1 Kings 8:28
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: 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:
The verse belongs to Solomon's solemn, humble, devout and most remarkable prayer at the dedication of the finished temple, a large and grand sanctuary built by many people with great splendor for worship, offered while he knelt before God in the presence of an immense congregation of all Israel with many nations and gathered people come to witness. In it Solomon asks God to have respect to and hearken to his prayer, supplication and cry, that God's eyes be open toward the house and toward the place of His name night and day, to hear prayers made toward that place, hearing from heaven and granting forgiveness. The prayer affirms that God does not dwell on earth as confined to a built house, unlike the heathen gods who are confined to temples built for them, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, much less the house Solomon built.
Yet the house dedicated to His worship is sacred as a place where God meets His people by His Spirit when they assemble there, and the Lord honored Israel because they built it for Him, with blessing for those who worshiped Him there sincerely. God also meets His people by His Spirit when they gather in the temple and visits and encourages them in their homes and wherever they may be, so His children may worship Him in every place. Because the dedicated house is sacred, worshipers there must observe sacredness and keep all angry feelings toward others out of their hearts, for such feelings shut away the Spirit of God from them.
When he offered the prayer Solomon was a just, compassionate and God-fearing ruler closely related to God and honored with the stewardship of the temple God employed him to build, entering upon his work after remarkable manifestations of divine power that gave precious views of the divine character. Feeling his need of divine power and expressing Israel's dependence on God, he prayed for his people that their hearts might be undividedly and wholly given to the Lord. He who so prayed afterward cast off his allegiance, lost mastery of himself, and acted contrary to his own appeal by turning to idolatry and forsaking the very temple to worship idols, led away by his pagan wives. He became tyrannical and oppressive and the seducer of the very people for whom he had prayed, dishonoring himself, dishonoring Israel, and dishonoring God.
His fall shows that the light he had did not save him and that men given sacred trusts as teachers of truth can become unfaithful and turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. So the people made the repository of God's law need clearer and increased light from heaven and need to be spiritualized, elevated and vitalized by the sacred truth they profess. They must learn carefulness, distrust of self, stripping off of self-sufficiency and spiritual pride, humble views of their own wisdom and insufficiency, and the sense that they are kept by the power of God through faith.