Chapter Seven

(Cf. 1 Kgs 8:54; 1 Kgs 9:1-9)

1–11. The concluding moment of the dedication of the temple – sacrifices and the feast of the people. 12–22. A solemn warning received by Solomon in a vision that appeared to him.

2 Chronicles 7:1. 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 house. 2 Chronicles 7:2. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 2 Chronicles 7:3. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the house, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the floor, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying: “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Having mentioned the end of Solomon’s prayer (verse 1) (cf. (1 Kgs 8:54)), 2 Chronicles omits the speech of Solomon’s blessing to the people (1 Kgs 8:54-61), but instead notes the miracle not mentioned in 3 Kings of the sending down of fire from heaven upon Solomon’s sacrifices: this miraculous manifestation, both in character and in significance, is entirely identical to the one that took place in Moses’ tabernacle at Aaron’s offering of the first sacrifices in it (Lev 9:24, see commentaries in “Explanatory Bible”, vol. I, p. 436), that is, it pointed to the acceptability of Solomon’s and the people’s sacrifices (cf. Judg 6:20-21; 1 Kgs 18:38; 1 Chr 21:26), as did the filling of the temple with cloud (cf. 1 Kgs 8:10-11), it was a symbol of God’s presence in it (cf. Exod 40:34; Exod 14:19-20; Exod 24:15-17; Exod 33:9).

2 Chronicles 7:4. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. 2 Chronicles 7:5. King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 2 Chronicles 7:6. The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving praise to the Lord – for his steadfast love endures forever – whenever David offered praises through them; the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. 2 Chronicles 7:7. Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat. 2 Chronicles 7:8. At that time Solomon held the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt; 2 Chronicles 7:9. and on the eighth day he held a solemn assembly, for they had observed the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. 2 Chronicles 7:10. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month the king sent the people home to their tents, rejoicing and glad in heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people. Cf. (1 Kgs 8:62-66), “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, pp. 407–408. Verse 6 has no parallel in the Third Book of Kings; with respect to the detail in describing the ceremonial aspect of the dedication of the temple, as well as the priestly and Levitical personnel, the account in 2 Chronicles draws near to the account (Ezra 3:10-12) of the laying of the foundation of the second Jerusalem Temple and (Ezra 6:16-20) – of the dedication of this latter. See also (Ps 135:3).

2 Chronicles 7:11. Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 2 Chronicles 7:12. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 2 Chronicles 7:13. If 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, 2 Chronicles 7:14. if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:15. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:16. 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. 2 Chronicles 7:17. As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my laws, 2 Chronicles 7:18. then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying: “There shall not fail you a man to rule Israel. 2 Chronicles 7:19. But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 2 Chronicles 7:20. then I will pluck you up by the roots from my land that I have given you, and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 2 Chronicles 7:21. And regarding this house – though it is exalted – everyone passing by will be astonished and ask: “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this land and with this house? 2 Chronicles 7:22. And they will say: “Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped and served them – for this reason he has brought all this calamity upon them. Cf. (1 Kgs 9:1-9), see “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, pp. 408–409.