1 Kings 8:35

35 When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

1 Kings 8:35 In-Context

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,
34 then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you shall bring them back to the ground which you gave to their ancestors.
35 When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished them,
36 then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, for you will teach them the good way in which they should go, and you will give rain upon your land which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
37 If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease,
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