritance which You brought from the furnace of Egypt. [Adonai let Your eyes be open and Your ears alert to the prayers which are sent to You from this place. Please answer these prayers, for You promised our leader Moses, when You brought our people from Egypt, that You had set the people of Israel apart from all other people to be Your own. Now Adonai, come to this place where Your Ark has been placed. Let Your priests be clothed with salvation and let Your saints rejoice in Your goodness. Adonai, do not turn Your face away from me, Your anointed servant. Remember how You have loved David and shown kindness to him.] Throughout his prayer, king Solomon knelt with his hands stretched upward toward heaven.

When he finished, he arose from before the altar of Adonai and stood with the congregation of Israelites before him. Then he pronounced this blessing on the people: {Praise YHVH Who has brought His people peace, as He promised that He would. He has kept every promise which He made to Moses. May Adonai continue with us as He was with our ancestors, never forsaking or turning away from us. May He turn our hearts toward Him, creating in us a desire to walk in His ways and to obey the Commandments which He gave our ancestors. May Adonai remember the words of my prayer day and night so that He will supply our daily needs. Then the people of the earth will know that Adonai is YHVH, the only YHVH, may you my people, unite to walk with Adonai our YHVH, keeping His Laws and Commandments as you do here today. When Solomon had finished, fire came from heaven and burned up the offerings. The glory of Adonai so filled the temple that the priests could not enter it. When the people saw what had happened, they bowed down upon the stones of the courtyard, placed their faces to the ground and worshiped Adonai with their thanks. [Adonai is good!] they said. [His loving-kindness endures forever and ever.]

COMMENTARY

SCHULMAN’S [TEMPLE PRECINCTS]

For thousands of years, people have created artwork to represent ideas, people or places that were meaningful to them. Certain subjects occur over and over again, changed and interpreted according to the vision of the artist. Every generation brings new ideas and new ways of looking at familiar subjects. The temple in Jerusalem is one of the subjects that has inspired artists throughout the ages. No one is certain how the temple buildings or courtyards actually looked. Illustrations in Italian books of the fifteenth century are not even remotely similar to French paintings of the same time. The temple floor plans sketched by modern architects seem to outline different buildings when they are placed next to artworks from just the last century. Yet all these craftsmen and artists drew their ideas of the temple from the same biblical descriptions. Each communicates a certain kind of truth. A nineteenth-century craftsman named Shemuel Schulman represented the temple and the city of Jerusalem from an uncommon perspective; looking east from the temple to the hills on the other side of the Kidron valley. In his work we see the temple buildings and courtyards, the gate leading to the valley, and buildings of the valley slopes. If you could look closely at the original work, you would find that each line is actually a text from the Old Testament, written in Hebrew. The Mount of Olives outlined against the eastern sky is a verse from Zechariah describing the hills of eastern Jerusalem. The stones of the western wall are verses from the Book of Lamentations. Every line of the entire work is a verse appropriate to the picture. Schulman’s view of the temple precincts suggests many things. He shows us that how we look at something is often as important as what we look at. Seeing the history of the Israelite people; what they learned, thought, believed and felt; is part of what they built or created.