hitherto proved Himself to be the true and only God in heaven and on earth, who keepeth covenant and mercy with those who walk before Him with all their heart. This acknowledgment provides the requisite confidence for offering the prayer which is sure of an answer (Mat 21:22; Mar 11:24; Jam 1:6). For אל אין־כּמוך, compare Exo 15:11 with Deu 4:39; 2Sa 7:22; 2Sa 22:32; Psa 86:8. “Who keepeth covenant and mercy,” verbatim the same as in Deu 7:9. The promise given to His servant David (2 Sam 7), ), the fulfilment of which the commencement now lay before their eyes (cf. 1Ki 8:20, 1Ki 8:21), was an emanation from the covenant faithfulness of God. “As it is this day,” as in 1Ki 3:6.
Verse 25
The expression “and now” (ועתּה) introduces the prayer for the further fulfilment of the promise, never to allow a successor upon the throne to be wanting to David, in the same conditional form in which David had uttered the hope in 1Ki 2:4, and in which the Lord had renewed the promise to Solomon during the building of the temple (1Ki 6:12-13). In על־כּסּא ישׁב מלּפני, instead of כּסּא מעל in 1Ki 2:4, the divine rejection is more distinctly indicated.
Verse 26
1Ki 8:26 1Ki 8:26 is not merely a repetition of the prayer in 1Ki 8:25, as Thenius supposes, but forms the introduction to the prayers which follow for the hearing of all the prayer presented before the Lord in the temple. The words, “let Thy words be verified, which Thou spakest unto Thy servant David,” contain something more than a prayer for the continual preservation of the descendants of David upon the throne, for the fulfilment of which Solomon prayed in 1Ki 8:25. They refer to the whole of the promise in 2Sa 7:12-16. The plural דּבריך (Chethîb) points back to כּל־הדּברים in 2Sa 7:17, and is not to be altered into the singular after the Keri. The singular יאמן is used as it frequently is with the subject in the plural, when the verb precedes (cf. Ewald. §316, a., 1). Solomon has here in mind one particular point in the promise, viz., that God would not withdraw His mercy from the seed of David, even when it sinned. This is evident from what follows, where he mentions simply cases of transgression, and prays that they may be forgiven.
Verses 27-28
1Ki 8:27-28 1Ki 8:26 are closely connected in this sense: keep Thy words that were spoken to David; for although this temple cannot hold Thine infinite divine nature, I know that Thou wilt have respect to the prayer of Thy servant, to keep Thine eyes open over this temple, to hear every prayer which
