1 Kings 8:31

31 [If] a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house,

1 Kings 8:31 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:31

If any man trespass against his neighbour
By being unfaithful in a trust committed to him, or the like:

and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear;
he denying that ever anything was committed to his trust, and there being no witnesses of it, the judge obliges him to take an oath he never had any:

and the oath come before thine altar in this house;
where it was taken, as in the presence of God, and as appealing to him: hence in corrupt times they came to swear by the altar, ( Matthew 23:20 ) and so the Heathens used to take their oaths in the temples of their gods, and at their altars, as the instances of Callicrates ^F3 and Hannibal ^F4 show, and others Grotius refers to; yea, they also laid hold on the altar, at least touched it when they swore ^F5 to give the greater sanction to the oath.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Cornel. Nep. Vit. Dion. l. 10. c. 8.
F4 Ib. Hannibal. l. 23. c. 2.
F5 Vid. Lydii Dissert de Jurament. c. 4. sect. 7.

1 Kings 8:31 In-Context

29 so that your eyes [will] be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, 'My name will be there,' to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

30 You must listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel which they pray [toward] this place; and you must hear from the place where you live, from heaven you must hear and you must forgive.

31 [If] a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house,

32 then you shall hear in heaven and you shall act and you shall judge your servant, to declare the wicked guilty by bringing his way upon his head and {to declare the righteous innocent} by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

33 When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy {because} they sinned against you, and [when] they turn to you and confess your name and pray and beg for mercy from you in this house,