The Blessing of Intercession

That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keephis commandments, as at this day.  (I Kings 8:60-61)

After the Temple was completed, Solomon prayed.  What a wonderful intercessory prayer on behalf of the children of Israel and even on behalf of those from other nations.  After praying to God on behalf of his people, he then admonished them.  There was no selfishness in his prayer.  We are blessed when we can set aside our own cares and problems and intercede on behalf of others.

Solomon’s Prayer:  

Before the entire congregation of Israel, Solomon took a position before the Altar, spread his hands out before heaven, and prayed,

And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation 

of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:  And he said, Lord God of 

Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, 

who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee 

with all their heart: Who hast kept with thy servant David my father 

that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast 

fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.  

Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David 

my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in 

my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, 

that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.  And now, O God of Israel, 

let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my 

father.  But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of 

heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?  

Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord 

my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before 

thee to day:  That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even 

toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou 

mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.  

And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when 

they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: 

and when thou hearest, forgive. 

(I Kings 8:22-30) 

Interceding on behalf of the people:

 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.  If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:  Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.  When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house:  Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.  When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:  Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.  If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;  What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:  Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)  That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.  Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake;  (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;  Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.  If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:  Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.  If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;  Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;  And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:  Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,  And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:  For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:   (I Kings 8:31-51) 

That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.  For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God. (I Kings 8:52-53) 

Having finished praying to God - all these bold and passionate supplications - Solomon stood up before God's Altar where he had been kneeling all this time, his arms stretched upward to heaven.  Standing, he blessed the whole congregation of Israel, blessing them at the top of his lungs:

Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.  The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:  That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.  And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:  That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.  Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.  (I Kings 8:56-61) 

We know that after King Solomon completed this prayer on behalf of not only his people but for all people, that God had a conversation with Him. God let him know that his prayer had been received:

That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.  And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.  (I Kings 9:2-3)

Our prayers should not always be self-centered.  Learn to pray for others and watch how  not only they, but you, will be blessed.

Biblical Studies

09/01/13