The Lord turns from the proclamation of what he will do regarding Solomon’s temple to consider what lies ahead of Solomon in order that the temple might remain as a permanent fixture. We are met again with what seems to human beings to be something of a contradiction. Our faith teaches us that God’s promises and his love to his people are unconditional, but in 1 Kings 9:4 we behold conditions. Here we have the tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. On the one hand, God’s promises cannot fail, but on the other hand, human beings are absolutely responsible for their own actions. It is the consensus of most Bible-believing scholars that this is a tension that cannot be solved by human reason.
It is, however, a tension that is solved in the outworking of Scripture. Jesus Christ sits upon the throne of David forever. Therefore, the promise of God to David and Solomon proves to be unconditional. Yet, by the same token, the warnings of God to Solomon that we are going to see truly come into effect in the rest of this book and its conclusion in 2 Kings 1:1–25:30. Scripture says, Surely the wrath of man shall praise you
(Psalm 76:10). Some of what that phrase means is that the sin and wrath of human beings also accomplish the perfect will of God in his divine counsel.
1 Kings 9:4–5 sets before us the condition that is placed upon the permanent establishment of Solomon’s temple forever. And in this condition, we see that the standard that is set before Solomon is the obedience of his father David. God implies that David had walked before God in the integrity of his heart and kept all the commandments of God.
The thoughtful reader might raise a question at this point. Is it not true that David committed heinous sins, and so the consequences of these sins made the last years of his reign full of dynastic difficulty? Does that square with the statement that David obeyed all of God’s commandments? These questions are difficult, and we cannot claim to be able to answer them completely for now. Yet one thing we must understand is that David, though he still had to experience the consequences of his sin in this life, found the grace of repentance based upon the faith that justified him. David, like all true believers, was righteous through faith in the One who granted him righteousness.
We ought to remember that in Solomon’s prayer, which the Lord said that he accepted, is the statement that there is no man who does not sin
(Ecclesiastes 7:20). Therefore, God implies by the acceptance of Solomon’s prayer that there is a way that sinners can be justified and counted righteous in his sight. Forgiveness is not automatic, for it requires repentance and faith, but it is possible. Therefore, David can be accounted as righteous with reference to the commandments of God. The tragedy of so many of Israel’s and Judah’s later kings was the lack of repentance and the lack of faith.
It is of utmost importance to remember that true repentance includes the intention to cease from sin. God in his grace does not sacrifice his holiness or his righteousness, and the call to obedience to his will is a genuine call. The person who says, I will sin more than I might receive grace,
has no true conception of what grace is.
4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,