Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 8:41-43

"Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name`s sake (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thine outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calleth to thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by my name." — 1 Kings 8:41-43 (ASV)

Moreover, concerning a stranger. —These verses, in a striking digression (perhaps suggested by the general acknowledgment in the previous verse of God’s knowledge of every human heart), interpose in the series of references to Israel a prayer for the acceptance of the prayer of the “stranger” who would come from a distant land to confess the Lord Jehovah, and to pray toward this house.

Such recognition of the stranger—not as an enemy or even a complete alien, but as in some sense capable of communion with the true God—was especially natural for Solomon. This was true, first, because in his days many strangers came from distant lands, drawn by the fame of his wisdom and magnificence, so that the old exclusiveness of the Israelites must have been greatly broken down. Second, the character of the thought and writing of his age, searching (as in the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes) into the great religious problems that belong to man as man, naturally led to that wider view of the kingdom of God over all nations, which is worked out so strikingly in the writings of the prophets.

That the case contemplated is probably not imaginary is shown by the examples of King Hiram and the Queen of Sheba.

Admiration of the glory of Israel would lead inevitably to some belief in, and “fear” of, the God of Israel. It might well go on to the further result contemplated here: a fuller acknowledgment of the Lord Jehovah and of the sacredness of the worship of His appointed Temple, which would silently influence all the religions of the East.

This was expressly provided for in the Law (Numbers 15:14–16). In spite of the greater exclusiveness of the ages after the Captivity, Gentile princes were often allowed to offer in the Temple.

This recognition of the stranger from a distant land is different from the frequent recognition of the resident stranger within their gates, as being under the protection of God and to be loved by those who had been strangers in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:18–19). But, like that recognition, it nobly distinguished the Law of Israel from most ancient codes.

It stood out as a striking, though often unheeded, protest against the hard exclusiveness of the Jewish temper. It was a tacit anticipation of the future gathering in of all nations to enjoy the blessing which was from the beginning expressly destined for all families of the earth.