2 Chronicles 7

The Shekinah Glory

1 ¹Now when Solomon had finished praying, ²fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

2 ³The priests could not enter into the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD'S house.

3 All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the LORD, saying, "⁴Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting."

Sacrifices Offered

4 ⁵Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD.

5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 * * oxen and 120,000 * * sheep. Thus the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

6 The priests stood at their posts, and ⁶the Levites also, with the instruments of music to the LORD, which King David had made for giving praise to the LORD -"for His lovingkindness is everlasting "-whenever he gave praise by their means, while ⁷the priests on the other side blew trumpets; and all Israel was standing.

7 ⁸Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to contain the burnt offering, the grain offering and the fat.

The Feast of Dedication

8 So ⁹Solomon observed the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly who came from the entrance of Hamath to the ¹⁰brook of Egypt.

9 On the eighth day they held ¹¹a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar they observed seven days and the feast seven days.

10 Then on the twenty-third * day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, rejoicing and happy of heart because of the goodness that the LORD had shown to David and to Solomon and to His people Israel.

God's Promise and Warning

11 ¹²Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned * * on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace.

12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and ¹³have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

13 "¹⁴If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,

14 ¹⁵and 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, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

15 "¹⁶Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

16 "For ¹⁷now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever *, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually *.

17 "As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,

18 then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, '¹⁸You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.'

19 "¹⁹But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

20 ²⁰then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it ²¹a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

21 "As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, '²²Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'

22 "And they will say, 'Because * ²³they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore * He has brought all this adversity on them.' "

2 Chronicles 7 Commentary

Chapter 7

God's answer to Solomon's prayer.

- God gave a gracious answer to Solomon's prayer. The mercies of God to sinners are made known in a manner well suited to impress all who receive them, with his majesty and holiness. The people worshipped and praised God. When he manifests himself as a consuming Fire to sinners, his people can rejoice in him as their Light. Nay, they had reason to say, that God was good in this. It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, but the sacrifice in our stead, for which we should be very thankful. And whoever beholds with true faith, the Saviour agonizing and dying for man's sin, will, by that view, find his godly sorrow enlarged, his hatred of sin increased, his soul made more watchful, and his life more holy. Solomon prosperously effected all he designed, for adorning both God's house and his own. Those who begin with the service of God, are likely to go on successfully in their own affairs. It was Solomon's praise, that what he undertook, he went through with; it was by the grace of God that he prospered in it. Let us then stand in awe, and sin not. Let us fear the Lord's displeasure, hope in his mercy, and walk in his commandments.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 8:54
• 2. Leviticus 9:23; 1 Kings 18:24, 38
• 3. 2 Chronicles 5:14
• 4. 2 Chronicles 5:13; 2 Chronicles 20:21
• 5. 1 Kings 8:62, 63
• 6. 1 Chronicles 15:16-21
• 7. 2 Chronicles 5:12
• 8. 1 Kings 8:64-66
• 9. 1 Kings 8:65
• 10. Genesis 15:18
• 11. Leviticus 23:36
• 12. 1 Kings 9:1-9
• 13. Deuteronomy 12:5, 11
• 14. 2 Chronicles 6:26-28
• 15. 2 Chronicles 6:37-39; James 4:10
• 16. 2 Chronicles 6:20, 40
• 17. 2 Chronicles 7:12
• 18. 1 Kings 2:4; 2 Chronicles 6:16
• 19. Leviticus 26:14, 33; Deuteronomy 28:15
• 20. Deuteronomy 29:28; 1 Kings 14:15
• 21. Deuteronomy 28:37
• 22. Deuteronomy 29:24-27
• 23. Judges 2:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "David"
• [b]. Lit "hand"
• [c]. Lit "came upon the heart of Solomon to do"
• [d]. Lit "over whom My name is called"
• [e]. Lit "prayer of this place"
• [f]. Lit "There shall not be cut off to you a man"
• [g]. Ancient versions and Heb read "them"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 7

In this chapter is an account of the Lord's acceptance of the sacrifices offered at the dedication of the temple by fire, to the great surprise and encouragement of the people, 2Ch 7:1-7, and of the feast kept on that account, and the feast of tabernacles, 2Ch 7:8-12, and of the Lord's appearance to Solomon, giving an answer to his prayer, 2Ch 7:13-22.