“If they sin against you — for there is no one who doesn’t sin — and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, so that they carry them off captive to the land of their enemy, whether far away or nearby…” – 1 Kings 8:46
We now arrive at the 7th and final petition of Solomon in his dedication prayer for the Temple.
This one also concerns Israel’s military.
In this case, he talks about what happens when the army sins.
They lose the Lord’s protective covering, which basically means they lose whatever battle they were fighting.
And then in a worst-case scenario, their enemies haul their butts off to gentile soil as prisoners.
We’re not told for what specific sins this would happen to them.
However, given the context of holy war, I imagine it has to do with HEREM or what’s sometimes loosely translated into English as the ban.
Again, HEREM is a holy war protocol that prohibits a soldier from taking any spoils of war for himself since it is holy property unto the Lord.
Remember what happened to Achan in the Book of Joshua.
Anyway, onward.
Solomon had already asked God to forgive Israel when the nation as a whole sinned.
Now he applies that same principle to Israel’s army.
And notice something important.
When the army is treated as a group, the primary responsibility falls on its leadership.
Because obviously, not every soldier is gonna behave the same way.
Some soldiers might deliberately violate God’s laws governing warfare.
Others might obey them.
But here’s the thing.
If the leadership in any way encourages disobedience…
Or allows it to go on unchecked…
The entire army ends up suffering the consequences.
They will all experience the same defeat…
And all will be taken captive.
The lesson here is clear as day.
When you’re part of a collective body…
Leadership failures affect everyone under their authority.
Fortunately, things don’t end there.
Solomon then prays that if his army as a whole group…
Comes to their senses and realizes they have sinned…
And their leadership repents.
Solomon asks God to hear their prayers from heaven…
And then act.
By the way, that’s the essence of what the Shema means.
The Lord isn’t being asked to just listen passively.
He’s being asked for vigorous action on His part.
Finally, look at the closing part of this prayer.
“…for they are your people,
your inheritance,
whom you brought out of Egypt,
out of the flames of the iron furnace.”
Solomon is appealing to the Lord’s eternal covenant with Israel here.
I think the word being used in this passage is CHESED.
In other words, Solomon is appealing to the Lord’s “covenantal lovingkindness.”
And why?
Because this ain’t some random group of prisoners we’re talking about here.
These homies belong to God!
They are part of His inheritance.
They are people the Lord Himself rescued from bondage in Egypt centuries earlier.
Solomon’s appeal is essentially:
“God, remember who these people are.
They are Yours.
You redeemed them once before.
Now, in their repentance…
Show them Your covenant love again.”
The takeaway here is we should also have the same attitude and sentiment in our hearts when we pray for Israel and the 12 tribes of Israel (not just the Jews from Yehuda).
Ya feeling me here?
Instead of taking the anti-Semitic attitude that a good portion of the Christian church has taken, which basically says…
“You people blew it…
Now God is done with you…
And we who have accepted Christ…
Have replaced you.”
I’d encourage you…
Actually, that’s saying it too lightly…
I WARN you to adopt the prayer of Solomon…
Which basically says…
“I know my people Israel have blown it this time…
But Lord, because they are your chosen people…
Please pray for them that they recognize their wrongs…
And sincerely come back to you.”
The reason I used the harsher sounding “warn” instead of “encourage” is because to adopt the anti-semitic replacement theology of the gentile Church is pitting yourself directly against the Creator of the Universe.
It simply ain’t Biblical, man.
That notion is as far from sound Scriptural teaching as you can get.
The Lord has made an eternal covenant with Israel that will NEVER, and I mean NEVER, be broken.
That’s what the word “eternal” means, man!
Sure, the Lord will discipline His people.
But His covenant faithfulness…
His CHESED for His people remains.
Ya feel me?
If you’re a gentile…
You are grafted into the olive tree…
You don’t replace it.
That’s essentially what Paul’s theology in the Book of Romans comes down to.
Heck, in many ways Paul’s theology seems to be modeled after Solomon’s prayer here.
This makes sense, for Paul was a Hebrew rabbi well studied in the Tanakh.
Alrighty, I’ll leave it at that today.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“I ask then:
Did God reject his people?
By no means!
I am an Israelite myself,
a descendant of Abraham,
from the tribe of Benjamin.
God did not reject his people,
whom he foreknew.
Don’t you know what Scripture
says in the passage about Elijah
how he appealed
to God against Israel?”
-Romans 11:1-2
“As far as the gospel is concerned,
they are enemies for your sake;
but as far as election is concerned,
they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Just as you who were at one time disobedient
to God have now received mercy
as a result of their disobedience,
so they too have now become disobedient
so that they too may now receive
mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.”
– Romans 11:28-31
“I do not want you to be ignorant
of this mystery, brothers and sisters,
so that you may not be conceited:
Israel has experienced a hardening
in part until the full number
of the Gentiles has come in,
and in this way
all Israel will be saved.”
-Romans 11:25-26
Hi, Rich. I’m completely with you on Paul’s warning against Gentile Christians becoming arrogant toward the Jewish people.
Paul couldn’t be much clearer: “Don’t boast as if you were better than the branches.” (Romans 11:18, CJB) And I think Christians have sometimes done exactly what Paul warned them not to do.
But your article got me looking more closely at the olive tree itself.
Paul calls the Jews the natural branches, which makes perfect sense considering the special place Israel had in YHWH’s purpose. But then he says something interesting. Some of those natural branches were broken off because of unbelief, while people from the Gentiles were grafted in because of faith. And those natural branches could be grafted back in if they didn’t persist in unbelief.
That made me wonder: What exactly is the tree?
Is it necessarily national Israel itself?
Or could the tree represent YHWH’s continuing purpose connected with His promises to Abraham, with the branches representing those who share in those promises?
I’m wondering about that because it seems to account for every part of Paul’s illustration without suggesting that YHWH abandoned Israel or that Gentiles somehow replaced the Jewish people.
The Jewish branches were there naturally. Those who accepted Messiah remained. Those who rejected him were broken off. Gentiles who exercised faith were grafted in. And a natural Jewish branch could always be grafted back in through faith.
If that’s what Paul has in mind, then what determines whether someone remains in the tree after Messiah comes isn’t ancestry alone. It’s faith.
That seems to fit with the verse we were discussing the other day:
“For not everyone from Isra’el is truly part of Isra’el.” (Romans 9:6, CJB)
And it also made me think of Paul’s words in Galatians:
“Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are seed of Avraham and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29, CJB)
I’m not suggesting that Gentile Christians somehow replaced the Jewish people. Paul himself rules out that kind of thinking.
I’m wondering about something a little different: Could YHWH’s promise to Abraham have continued exactly as He intended, while Messiah changed who would ultimately be counted among Abraham’s offspring and heirs of that promise?
I’d be interested in how you see that distinction, my friend.
– Steve