2 Chronicles 7

The Dedication of the Temple

1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

2 The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it.

3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.

5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.

6 The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the LORD’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the LORD and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.

8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.

9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more.

10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the LORD had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.

The LORD Appears to Solomon

11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace,

12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws,

18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’

19 “But if you^[a] turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you^[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them,

20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.

21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All^[c] who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster 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. S Exodus 19:18; S Leviticus 9:24; S 1 Kings 18:38
• 2. S Exodus 16:10
• 3. Psalms 26:8
• 4. S 1 Kings 8:11
• 5. S Exodus 29:43; S Exodus 40:35; 2 Chronicles 5:14
• 6. S 1 Chronicles 16:34; 2 Chronicles 5:13; 2 Chronicles 20:21; Ezra 3:11
• 7. 1 Chronicles 15:16
• 8. S 1 Chronicles 15:24; 2 Chronicles 5:12
• 9. S Exodus 29:13
• 10. 2 Chronicles 30:26; Nehemiah 8:17
• 11. S 1 Chronicles 9:1
• 12. S Numbers 13:21
• 13. S Genesis 15:18
• 14. 2 Chronicles 30:23
• 15. S Leviticus 23:36
• 16. S 1 Chronicles 28:20
• 17. 2 Chronicles 1:7
• 18. Deuteronomy 12:11
• 19. S Deuteronomy 12:5
• 20. S Deuteronomy 11:17; 2 Chronicles 6:26-28; Amos 4:7
• 21. S Numbers 6:27
• 22. S Exodus 10:3; S Leviticus 26:41; S 2 Chronicles 6:37; James 4:10
• 23. S 1 Chronicles 16:11
• 24. S 2 Kings 17:13; Isaiah 55:7; Ezekiel 18:32; Zechariah 1:4
• 25. S 2 Chronicles 6:20
• 26. S 2 Chronicles 6:27
• 27. S Exodus 15:26; 2 Chronicles 30:20; Psalms 60:2; Isaiah 30:26; Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 57:18; Jeremiah 33:6; Malachi 4:2
• 28. S 1 Kings 8:29; S 2 Chronicles 6:40; Nehemiah 1:6
• 29. ver 12; S Deuteronomy 12:5; 2 Chronicles 33:7; 2 Chronicles 6:6
• 30. S 1 Kings 9:4
• 31. S Leviticus 19:37
• 32. Isaiah 9:7; Jeremiah 33:17,21
• 33. S 1 Chronicles 5:2; Isaiah 55:4; Micah 5:2; 2 Chronicles 6:16
• 34. S 2 Samuel 7:13; S 1 Chronicles 17:12; 2 Chronicles 13:5; 2 Chronicles 23:3
• 35. S Deuteronomy 28:15
• 36. Leviticus 26:14,33; S 1 Chronicles 28:9; 2 Chronicles 12:1; 2 Chronicles 24:18; Jeremiah 9:13; Jeremiah 11:8
• 37. S Deuteronomy 29:28
• 38. 1 Kings 14:15; Jeremiah 12:14; Jeremiah 16:13; Jeremiah 50:11
• 39. S Deuteronomy 28:37
• 40. Jeremiah 19:8
• 41. Deuteronomy 29:24
• 42. Jeremiah 16:11

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew is plural.
• [b]. The Hebrew is plural.
• [c]. See some Septuagint manuscripts, Old Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Targum; Hebrew "And though this temple is now so imposing, all"

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.