2 Chronicles 6

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King Solomon dedicates the newly built Temple, acknowledging God's faithfulness in fulfilling His promise to David. He offers a profound prayer, asking God to hear and forgive His people when they turn towards this house in various times of distress or sin. Solomon petitions God to maintain His covenant, judge righteously, and extend mercy to Israel and even to strangers who seek Him.

Solomon’s Address on the Temple 1–11

Then spake Solomon, Jehovah hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

But I have built thee a house of habitation, and a place for thee to dwell in for ever.

And the king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.

And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel:

but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

But Jehovah said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart:

nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.

And Jehovah hath performed his word that he spake; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and have built the house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

And there have I set the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with the children of Israel.

Solomon Assumes the Posture of Prayer 12–17

And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands

(for Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven);

and he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven, or on earth; who keepest covenant and lovingkindness with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart;

who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him: yea, thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.

Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as thou hast walked before me.

Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David.

The Dedicatory Prayer: The Paradox of God’s Presence 18–21

But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have builded!

Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee;

that thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place.

And hearken thou to the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yea, hear thou from thy dwelling-place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

Petitions for Justice and Repentance 22–31

If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he come and swear before thine altar in this house;

then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

And if thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;

then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them:

then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague or whatsoever sickness there be;

what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house:

then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men);

that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

Prayer for the Stranger 32–35

Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for thy great name’s sake, and thy mighty hand, and thine outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house:

then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calleth to thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

If thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

Prayer for Captives and Exile 36–39

If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto a land far off or near;

yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;

if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee.

Final Appeal and Conclusion 40–42

Now, O my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent, unto the prayer that is made in this place.

Now therefore arise, O Jehovah God, into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Jehovah God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.

O Jehovah God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember thy lovingkindnesses to David thy servant.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Chronicles 6

Verse 1

the thick darkness — Arafel, the dark cloud at Sinai, where 'Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was' (Ex 20:21; Deut 4:11). The LORD said he would 'appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat' (Lev 16:2). Solomon speaks as the cloud of 5:13–14 fills the house, and 1 Kgs 8:12 records the same words.

Verse 2

an house of habitation — Zebul, an exalted dwelling, found in five verses: here, 1 Kgs 8:13, Ps 49:14, Isa 63:15 and Hab 3:11. In Isa 63:15 it is God's dwelling in heaven, 'the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory'. Solomon calls the house a place for the LORD's dwelling, and v.21 asks him to hear 'from heaven'.

Verse 4

with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth — The word to David was that his son 'shall build an house for my name' (2 Sam 7:13). Mouth and hands name promise and deed. 'Blessed be the LORD God of Israel' is the praise Zacharias opens with at Luke 1:68, 'for he hath visited and redeemed his people'.

Verse 5

that my name might be there — Moses had said the LORD would choose a place 'to put his name there' (Deut 12:5). Solomon states that until David no city had been chosen for it, and that the choice of the city (v.6) and of the king lay with the LORD, not with Israel.

Verse 12

spread forth his hands — Paras, to spread out the palms, the gesture of Moses when he 'spread abroad his hands unto the LORD' and the thunders ceased (Ex 9:33). Solomon prays standing 'before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation', and v.13 tells how he stood and then knelt.

Verse 13

a brasen scaffold — Five cubits square and three high, the measure of the brass altar of the tabernacle (Ex 27:1). The Hebrew, kiyyor, is the word translated 'laver' in 4:6. 'Kneeled down' is barak, the same root as 'Blessed be the LORD' in v.4; 1 Kgs 8:54 says he rose 'from kneeling on his knees'.

Verse 14

there is no God like thee — The question of Ex 15:11, 'Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods?', becomes a statement. 'Keepest covenant, and shewest mercy' (berith and chesed) is the pairing of Deut 7:9, 'keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him', here for those who 'walk before thee with all their hearts'.

Verse 18

heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee — Solomon had said the same to Huram before the work began (2 Chr 2:6). The LORD says through Isaiah, 'The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me?' (Isa 66:1), which Stephen cites in Acts 7:48–49, and Paul in Acts 17:24.

Verse 20

thine eyes may be open upon this house — 'Day and night' asks that the LORD's eyes rest on the place where he said he would 'put his name' (Deut 12:5, 11). The LORD answers in his own words in 7:15: 'Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.'

Verse 21

hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven — The house is where prayer is directed and heaven is where it is heard. 'Forgive' is salach, the verb of the sin offering: 'it shall be forgiven them' (Lev 4:20). The refrain 'then hear thou from heaven' (or 'from the heavens') follows each petition that comes after (vv.23, 25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 39).

Verse 22

an oath be laid upon him — A dispute between neighbours is settled by an oath, as the law provided (Ex 22:11), and here the oath comes 'before thine altar'. Solomon asks the LORD to answer from heaven by 'requiting the wicked' and 'justifying the righteous' (v.23). Christ later teaches that to swear by the altar is to swear by it 'and by all things thereon' (Matt 23:20).

Verse 24

put to the worse before the enemy — Nagaph, to be struck, is the word of Deut 28:25, 'The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies', and Lev 26:17 gives the same warning. The way back Solomon names, to return, confess and pray, is that of Deut 4:29–31, which ends 'the LORD thy God is a merciful God'.

Verse 26

the heaven is shut up — The drought is the curse of Lev 26:19 and Deut 28:23, 'thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass'. Christ speaks of the days of Elias 'when the heaven was shut up three years and six months' (Luke 4:25). The remedy is to 'pray toward this place', to 'confess thy name', and to 'turn from their sin'.

Verse 28

locusts, or caterpillers — Blasting and mildew are strokes named in Deut 28:22, and the locust (arbeh) and the caterpillar (chasil) are two of the four creatures of Joel 1:4. The LORD promises 'I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten' (Joel 2:25). In v.29 each one who 'shall know his own sore and his own grief' may pray.

Verse 32

the stranger — Nokri, a foreigner who comes 'for thy great name's sake'. He is drawn by the 'stretched out arm' of the Exodus (Deut 4:34). In v.33 the purpose is 'that all people of the earth may know thy name'. Isaiah calls the house 'an house of prayer for all people' (Isa 56:7), words Christ quotes in Mark 11:17.

Verse 34

by the way that thou shalt send them — The war here is one the LORD sends them into, and the prayer is 'toward this city which thou hast chosen'. Jehoshaphat stood before 'this house' and pleaded these terms when enemies came, 'we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,)' (2 Chr 20:9).

Verse 36

there is no man which sinneth not — The same truth is stated in Eccl 7:20 and 1 John 1:8. The prayer foresees captivity 'far off or near' before it happens, and Moses had warned that the LORD would 'scatter thee among all people' (Deut 28:64). Solomon asks for mercy in the very condition the law threatened.

Verse 37

if they bethink themselves — Literally 'bring back to heart' (shuv and lev), the phrase of Deut 30:1, 'thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations'. The three Hebrew verbs rendered 'sinned', 'done amiss' and 'dealt wickedly' are the same three that open Daniel's confession in Dan 9:5.

Verse 38

with all their heart and with all their soul — The words of Deut 4:29 and 30:2. Prayer is offered 'toward their land', 'the city', and 'the house', as Daniel prayed with his windows 'open in his chamber toward Jerusalem' (Dan 6:10). Jeremiah gave the captives the same promise: 'ye shall seek me, and find me' (Jer 29:13–14).

Verse 40

let thine ears be attent — The eyes of v.20 are joined by the ears. Qashab, 'attent', is found only here and 7:15, and as 'attentive' in Neh 1:6, 11 and Ps 130:2. The request sums up all the cases of the prayer before it turns to the ark in v.41.

Verse 41

arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place — The ending is from Ps 132:8–10: 'Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.' It echoes Moses at the ark's setting forward, 'Rise up, LORD' (Num 10:35). The priests are to be 'clothed with salvation', as the LORD says of them in Ps 132:16.

Verse 42

turn not away the face of thine anointed — The words are those of Ps 132:10. 'The mercies of David' (chesed) are the covenant promises, 'the sure mercies of David' (Isa 55:3), which Paul applies to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 13:34). The answer comes at once: 'the fire came down from heaven' (7:1).