In the first of what I'm sure will be many digressions, I've widened my focus to the chapter that surrounds this verse - an account of the completion of Solomon's temple and the dedicatory prayer that Solomon offers. Though it doesn't strictly deal with angels, it does raise a question which bears directly upon the topic. What is the role played by intermediaries between ourselves and God? In this case the intermediary is the temple itself.
Solomon's temple, like LDS temple's today, was termed a house of God - in Solomon's words "an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever" (v. 13). Not that Solomon pictured God's continuous physical presence, for his "dwelling place" is heaven (v. 30, 34, 36, 39, 43, 45,), and his extended influence, the Holy Spirit that emanates from Him, which is at times termed His presence as well, cannot be contained by heaven or the heaven of heavens (v. 27). The temple is, however, a place that in a very particular way bears the name of the Lord (v. 17, v. 29). At its completion "the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord" as if it were a cloud (v. 11). Solomon's prayer also envisions the temple as a place where God's eyes would be "open towards this house day and night" (v. 29).
The special attention given to the temple by God is conceived in terms of spiritual communication as prayer and response. Solomon pictures a prayer uttered in the temple (v. 31-2, 33) or even towards the temple (v. 29, 30, 35, 38, 42, 44, 48) being heard and responded to. How are we to consider the role of the temple in prayers of this type? In the Davidic Kingdom did God listen to prayers uttered in or towards the temple in a different way than those that were not?
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