Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon” (1 Kings 9:2). It is good to hear the voice of God. But the contrast between Jehovah speaking to Solomon at Gibeon and now in Jerusalem is great. At Gibeon Jehovah said, “Ask what I shall give thee,” and the young king’s answer was a real delight. But several years had passed—years of unparalleled prosperity in the goodness of God, and the Temple was now in being. Israel’s blessing was therefore complete. Now Jehovah speaks solemnly to His servant about his responsibility. His prayer and supplication had been heard, and the house that he had built was now the acknowledged dwelling-place of Jehovah. “Mine eyes and My heart shall be there continually” ―wonderful divine pledge! Solomon’s Temple has long been destroyed; other structures have succeeded it; but Haggai 2:9 teaches us that in God’s sight the house has been one throughout. “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than of the former, saith Jehovah of hosts: and in this place I will give peace” (R.V.). In the same chapter we read, “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?” Compare Ezra 5:11. Even the Temple that was built by Herod for his own aggrandizement was called by the Lord Jesus “My Father’s house” (John 2:16). It is perhaps more remarkable that the Temple in which the Man of Sin will sit is called “the Temple of God” in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and Revelation 11:1.
Jehovah’s answer to Solomon’s prayer is given at greater length in 2 Chronicles 7 than in 1 Kings 9. First, He graciously promised to hear the supplications of His people in times of trouble. Then He renewed His pledge that David should never want a man to sit upon the throne of Israel; but He pointedly added that this was no guarantee to the line of Solomon. That line has wholly disappeared, but Christ is God’s resource. Men indeed crucified the One whom they hailed as “Son of David” (Matt. 21:9); but God raised Him from amongst the dead. He came of the Nathan branch of David’s royal house (Luke 3:31). It will be a great day for Israel when they learn in the school of affliction that all their hopes are centered in in Him
This divine communication shows clearly how everything from that moment depended upon the king. “As for thee, if thou wilt walk before Me, as David thy father walked... then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom... but if ye turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments... then will I pluck them by the roots out of My land, which I have given them.” The subsequent history of Solomon is the more terrible as we contemplate these plain words. He should have realized that his departure from God would wreck the whole magnificent order of things which surrounded him. His foolish son Rehoboam did not help matters. Several of Solomon’s successors were pious men, and God graciously granted revivals in their time; but others of his line—notably Ahaz, Manasseh, and Zedekiah, were the vilest of the vile, and they filled Judah’s cup of iniquity to the uttermost. Josiah was the last king that was worth anything to the nation, and he foolishly threw away his life at the age of thirty-nine in a quarrel which belonged not to him (2 Chron. 35:20). Not long after, the princes of the royal house were eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon, and “our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire: and all our precious things are laid waste” (Isa. 64:11). These calamities were set before the people as far back as the days of Moses, and in due time they came to pass (Lev. 26; Deut. 28:29-30). Passers by who might inquire as to the cause of the ruin would be told: “Because they forsook Jehovah their God, who brought forth their fathers from the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped and served them: therefore hath Jehovah brought upon them all this evil” (1 Kings 9:9).
The Lamentations of Jeremiah should be read at this point. There we have one who entered deeply into the mind of God pouring out his bitter grief for the ruin of His people. For Israel’s captivity and desolation was no ordinary incident in the sorrowful history of the nations. The tragedy of Israel is the tragedy of the world; thereby the world’s deliverance and blessing is held up, and has become impossible until the appearing of the Lord Jesus. Alas, the world, although at this time is in the deepest distress, does not want Him yet!