Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 8:35
When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
35. When heaven is shut up ] The king next intreats against a plague of drought. This also had been proclaimed in the Pentateuch as one of God’s methods of discipline and punishment. So Deu 11:17 the people are warned to beware of sin lest the Lord shut up the heaven that there be no rain; and in Deuteronomy (Deu 28:23) and Leviticus (Lev 26:19) the striking phrase is used ‘I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 35. When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain] The THIRD case. When, because of their sin, and their ceasing to walk in the good way in which they should have walked, God refuses to send the early and latter rain, so that the appointed weeks of harvest come in vain, as there is no crop: then, if they pray and confess their sin, hear thou in heaven, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Heaven; the lower heaven, in which the clouds are; as Deu 11:17; Psa 147:8.
Is shut up; the heaven is compared to a great store-house in Gods keeping, out of which nothing can be had so long as it is close shut up.
If they turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them; do not reject their prayers, because they are forced from them by their afflictions, as thou mayest justly do.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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, Le 26:19,
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, Am 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” g; so the Targum, receives their prayer; thus the goodness of God leads to repentance.
g “cum exaudieris eos”, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(35, 36) When heaven is shut up.Next, Solomon dwells on the plague of famine, from rain withheld, by which, in the striking language of the Law (Lev. 26:19; Deu. 28:23-24), the heaven should be as brass, and the earth as iron, and all vegetation perish from the parched land of Palestine, as now it seems actually to have failed in many places once fertile. In such plague he acknowledges the chastisement of God, sent to teach Israel the right way, and then to be withdrawn in mercy. The whole history of the famine in the days of Elijah is in all parts a striking commentary on this clause of the prayer.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Ki 8:35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
Ver. 35. When heaven is shut up. ] These bottles of the sky stopped.
And confess thy name.
When thou aflictest them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
When heaven is shut up. Compare Lev 26:19. Deu 11:17. Compare Ch. 1Ki 17:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
heaven: 1Ki 17:1, Lev 26:19, Deu 11:17, Deu 28:12, Deu 28:23, Deu 28:24, 2Sa 24:13, Jer 14:1-7, Eze 14:13, Mal 3:10, Luk 4:25, Rev 11:6
if they pray: 1Ki 8:33, 2Ch 6:24, 2Ch 6:26, Rom 10:9, Rom 15:9
confess: 1Ki 8:29, 1Ki 8:30, Joe 1:13-20, Joe 2:15-17
and turn: 1Ki 8:33, Isa 1:15, Isa 1:16, Isa 9:13, Eze 18:30-32, Hos 14:1
Reciprocal: 2Ch 6:27 – when thou hast 2Ch 7:16 – my name Job 12:15 – Behold Psa 5:7 – I worship Amo 4:7 – I have Hag 1:10 – General Zec 14:17 – even
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 8:35. When heaven is shut up The lower or aerial heaven, in which the clouds are. This is compared to a great storehouse in Gods keeping, out of which nothing can be obtained so long as it is close shut up. And as he is said to bring the wind, (Psa 135:7,) so the rain, out of this treasury.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:35 When heaven is {n} shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
(n) So that there is a drought to destroy the fruit of the land.