2 Chronicles 7:12

And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night,.... From hence, to the end of the chapter, much the same things are related as in 1 Kings 9:2 . See Gill on 1 Kings 9:2 , 1 Kings 9:3 , 1 Kings 9:4 , 1 Kings 9:5 , 1 Kings 9:6 , 1 Kings 9:7 , 1 Kings 9:8 , 1 Kings 9:9 , excepting 2 Chronicles 7:13 which contain an answer to the particular requests made by Solomon in case of a famine or pestilence, that when the people of Israel should humble themselves in prayer and supplication, the Lord would be attentive to them, and forgive them, 2 Chronicles 6:26 and which is given as a specimen, and as encouragement to expect the same treatment in all other cases mentioned in Solomon's prayer, they so behaving.

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 7:12 . The Lord appeared to Solomon, and said, I have heard thy prayer — That God had accepted his prayer was shown by his sending fire from heaven. But a prayer may be accepted, and yet not answered in the letter of it. God therefore appeared to him in the night, as he had done once before, ( 1 Chronicles 1:7 ,) and gave him a particular answer to his prayer. See notes on 1 Kings 9:2-9 .

Verse 12. - See 1 Kings 3:5 ; 1 Kings 9:2 ; Deuteronomy 12:2, 3, 5-7, 11, 14 ; and, by turning to the last of these sets of references, the emphasis laid here upon the house as the house of sacrifice will be amply accounted for without supposing a rather premature aside as regards synagogues. Meantime, what a feature, manifestly, the sacrifices were! 2 Chronicles 7:12

(12) By night. —This is implied in Kings, which has, “as He had appeared unto him in Gibeon.” I have heard thy prayer.—From this point begins the chronicler’s addition to the prayer as extant in the older text. Judging by the style, the added section must have formed an integral part of the original text, from which both the editor of Kings and the chronicler drew their narratives. An house of sacrifice (bêth zābah).—A phrase occurring nowhere else in the Old Testament.

2Ch 7:12-22. God Appears to Him. 12. the Lord appeared to Solomon by night—(See on [424]1Ki 9:1-9). The dedication of the temple must have been an occasion of intense national interest to Solomon and his subjects. Nor was the interest merely temporary or local. The record of it is read and thought of with an interest that is undiminished by the lapse of time. The fact that this was the only temple of all nations in which the true God was worshipped imparts a moral grandeur to the scene and prepares the mind for the sublime prayer that was offered at the dedication. The pure theism of that prayer—its acknowledgment of the unity of God as well as of His moral perfections in providence and grace, came from the same divine source as the miraculous fire. They indicated sentiments and feelings of exalted and spiritual devotion, which sprang not from the unaided mind of man, but from the fountain of revelation. The reality of the divine presence was attested by the miracle, and that miracle stamped the seal of truth upon the theology of the temple-worship.

The Lord's answer to Solomon's dedicatory prayer. Cf. 1 Kings 9:1-9 . The general contents, and the order of the thoughts in the divine answer in the two texts, agree, but in the Chronicle individual thoughts are further expounded than in the book of Kings, and expressions are here and there made clear. The second clause of 2 Chronicles 7:11 is an instance of this, where "and all the desire of Solomon, which he was pleased to do," is represented by "and all that came into Solomon's heart, to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house, he prosperously effected." Everything else is explained in the Com. on 1 Kings 9 .