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EXILE & RESTORATION. I Kings 8:41-53. 07/17/22. #22.
41 “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s sake 42 (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name. 44 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 45 then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 46 “When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; 47 yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness’; 48 and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: 49 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause, 50 and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51 (for they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace), 52 that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. 53 For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”
1. The foreigner in the land
a. Solomon is not only concerned with Israel, but also foreigners who believe in God
a1. The stranger has the same right of petition as does Israel
a2. The testimony of God is to all people
b. vs. 46 Solomon acknowledges that everyone sins
c. Even though salvation was of the Jews, believing Gentiles, who have heard the testimony of God, could also receive forgiveness through the mechanism as the Jews
d. Notice that these are personal petitions & not the general petition of sacrifice during festival days
a1. A personal God who hears individual prayers & petitions
a2. God’s favorable answer is based upon God’s mercy alone
a3. Sol. wants God to answer the plea of the God-fearing stranger
e. Only God can grant victory over Isr.’s enemies
2. Exile
a. Notice that Sol. doesn’t say “if” your people sin so that they are sent into exile, but “when” they sin
a1. Solomon foresaw the Exile
a2. Northern kingdom of Isr. = taken in 722 BC, less than 2 centuries after dedication of the Temple; Judah = 586 BC, 3 ½ cen. Later
b. Sol. knew the hearts of the people
a1. Never did any repentance on Israel’s part last long (12 cycles of judges)
a2. Sol. did not see anything that was going to change the cycle of sin
c. Sol. knew that after God had exhausted sending famine, pestilence, & disease, that he would have to finally send an invading army to remove Israel
3. Repentance & Return
a. Sol. ends his prayer by pleading with God to forgive Israel when the “come to themselves”
(come to their senses)
a1. Punishment brings them to awareness of their sin & rebellion against God
a2. Lk. 15 the prodigal came to his senses
a3. Chose to repent under pressure
b. Sol. bases his plea to God on 2 premises
a1. God is a compassionate & merciful God (not based on Isr. deserving forgiveness)
a2. God had made a covenant with Abraham which included the inheritance of Canaan,
fulfilled under Moses/Joshua
c. God had chosen Israel as his inheritance
a1. God’s choosing was not based upon Israel’s spiritual quality, but his choice
a2. God showed extreme patience & mercy to his people, & won’t forsake them
d. The same is true of God’s church
a1. Mt. 28:19-20 God promises never to leave us a2. Eph. 1:4, 1 Pt. 1:20, Rev. 13:8 chose his saints from before the foundation of the world (Rm. 9 not by merit or worth)