II
C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. VII.
In
this chapter we have God's answer to Solomon's prayer. I. His public answer by
fire from heaven, which consumed the sacrifices (ver. 1), with which the
priests and people were much affected, ver. 2, 3. By that token of God's
acceptance they were encouraged to continue the solemnities of the feast for
fourteen days, and Solomon was encouraged to pursue all his designs for the
honour of God, ver. 4-11. II. His private answer by word of mouth, in a dream
or vision of the night, ver. 12-22. Most of these things we had before, 1
Kings viii. and ix.
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God's
Gracious Answer to Solomon.
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B.
C. 1004.
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1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying,
the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the
sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD
filled the house. 2 And the priests could not enter into the house of
the LORD,
because the glory of the LORD
had filled the LORD's house. 3 And when
all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD
upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the
pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD,
saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.
5 And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen,
and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people
dedicated the house of God. 6 And the priests waited on their offices:
the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD,
which David the king had made to praise the LORD,
because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their
ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.
7 Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was
before the house of the LORD:
for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings,
because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the
burnt offerings, and the meat offerings, and the fat. 8 Also at the
same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very
great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt.
9 And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the
dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10 And on
the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into
their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had showed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.
11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD,
and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the
house of the LORD,
and in his own house, he prosperously effected.
Here is, I. The gracious answer which God immediately made to Solomon's
prayer: The fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, v.
1. In this way God testified his acceptance of Moses (Lev. ix. 24), of Gideon
(Judg. vi. 21), of David (1 Chron. xxi. 26), of Elijah (1 Kings xviii. 38);
and, in general, to accept the burnt-sacrifice is, in the Hebrew phrase, to
turn it to ashes, Ps. xx. 3. The fire came down here, not upon the killing of
the sacrifices, but the praying of the prayer.
1. This fire intimated that God was, (1.) Glorious in himself; for our God
is a consuming fire, terrible even in his holy places. This fire, breaking
forth (as it is probable) out of the thick darkness, made it the more
terrible, as on Mount Sinai, Exod. xxiv. 16, 17. The sinners in Sion
had reason to be afraid at that sight, and to say, Who among us
shall dwell near this devouring fire? Isa. xxxiii. 14. And yet, (2.)
Gracious to Israel; for this fire, which might justly have consumed them,
fastened upon the sacrifice which was offered in their stead, and consumed
that, by which God signified to them that he accepted their offerings and that
his anger was turned away from them.
2. Let us apply this, (1.) To the suffering of Christ. When it pleased the
Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief, in that he showed his good-will to
men, having laid on him the iniquity of us all. His death was our life, and he
was made sin and a curse that we might inherit righteousness and a blessing.
That sacrifice was consumed that we might escape. Here am I, let these go
their way. (2.) To the sanctification of the Spirit, who descends like
fire, burning up our lusts and corruptions, those beasts that must be
sacrificed or we are undone, and kindling in our souls a holy fire of pious
and devout affections, always to be kept burning on the altar of the heart.
The surest evidence of God's acceptance of our prayers is the descent of the
holy fire upon us. Did not our hearts burn within us? Luke xxiv. 32. As
a further evidence that God accepted Solomon's prayer, still the glory of
the Lord filled the house. The heart that is thus filled with a holy awe
and reverence of the divine glory, the heart to which God manifests himself in
his greatness, and (which is no less his glory) in his goodness, is thereby
owned as a living temple.
II. The grateful return made to God for this gracious token of his favour.
1. The people worshipped and praised God, v. 3. When they saw
the fire of God come down from heaven thus they did not run away affrighted,
but kept their ground in the courts of the Lord, and took occasion from it,
(1.) With reverence to adore the glory of God: They bowed their faces to
the ground and worshipped, thus expressing their awful dread of the divine
majesty, their cheerful submission to the divine authority, and the sense they
had of their unworthiness to come into God's presence and their inability to
stand before the power of his wrath. (2.) With thankfulness to acknowledge the
goodness of God; even when the fire of the Lord came down they praised him,
saying, He is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. This is a song
never out of season, and for which our hearts and tongues should be never out
of tune. However it be, yet God is good. 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 in this God was good. "It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, but the sacrifice in our stead, for
which we are bound to be very thankful."
2. The king and all the people offered sacrifices in abundance, v. 4,
5. With these they feasted this holy fire, and bade it welcome to the altar.
They had offered sacrifices before, but now they increased them. Note, The
tokens of God's favour to us should enlarge our hearts in his service, and
make us to abound therein more and more. The king's example stirred up the
people. Good work is then likely to go on when the leaders of a people lead in
it. The sacrifices were so numerous that the altar could not contain them all;
but, rather than any of them should be turned back (though we may suppose the
blood of them all was sprinkled upon the altar), the flesh of the
burnt-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings were burnt in the midst
of the court (v. 7), which Solomon either hallowed for that service
or hallowed by it. In case of necessity the pavement might be an altar.
3. The priests did their part; they waited on their offices, and the singers
and musicians on theirs (v. 6), with the instruments that David made,
and the hymn that David had put into their hand, as some think it may
be read (meaning that 1 Chron. xvi. 7), or, as we read it, when David
praised by their ministry. He employed, directed, and encouraged them in
this work of praising God; and therefore their performances were accepted as
his act, and he is said to praise by their ministry.
4. The whole congregation expressed the greatest joy and satisfaction
imaginable. They kept the feast of the dedication of the altar seven days,
from the second to the ninth; the tenth day was the day of atonement, when
they were to afflict their souls for sin, and that was not unseasonable in the
midst of their rejoicings; on the fifteenth day began the feast of
tabernacles, which continued to the twenty-second, and they did not separate
till the twenty-third. We must never grudge the time that we spend in the
worship of God and communion with him, nor think it long, or grow weary of it.
5. Solomon went on in his work, and prosperously effected all he designed for
the adorning both of God's house and his own, v. 11. Those that 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, and it
was by the grace of God that he prospered in it.
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God's Promises to Solomon.
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B.
C. 1004.
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12 And the LORD
appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and
have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. 13 If I shut
up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the
land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14 If my people, which
are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face,
and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 15 Now mine eyes shall be
open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be
there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father
walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe
my statutes and my judgments; 18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy
kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There
shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. 19 But if ye
turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set
before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20
Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them;
and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my
sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.
21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one
that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD
done thus unto this land, and unto this house? 22 And it shall be
answered, Because they forsook the LORD
God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and
laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath
he brought all this evil upon them.
That God accepted Solomon's prayer appeared by the fire from heaven. But a
prayer may be accepted and yet not answered in the letter of it; and therefore
God appeared to him in the night, as he did once before (ch. i. 7), and
after a day of sacrifice too, as then, and gave him a peculiar answer to his
prayer. We had the substance of it before, 1 Kings ix. 2-9.
I. He promised to own this house for a house of sacrifice to Israel and
a house of prayer for all people (Isa. lvi. 7): My name shall be
there for ever (v. 12, 16), that is, "There will I make myself
known, and there will I be called upon."
II. He promised to answer the prayers of his people that should at any time be
made in that place, v. 13-15. National judgments are here supposed (v.
13), famine, and pestilence, and perhaps war, for by the locusts devouring the
land meant enemies as greedy as locusts, and laying all waste. 2. National
repentance, prayer, and reformation, are required, v. 14. God expects
that his people who are called by his name, if they have dishonoured his name
by their iniquity, should honour it by accepting the punishment of their
iniquity. They must be humble themselves under his hand, must pray for the
removal of the judgment, must seek the face and favour of God; and yet all
this will not do unless they turn from their wicked ways, and return to the
God from whom they have revolted. 3. National mercy is then promised, that God
will forgive their sin, which brought the judgment upon them, and then heal
their land, redress all their grievances. Pardoning mercy makes ways for
healing mercy, Ps. ciii. 3; Matt. ix. 2.
III. He promised to perpetuate Solomon's kingdom, upon condition that he
persevered in his duty, v. 17, 18. If he hoped for the benefit of God's
covenant with David, he must imitate the example of David. But he set before
him death as well as life, the curse as well as the blessing. 1. He supposed
it possible that though they had this temple built to the honour of God, yet
they might be drawn aside to worship other gods, v. 19. He knew their
proneness to backslide into that sin. 2. He threatened it as certain that, if
they did so, it would certainly be the ruin of both church and state. (1.) It
would be the ruin of their state, v. 20. "Though they have taken
deep root, and taken root long, in this good land, yet I will pluck them up by
the roots, extirpate the whole nation, pluck them up as men pluck up weeds out
of their garden, which are thrown to the dunghill." (2.) It would be the
ruin of their church. This sanctuary would be no sanctuary to them, to protect
them from the judgment of God, as they imagined, saying, The temple of the
Lord are we, Jer. vii. 4. "This house which is high, not only for the
magnificence of its structure, but for the designed ends and uses of it, shall
be an astonishment, it shall come down wonderfully (Lam. i. 9), to the
amazement of all the neighbours."
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