2 Chronicles 6

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” Abraham Lincoln spoke those words to the American Congress on December 1, 1862, but King Solomon could have spoken them to the Jewish leaders when he dedicated the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles in the twenty-fourth year of his reign. No matter where the Jews are in this world, or what the century is, they have their roots in Abraham, Moses, and David. King David is mentioned twelve times in this section, and Moses is mentioned three times. During his prayer, Solomon referred to God’s covenant with his father (2 Sam. 7) and also to the covenant God gave to Moses recorded in Deuteronomy 28—30. The main thrust of his prayer is that God would hear the prayers directed toward the temple and forgive those who sinned, and this request is based on the promise given in Deuteronomy 30:1–10. Israel’s kings were commanded to make their own copy of the book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 17:18–20), and Solomon’s many references to Deuteronomy indicate that he knew the book very well.

What kind of a “house” did Solomon dedicate that day?

God not only graciously dwells with His people, but He also gives them His Word and faithfully keeps His promises. That’s the major theme of this section, for in it Solomon glorified Jehovah by reviewing the history of the building of the temple.

The mystery of God (vv. 12–13; 2 Chron. 6:1–2). The king was standing on his special platform (2 Chron. 6:13), facing the sanctuary, the priests were at the altar (5:12) and the people were gathered in the assembly, and all of them had just seen a marvelous manifestation of the glory of God. Yet Solomon opened his address by saying, “The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud” (v. 12 nkjv). Why speak of darkness when they had just beheld God’s radiant glory? Solomon was referring to the words of the Lord to Moses at Mount Sinai: “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever” (Ex. 19: nkjv). There was indeed a thick cloud of darkness on the mountain (Ex. 19:16; 20:21; Deut. 4:11; 5:22), and Moses went into that darkness with great fear (Heb. 12:18–21). Solomon was connecting the events of that day to Israel’s past experience at Sinai, for the people of God must not be cut off from their roots in history.

God is light (1 John 1:5) and dwells in light (1 Tim. 6:16), but He cannot fully reveal Himself to man because “there shall no man see me, and live” (Ex. 33:20). The emphasis at Sinai was on hearing God, not seeing God, lest the Jewish people would be tempted to make images of their God and worship them. Like the church today, Israel was to be a people of the Word, hearing it and obeying. King David envisioned the Lord with darkness under His feet and darkness as His canopy (Ps. 18:9, 11; see 97:2). There is mystery about God that humbles us, because we don’t always understand Him and His ways, but this mystery also encourages us to trust Him and rest upon His Word. Solomon didn’t want the people to think that God was now their “neighbor” and therefore they could speak to Him or about Him any way they pleased. “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him” (Hab. 2: nasb).

Like a servant reporting to his master, Solomon announced that he had built the house to be God’s dwelling place (v. 13). This reminds us that Moses finished work of building and erecting the tabernacle (Ex. 40:33), that our Savior finished all that the Father instructed Him to do (John 17:4), and that both John the Baptist and Paul finished their courses successfully (Acts 13:25; 2 Tim. 4:7). All of us will give an account of our life and service when we see the Lord (Rom. 14:10–13), and it behooves us to be faithful to the calling He has given us, so that we end well.

The goodness and faithfulness of God (vv. 15–21). Over more than fifty years of ministry, it’s been my privilege to assist many local churches in dedicating new sanctuaries, and in my messages, I’ve tried to emphasize the work of God in the history of His people. As A. T. Pierson used to say, “History is His story.” It’s easy for new church members and new generations that come along to take for granted or forget the history of their church. The weekly Sabbath, the annual feasts (Lev. 23), and the presence of the temple would bear witness to the Jewish people, young and old, that Jehovah was their God. The word “remember” is used at least fourteen times in the book of Deuteronomy because God didn’t want His people to forget the lessons of the past.

God in His goodness and grace made a covenant with David concerning his family and his throne (2 Sam. 7), and He included in that covenant the promise of a son who would build the temple. What God spoke with His mouth, He accomplished with His hand (v. 15), and what He promised to David, He performed through Solomon (v. 20). But God did these things for the honor of His name, not for the glory of either David or Solomon (vv. 16–20). God’s name is referred to at least fourteen times in Solomon’s address and prayer. The king was careful to give God all the glory. Whenever the people would come to worship, they would remember that the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord made the temple possible.

God not only graciously dwells with His people, but He also gives them His Word and faithfully keeps His promises. That’s the major theme of this section, for in it Solomon glorified Jehovah by reviewing the history of the building of the temple.

The mystery of God (vv. 12–13; 2 Chron. 6:1–2). The king was standing on his special platform (2 Chron. 6:13), facing the sanctuary, the priests were at the altar (5:12) and the people were gathered in the assembly, and all of them had just seen a marvelous manifestation of the glory of God. Yet Solomon opened his address by saying, “The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud” (v. 12 nkjv). Why speak of darkness when they had just beheld God’s radiant glory? Solomon was referring to the words of the Lord to Moses at Mount Sinai: “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever” (Ex. 19: nkjv). There was indeed a thick cloud of darkness on the mountain (Ex. 19:16; 20:21; Deut. 4:11; 5:22), and Moses went into that darkness with great fear (Heb. 12:18–21). Solomon was connecting the events of that day to Israel’s past experience at Sinai, for the people of God must not be cut off from their roots in history.

God is light (1 John 1:5) and dwells in light (1 Tim. 6:16), but He cannot fully reveal Himself to man because “there shall no man see me, and live” (Ex. 33:20). The emphasis at Sinai was on hearing God, not seeing God, lest the Jewish people would be tempted to make images of their God and worship them. Like the church today, Israel was to be a people of the Word, hearing it and obeying. King David envisioned the Lord with darkness under His feet and darkness as His canopy (Ps. 18:9, 11; see 97:2). There is mystery about God that humbles us, because we don’t always understand Him and His ways, but this mystery also encourages us to trust Him and rest upon His Word. Solomon didn’t want the people to think that God was now their “neighbor” and therefore they could speak to Him or about Him any way they pleased. “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him” (Hab. 2: nasb).

Like a servant reporting to his master, Solomon announced that he had built the house to be God’s dwelling place (v. 13). This reminds us that Moses finished work of building and erecting the tabernacle (Ex. 40:33), that our Savior finished all that the Father instructed Him to do (John 17:4), and that both John the Baptist and Paul finished their courses successfully (Acts 13:25; 2 Tim. 4:7). All of us will give an account of our life and service when we see the Lord (Rom. 14:10–13), and it behooves us to be faithful to the calling He has given us, so that we end well.

The goodness and faithfulness of God (vv. 15–21). Over more than fifty years of ministry, it’s been my privilege to assist many local churches in dedicating new sanctuaries, and in my messages, I’ve tried to emphasize the work of God in the history of His people. As A. T. Pierson used to say, “History is His story.” It’s easy for new church members and new generations that come along to take for granted or forget the history of their church. The weekly Sabbath, the annual feasts (Lev. 23), and the presence of the temple would bear witness to the Jewish people, young and old, that Jehovah was their God. The word “remember” is used at least fourteen times in the book of Deuteronomy because God didn’t want His people to forget the lessons of the past.

God in His goodness and grace made a covenant with David concerning his family and his throne (2 Sam. 7), and He included in that covenant the promise of a son who would build the temple. What God spoke with His mouth, He accomplished with His hand (v. 15), and what He promised to David, He performed through Solomon (v. 20). But God did these things for the honor of His name, not for the glory of either David or Solomon (vv. 16–20). God’s name is referred to at least fourteen times in Solomon’s address and prayer. The king was careful to give God all the glory. Whenever the people would come to worship, they would remember that the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord made the temple possible.

According to 2 Chronicles 6:13, Solomon knelt on the special platform near the altar as he prayed this prayer, his hands lifted to heaven. Our traditional posture for prayer (“hands folded and eyes closed”) was unknown to the Jews. Their posture was to look up by faith toward God in heaven (or toward the temple) and lift their open hands to show their poverty and their expectancy as they awaited the answer (v. 38, 54; Ex. 9:29, 33; Ps. 63:4; 88:9; 143:6). This practice was carried over into the early church (1 Tim. 2:8). The word “heaven” is found at least a dozen times in verses 22–54.

Solomon opened his prayer with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. “There is no God like thee” (v. 23; compare Ex. 15: and Deut. 4:39). He then referred to God’s covenant with his father, David, the covenant that appointed Solomon as David’s heir and the builder of the temple (2 Sam. 7). But Solomon also claimed the covenant promise of the Davidic dynasty and prayed that David’s royal line would continue just as God had promised. Of course, the ultimate fulfillment of that promise is in Jesus Christ (Luke 1:26–33, 67–75; Acts 2:29–30; Rom. 1:3).

As Solomon prayed, he was overwhelmed by the contrast between the greatness of God and the insignificance of the work he had done in building the temple. How could Almighty God, the God of the heavens, dwell in a building made by men’s hands? Solomon had expressed this same truth to King Hiram before he began to build (2 Chron. 2:6), and the prophet Isaiah echoed it (Isa. 66:1). Stephen referred to these words from Solomon and Isaiah when he defended himself before the Jewish council (Acts 7:47–50), and Paul emphasized this truth when preaching to the Gentiles (Acts 17:24). Solomon realized that God’s willingness to dwell with His people was wholly an act of grace.

The burden of his prayer is in verses 28–30: that the Lord would keep His eyes on the temple and His ears open to the prayers of the people and answer them when they prayed toward the temple. He asked the Lord to forgive the sins of the people when they prayed (vv. 30, 34, 36, 39, 50) and in so doing maintain “the cause of his people Israel” (v. 59). Solomon knew the terms of the covenant found in Deuteronomy 28—29, and the calamities he mentioned in his prayer are the very disciplines the Lord promised to send if Israel disobeyed His law. But Solomon also knew that Deuteronomy 30 promised forgiveness and restoration if God’s people would repent and turn to the Lord. Jonah looked toward the temple and prayed, and God forgave him (Jonah 2:4), and Daniel prayed for the people as he looked toward Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10). “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56: nkjv; Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).

Solomon presented to the Lord seven specific requests.

(1) Justice in the land (vv. 31–32; 2 Chron. 6:22–23). Solomon had begun his reign by judging between two women (3:16–28), but it would be impossible for him to handle every case of personal conflict in the land and still perform all the duties of the king. Judges were appointed in Israel to hear local cases (Ex. 18:13–27; 21:5–6; 22:7–12; Deut. 17:2–13; 25:1), and the priests were also available to apply the law and render decisions (1 Chron. 23:4; 26:29). If a man was accused of sinning against his neighbor, the accused could take an oath at the temple altar and the Lord would declare whether or not the man was innocent. How this verdict was declared isn’t explained, but perhaps the priest used the Urim and Thummim (Ex. 28:30; Lev. 8:8). Justice in the land is essential if citizens are to enjoy “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” How tragic that, in later years, it was the godless kings of Israel and Judah who allowed injustice into the land.

The judges’ responsibility was to “condemn the wicked … and justify the righteous,” but when it comes to our salvation, God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5) on the basis of the sacrifice Christ made on the cross (Rom. 5:6). God has condemned all people as unrighteous (Rom. 3:23) so that He might show grace to all mankind and save those who will put their trust in His Son.

(2) Military defeat (vv. 33–34; 2 Chron. 6:24–25). This defeat is caused because the people have sinned in some way (Josh. 7) and the Lord is displeased with them. If Israel obeyed the terms of the covenant, there would be peace in the land and God would give Israel victory over any enemies who attacked them. But if Israel sinned, God would allow their enemies to triumph over them (Lev. 26:6–8, 14–17, 25, 33, 36–39; Deut. 28:1, 7, 15, 25–26, 49–52). If this defeat brought the people to repentance, then God would forgive them and see to it that the prisoners were released and returned home.

(3) Drought in the land (vv. 35–36; 2 Chron. 6:26–27). Israel had title to the land because of God’s covenant with Abraham, but they could possess it and enjoy its blessings only if they obeyed God’s law. One of the severest disciplines listed in the covenant was drought in the land (Lev. 26:19; Deut. 28:22–24, 48). The Lord promised His people that He would send the rain in its season (Deut. 11:10–14) only if they honored Him. Since the Israelites were a pastoral and agricultural people, rain was absolutely necessary for their survival. Whenever the people obeyed the Lord, they enjoyed bumper crops and their flocks and herds were healthy and multiplied. The purpose of drought was to bring the people to a place of repentance, and God promised to forgive their sins and send the rain. See 1 Kings 18.

(4) Other natural calamities (vv. 37–40; 2 Chron. 6:28–31). God warned in the covenant that Israel’s disobedience would bring divine discipline to them. He would send famine (Lev. 26:26, 29; Deut. 28:17, 48), blight (Lev. 26:20; Deut. 28:18, 22, 30, 39–40), invasions of insects (Deut. 28:38, 42), and various sicknesses and plagues (Lev. 26:16, 25; Deut. 28:21–22, 27, 35, 59–61). However, if they obeyed Him, He would shelter His people and their land from these calamities. But once again, Solomon asked the Lord to forgive His people when they confessed their sins, and to restore their land (see 2 Chron. 7:13–14).

In his prayer, Solomon frequently mentioned the land (vv. 34, 36–37, 40–41, 46–48) because this was part of Israel’s inheritance from the Lord. When the people began to sin, God punished them first in the land (see the book of Judges), and when they persisted in their rebellion, He allowed enemy nations to take them out of the land. In 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered Israel and assimilated the people, and in 606–586 the Babylonians defeated Judah, burned Jerusalem and the temple, and took many of the people captive to Babylon. When God punished His people out of their land, He finally cured them of their idolatry.

(5) Foreigners who came to pray (vv. 41–43; 2 Chron. 6:32–33). These were not the “resident aliens” in Israel who settled in the land and had certain privileges and responsibilities under the law (Lev. 16:29; 17:10, 12; 18:26; 19:34; 20:2; 25:6, 45). The “foreigners” were people who would come to Israel because they had heard of the greatness of the Lord and His temple. (Gentile workers had helped to build the temple.) It was the responsibility of Israel to be a “light” to the pagan Gentile nations and to demonstrate to them the glory of the true and living God. Solomon had this in mind when he asked the Lord to hear and answer the prayers of people outside the covenant, so that “all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You” (v. 43 nkjv; see v. 60). If these people began to pray to the Lord Jehovah, perhaps they would come to trust and worship Him.

From the very beginning of the nation, when God called Abraham and Sarah to leave Ur and go to Canaan, God declared that He wanted Israel to be a blessing to the whole world (Gen. 12:1–3). God’s judgments against Pharaoh and Egypt were a witness to the nations (Ex. 9:16), as was His opening of the Red Sea at the Exodus (Josh. 2:8–13). When God dried up the Jordan so Israel could enter the Promised Land, He revealed His power and glory to the other nations (Josh. 4:23–24). His blessing on Israel in the land of Canaan was a witness to the pagan nations (Deut. 28:7–14), and so was David’s victory over Goliath (1 Sam. 17:46). God blesses us that we might be a blessing, not that we might horde the blessing and boast. The Jews prayed, “God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations” (Ps. 67:1–2 nkjv). The church today needs to pray that prayer and keep that purpose in mind.

(6) Armies in battle (vv. 44–45; 2 Chron. 6:34–35). When God sent His people into battle, it was a “holy war” that could be won only by His strength and wisdom. Using the silver trumpets, the priests sounded the call to arms (2 Chron. 13:12–16; Num. 10:1–10). They assisted the armies to ascertain God’s will (1 Sam. 23:1–2), and they encouraged the men to fight for the glory of the Lord and trust Him alone (Deut. 20:1–4). Even in the midst of battle, the soldiers could look toward the temple and ask the Lord for His help. When he described the Christian soldier’s equipment, Paul included prayer as one of the essentials for victory (Eph. 6:18–19). The French writer Voltaire said, “It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions,” but the truth is that God is on the side of those who pray in His will.

(7) Defeat and captivity (vv. 46–53; 2 Chron. 6:36–39). The pronoun “they” in verse 46 refers to the people of Israel, and Israel’s history shows that the nation was prone to sin. All of us are sinners (Prov. 20:9; Rom. 3:23), but God’s special blessings on Israel and His covenant with them made their disobedience that much more serious. By disobeying God’s law and imitating the sins of their idolatrous neighbors, the Jews were sinning against a flood of light. In the covenant, God warned that repeated rebellion would lead to captivity (Lev. 26:27–45; Deut. 28:49–68). The other disciplines took away from the Jews the blessings of the land, but captivity took them away from the land itself. The Jewish people did experience defeat and captivity. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 and Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 606–586 and took the Jews captive to Babylon. This terrible event was predicted by Isaiah (6:11–12; 11:11–12; 39:6) and Micah (4:10), and Jeremiah revealed that the Babylonian captivity would last for seventy years (Jer. 25:1–14; 29:11–14). When the prophet Daniel understood what Jeremiah wrote, he began to pray that God would keep His promises (Deut. 30:1–10) and set the nation free (Dan. 9:1ff.). No doubt many other believing Jews (“the remnant”) also interceded, and God stirred Cyrus, king of Persia, to allow the Jews to return to their land and rebuild their temple (Ezra 1; 2 Chron. 36:22–23).

Solomon gave the Lord several reasons why the Lord should forgive His people when they repented and returned to Him. After all, they were His people whom He had purchased and delivered from Egyptian bondage (v. 51). Israel was His special people, separated from the other nations to glorify God and accomplish His mission on earth. Again, Solomon revealed his knowledge of the book of Deuteronomy (4:20; 7:6; 9:26–29; 32:9).

He closed his prayer by asking the Lord to keep His eyes upon the temple and the people who worshipped there, and to keep His ears open to the requests of the people who prayed at the temple or toward the temple (2 Chron. 6:40–42). His benediction in verse 41 is found in Psalm 132:8–10. Israel was no longer a pilgrim people, but they still needed the Lord to guide and help them. (See also the words of Moses in Num. 10:35–36.) Thanks to David’s victories on the battlefield, God had kept His promise and given Israel rest, but as Andrew Bonar said, “Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.” Solomon closed the prayer with a plea that the Lord not reject him, the anointed king, David’s son and heir. “Remember the mercies of your servant David” (2 Chron. 6: nkjv), referring to God’s promises to David in the covenant (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 89:19–29).

These “sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55: nkjv) involve the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, to be the Savior of the world (Acts 13:32–40).

According to 2 Chronicles 6:13, Solomon knelt on the special platform near the altar as he prayed this prayer, his hands lifted to heaven. Our traditional posture for prayer (“hands folded and eyes closed”) was unknown to the Jews. Their posture was to look up by faith toward God in heaven (or toward the temple) and lift their open hands to show their poverty and their expectancy as they awaited the answer (v. 38, 54; Ex. 9:29, 33; Ps. 63:4; 88:9; 143:6). This practice was carried over into the early church (1 Tim. 2:8). The word “heaven” is found at least a dozen times in verses 22–54.

Solomon opened his prayer with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. “There is no God like thee” (v. 23; compare Ex. 15: and Deut. 4:39). He then referred to God’s covenant with his father, David, the covenant that appointed Solomon as David’s heir and the builder of the temple (2 Sam. 7). But Solomon also claimed the covenant promise of the Davidic dynasty and prayed that David’s royal line would continue just as God had promised. Of course, the ultimate fulfillment of that promise is in Jesus Christ (Luke 1:26–33, 67–75; Acts 2:29–30; Rom. 1:3).

As Solomon prayed, he was overwhelmed by the contrast between the greatness of God and the insignificance of the work he had done in building the temple. How could Almighty God, the God of the heavens, dwell in a building made by men’s hands? Solomon had expressed this same truth to King Hiram before he began to build (2 Chron. 2:6), and the prophet Isaiah echoed it (Isa. 66:1). Stephen referred to these words from Solomon and Isaiah when he defended himself before the Jewish council (Acts 7:47–50), and Paul emphasized this truth when preaching to the Gentiles (Acts 17:24). Solomon realized that God’s willingness to dwell with His people was wholly an act of grace.

The burden of his prayer is in verses 28–30: that the Lord would keep His eyes on the temple and His ears open to the prayers of the people and answer them when they prayed toward the temple. He asked the Lord to forgive the sins of the people when they prayed (vv. 30, 34, 36, 39, 50) and in so doing maintain “the cause of his people Israel” (v. 59). Solomon knew the terms of the covenant found in Deuteronomy 28—29, and the calamities he mentioned in his prayer are the very disciplines the Lord promised to send if Israel disobeyed His law. But Solomon also knew that Deuteronomy 30 promised forgiveness and restoration if God’s people would repent and turn to the Lord. Jonah looked toward the temple and prayed, and God forgave him (Jonah 2:4), and Daniel prayed for the people as he looked toward Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10). “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56: nkjv; Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).

Solomon presented to the Lord seven specific requests.

(1) Justice in the land (vv. 31–32; 2 Chron. 6:22–23). Solomon had begun his reign by judging between two women (3:16–28), but it would be impossible for him to handle every case of personal conflict in the land and still perform all the duties of the king. Judges were appointed in Israel to hear local cases (Ex. 18:13–27; 21:5–6; 22:7–12; Deut. 17:2–13; 25:1), and the priests were also available to apply the law and render decisions (1 Chron. 23:4; 26:29). If a man was accused of sinning against his neighbor, the accused could take an oath at the temple altar and the Lord would declare whether or not the man was innocent. How this verdict was declared isn’t explained, but perhaps the priest used the Urim and Thummim (Ex. 28:30; Lev. 8:8). Justice in the land is essential if citizens are to enjoy “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” How tragic that, in later years, it was the godless kings of Israel and Judah who allowed injustice into the land.

The judges’ responsibility was to “condemn the wicked … and justify the righteous,” but when it comes to our salvation, God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5) on the basis of the sacrifice Christ made on the cross (Rom. 5:6). God has condemned all people as unrighteous (Rom. 3:23) so that He might show grace to all mankind and save those who will put their trust in His Son.

(2) Military defeat (vv. 33–34; 2 Chron. 6:24–25). This defeat is caused because the people have sinned in some way (Josh. 7) and the Lord is displeased with them. If Israel obeyed the terms of the covenant, there would be peace in the land and God would give Israel victory over any enemies who attacked them. But if Israel sinned, God would allow their enemies to triumph over them (Lev. 26:6–8, 14–17, 25, 33, 36–39; Deut. 28:1, 7, 15, 25–26, 49–52). If this defeat brought the people to repentance, then God would forgive them and see to it that the prisoners were released and returned home.

(3) Drought in the land (vv. 35–36; 2 Chron. 6:26–27). Israel had title to the land because of God’s covenant with Abraham, but they could possess it and enjoy its blessings only if they obeyed God’s law. One of the severest disciplines listed in the covenant was drought in the land (Lev. 26:19; Deut. 28:22–24, 48). The Lord promised His people that He would send the rain in its season (Deut. 11:10–14) only if they honored Him. Since the Israelites were a pastoral and agricultural people, rain was absolutely necessary for their survival. Whenever the people obeyed the Lord, they enjoyed bumper crops and their flocks and herds were healthy and multiplied. The purpose of drought was to bring the people to a place of repentance, and God promised to forgive their sins and send the rain. See 1 Kings 18.

(4) Other natural calamities (vv. 37–40; 2 Chron. 6:28–31). God warned in the covenant that Israel’s disobedience would bring divine discipline to them. He would send famine (Lev. 26:26, 29; Deut. 28:17, 48), blight (Lev. 26:20; Deut. 28:18, 22, 30, 39–40), invasions of insects (Deut. 28:38, 42), and various sicknesses and plagues (Lev. 26:16, 25; Deut. 28:21–22, 27, 35, 59–61). However, if they obeyed Him, He would shelter His people and their land from these calamities. But once again, Solomon asked the Lord to forgive His people when they confessed their sins, and to restore their land (see 2 Chron. 7:13–14).

In his prayer, Solomon frequently mentioned the land (vv. 34, 36–37, 40–41, 46–48) because this was part of Israel’s inheritance from the Lord. When the people began to sin, God punished them first in the land (see the book of Judges), and when they persisted in their rebellion, He allowed enemy nations to take them out of the land. In 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered Israel and assimilated the people, and in 606–586 the Babylonians defeated Judah, burned Jerusalem and the temple, and took many of the people captive to Babylon. When God punished His people out of their land, He finally cured them of their idolatry.

(5) Foreigners who came to pray (vv. 41–43; 2 Chron. 6:32–33). These were not the “resident aliens” in Israel who settled in the land and had certain privileges and responsibilities under the law (Lev. 16:29; 17:10, 12; 18:26; 19:34; 20:2; 25:6, 45). The “foreigners” were people who would come to Israel because they had heard of the greatness of the Lord and His temple. (Gentile workers had helped to build the temple.) It was the responsibility of Israel to be a “light” to the pagan Gentile nations and to demonstrate to them the glory of the true and living God. Solomon had this in mind when he asked the Lord to hear and answer the prayers of people outside the covenant, so that “all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You” (v. 43 nkjv; see v. 60). If these people began to pray to the Lord Jehovah, perhaps they would come to trust and worship Him.

From the very beginning of the nation, when God called Abraham and Sarah to leave Ur and go to Canaan, God declared that He wanted Israel to be a blessing to the whole world (Gen. 12:1–3). God’s judgments against Pharaoh and Egypt were a witness to the nations (Ex. 9:16), as was His opening of the Red Sea at the Exodus (Josh. 2:8–13). When God dried up the Jordan so Israel could enter the Promised Land, He revealed His power and glory to the other nations (Josh. 4:23–24). His blessing on Israel in the land of Canaan was a witness to the pagan nations (Deut. 28:7–14), and so was David’s victory over Goliath (1 Sam. 17:46). God blesses us that we might be a blessing, not that we might horde the blessing and boast. The Jews prayed, “God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations” (Ps. 67:1–2 nkjv). The church today needs to pray that prayer and keep that purpose in mind.

(6) Armies in battle (vv. 44–45; 2 Chron. 6:34–35). When God sent His people into battle, it was a “holy war” that could be won only by His strength and wisdom. Using the silver trumpets, the priests sounded the call to arms (2 Chron. 13:12–16; Num. 10:1–10). They assisted the armies to ascertain God’s will (1 Sam. 23:1–2), and they encouraged the men to fight for the glory of the Lord and trust Him alone (Deut. 20:1–4). Even in the midst of battle, the soldiers could look toward the temple and ask the Lord for His help. When he described the Christian soldier’s equipment, Paul included prayer as one of the essentials for victory (Eph. 6:18–19). The French writer Voltaire said, “It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions,” but the truth is that God is on the side of those who pray in His will.

(7) Defeat and captivity (vv. 46–53; 2 Chron. 6:36–39). The pronoun “they” in verse 46 refers to the people of Israel, and Israel’s history shows that the nation was prone to sin. All of us are sinners (Prov. 20:9; Rom. 3:23), but God’s special blessings on Israel and His covenant with them made their disobedience that much more serious. By disobeying God’s law and imitating the sins of their idolatrous neighbors, the Jews were sinning against a flood of light. In the covenant, God warned that repeated rebellion would lead to captivity (Lev. 26:27–45; Deut. 28:49–68). The other disciplines took away from the Jews the blessings of the land, but captivity took them away from the land itself. The Jewish people did experience defeat and captivity. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 and Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 606–586 and took the Jews captive to Babylon. This terrible event was predicted by Isaiah (6:11–12; 11:11–12; 39:6) and Micah (4:10), and Jeremiah revealed that the Babylonian captivity would last for seventy years (Jer. 25:1–14; 29:11–14). When the prophet Daniel understood what Jeremiah wrote, he began to pray that God would keep His promises (Deut. 30:1–10) and set the nation free (Dan. 9:1ff.). No doubt many other believing Jews (“the remnant”) also interceded, and God stirred Cyrus, king of Persia, to allow the Jews to return to their land and rebuild their temple (Ezra 1; 2 Chron. 36:22–23).

Solomon gave the Lord several reasons why the Lord should forgive His people when they repented and returned to Him. After all, they were His people whom He had purchased and delivered from Egyptian bondage (v. 51). Israel was His special people, separated from the other nations to glorify God and accomplish His mission on earth. Again, Solomon revealed his knowledge of the book of Deuteronomy (4:20; 7:6; 9:26–29; 32:9).

He closed his prayer by asking the Lord to keep His eyes upon the temple and the people who worshipped there, and to keep His ears open to the requests of the people who prayed at the temple or toward the temple (2 Chron. 6:40–42). His benediction in verse 41 is found in Psalm 132:8–10. Israel was no longer a pilgrim people, but they still needed the Lord to guide and help them. (See also the words of Moses in Num. 10:35–36.) Thanks to David’s victories on the battlefield, God had kept His promise and given Israel rest, but as Andrew Bonar said, “Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.” Solomon closed the prayer with a plea that the Lord not reject him, the anointed king, David’s son and heir. “Remember the mercies of your servant David” (2 Chron. 6: nkjv), referring to God’s promises to David in the covenant (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 89:19–29).

These “sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55: nkjv) involve the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, to be the Savior of the world (Acts 13:32–40).