Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Solomon's prayer and the Lord's prayer

I was looking into the verse where Solomon says "you and you only know the hearts of man", which has been used to support the idea that only God can read a person's mind and that demons can't know what we're thinking. While I didn't make a whole lot of headway on that, I did notice how similar Solomon's prayer-before-the-people was to the Lord's prayer, albeit much longer (by at least 25 verses).

It's an interesting study, to see how they line up, side by side.

Solomon – 1 King’s 8:23-53
Jesus – Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4

It was also interesting to me how Solomon surrounded the prayer, in his addresses to the people before and afterward. Sort of a little model for corporate prayer:

BEFORE:
  • Declaration of God's prior works; 1Ki 8:14-16
  • Reminder of God's promise; 1Ki 8:17-19
  • Assurance of personal place in the promise; 1Ki 8:20-21
  • Turning eyes toward God; 1Ki 8:22
PRAYER

AFTER:
  • Turning eyes toward the people of God; 1Ki 8:54-55
  • Reminder of God's promise; 1Ki 8:56
  • Blessing the people of God; 1Ki 8:57-60
  • Reminder of personal responsibility in fulfillment of the promise; 1Ki 8:61
  • Sacrifice; 1Ki 8:62

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