As Solomon presented himself and the completed temple in prayer before the Lord, he asked “Will God indeed dwell on earth?” (I Kings 8:27). His response shows that he clearly understood that Yahweh was no local tribal deity: “Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!” (I Kings 8:27).

The main theme of Solomon’s prayer is God’s graciousness, offered in the face of human sin, aiming at forgiveness. “Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive” (8:30). Indeed, he echoes that plea another five times in the course of his prayer (8:31-32, 8:33-34, 8:35-36, 8:37-40, 8:46-53).

“If they sin against you – for there is no one who does not sin – and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; yet if they they come to their senses … if they repent with all their heart and soul … then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer … forgive your people who have sinned against you … for they are your people” (8:46-51). Roughly four centuries after the time of Solomon the people of Judah were in captivity in Babylon, carried off by an enemy because of their sins against God; we can certainly imagine them remembering this prayer, and offering it up in earnest repentance.

Intriguingly, Solomon did not just pray for the people of Israel, but for those outside the covenant as well. Embedded in the midst of his plea we find him considering that outsiders coming from far away should have this same access to God in prayer: “when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name” (8:42-43). Solomon understood that God’s grace and favor is not just for us, but for all the world.

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You are mighty and glorious, O Lord, uncontainable, greater than all the universe: yet you stoop to us in all our frailty and lostness, in all the variety of our sin, whether we come from near or far. We pray for your merciful grace to forgive us, and for your transforming grace to establish us again as your people.

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