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1 Kings 8:31

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

If any man trespass against his neighbour,.... By being unfaithful in a trust committed to him, or the like: and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear; he denying that ever anything was committed to his trust, and there being no witnesses of it, the judge obliges him to take an oath he never had any: and the oath come before thine altar...

1 Kings 8:32

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then hear thou in heaven,.... When the injured person makes supplication to have justice done him: and do, and judge thy servants; contending with one another, the one affirming, the other denying condemning the wicked, by bringing his way upon his head: inflicting upon him the punishment imprecated by him in his oath: and justifying the...

1 Kings 8:33

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

When thy people Israel shall be smitten down before the enemy,.... Beaten and routed, many slain, and others carried captive; which had been their case, and might be again, and was, though now a time of peace: because they have sinned against thee; which always was the reason of their being given up into the hands of their enemies: and shall turn...

1 Kings 8:34

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel,.... It being not personal, but public sins, which would be the cause of such a calamity: and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers; as had been often their case in the time of the judges.

1 Kings 8:35

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

When heaven is shut up,.... As it may be said to be when the air is quite serene, and not a cloud in it: and there is no rain; in its season, neither the former nor the latter, as it was in the times of Elijah: because they have sinned against thee; want of rain was threatened in case of sin, and was always the effect of it, Leviticus 26:19, if...

1 Kings 8:36

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel,.... By removing the judgment of drought upon them: that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk; the way of worship and duty prescribed by the Lord which was good in itself, and good for them, good things being enjoyed by them that walk therein;...

1 Kings 8:37

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Ver. 37 If there be in the land famine,.... Through want of rain, or any other cause, as there had been a three years' famine in the time of David, and it is supposed it might be again, though Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey: if there be pestilence; as there had been, for David's numbering the people: blasting; or blights, occasioned...

1 Kings 8:38

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

What prayer and supplication soever,.... On account of any of the above things, or any other: be [made] by any man, or by all the people Israel; by a private man, for such an one might go to the temple and pray by himself; see Lu 18:10 or by the public congregation: which shall know every man the plague of his own heart; be sensible of his sin as...

1 Kings 8:39

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace,.... Which was more properly so than this Solomon had built, and the Lord had taken possession of: and forgive; remove the calamity and distress, be it what it may: and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest: that his prayer is cordial and sincere, his confession and...

1 Kings 8:40

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

That they may fear thee,.... For his goodness sake in hearing their prayer, removing their affliction, and bestowing his blessings on them, particularly in forgiving their sins, see Psalms 130:4 all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers; not only for the present, while the mercy is fresh, but all the days of their...

1 Kings 8:41

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Moreover, concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Israel,.... One of another country, not belonging to any of the tribes of Israel, yet having some knowledge of, and disposition to, the true worship of God: but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; as the Ethiopian eunuch did, to pray to him, worship him, and offer such...

1 Kings 8:42

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

(For they shall hear of thy great name,.... Of his great name, Jehovah; of him as the eternal, immutable, and self-existent Being; of the perfections of his nature, as displayed in his mighty works: and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm); which had done formerly such mighty works in Egypt, at the Red sea, in the wilderness, in the...

1 Kings 8:43

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace,.... The prayer of the stranger: and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; which were consistent with the will of God and his glory, and for the good of the stranger; this is more absolutely and unconditionally expressed than the requests for the Israelites; it is not desired that he would...

1 Kings 8:44

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

If thy people go out to battle against their enemy,.... In a foreign country, threatening to invade them, or having trespassed on their borders, or some way or other infringed on their liberties and privileges, and so given them just occasion to go to war with them: whithersoever thou shalt send them; this case supposes their asking counsel of...

1 Kings 8:45

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication,.... For success: and maintain their cause; do them justice, and avenge their injuries, as the Targum; let it appear that their cause is right, by giving them victory.

1 Kings 8:46

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

If they sin against thee,.... The same persons when they were gone forth to battle, not observing the divine commands as they should: for there is no man that sinneth not; such are the depravity of human nature, the treachery of the heart, and the temptations of Satan, of which Solomon had early notice, and was afterwards still more confirmed in...

1 Kings 8:47

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives,.... Or, "return to their heart" (a); remember their sins, the cause of their captivity, and reflect upon them: and repent of them, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives; though and while they are in such a state: saying, we...

1 Kings 8:48

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And so return unto thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul,.... In the most sincere and cordial manner, with great ingenuity and uprightness; the Targum is, "return unto thy worship;'' relinquishing false worship they had given into, and serve the Lord in the best manner they could: in the land of their enemies, which led them away...

1 Kings 8:49

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then hear thou their prayers, and their supplication, in heaven thy dwellingplace,.... For their deliverance out of captivity: and maintain their cause; plead it, and do them justice, avenge their injuries, and deliver them.

1 Kings 8:50

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee,.... By returning them to their own land; by which it would appear that the Lord had forgiven their trespasses, as well as by what follows: and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have...