2 Chronicles 7 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

2 Chronicles 7

Fire from Heaven

7:1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The Dedication of the Temple

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD. 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD that King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry;¹ opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.

7 And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

8 At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity² that the LORD had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

If My People Pray

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

19 “But if you³ turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you⁴ up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Footnotes

[1] 7:6 Hebrew by their hand
[2] 7:10 Or good
[3] 7:19 The Hebrew for you is plural here
[4] 7:20 Hebrew them; twice in this verse

Commentary

v1-2: Another sign of God's approval, as in 5.13-14. Fire from Heaven and the glory of God.

v3-6: The people responded in praise to God; they bowed their faces to the ground and worshipped God.

They offered sacrifices, as God had laid down in the Law. Their worship also included music, which David had promoted; their instruments were used specifically for worship of God. The people, seeing and listening, stood attentively.

v7: Although the altar was huge, it was not large enough for all the offerings.

v8-10: The Feast of Tabernacles followed the dedication of the altar.

v11-12: Solomon's prayers were answered; "I have heard your prayer." God had demonstrated His approval, but here He also told Solomon. Such is God's grace that He should bless an imperfect people.

v13: The disasters that would befall Israel would come from the hand of God, and then there was an opportunity for respite and deliverance. Today’s enjoyment of God’s blessing would not continue.

v14: The prayer to God had to include genuine repentance; the people must humble themselves, pray and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, and then God would answer, and heal their land. This scripture is one of those frequently wrenched from its context.

v15: "This place", chosen and honoured by God. For us, Jesus Christ is chosen and honoured by God, John 16.33.

v16: There were promises "for ever", an ongoing future blessing, not dependent on Israel itself. It was this promise that Daniel knew, see Dan 6.10.

v17-18: The condition of blessing was personal obedience to God. God had great things in store for His people, but they would miss out on blessing if they were disobedient.

v19-22: The temple was a sign of God's faithfulness. It would be a witness against the people if they turned from the Lord God; this would still demonstrate His faithfulness, but would also testify to their folly, in turning from the True and Living God. Although they would become faithless, He would not deny Himself, see 2 Tim 2.12-13.

Rom 2.24 indicates that such judgments did fall upon Israel; such disobedience also brings dishonour to the Name of God.