YAHWEH'S PROMISE TO KING DAVID
7:1It
happened, when the king lived in his house, and Yahweh had given him rest from
all his enemies round about, 7:2that
the king said to Natan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar,
but the ark of the Mighty One dwells within curtains." 7:3Natan said to the king, "Go, do all
that is in your heart; for Yahweh is with you."
7:4It
happened the same night that the word of Yahweh came to Natan, saying, 7:5"Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus
says Yahweh, Shall you build me a house for me to dwell in? 7:6For I have not lived in a house since the
day that I brought up the children of Yisra'el out of Mitzrayim, even to this
day, but have walked in a tent and in a tent. 7:7In
all places in which I have walked with all the children of Yisra'el, spoke I a
word with any of the tribes of Yisra'el, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my
people Yisra'el, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of
cedar?" 7:8Now therefore thus
shall you tell my servant David, Thus says Yahweh-Tzva'ot, I took you from the
sheep pen, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people,
over Yisra'el; 7:9and I have been
with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you;
and I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in
the earth. 7:10I will appoint a
place for my people Yisra'el, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their
own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness
afflict them any more, as at the first, 7:11and
as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Yisra'el; and I
will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that
Yahweh will make you a house. 7:12When
your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up
your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. 7:13He shall build a
house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 7:14I will be his father, and he shall be my
son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with
the stripes of the children of men; 7:15but
my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Sha'ul, whom I
put away before you. 7:16Your house
and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before you: your throne shall be
established forever.'" 7:17According
to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Natan speak to
David.
7:18Then
David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, "Who am I,
Sovereign Yahweh, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 7:19This was yet a small thing in your eyes,
Sovereign Yahweh; but you have spoken also of your servant's house for a great
while to come; and this too after the manner of men, Sovereign Yahweh! 7:20What can David say more to you? For you
know your servant, Sovereign Yahweh. 7:21For
your word's sake, and according to your own heart, have you worked all this
greatness, to make your servant know it. 7:22Therefore
you are great, Yahweh the Mighty One: for there is none like you, neither is
there any mighty one besides you, according to all that we have heard with our
ears. 7:23What one nation in the
earth is like your people, even like Yisra'el, whom the Mighty One went to
redeem to himself for a people, and to make him a name, and to do great things
for you, and awesome things for your land, before your people, whom you redeem
to you out of Mitzrayim, from the nations and their mighty ones? 7:24You did establish to yourself your people
Yisra'el to be a people to you forever; and you, Yahweh, became their Mighty
One. 7:25Now, Yahweh the Mighty One,
the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house,
confirm you it forever, and do as you have spoken. 7:26Let your name be magnified forever, saying,
'Yahweh-Tzva'ot is Mighty One over Yisra'el; and the house of your servant
David shall be established before you.' 7:27For
you, Yahweh-Tzva'ot, the Mighty One of Yisra'el, have revealed to your servant,
saying, 'I will build you a house': therefore has your servant found in his
heart to pray this prayer to you. 7:28Now,
O Sovereign Yahweh, you are the Mighty One, and your words are truth, and you
have promised this good thing to your servant: 7:29now
therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may
continue forever before you; for you, Sovereign Yahweh, have spoken it: and
with your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever."
Acknowledge Yahweh's Work And Praise Him
When Yahweh does a great work in our lives, or overwhelms us through a deed of his, we should both acknowledge Yahweh's work and praise Yahweh, the Mighty One of Yisrael! Halleluyah!
The Dedication Of Yahweh's House
8:1Then
Shelomo assembled the Zakenim of Yisra'el, and all the heads of the tribes, the
princes of the fathers' houses of the children of Yisra'el, to king Shelomo in
Yerushalayim, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of
8:10It
came to pass, when the Kohanim were come out of the holy place, that the cloud
filled the house of Yahweh, 8:11so
that the Kohanim could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the
glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh. 8:12Then
spoke Shelomo, "Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
8:13I have surely built you a house
of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever."
8:14The
king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Yisra'el: and all
the assembly of Yisra'el stood. 8:15He
said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the Mighty One of Yisra'el, who spoke with his
mouth to David my father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 8:16'Since the day that I brought forth my
people Yisra'el out of Mitzrayim, I chose no city out of all the tribes of
Yisra'el to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be
over my people Yisra'el.' 8:17Now it
was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh,
the Mighty One of Yisra'el. 8:18But
Yahweh said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house
for my name, you did well that it was in your heart: 8:19nevertheless you shall not build the house;
but your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house
for my name.' 8:20Yahweh has
established his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my
father, and sit on the throne of Yisra'el, as Yahweh promised, and have built
the house for the name of Yahweh, the Mighty One of Yisra'el. 8:21There have I set a place for the ark, in
which is the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with our fathers, when he
brought them out of the
8:22Shelomo
stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all the assembly of
Yisra'el, and spread forth his hands toward Heaven; 8:23and he said, "Yahweh, the Mighty One
of Yisra'el, there is no mighty one like you, in Heaven above, or on earth
beneath; who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with your servants, who walk
before you with all their heart; 8:24who
have kept with your servant David my father that which you did promise him:
yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this
day. 8:25Now therefore, Yahweh, the
Mighty One of Yisra'el, keep with your servant David my father that which you
have promised him, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit
on the throne of Yisra'el, if only your children take heed to their way, to
walk before me as you have walked before me.' 8:26Now
therefore, Mighty One of Yisra'el, Please let your word be verified, which you
spoke to your servant David my father.
8:27"But
will the Mighty One in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, Heaven and the
Heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have
built! 8:28Yet have you respect to
the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, Yahweh my Mighty One, to
listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this
day; 8:29that your eyes may be open
toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof you have said,
'My name shall be there'; to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray
toward this place. 8:30Listen you
to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Yisra'el, when they
shall pray toward this place: yes, hear in Heaven, your dwelling-place; and
when you hear, forgive. 8:31If a
man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid on him to cause him to
swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house; 8:32then hear you in Heaven, and do, and judge
your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and
justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 8:33When your people Yisra'el are struck
down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again
to you, and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this
house: 8:34then hear you in Heaven,
and forgive the sin of your people Yisra'el, and bring them again to the land
which you gave to their fathers. 8:35When
the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you;
if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin,
when you do afflict them: 8:36then
hear in Heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people
Yisra'el, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain
on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 8:37If there be in the land famine, if there be
pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their
enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever
sickness there be; 8:38whatever
prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all your people Yisra'el, who
shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands
toward this house: 8:39then hear in
Heaven, your dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man
according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only,
know the hearts of all the children of men;) 8:40that
they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our
fathers.
8:41"Moreover
concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Yisra'el, when he shall
come out of a far country for your name's sake 8:42(for
they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your
outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house; 8:43hear in Heaven, your dwelling-place, and do
according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of
the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Yisra'el, and that
they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
8:44"If
your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall
send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and
toward the house which I have built for your name; 8:45then hear in Heaven their prayer and their supplication,
and maintain their cause. 8:46If
they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn't sin), and you be angry
with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive
to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 8:47yet
if they shall repent themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and
turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them
captive, saying, 'We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt
wickedly'; 8:48if they return to you
with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who
carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to
their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built
for your name: 8:49then hear you
their prayer and their supplication in Heaven, your dwelling-place, and
maintain their cause; 8:50and
forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions
in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before
those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 8:51(for they are your people, and your
inheritance, which you brought forth out of Mitzrayim, from the midst of the
furnace of iron); 8:52that your eyes
may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of
your people Yisra'el, to listen to them whenever they cry to you. 8:53For you did separate them from among all
the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moshe your
servant, when you brought our fathers out of Mitzrayim, Sovereign Yahweh."
8:54It
was so, that when Shelomo had made an end of praying all this prayer and
supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from
kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward Heaven. 8:55He stood, and blessed all the assembly of
Yisra'el with a loud voice, saying, 8:56"Blessed
be Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Yisra'el, according to all that he
promised: there has not failed one word of all his good promises, which he
promised by Moshe his servant. 8:57Yahweh
our Mighty One be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us,
nor forsake us; 8:58that he may
incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his
commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our
fathers. 8:59Let these my words,
wherewith I have made supplication before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our Mighty
One day and night, that he maintains the cause of his servant, and the cause of
his people Yisra'el, as every day shall require; 8:60that
all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh, he is the Mighty One; there
is none else. 8:61Let your heart therefore
be perfect with Yahweh our Mighty One, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his
commandments, as at this day."
8:62The
king, and all Yisra'el with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh. 8:63Shelomo offered for the sacrifice of
peace-offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, two and twenty thousand oxen, and
one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Yisra'el
dedicated the house of Yahweh. 8:64The
same day did the king make the middle of the court holy that was before the
house of Yahweh; for there he offered the burnt offering, and the
meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar
that was before Yahweh was too little to receive the burnt offering, and the
meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings. 8:65So Shelomo held the feast at that time, and all Yisra'el
with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Chamat to the brook of
Mitzrayim, before Yahweh our Mighty One, seven days and seven days, even
fourteen days. 8:66On the eighth day
he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents
joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Yahweh had showed to David
his servant, and to Yisra'el his people.
9:1It
happened, when Shelomo had finished the building of the house of Yahweh, and
the king's house, and all Shelomo's desire which he was pleased to do, 9:2that Yahweh appeared to Shelomo the second
time, as he had appeared to him at Giv`on. 9:3Yahweh
said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you
have made before me: I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put
my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. 9:4As for you, if you will walk before me, as
David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do
according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my
ordinances; 9:5then I will establish
the throne of your kingdom over Yisra'el forever, according as I promised to
David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man on the throne of
Yisra'el.' 9:6But if you shall
turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments
and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other
mighty ones, and worship them; 9:7then
will I cut off Yisra'el out of the land which I have given them; and this
house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and
Yisra'el shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 9:8Though this house is so high, yet shall
everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say,
'Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house?' 9:9And they shall answer, 'Because they forsook
Yahweh their Mighty One, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of
Mitzrayim, and laid hold on other mighty ones, and worshipped them, and served
them: therefore has Yahweh brought all this evil on them.'"
Kneel And Spread Forth Your Hands Towards Heaven
8:22 shows that in public prayer it is quite appropriate to spread forth one's hands towards heaven when praying to Yahweh the Mighty One.
8:54-55 shows that the posture Shelomo took while publicly praying to Yahweh was one of kneeling down with his hands spread forth toward heaven. It is therefore appropriate to use the same prayer posture that Shelomo used when praying in public.
9:3 shows Yahweh's acknowledgement to Shelomo that he had heard his prayer and supplication that the latter had made before Yahweh. The contents of Shelomo's prayer and supplication are therefore important, and should the heeded appropriately.
8:23-24 shows that Shelomo praised Yahweh, acknowledging his highest standing and his various attributes.
Pray Facing The Direction Of The Location Of Yahweh's
House
8:30 shows that when the people of Yisrael pray for Yahweh's forgiveness, and pray toward the location of the house that Shelomo built for Yahweh, Yahweh will indeed forgive those repentant Yisraelites. Repentant Yisraelites should therefore pray for the forgiveness of their sins when facing the direction of the location of Yahweh's house that Shelomo built for him. In this manner they are assured forgiveness of their sins.
Non-Yisraelites Should Also Pray Facing The Location
Of Yahweh's House
8:41-43 shows that non-Yisraelites should also pray to Yahweh with their various petitions, praying within the vicinity and toward the location of the house that Shelomo built for Yahweh. For when they do so Yahweh will indeed listen to their petitions, that all the people of the earth may know Yahweh's name, to fear Yahweh.
It should therefore be clear that all people, both Yisraelites and non-Yisraelites, should pray their prayers facing toward the location of the house that Shelomo built for Yahweh, that Yahweh may indeed hear their prayers and supplications, and respond to them appropriately.
Humble Yourself, Repent Of Sin And Wholeheartedly Seek
Yahweh In Prayer
7:12Yahweh
appeared to Shelomo by night, and said to him, "I have heard your prayer,
and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. 7:13If I shut up the sky so that there is no
rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence
among my people; 7:14if my
people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek
my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and
will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 7:15Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears
attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place. 7:16For now have I chosen and made this house
holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be
there perpetually.
7:12-16 shows that Yahweh's people, those who are called by his name, should humble themselves, and pray, and seek his face, and turn from their wicked ways. For when they do so will Yahweh hear them from heaven, and forgive their sin, and heal their land. We should therefore humble ourselves, repent of our sins, and pray to Yahweh, seeking him wholeheartedly.
The Man Of The Mighty One From Yahudah
13:1Behold,
there came a man of the Mighty One out of Yahudah by the word of Yahweh to
Beit-El: and Yarov`am was standing by the altar to burn incense. 13:2He cried against the altar by the word of
Yahweh, and said, "Altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, a son shall be
born to the house of David, Yoshiyahu by name; and on you shall he sacrifice
the Kohanim of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall
they burn on you.'" 13:3He gave
a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which Yahweh has spoken:
Behold, the altar shall be torn, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured
out." 13:4It happened, when the
king heard the saying of the man of the Mighty One, which he cried against the
altar in Beit-El, that Yarov`am put forth his hand from the altar, saying,
"Lay hold on him." His hand, which he put forth against him, dried
up, so that he could not draw it back again to him. 13:5The altar also was torn, and the ashes
poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of the Mighty
One had given by the word of Yahweh. 13:6The
king answered the man of the Mighty One, "Entreat now the favor of Yahweh
your Mighty One, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again." The
man of the Mighty One entreated Yahweh, and the king's hand was restored him
again, and became as it was before.
13:5-6 shows that when men of the Mighty One are asked to pray for others, especially if these others are repentant, they should do so. As seen from Shemuel's words, it is the duty of Yahweh's prophets to both pray for the people and to instruct them to walk in the good and the right way.
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