BERITH: THE STEADFAST COVENANTAL LOVE OF GOD
The Power of Promises
1 Kings 8:23 (NIV) "LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below — you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way."
Promises are incredibly important. Often, promises made and kept serve as the foundation of trust and relationship.
Early on I realized how important promises were to my sons. I was racing out of the house to catch a flight and my oldest son Liam asked me if I would bring him something back. I said yes.
A promise made.
I came home and saw Liam at the door, eager and anxious, waiting to receive what I brought him. I forgot. I tried to navigate a response but my son is pretty sharp. He simply responded — you broke your promise, Dad.
A promise broken.
It was a promise I made that I forgot soon after making it. However, breaking that simple promise caused heartbreak for my son. Broken promises have been causing heartbreak, destruction, and devastation since Genesis 3. Yet, in the midst of all that brokenness is a God who remains faithfully committed to restoring all that was broken by establishing and keeping covenant relationship with His people.
Understanding God's Covenant
The word covenant is another word for promise. But when used in this biblical sense and in reference to God, it holds so much more meaning and significance. In our reading today, we see King Solomon deliver a beautiful prayer of dedication for the temple which is built upon the covenant made between God and His people.
As we read Solomon's prayer, let's pay close attention to both the words of the prayer and its structure. Notice how Solomon points us back to the promise that was made between God and David and how this promise serves as foundation for the prayer to follow. (1 Kings 8:24)
The Language of Solomon's Prayer
First, Solomon uses three different Hebrew words for prayer which each have their own meaning:
Intercession and praise (1 Kings 8:28-30; 1 Kings 8:33; 1 Kings 8:35; 1 Kings 8:38)
Plea for mercy or help (1 Kings 8:45; 1 Kings 8:52)
Cry of joy or sorrow (1 Kings 8:28; 1 Kings 8:52)
Clearly, we see the intense emotion of Solomon in his prayer. All of the emotion leads us to the essence of his prayer, which is these two very important realities:
Humanity has a pattern of waywardness
God's pattern is steadfast covenant commitment and grace
Anticipating Human Failures
Throughout this prayer, King Solomon seems to anticipate all the ways the people of God could (and would) sin and wander away from Him. (1 Kings 8:31-51) Solomon's prayer can be broken down into seven specific petitions, and in each of these instances we see the propensity and pattern of Israel turning away from the Lord.
Solomon, however, reminds the people that even in the midst of their unfaithfulness God would remain faithful for all those who would repent and turn towards Him. Solomon describes this when he refers to the "covenant of love" (1 Kings 8:23), which in Hebrew is the word "Hesed" and refers to the loyalty or unbroken nature of God's covenant. A more literal translation of this Hebrew word is "steadfast" — the steadfast love of God.
The Prayer's Powerful Framework
The ending of the prayer (1 Kings 8:52-54) is as important as the beginning. (1 Kings 8:23) King Solomon begins by declaring the covenant-keeping character of God based on the promise God made to David and ends by referencing the covenant promises that God made with Moses. (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6)
It's impossible to leave this chapter without a deep sense of hope and gratitude towards God. It's even more important for us to realize that the story of the Israelites is our story. We are prone to the same pattern of wayward living. However, God is the same yesterday as He is today. Solomon's prayer is applicable to us and reminds us that God will maintain and follow through on His steadfast covenant commitment if His people would turn away from their sin and towards God.
Turning Toward God
The importance of "turning towards" God is seen in this prayer as Solomon tells the Israelites to "pray toward" the temple and "turn from" sin (1 Kings 8:35), reinforcing with imagery how important it is to set our gaze towards God. It is crucial for the believer to have a heart that is bent towards and inclined to affections for the Lord.
The Israelites in 1 Kings 8 lived under the rule and reign of a lesser king who would ultimately fail them and go astray himself. The hope we have today is that the covenant is fully realized and finds its completion in the finished work of the better king, Jesus. Through His victory over sin, we can live under the perfect kingship and steadfast love of Jesus for all that would turn towards Him.
Deeper Dive
All of Scripture is an anticipation for the coming of Jesus and His kingdom. The beauty of Scripture is seeing how the will and desire of God for reconciliation and unity among the nations is weaved throughout all of the Bible. For instance, one of the petitions we find in Solomon's prayer is a petition for "the foreigner." All the way back in 1 Kings 8 we see God's greater redemptive plan to save and rescue both Jew and Gentile. I love the reasoning that Solomon gives as he says, "for they will hear of your great name" (1 Kings 8:42a).
How would they hear of the great name of the Lord? They would hear it through God's people who would be a witness to all of humanity. Jesus describes something very similar in Matthew 5:14-16 as He describes the people of God as a city on a hill. What a glorious privilege and responsibility for us today, to make known the great name of our Lord!
A beautiful post. I love the word steadfast; one of those terms with such deep and ancient meaning that would be good if it was used more frequently today.
Your post also got me thinking about how we often think of a promise or covenant as the thing between two or more people, or in this case, between humans and God. But there is also something about our purpose in life to become people of promise, of covenant, that these are not just external devices that are broken or upheld. Our journey is meant to be one where we more and more live this promise and covenant and have it be everything we are.