2 Chronicles 5:2 - 7:22 and Psalm 97
In summary:
Solomon shows his wisdom by leading a united Israel in worship of Yahweh.
Solomon shows his wisdom by leading a united Israel in worship of Yahweh.
In more detail:
On the most basic level, notice that Solomon, Yahweh’s anointed, is directing His people in prayer. Even though we assume that Zadoc the priest fulfills an extremely
important function in directing the priests and the sacrifices, the narrator does not even mention him. It is the son of David who directs the united people of God in prayer and who reinforces Yahweh’s covenant with his descendants: “Blessed be the LORD, the God
of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’” (2 Chronicles 6:4-6). “Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father and 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 6:10). “[You] have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day”
(2 Chronicles 6:15).
Far from growing prideful over this privilege, Solomon by wisdom fears Yahweh and recognizes that it is by grace alone that he enjoys the fulfillment of the covenant.
Therefore he prays for its future fulfillment and recognizes the obedience that it requires: “Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David” (2 Chronicles 6:16-17).
By wisdom Solomon recognizes: “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens” (Proverbs 3:19). He is exalted above creation: “Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18) Therefore he realizes the privilege of interacting with Yahweh through prayer because of His grace: “Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you” (2 Chronicles 6:19). And he requests the continuation of this blessing: “…that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place” (2 Chronicles 6:20-21). By wisdom, he recognizes the most severe obstacle that would impede this relationship through prayer, so he requests, “…and when you hear, forgive” (2 Chronicles 6:21).
By wisdom Solomon wants the daily life of his society to reflect Yahweh’s just dominion over all creation. Therefore he reaffirms the integrity of vows declared before His Presence in the temple: “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, then hear from
heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness” (2 Chronicles 6:22-23).
By wisdom Solomon recognizes Yahweh’s devastating holiness that we saw most of all in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and therefore in the fear of Yahweh (which is the beginning of wisdom according to Proverbs 1:7), he devotes most of his prayer to the protection of the people from Yahweh’s holiness and the restoration of the relationship broken by sin. For example: “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 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 6:24-25).
These requests for Yahweh’s response in the midst of national crises are not motivated only by a desire for security and prosperity but also in recognition of their relationship with sin exactly as Yahweh explained in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
For example: “And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze” (Leviticus 26:18-19). “And the
heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed” (Deuteronomy 28:23-24). Therefore Solomon responds by praying, “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, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance” (2 Chronicles 6:26-27). More than a simple desire for protection and prosperity alone, Solomon wants them to be manifestations of a relationship of joyful submission and obedience to Yahweh’s just dominion.
By wisdom, Solomon recognizes that true devotion to Yahweh comes from the heart: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Therefore, he trusts that Yahweh will judge and respond to the requests and thoughts most closely guarded in the hearts of His people: “Whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear from your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, 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 6:29-31).
By wisdom Solomon realizes that Yahweh reigns not only over Israel but also over all nations, and He promised that Abraham would be the means of blessing all of them: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). In agreement with this link with the nations he prays, “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel; comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order 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 this house that I have built is called by your name” (2 Chronicles 6:32-33).
By wisdom Solomon acknowledges the place of Israel’s military in Yahweh’s holy war against His enemies as we studied in the book of Numbers. Therefore he prays, “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause” (2 Chronicles 6:34-35).
And the Chronicler, with his attention on the exiles who centuries later were returning to repopulate and rebuild Jerusalem and its temple over the ruins where Solomon once lifted up this prayer, may have marveled and even trembled as he repeated the words, “If they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas,
and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you” (2 Chronicles 6:38-39).
Solomon finishes his prayer with the same emphasis as the Chronicler’s. First, he observes the priority of the temple in a living relationship with Yahweh: “Now, O my God,
let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place” (2 Chronicles 6:40). Second, he emphasizes the orderly and passionate service to Yahweh directed by the Levites, in particular the priests: “And now arise, O LORD God, and go 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 6:41). Third, that everything be ordered by Yahweh’s anointed from the house of David: “O LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember your steadfast love for David your servant” (2 Chronicles 6:42).
Yahweh’s response confirms that we are at a peak in His relationship with His chosen people: “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 Chronicles 7:1). He replies that, exactly as His just wrath was propitiated and He heard David’s prayer for Jerusalem’s preservation in 1 Chronicles 21 – 22 when the place was simply the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, He will esteem the prayers
lifted and the propitiation performed in the temple: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice” (2 Chronicles 7:12). He also confirms His covenant with the house of David: “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, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel’” (2 Chronicles 7:17-18). There is also a warning – the same holiness, justice and faithfulness that responds to Israel in forgiveness and blessing when they obey Yahweh also will exact a severe punishment if they abandon Him (2 Chronicles 7:19-22). Thus the Chronicler proclaims to his readers who return from the exile and for all time.
On the most basic level, notice that Solomon, Yahweh’s anointed, is directing His people in prayer. Even though we assume that Zadoc the priest fulfills an extremely
important function in directing the priests and the sacrifices, the narrator does not even mention him. It is the son of David who directs the united people of God in prayer and who reinforces Yahweh’s covenant with his descendants: “Blessed be the LORD, the God
of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’” (2 Chronicles 6:4-6). “Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father and 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 6:10). “[You] have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day”
(2 Chronicles 6:15).
Far from growing prideful over this privilege, Solomon by wisdom fears Yahweh and recognizes that it is by grace alone that he enjoys the fulfillment of the covenant.
Therefore he prays for its future fulfillment and recognizes the obedience that it requires: “Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David” (2 Chronicles 6:16-17).
By wisdom Solomon recognizes: “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens” (Proverbs 3:19). He is exalted above creation: “Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18) Therefore he realizes the privilege of interacting with Yahweh through prayer because of His grace: “Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you” (2 Chronicles 6:19). And he requests the continuation of this blessing: “…that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place” (2 Chronicles 6:20-21). By wisdom, he recognizes the most severe obstacle that would impede this relationship through prayer, so he requests, “…and when you hear, forgive” (2 Chronicles 6:21).
By wisdom Solomon wants the daily life of his society to reflect Yahweh’s just dominion over all creation. Therefore he reaffirms the integrity of vows declared before His Presence in the temple: “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, then hear from
heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness” (2 Chronicles 6:22-23).
By wisdom Solomon recognizes Yahweh’s devastating holiness that we saw most of all in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and therefore in the fear of Yahweh (which is the beginning of wisdom according to Proverbs 1:7), he devotes most of his prayer to the protection of the people from Yahweh’s holiness and the restoration of the relationship broken by sin. For example: “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 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 6:24-25).
These requests for Yahweh’s response in the midst of national crises are not motivated only by a desire for security and prosperity but also in recognition of their relationship with sin exactly as Yahweh explained in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
For example: “And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze” (Leviticus 26:18-19). “And the
heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed” (Deuteronomy 28:23-24). Therefore Solomon responds by praying, “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, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance” (2 Chronicles 6:26-27). More than a simple desire for protection and prosperity alone, Solomon wants them to be manifestations of a relationship of joyful submission and obedience to Yahweh’s just dominion.
By wisdom, Solomon recognizes that true devotion to Yahweh comes from the heart: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Therefore, he trusts that Yahweh will judge and respond to the requests and thoughts most closely guarded in the hearts of His people: “Whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear from your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, 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 6:29-31).
By wisdom Solomon realizes that Yahweh reigns not only over Israel but also over all nations, and He promised that Abraham would be the means of blessing all of them: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). In agreement with this link with the nations he prays, “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel; comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order 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 this house that I have built is called by your name” (2 Chronicles 6:32-33).
By wisdom Solomon acknowledges the place of Israel’s military in Yahweh’s holy war against His enemies as we studied in the book of Numbers. Therefore he prays, “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause” (2 Chronicles 6:34-35).
And the Chronicler, with his attention on the exiles who centuries later were returning to repopulate and rebuild Jerusalem and its temple over the ruins where Solomon once lifted up this prayer, may have marveled and even trembled as he repeated the words, “If they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas,
and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you” (2 Chronicles 6:38-39).
Solomon finishes his prayer with the same emphasis as the Chronicler’s. First, he observes the priority of the temple in a living relationship with Yahweh: “Now, O my God,
let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place” (2 Chronicles 6:40). Second, he emphasizes the orderly and passionate service to Yahweh directed by the Levites, in particular the priests: “And now arise, O LORD God, and go 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 6:41). Third, that everything be ordered by Yahweh’s anointed from the house of David: “O LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember your steadfast love for David your servant” (2 Chronicles 6:42).
Yahweh’s response confirms that we are at a peak in His relationship with His chosen people: “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 Chronicles 7:1). He replies that, exactly as His just wrath was propitiated and He heard David’s prayer for Jerusalem’s preservation in 1 Chronicles 21 – 22 when the place was simply the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, He will esteem the prayers
lifted and the propitiation performed in the temple: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice” (2 Chronicles 7:12). He also confirms His covenant with the house of David: “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, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel’” (2 Chronicles 7:17-18). There is also a warning – the same holiness, justice and faithfulness that responds to Israel in forgiveness and blessing when they obey Yahweh also will exact a severe punishment if they abandon Him (2 Chronicles 7:19-22). Thus the Chronicler proclaims to his readers who return from the exile and for all time.