1 Kings 8:31-32 also records this request.
We wrong others, and we show random acts of kindness. Yet we wrong neighbors more than we are kind to them. This is human fallen nature. Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan has three men who are wronged, one who is kind, and one who is paid to help someone wronged. No one admitted they were wrong.
The Lord knows our fallen heart. So he created laws to show us the way of righteousness and justice (Exodus 22:10-11; Lev. 6:1-5). The Israelites were to swear before the Lord their innocence. These protected the innocent.
The temple was the place where the Israelites were to take an oath (22). The priest would hear them. The Lord would hear, judge, and act (23). The guilty would suffer the consequences of his act, “bringing down on his own head what he has done.” (23)
Now I am the temple of the Lord for the Spirit of God dwells in me. Every morning I seek quiet time with the Lord in his temple. I ask the Spirit to reveal his work in his temple during the last 24 hours and my actions towards others with his temple in the past 24 hours. This is the New Covenant’s way of taking an oath before the Lord’s altar in his temple.
