Chapter Six

The dedication of the temple (continuation)

(Cf. 1 Kgs 8:12-53)

1–11. Solomon’s speech to the people. 12–42. Solomon’s prayer before the altar.

2 Chronicles 6:1. Then Solomon said: The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness, 2 Chronicles 6:2. but I have built a house of habitation for you, [O Holy One,] a place for your dwelling forever. Cf. (1 Kgs 8:12-13) and the commentaries in the “Explanatory Bible”, II, 401.

2 Chronicles 6:3. And the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, – and all the assembly of Israel stood, – 2 Chronicles 6:4. and he said: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke to David my father, and with his own hand has fulfilled it, saying: 2 Chronicles 6:5. “Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man to be a ruler over my people Israel; 2 Chronicles 6:6. but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel. 2 Chronicles 6:7. Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 6:8. But the Lord said to David my father: “It is true that it is in your heart to build a house for my name; you did well in having this in your heart. 2 Chronicles 6:9. Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you, he shall build the house for my name. 2 Chronicles 6:10. And the Lord has fulfilled his word that he spoke: I have risen in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 6:11. And I have set the ark there, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel. Cf. the commentaries on verses 14–21 in the “Explanatory Bible”, II, 401–402. In verses 5 and 6 the words of Jehovah: “and I chose no man to be a ruler over my people Israel, but I have chosen Jerusalem” are not found in 3 Kings according to the Hebrew text; only according to the LXX text, the Slavonic and Russian versions is the name Jerusalem found there as well. Apparently the priority in this case belongs to 3 Kings. The connection of this passage to the promise and law of Jehovah concerning the unity of the place of worship is undoubted (Deut 12:13-14), and there this place, then still unknown to the Hebrews, is not named.

2 Chronicles 6:12. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands, – 2 Chronicles 6:13. for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long and five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, – Cf. (1 Kgs 8:22-23). In 3 Kings there is no mention of a “bronze platform” (kiyyor-nechoshet, βάσις χαλκή, basis aenea, Slavonic: “a bronze stand”), as a specially royal place in Solomon’s temple. Yet such a royal place undoubtedly existed in this temple, according to the testimony of (2 Kgs 11:14), where it is called according to the Hebrew text ammud, “a pillar”; it was located at the eastern, so-called “royal” (1 Chr 9:18), probably because the king entered the temple by these gates, and the very place for the king, or the platform, was located near these gates. The dimensions of the place are given in 1 Chronicles exactly: length and width of 5 cubits each (about 3 yards and 17 inches), height of 3 cubits (2 yards and 10 inches); cf. “Explanatory Bible”, II, pp. 402 and 568; cf. Prof. Olesnitsky, The Old Testament Temple, pp. 36 and 355. According to rabbinic testimonies, the king never sat in the temple during worship, and on his platform either stood, or knelt, or lay prostrate. Migne, Scripturae Sacrae Cursus Completus, vol. XI, p. 117.

2 Chronicles 6:14. and said: O Lord, God of Israel! There is no God like you, in heaven or on earth. You keep the covenant and show steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart: 2 Chronicles 6:15. You have fulfilled to your servant David my father what you promised him. By your mouth you spoke it, and with your hand you have brought it to pass today. 2 Chronicles 6:16. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying: “There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children keep their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me. 2 Chronicles 6:17. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David. Cf. (1 Kgs 8:23-26). In verse (2 Chr 6:14) the expressions “above” and “below” used in (1 Kgs 8:23) are omitted. In verse (2 Chr 6:16) stands the expression “in my law” (Hebrew: betorati, “in my law”), instead of the corresponding expression in (1 Kgs 8:25): “before me.”

2 Chronicles 6:18. But will God indeed dwell with people on the earth? If heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 2 Chronicles 6:19. Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, hearing the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you. 2 Chronicles 6:20. Let your eyes be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 2 Chronicles 6:21. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive. Cf. (1 Kgs 8:27-30).

2 Chronicles 6:22. If someone sins against another and is required to take an oath and comes and swears before your altar in this house, 2 Chronicles 6:23. then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct down on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. 2 Chronicles 6:24. If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 2 Chronicles 6:25. then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers. 2 Chronicles 6:26. When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, because you have humbled them, 2 Chronicles 6:27. then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance. 2 Chronicles 6:28. If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locusts or caterpillars, or if enemies of the land besiege the cities of the land, – or any plague or disease, – 2 Chronicles 6:29. whatever prayer or plea is made by anyone among all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and spreading out his hands toward this house, 2 Chronicles 6:30. then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart you know, – for you alone know the hearts of mankind, – 2 Chronicles 6:31. that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. 2 Chronicles 6:32. Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, 2 Chronicles 6:33. then hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, and do all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built. 2 Chronicles 6:34. If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you, turning toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 2 Chronicles 6:35. then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause. Cf. (1 Kgs 8:31-45). Remarks about Solomon’s prayer, its character and the meaning of its individual petitions, see in the “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, pp. 403–404.

2 Chronicles 6:36. If they sin against you – for there is no one who does not sin – and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that the enemy carries them captive to a land far off or near; 2 Chronicles 6:37. yet if they come to themselves in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying: “We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly; 2 Chronicles 6:38. and turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity to which they have been taken captive, and pray, turning toward their land that you gave to their fathers, toward the city that you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name, – 2 Chronicles 6:39. then hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Cf. the commentaries on (1 Kgs 8:46-50), “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, p. 405.

2 Chronicles 6:41. And now, O Lord God, arise to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness. 2 Chronicles 6:42. O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one; remember your steadfast love for David your servant. These last two verses of Solomon’s prayer are not found in 3 Kings, but have a close, partly literal resemblance to the words of the psalm (Ps 131:8-10). Cf. “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, p. 405.