1 Kings 8:54 - Meaning and Application

Solomon, after his sermon in Ecclesiastes, gives us the conclusion of the whole matter. He does the same here after this long prayer. This part is called his blessing on the people (1 Kings 8:55). He spoke while standing, so he could be heard more clearly and because he blessed them with authority. Words were never more fitting or more timely. Never was a crowd sent away with words more likely to reach their hearts and stay with them.

First, he gives God the glory for the great and kind things he had done for Israel (1 Kings 8:56). He stood to bless the people (1 Kings 8:55), but he began by blessing God, because we should give thanks in everything. If we hope God will do good for us and our families, let us take every chance to speak well of him and of what he has done. He blesses God for giving Israel rest. He does not say wealth, honor, power, or victory, but rest, as if that were a greater blessing than the rest. Those who have rest should not think lightly of it, even if they lack other things.

He compares God’s gifts with God’s promises, so that God would receive the honor for keeping his word, the word he has placed above all his name. He points back to the promises given through Moses, just as he had earlier referred to the promises made to David (1 Kings 8:15, 1 Kings 8:24). Moses gave Israel both promises and commands. It took a long time before God gave them the promised rest, but they finally received it after many trials. One day God’s spiritual Israel, his people in Christ, will rest from all their labors.

He also, as it were, writes a full receipt on the back of God’s promises: not one word has failed of all his good promises. He gives this statement in the name of all Israel, to honor God’s faithfulness forever and to encourage all who trust in God’s promises.

Second, he blesses himself and the congregation by expressing his earnest desire and hope for four things. The first is the presence of God with them, which is everything for the happiness of a church, a nation, and each person. This great crowd would soon be scattered, and they were unlikely to all be together again in this world. So Solomon dismisses them with this blessing: may the Lord be present with us, and that will be comfort enough when we are apart from one another. May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers (1 Kings 8:57). May he not leave us. May he be to us today and to our children forever what he was to those who came before us.

The second is the power of his grace in them. “May he be with us,” Solomon says, “not so that he will only enlarge our land and increase our wealth, but so that he will turn our hearts to himself, to walk in all his ways and keep his commandments” (1 Kings 8:58). Spiritual blessings are the best blessings, and we should earnestly seek them. Our hearts naturally turn away from duty and drift from God. It is his grace that turns them, and that grace must be asked for in prayer.

The third is an answer to the prayer he has just made: “May these words of mine be near the Lord our God day and night” (1 Kings 8:59). May every prayer made here receive a gracious answer, and that will be a lasting answer to this prayer. What Solomon asks here for his prayer is still granted in the intercession of Christ, of which Solomon’s prayer was a picture. Christ’s powerful and successful pleading is before the Lord our God day and night. Our great Advocate is always watching over this matter. We may depend on him to defend our cause against the accuser who brings charges day and night (Revelation 12:10), and also the cause of his people Israel, at all times and in every need, so that he gives us the right word for each day as it comes. From him we receive grace that is enough, fitting, and timely for every need.

The fourth is the honoring of God through the spread of his kingdom among people. Let Israel be blessed and favored, not so that all nations will become subject to us, for Solomon sees his kingdom as great enough already, but so that all people may know that the Lord is God and there is no other, and may come to worship him (1 Kings 8:60). With this, Solomon’s prayers, like the prayers of his father David, the son of Jesse, come to their close (Psalm 72:19, Psalm 72:20): let the whole earth be filled with his glory. We cannot end our prayers with a better summary than this: Father, glorify your name.

Third, he solemnly charges the people to keep going in their duty to God and not turn away. Having spoken to God for them, he now speaks from God to them. Only those who were made better by his preaching would benefit fully from his prayers. His parting warning is, “Let your heart be complete with the Lord our God” (1 Kings 8:61). Let your obedience be complete, with no divided heart, sincere without pretending, and steady without turning aside. This is gospel perfection.