1 Kings 8:35

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray towards this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:

1 Kings 8:35 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:35

When heaven is shut up
As it may be said to be when the air is quite serene, and not a cloud in it:

and there is no rain;
in its season, neither the former nor the latter, as it was in the times of Elijah:

because they have sinned against thee;
want of rain was threatened in case of sin, and was always the effect of it, ( Leviticus 26:19 Leviticus 26:20 ) ( Deuteronomy 28:23 Deuteronomy 28:24 ) ,

if they pray towards this place;
in any part of the country where they were; for it sometimes rained on one city, and not on another, ( Amos 4:7 )

and confess thy name;
own his power and his providence, and the justness of his dealings with them:

and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them;
their affliction being made useful, to bring them to a sense of their sin, and to repentance for it, and reformation from it; or, "when thou hearest" or "answerest them" ^F7; so the Targum, receives their prayer; thus the goodness of God leads to repentance.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 (Mnet yk) "cum exaudieris eos", Vatablus.

1 Kings 8:35 In-Context

33 When thy people Israel shall be smitten before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication to thee in this house:

34 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gavest to their fathers.

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray towards this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:

36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou mayest teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

37 If there shall be in the land famine, if there shall be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, [or] if there shall be caterpillar; if their enemy shall besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness [there shall be];