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An aspect of particular interest in the prayer with which Solomon dedicates the Temple is his plea in behalf of the stranger. Specifically, Solomon asks God to hear the prayers of the stranger also,
… when he shall come out of a far country for Thy name's sake—for they shall hear of Thy greatness … and do according to all that the stranger called to Thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee, as doth Thy people Israel, and that they may know Thy name is called upon this house which I have built.
The first mention of the stranger in the quotations given above seems to refer to the proselyte. The second time, Solomon, wants all the peoples of the earth to acknowledge God's greatness. The motive here is a narcissistic one, as the italicized words in the verse quoted make clear. Solomon wants to share in God's omnipotence. He wants to prove to the whole world that the God whose name is associated with the Temple which the king has built, is the most powerful God of all.
Solomon's attitude to the stranger, then, may be a wish to extend the sphere of his own influence, as well as that of God's. This motivation may have been a significant aspect of Solomon's cosmopolitanism. It seems that the son of David needed a larger stage upon which to portray his greatness and his glory.
While David too was friendly with strangers and could maintain a good neighbor policy if he so desired, his deepest feelings were centered in his own land and his own people. Solomon's cosmopolitanism could be understood psychoanalytically as an extension of his own ego