But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them... (1 Kings 9:6)

It's hard to imagine Solomon turning away from the LORD after being so richly blessed, yet that is exactly what would happen in the latter years of Solomon's 40-year reign (1 Kings 11:4). The wisest man in the world would become like the fool by disobeying God. 

Friends, if such a great king had weaknesses to cause him to turn away from God, what makes us so confident that we would not do the same? Perhaps this is why God gave this law for kings:

Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes (Deuteronomy 17:18-19).

The king was to make a personal copy of God's Word that would always be within reach and that he would read daily till the day of his death. By doing this, the king would learn to fear God and obey His commands.

We know that by the time of King Josiah, the Book of the Law would not only be unread but even lost. We do not know if any king followed the command in Deuteronomy; however, David may have done so in light of passages like Psalm 1, 19, and 119, where he expresses his love for God's Word. 

Friends, God's Word is not only essential for kings but for all of us. As the wisest of kings needed to meditate daily on God's Word to learn to fear and obey God, so do we.

Do you have confidence in your own integrity to stay faithful to the end? I don't. I need every resource that God provides to help me. David, who may have been the only king to follow God's command in Deuteronomy, writes that the blessed man, who successfully avoids sitting, standing and walking with the sinful, meditates on God's Word day and night (Psalm 1). 

‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel’ (1 Kings 8:16).

As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘ You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel’ (1 Kings 9:4-5).

Solomon prayed that God would listen to the prayers of all manner of people when they prayed toward the temple Solomon built for the LORD. He prayed that God would answer the prayers made toward the temple, whether they be prayers of confession or supplications for prosperity. Yet, God's concern was not so much for the building as for the man, less for the Temple and more for Solomon and his heirs. God's central concern for the leader is reflected in the two passages above. In fact, God tells Solomon that if he or his sons turn away from Him, the Temple would become a heap of rubble:

But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them... this house will become a heap of ruins (1 Kings 9:6-8).

Even Solomon recognized that God would not be contained in the Temple:

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! (1 Kings 8:27).

God was concerned with the obedience of His leaders and His priests and His people more than some monument built for His Name. 

In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, when God would destroy the very Temple that Solomon built, God warned the people against trusting the Temple:

Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord’ (Jeremiah 7:4).

They were not to trust in the Temple. They were to trust in the LORD. It was not in rite of worship that they would find salvation but in the right kind of worship, a worship in the spirit and according to the truth (cf. John 4:23-24). 

Friends, I see many religious people today, loyal to the church and zealous for the traditions of the church. But their loyalty is wrongly aligned and their zeal is absent knowledge. I am hesitant to correct because I fear I may incite defensiveness and bitter argument rather than gracious, candid and erudite dialogue. In the past I've had teachers tell me to "shut up" in class, pastors order me to be silent, and members refuse to engage with me in the Scriptures, holding stubbornly to their unbiblical convictions. In every case, I observed a dedication to church, tradition and pesonal convictions that eclipsed dedication to God and His Word. 

Friends, guard yourselves against this attitude of defensiveness, which is simply pride in disguise. When you choose unresponsiveness, refusing to engage in the Scriptures with someone that earnestly seeks to discern truth, this is not humility. When you continue to hold a view that Scripture clearly negates, but you think otherwise, yet you do not search it out, this is not faithfulness. When you allow your experiences to supersede the principles of Scripture, this is not spiritual maturity.

There is perhaps no greater sin than to be wise in your own eyes. Solomon may have fallen into this spiritual pitfall, so that what was a blessing became a curse. In the end, he began to neglect God's Word and rely on his own intuition.

The Temple meant nothing apart from obedience to Gods' Law. The Church means nothing apart from His Word. Let us take this to heart.

As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel were unable to destroy utterly, from them Solomon levied forced laborers, even to this day (1 Kings 9:20-21).

Notice that Solomon here was doing what Israel did in the days after Joshua. Instead of completely wiping out the Canaanites (i.e. the Amorits, Hittitites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites), he chose to enslave them. Rather than totally removing the cancer, Solomon chose to contain it. Is it a wonder, then, when King Solomon found women to love from these very same nations,

nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, "You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associtewith you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods" (1 Kings 13:2).

As a consequence, these wives turned Solomon away from the LORD to worship other gods, just as God warned:

He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

Friends, when will we take God's commands seriously?! Solomon foolishly thought he could contain the ungodly influence of his Canaanite wives. Contrary to the perspective of some theologians, Solomon did not get wiser with age but foolish. Solomon did not turn away from the LORD in his youth but when he became old. Who knows if he ever repented, for Scripture never declares it. Solomon even tried to do what Saul did to David, namely, to snuff out the very person that God was raising to take away his kingdom (cf. 1 Kings 11:11,40).

Friends, let us carefully consider the Word of God and obey it without compromise. If we are not careful, we may suffer the same fate as Solomon, and who among us can claim to be wiser than Solomon?

In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it (1 Kings 6:37-38).

Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house... Then he made the hall of pillars... He made the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the hall of judgment... He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter (1 Kings 7:1,6,7,8).

It came about at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house (1 Kings 9:10; cf. 2 Chronicles 8:1). 

These Scriptures suggest a few important things about Solomon's initial construction projects. First, the Temple of the LORD was built first and took seven years. The Temple was not built concurrently with the royal house but was completed first.

Second, while it took Solomon thirteen years to build his royal house, there were at least four parts to it: (1) the main house, (2) the hall of pillars, (3) the hall of judgment, and (4) the hall for Pharaoh's daughter, his wife. The many parts could explain the longer build time. What is more, King David had already laid out the plans and gathered the materials for the building of the LORD's Temple. This certainly would have saved Solomon a lot time in its construction:

David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for theLord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death (1 Chronicles 22:5).

Some may try to disparage Solomon because he spent almost twice as long on his own house over the Temple of the LORD, but this would be unwarranted. What should be most telling is that after both construction projects, the LORD does not rebuke Solomon but instead blesses him by answering his prayer and reaffirming His covenant with him (cf. 1 Kings 9:1-5). 

On this point, let us remember that it is not human approval that we seek but the approval of God:

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10).

On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:4).

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Colossians 3:23-24).

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Even as Solomon early on set his heart on pleasing God and gained God's approval, let us have this same ambition, namely, to please the Lord our God in everything and in every way regardless of what others may say or think of us. 

Friends, did you know that 1st and 2nd Chronicles are a kind of editorial replay of the events from the books of Samuel and Kings? When you are reading Samuel or Kings, it is a good idea to periodically look over at the parallel account in the Chronicles to get an enlarged or clearer picture of the events. For example, 1 Kings 8-9 are paralleled in 2 Chronicles 6-7. You will notice lots of similarities but also some notable differences. Since the similarities are more apparent, let me note at least one point of departure.

After Solomon's grand dedication of the Temple and prayer, God responds to him. In the account found in 1 Kings 9 the people of Israel are hardly addressed and the focus is on King Solomon and his descendants, that they should remain faithful to the LORD. 

However, in the account found in 2 Chronicles 7, the people are specifically addressed:

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13, 14 NIV)

Now, some of you will note that this is a familiar passage, especially the part that begins, "If my people..." But what you may not have known is that it is found in the context of Solomon's dedication of the Temple and also that this passage is completely absent from the 1 Kings account. Yet both accounts convey the very same event, dedication, prayer and response from the LORD. Therefore, while one has some more details than the other, the context is the same. 

And what is the context? It is Solomon's dedication of the Temple of the LORD. He specifically prays that it might be a place where people could pray to from everywhere and receive forgiveness and blessing. In 1 Kings 9:3 God simply says that His eyes and heart will always be in the Temple. However, in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, God depicts a situation where He is judging Israel according to the curses of the Law, bringing drought, locusts and plague upon the land of Israel. On such an occasion, God says that if the people of Israel ("my people, who are called by my name"), not Gentiles or Christians here, would repent, God "will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Remember, Solomon specifically prayed that when God would judge His people for breaking the Law of Moses, and they repent and pray toward the Temple, He would forgive them. God's answer was essentially, "Yes, I will forgive the people of Israel." Note, the Law of Moses, which is obsolete for Christians, was in view. Knowing that the curses for disobeying the law often pertained to the Land of Israel, God also said that He would "heal their land." Which land? The land of Israel, of Promise, of Canaan. Not America! Not Korea!

You cannot just put yourself into this verse and claim this promise for yourself and your country, as if it were given to you just yesterday. This kind of irresponsible interpretive practice is one reason for the many cults that exist today. 

If you could do this, why not also just call out all the Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus today and have a competition like Elijah did with the worshippers of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Why not set up an altar to the LORD and pray that He would bring fire down from heaven in full view of them all? Surely, in one fell swoop we could show that our God is true and theirs false. And after this, we could slaughter the whole lot of them. That's what Elijah and the people of Israel did. We too are the people of God, just as they were, right? Shouldn't we just do the same thing and expect the same thing from the LORD? I am being facetious and sarcastic here. But those who try to contemporize verses like 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not far from doing this very thing.

When I speak of context, even comparing contexts, I do not mean the biblical context with our contemporary context, I mean the biblical context with the biblical context, Kings with Chronicles, where the same event and characters are in view. This is the heartbeat of correct interpretation. Drawing out principles for our contemporary context has to do with application not interpretation. Correct interpretation will show you what you should and should not try to apply to yourselves. If you jump to apply every text you read in the Bible as if written directly to and for you, you will not only face disappointment, but you will also pose a danger to biblical faith and practice. That is why the Paul writes

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 NIV)

Of course, studying the language, history, culture and theology of the Bible is important, and I encourage everyone to do this, not just preachers and teachers. But I believe most Christians today, including many preachers and teachers, are still infants in Christ, and the best thing they can do is to daily and diligently read and meditate on the Bible. There is no scholarship that can hold a candle to simply knowing the content of God's Word to discern a correct interpretation. Context is king.

If some of you are ambitious to go beyond simply daily and deeply reading the text, I encourage you to take the next best step toward greater understanding, namely, start memorizing the Bible. I don't mean memorize individual verses or passages all over the place, which might do more harm than good, since these verses are often extracted from their contexts. I mean memorize at least chapters and preferably whole books of the Bible. If you can see the context of a whole book in your head, you will gain unparalleled understanding of the verses contained within it. Don't think you cannot do it. I personally know of at least five people at my local church that have done it. And what is most suprising of all is this. Some of those that have done this, myself included, recognize that we have particularly poor memories. Is it not the grace of God that enables all of us, if we simply try?

And if you choose to do this, please let me know. Then I can use your testimony to encourage others.

“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— ⁴² for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, ⁴³ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

 "And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other."

 The reason for our faith is Our Lord, Jesus' resurrection!  Solomon made several supplications to God for himself and the Israelites and among those, what caught my attention were two paragraphs above.  Just before I moved down here to Dallas, I attended Perspective course in MD, which is one semester course on mission.  Prior to the course, I'd always thought that God's attention was only to His chosen people but not the others until Jesus came to us.  But as you can see here in today's text, He tells you and me that He always think about everyone regardless of our ethnic background. God's purpose of having chosen the Israelites as His people was not favoritism.  They were supposed to be a priestly kingdom to bring others to God instead of being proud of themselves because they were chosen by God.  God's love and mercy was already offered to every nation on earth.  Even though they were called "my people" or "my loved ones", God has never shown a favoritism because we will perish either with or without the Law just as Apostle Paul said in Romans 2:12, "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law."  Now we've been given the Name by which we were called to salvation whether we are Jews or Gentiles. Therefore, brothers and sisters, as the apostle Peter encourages us in 2 Peter 1:10, "..be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure." 

Just to clarify, the City of David, also known as Zion, is Bethlehem, correct?

Yujin responds... Yes, I believe that is correct but with some explanation. Bethlehem and Zion are not the same locations although they are both called the "City of David." In the Old Testament, the "City of David" refers to the Jebusite fortress of Mount Zion in Jerusalem, which David conquered and renamed "the City of David" (1 Kings 3:1; 8:1; 1 Chronicles 11:1). The New Testament identification of Bethlehem as the "the city of David" (Luke 2:4, 11) seems purely to associate Jesus with David's birth town, for David was born and raised in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 17:12).

8:41 “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name, 

I want to be this kind of temple.  A place where God dwells and is used to bring glory before people!