2 Chronicles 6
When king David expressed his desire to built a temple for the worship of God in Jerusalem, the prophet Nathan told him to go and do it with God’s blessing. They agreed that the project was long overdue (2 Sam 7:1-3). But neither had consulted God, who wasted no time responding. That night, He spoke to Nathan, reminding the prophet that not once in all the time that He had been leading the Israelites had he ever asked them to build a house for his presence.
God made it clear that the tabernacle – whose construction he had commanded – served a variety of purposes. Both the tabernacle and the Israelites followed His presence. God led – they followed. His presence preceded theirs. They came to God and sought his favour in each new place to which He led. The tabernacle was set up, taking it’s orientation from the cloud or pillar of his presence…so that God would continue to bless them with his presence.
That tent of meeting – implied certain truths about God that might be forgotten once a permanent location was chosen. Yahweh is the Lord in every place and at all times. Unlike pagan gods who stayed where they were put and functioned in a limited way, the God of Israel is lord of Heaven and Earth. He reinforced this truth when He promised to be present among his people – even in exile, and to bring about their return (Deut 30:1-4).
The tabernacle had been the means whereby God condescended to dwell among his people for the purpose of blessing them. He led them in conquest, protected them in Canaan and gave them peace. The tabernacle remained even after the cloud and fire of his presence departed. It reminded Israel of all that he had done for them and not what they had done for God. And it testified that He while he was ultimately transcendent, he was also close at hand.
So the concept of ‘doing something for God’, as if he needed anything, was out of step with reality. It ran the danger of diminishing the great acts of God…or quite possibly of elevating this ‘great act of man’ (temple construction) to similar status.
For His own reasons, God said No.
The ‘Lord of Hosts’ said no to David…God’s man of war. David was the instrument of God’s wrath upon the nations surrounding Israel. He administered divine judgment and held the enemies of Israel at bay. God used David to give His people rest. Yet it seems that to keep the temple from being dedicated to ‘the Lord of Hosts’, that the Lord delayed it’s construction to a time of peace and a ruler associated with peace. The settled condition that God wanted the temple to communicate was peace and not war.
But when God said ‘no’ to David he also said ‘yes’. Yes, the temple that David wanted to build would be built…by David’s son, Solomon. But more importantly, God himself would built the ‘house of David’, which was in turn the ‘house of the Lord’, the real house which would endure forever. He was referring to the ‘household’ of David, whose descendant would establish an eternal kingdom and whose rule would never end. This was fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
The temple dedicated by Solomon anticipated a time when God’s presence would dwell within each member of his eternal kingdom – once brought to earth by Jesus Christ.
In many ways, the prayer offered by Solomon, was ahead of its time. Guided by the Spirit of God, Solomon shared more than just his own insights. And these were intended to guide Israel’s understanding of the temple and to shape their attitude toward it.
So to start with, Solomon connected the temple construction with the giving of the law at Mount Sinai (2 Chron 6:1-2). He said: ““The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. I have built You a lofty house, And a place for Your dwelling forever.”
When God spoke to Israel at Sinai, he did so from the ‘great darkness’ (Ex 20:21) hovering over the mountain. Moses recounted this to the next generation who had not seen this and recorded it in Deut 5:22 where he wrote:
“These words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, from the cloud, and from the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added nothing more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me” ( Deut 5:22)
Solomon remembered that God had spoken out of the darkness, for there is a hidden side to the God who revealed himself in the law. There is an inscrutable quality to the God whose will is set out in the text of the law. And while the presence of the God who is there is overwhelming, He remains invisible to the human eye. This is the God for whom Solomon built the temple and whose presence he now solicits in prayer.
We are reminded that there is both a temporal and a spiritual context in which all of God’s people live. We participate in the same flow of history that was set in motion by God. God has written himself into history so that it follows the contours and boundaries of his will. And within those boundaries, we play no small part, because God has chosen to grant eternal weight to the sum of our lives.
So Solomon places this event within the stream of history, which is a blend of divine will and human choice. The will of God as expressed in the promises of God serve as bookends. The acts of God reinforce his word, giving certainty to promises not yet fulfilled. But many of God’s promises are conditional. He promises both to bless and to curse, to build up and to tear down. He is the ‘rock of our salvation’ and also the ‘stone upon which many stumble’. The choice of which of these He is for us…is up to us.
The day came when ‘Solomon’s’ temple was complete. It had been build according to the pattern that God had given to David who passed it on to Solomon (I Chron 28:19-20). That pattern assured Solomon that the hand of God had guiding the work. And once completed, he knew that at least the building conformed to God’s will. The ark of the covenant, containing the stones dating back to Moses and to Sinai had been put in place. And the place set aside to become ‘most holy’ was waiting for the one who is Holy to the utmost.
So it was that Solomon prayed:
“Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant and Your faithfulness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart;
You who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You promised him; You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. Now then, Lord, God of Israel, keep to Your servant David, my father, that which You promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay attention to their way, to walk in My Law as you have walked before Me.’ Now then, Lord, God of Israel, let Your word be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant David.
“But will God really dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!
Nevertheless, turn Your attention to the prayer of Your servant and to his plea, Lord, my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You; that Your eye will be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.
Listen to the pleadings of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive.
“If someone sins against his neighbour and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, then hear from heaven and take action and judge Your servants, punishing the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by repaying him according to his righteousness.
“If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and praise Your name, and pray and plead before You in this house, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers.
“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel; indeed, teach them the good way in which they are to walk. And provide rain on Your land, which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.
“If there is a famine in the land, if there is a plague, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer or plea is made by anyone or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know—for You alone know the hearts of the sons of mankind so that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.
“Also concerning the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country on account of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, and fear You as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way You send them, and they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their pleading, and maintain their cause.
“When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You are angry with them and turn them over to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near, if they take it to heart in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and plead to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and have acted wickedly’; if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleadings, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.
“Now, my God, please, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. “Now then arise, Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good. “Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; remember Your faithfulness to Your servant David.”
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Solomon confessed that God is one of kind…Lord of heaven and earth. He has an unbroken record of covenant faithfulness both with Israel and the house of David. The certainty of the future rests upon God’s faithfulness in the past. So may the events about to unfold – the fulfillment of scripture in your hearing – confirm your words in the sight of all.
But before asking God to bless them with his presence, Solomon put his requests in Biblical context when he asked: “But will God really dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!”
He did not want there to be any misunderstanding. God is not a ‘temple-dwelling god”. The prophet Isaiah repeated this in Isa 66:1-2a when he wrote:
“Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
For My hand made all these things,
Stephen affirmed this in his defence in Acts 7: 49-50 when they accused him of speaking ‘against the temple’. And Paul declared this same truth before the Areopagus in Acts 17:24-25…where he concluded that God is not served by human hands for God has no needs.
The God who chooses to ’cause his name to dwell’ at a place is not contained by it. No place that has been made, either by God or by Man is able to contain Him. Neither the creature nor the creation can envelop the creator.
So while God may be present at the temple he is not fully resident. His presence at the temple in no way limits his presence at any other place. This is why Solomon was careful to explain what God’s presence meant, and what it did not. The Biblical doctrine of God’s omnipresence is unique among ancient religions. It is something that God has revealed and not something that we have discovered.
The significance of the temple was the purpose that it served. It was a unique place toward which a person could pray – and when offered by those who had genuinely repented, God would forgive.
But notice, that while the temple provided a point of temporal orientation, the God to whom they prayed would hear and answer from heaven. God caused his name to dwell at the temple – but remained enthroned in heaven above.
Notice the formula – repeated 8 times.
1. Hear in heaven and forgive. v.30
2. Hear in heaven and judge. v.31-32
3. Hear in heaven and restore. v.33-34
4. Hear in heaven and send rain. v.35-36
5. Hear in heaven and minister justice. v.37-40
6. Hear in heaven, the foreigner. v.41-43
7. Hear in heaven and give victory. v.44-45
8. Hear in heaven, deliver and preserve. v.46-53
This expression is repeated by Solomon so that Israel would understand that the temple served as an instrument of God’s grace and not as the ‘dwelling place of God’.
Solomon confessed that there were a variety of circumtances designed by God to signal his disapproval of Israel. At the root of these was the abiding promise of God to bestow a special kind of providence upon Israel that was not available to nations surrounding them. As long as they served God faithfully, obeying his laws, his statutes and commandments, God would only bless them. They would not be able to outrun his blessings. God promised to multiply them along with their flocks and herds. He would water and husband their orchards and vineyards and prosper everything that they set their hands to do. God would transfer his wealth from ‘the storehouses of the heavens’ into their hands. And he promised to give them peace and security from the threat of surrounding nations (Deut. 28:1-14).
These promises could not fail…unless Israel failed to obey God. As certainly as God promised to bless, he also promised to curse them. Should they fail to honour and obey him he would withdraw his blessings and become their adversary.
So Israel had two ways of discovering where they stood spiritually with God. They could and should consult his word…the covenant that God made with them. And they could discern the times and conditions under which they lived. Now sometimes God delayed bringing his curses upon them and sent prophets to warn and to call them back. Yet as patient as He was, there was still and end to God’s patience.
When God promised to bless Israel, he did not do so unconditionally. God has always been true to Himself first. Those whom he invites into a relationship must enter it and sustain it on his terms. For the God who keeps covenant with his people, cannot take an oath by anyone greater than himself. God has never ‘played favourites’. And while he extended privileges to Israel that were unprecidented on a national scale, he also held them to a ‘higher standard’.
Solomon also makes it clear that his promises apply to individuals and not just to the nation. He is the God of Israel and also of each Israelite. Not only that, but he does not play favourites. He invites and rewards ‘foreigners’ who worship him as God. The scriptures give passing notice to this with the mention of Melchizedek, the queen of the south, Job and his god-fearing companions, Naaman and others. So Solomon asked God to attend to the prayers of those who acknowledged Him from afar.
The temple would one day fall. And prior to that, God would withdraw his glory/presence from the temple (Ezekiel 10). Yet faith in God might be exercised as it was by Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah who all prayed toward the temple site while away in exile. They had faith in God whose protection went far beyond the temple and whose favour persisted while the house lay in ruins
With those provisions in place, we find God’s answer in Chapter 7:1-3.
God said Yes with his presence, and the house that Solomon had built, became ‘the Lord’s House’.
“Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.
All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshipped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, “Certainly He is good, certainly His faithfulness is everlasting.”