Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands . . . and he said: "Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. . . .Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. . . .
"If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness."
Without such tools as fingerprinting, video cameras, or DNA testing, the guilt or innocence of a person could be determined only by actual witnesses. When there were none, the accused would come before the altar and swear that he was innocent. Solomon is asking God to make the final determination in these cases.
"Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers."
This appears to describe a prisoner-of-war scenario. Solomon understands that God does not bless efforts in battle when His people have sinned. Solomon is asking God to forgive and rescue them when they repent and turn back to Him.
"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance."
Another consequence of sin might be drought. When God afflicts the nation in this manner until they acknowledge their sin, Solomon is again asking for forgiveness. He sees this pattern as a training effort, to "teach them the good way in which they should walk," so God's blessings could continue in their land.
"When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers."
This list is more comprehensive, including both natural disasters and human oppression--all of which are seen as designed by God to bring His people to repentance. Solomon understands that God deals not only with the entire nation but also on an individual level in this training process.
"Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; then hear from 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."
Solomon here asks God to respond to foreigners who have heard of His power and travel sometimes great distances to pray in the temple.
"When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
This request applies to those times when the Israelites are away from Jerusalem. Solomon asks God to accept prayers that are prayed "toward the city" when the people cannot actually go to the temple.
"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 a land far or near; 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 their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness'; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place."
In this final request, Solomon is addressing the most serious matter of all. Unlike the training process described earlier, he knows there might come a point when God would become angry with His people, so much so that He would send them into captivity. Even in this extreme situation, Solomon is once again asking for forgiveness.
After the dedication festivities are completed, everyone returns to their homes. Later, in the privacy of Solomon's bedroom, God responds to his prayer.
Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence 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 will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. . . . But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
"And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?’ Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.'"
In this response God reaffirms the distinction between ordinary sins (those "wicked ways" which His people could be trained to turn away from) and the direct rejection of God Himself. While God promises to forgive when His people humble themselves, pray, and cease their sinning, there is no such offer of forgiveness when they reject Him as God and deliberately choose to worship other gods. Should this happen, God tells Solomon, He will not only send the people into captivity, but He will also destroy the temple itself.
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America was founded as a Christian nation, just as Israel was God's chosen people. There have been many times when we too have been disciplined, both as a country and as individuals. However, it is arguable that we are now a post-Christian nation and are deliberately following after other gods. While God will continue to show mercy to those individuals who obey Him, He may very well have become angry with our nation.
But in our case, rather than being carried off to Babylon, it appears that Babylon is coming to us. We are being swallowed up in an anti-Christian culture. We need to face the sobering possibility that our country may be at the point of no return. In other words, we may be past the "If My people" option. If this is true, then I believe we should prepare ourselves spiritually for the long term--for life in exile--as did Daniel and the other believers of his day.
