2 Chronicles 7:1

Now when Solomon had made an end of praying,.... The prayer recorded in the preceding chapter: the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; which was the token God gave of his acceptance of them, of which there had been several instances before, Leviticus 9:24, 1 Kings 18:38, and the glory of the Lord filled the house; the glory of the Shechinah of the Lord, as the Targum, see 1 Kings 8:11.

7:1-22 God's answer to Solomon's prayer. - God gave a gracious answer to Solomon's prayer. The mercies of God to sinners are made known in a manner well suited to impress all who receive them, with his majesty and holiness. The people worshipped and praised God. 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 God was good in this. It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, but the sacrifice in our stead, for which we should be very thankful. And whoever beholds with true faith, the Saviour agonizing and dying for man's sin, will, by that view, find his godly sorrow enlarged, his hatred of sin increased, his soul made more watchful, and his life more holy. Solomon prosperously effected all he designed, for adorning both God's house and his own. Those who 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; it was by the grace of God that he prospered in it. Let us then stand in awe, and sin not. Let us fear the Lord's displeasure, hope in his mercy, and walk in his commandments.

2 Chronicles 7:1 . The fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt- offering, &c. — This circumstance is added to what is recorded in the first book of Kings. Hereby, and by the cloud filling the whole house, was shown God’s gracious acceptance of Solomon’s prayer and sacrifices; and an assurance was given that he would be present in this place, and grant all their lawful petitions. By the former of these, it is generally thought, the first sacrifice that we read of in Scripture, that of Abel, was declared to be acceptable to God. And when the tabernacle was erected and dedicated, and Aaron was consecrated, there was the same testimony given of God’s presence there as here, Exodus 40:34-35 ; Leviticus 9:24 . The surest evidence of God’s acceptance of our prayers is, the descent of his holy fire of love upon us. And the heart which is filled with a holy awe and reverence of the divine majesty, (as the glory of the Lord filled this house,) the heart to which God manifests his greatness, and (what is no less his glory) his goodness, is thereby owned as his living temple.

Verse 1. - When Solomon had made an end of praying . See the parallel, 1 Kings 8:54 , which verse, however, in a sense, disappoints us; for, beginning with these same words, it does not go on at all to tell of this second occurrence of the fire and the cloud and the glory. The fire came... and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. So Leviticus 9:24 , when the tabernacle was consecrated. The closing verses of our ch. 5, compared with the first verse of ch. 6, and in particular the first word of that verse, " then ," leave it quite open to conjecture that the demonstration of the fire and the glory of the Lord had not ceased, but was continued during the prayer of Solomon, though at its close they may have been marked with added brightness, and then wrought their sacrifice-consuming work. Such supposition may bring us nearest to some tenable explanation of what otherwise seems the very unaccountable omission in the parallel. The language of our ver. 2 adds something to countenance this theory, coinciding as it does with the language of the last verses of ch. 5. 2 Chronicles 7:1

(1) When Solomon had made an end of praying .—( 1Kings 8:54 , “And it came to pass, when S. had made an end of praying unto Jehovah all this prayer and supplication.”) From this point the divergence between the two accounts begins. There is no objective ground for supposing that the chronicler invented the facts here recorded. He must have found them in one of his sources, although we have no means of determining whether or not they were related in the original narrative followed by the author of Kings. It is gratuitous to fancy that the chronicler was more partial to miracle than the older writer. (Comp. 1Kings 8:10 ; 1Kings 18:38 .) His greater interest in all that concerned the worship of the Temple is enough to account for the present and similar additions to the older narrative. The fire came down from heaven.—Comp. Leviticus 9:22-24, from which passage it appears likely that the fire descended after Solomon had blessed the people. (Comp. also 1Chronicles 21:26; 2Kings 1:10; 2Kings 1:12; 2Kings 1:14.) And the sacrifices.—The offerings presented when the ark entered the Temple (2Chronicles 5:6). And the glory of the Lord filled the house.—This statement is not a mere duplicate of 2Chronicles 5:13-14. See next verse. The “glory of the Lord” is apparently a manifestation quite distinct from the “fire.”

CHAPTER 7 2Ch 7:1-3. God Gives Testimony to Solomon's Prayer; the People Worship. 1. the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering—Every act of worship was accompanied by a sacrifice. The preternatural stream of fire kindled the mass of flesh, and was a token of the divine acceptance of Solomon's prayer (see on [420]Le 9:24; 1Ki 18:38). the glory of the Lord filled the house—The cloud, which was the symbol of God's presence and majesty, filled the interior of the temple (Ex 40:35).Fire from heaven, and a glory in the temple, witness the Divine acceptance: the people worship, 2 Chronicles 7:1-3. Solomon’s solemn sacrifice, 2 Chronicles 7:4-7. Having kept the feast of tabernacles, and the feast of the dedication of the altar, he dismisseth the people, 2 Chronicles 1:8-11. God appeareth to Solomon; promiseth his favour on obedience; else threateneth grievous judgments, 1 Chronicles 7:12-22. The fire came down from heaven, in token of God’s acceptance of his prayer. See Poole "Leviticus 9:24"; See Poole "1 Kings 18:38", &c. The glory of the Lord, i.e. the cloud, which was the sign of God’s glorious and gracious presence.

At the conclusion of Solomon's prayer there fell fire from heaven, which devoured the burnt-offering and the thank-offering, and the glory of the Lord filled the house, so that the priests could not enter the house of Jahve. The assembled congregation, when they saw the fire and the glory of the Lord descend, bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped God to praise. Now since this narrative is not found in 1 Kings 8:54 ., and there a speech of Solomon to the whole congregation, in which he thanks God for the fulfilment of His promise, and expresses the desire that the Lord would hear his prayers at all times, and bestow the promised salvation on the people, is communicated, modern criticism has rejected this narrative of the Chronicle as a later unhistorical embellishment of the temple dedication. "If we turn our attention," says Berth. in agreement with Then., "to 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 , and compare 2 Chronicles 5:14 with our second verse, we must maintain that our historian found that there existed two different narratives of the proceedings at the dedication of the temple, and received both into his work.

According to the one narrative, the clouds filled the house ( 1 Kings 8:10 , cf. 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 ); and after this was done Solomon uttered the prayer, with the conclusion which we find in 1 Kings 8 ; according to the other narrative, Solomon uttered the prayer, with the conclusion which we find in Chron., and God thereafter gave the confirmatory signs. Now we can hardly imagine that the course of events was, that the glory of Jahve filled the house ( 2 Chronicles 5:14 ); that then Solomon spoke the words and the prayer in 2 Chronicles 6 ; that while he uttered the prayer the glory of Jahve again left the house, and then came down in a way manifest to all the people ( 2 Chronicles 7:3 ), in order to fill the house for a second time." Certainly it was not so; but the narrative itself gives no ground for any such representation. Not a word is said in the text of the glory of Jahve having left the temple during Solomon's prayer. The supposed contradiction between 2 Chronicles 5:14 and the account in 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 is founded entirely on a misinterpretation of our verse. The course of events described here was, as the words run, this: Fire came down from heaven upon the sacrifices and devoured them, and the glory of the Lord filled the house; and this is in 2 Chronicles 7:3 more exactly and precisely repeated by the statement that the people saw the fire and the glory of Jahve descend upon the house.