2 Chronicles
Chapter 7
Feast
When Solomon had finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices that had been offered, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord’s house because the glory of the Lord filled the house.
All the people of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of God resting on the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord, “for he is good, for his love is everlasting.”
Then the king and all the people offered a sacrifice before the Lord.
King Solomon offered twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep in sacrifice, so the king and all the people dedicated the Lord’s house.
The priests stood in their places, and also the Levites who praised the Lord on the instruments that David had made to accompany the canticles of the Lord, “for his love is everlasting.” They played and sang the hymns of praise that David had composed. The priests sounded the trumpet by their side while all Israel stood.
Solomon consecrated the inside part of the court in front of the Lord’s house. He offered the burnt offering there and the fatty parts of the peace offerings, since Solomon’s bronze altar could not accommodate the burnt offering, grain offering, and fatty parts.
Solomon then celebrated the feast for seven days. Enormous crowds of Israelites gathered together with him from the Pass of Hamath to the border of Egypt.
On the eighth day, they held a closing celebration, for they had been seven days celebrating the dedication of the altar.
On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon dismissed the people who returned to their homes, rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had shown to David, Solomon, and his people Israel.
Solomon finished the Lord’s house and the royal palace and successfully concluded all he had set himself to do in both of them.
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said: “I have heard your prayer. I chose this house where sacrifices are offered.
When I close the skies. There is no rain, when I command the locust to devour the land, when I send an epidemic among my people,
and my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and look for me, and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.
From now on, my eyes are open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
From now on, I have chosen and consecrated this house where my name will be forever. My eyes and my heart will be there forever.
For your part, if you serve me faithfully as David your father did if you do all that I order you and keep my statutes and my ordinances,
I will make your royal throne secure, according to the promise I made to David your father when I said: ‘Israel will always be ruled by one of your descendants.’
But if you turn away from me and forsake the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
then I will cast the Israelites out from the land I have given them. I will reject this house that I have consecrated as the place where my Name would be, so that it may be an example for all the nations.
All those who pass by this place, which is now so exalted, will be astounded. They will whistle and say, ‘Why has the Lord treated this country and this temple like this?’
And the answer will be, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, which they worshiped and served. That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.’”
Commentaries
The Reign of Solomon.
In these chapters, the Chronicler shares his view of Solomon’s reign, based on the account in 1 Kings 1-11. He omits any negative details about the king or anything that contradicts his greatness. He highlights the building of the Temple, dedicating five chapters (2-7) to it. Solomon is shown as the ideal king of Israel, the leader who fulfills David’s dream and God’s plan by constructing the Temple. He is described as the wise king who excels in construction, leadership, and trade. Chapters 1-9 begin (1:14-17) and end (9:1-28) with celebrations of Solomon’s wealth and wisdom.
Dedication of the Temple.
These chapters highlight the theme of the Temple’s dedication, which, from the Chronicler’s perspective, is the central focus of Solomon’s reign. The text elaborates on and modifies the account in 1 Kings 8:1-9:8; in a similar way, the Chronicler aims to align the account in the First Book of Kings with the cultic practices of his own era.
Feast.
In the first part, the Chronicler describes the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple. Following 1 Kings 8:54-66 but adjusting its chronology, he lines up the Dedication with the Feast of Tabernacles (9s). In the second part (11-22), God’s response to Solomon is told. He explains the principle of retribution, which is essential to the Chronicler and will later be applied to other kings of Judah.