The Leprous House

The Kingdom of God was at its greatest during the reigns of David and Solomon, and the forty year reign of Solomon in peace from the surrounding nations pointed forward to the reign of the Greater than Solomon who will soon return to sit upon the throne of the restored and expanded Kingdom of his Father.

Solomon's Plague

But the reign of Solomon was also the beginning of the problems for Israel, for Solomon had many strange (foreign) wives that took him away from the worship of the one true God, but it was also a punishment for David's adultery with Bathsheba. The start of Solomon's reign saw the building of the temple in Jerusalem, that David had gathered many of the materials in preparation for, and its dedication by Solomon. In the inaugural prayer that was offered by Solomon he said (1 Kings 8:38-39) "What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house; Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men)". So Solomon prayed for forgiveness for those of the people that recognised and repented of the "plague of their own heart", but in later years was not able to recognise the plague that was in his heart.

What could be described as the "plague of the heart"? With a moments thought for those who know their Bibles it is fairly obvious, "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). Note the language that is used, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is the key phrase. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders" was the way that Jesus put it in Mark 7:21, but check the full passage from verse 18 to verse 23.

After Solomon's prayer of dedication Yahweh appeared unto him by night as recorded in 2 Chronicles 7:12 and promised that Solomon's prayer had been heard. Just as Solomon's prayer had been heard then so was the promise; that when Yahweh's people turned from worshipping Him to worshipping other gods and subsequently repented of the evil they had done when they were punished, and turning back to the one true God then their prayer would also be heard and answered (vv. 14-16). But if they repented not then the consequences described in vv. 19-22 would result in their removal from Yahweh's land. From the history of the nation it is obvious that Israel were disobedient and did not turn back to their God when they were punished and warned of impending destruction, though Yahweh in love for His people warned them frequently "rising up early and sending" the prophets unto them. Yahweh kept His promise for He is faithful, unlike Israel who suffered for their wickedness and hard heartedness. So the plague that was started during the reign of Solomon continued throughout the history of both Israel and Judah, until the nation was removed from God's land by Nebuchadnezzar and never had another king to reign over them. In fact they strayed so far from their King that they eventually said "we have no king but Caesar".