---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  2 Chronicles 7"
description: "CHAPTER 7   :-. GOD GIVES
TESTIMONY TO SOLOMON"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/2-chronicles/7"
---

CHAPTER 7

. 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 ;
[1 Kings 18:38](../../../kjv/1-kings/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 ([1 Kings 18:38](../../../kjv/1-kings/18/38)).

**2. the priests could not enter**—Both
from awe of the miraculous fire that was burning on the altar and
from the dense cloud that enveloped the sanctuary, they were unable
for some time to perform their usual functions (see on ). But afterwards, their courage and confidence being
revived, they approached the altar and busied themselves in the
offering of an immense number of sacrifices.

**3. all the children of Israel . . .
bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the
pavement**—This form of prostration (that of lying on one's knees
with the forehead touching the earth), is the manner in which the
Hebrews, and Orientals in general, express the most profound
sentiments of reverence and humility. The courts of the temple were
densely crowded on the occasion, and the immense multitude threw
themselves on the ground. What led the Israelites suddenly to assume
that prostrate attitude on the occasion referred to, was the
spectacle of the symbolical cloud slowly and majestically descending
upon the temple, and then entering it.
. SOLOMON'S
SACRIFICES.

**4. Then the king and all the people
offered sacrifices**—Whether the individual worshippers
slaughtered their own cattle, or a certain portion of the vast number
of the Levitical order in attendance performed that work, as they
sometimes did, in either case the offerings were made through the
priests, who presented the blood and the fat upon the altar (see on
).

**5, 6. so the king and all the people
dedicated the house of God**—The ceremonial of dedication
consisted principally in the introduction of the ark into the temple,
and in the sacrificial offerings that were made on a scale of
magnitude suitable to the extraordinary occasion. All present, the
king, the people, and the priests, took part according to their
respective stations in the performance of the solemn service. The
duty, of course, devolved chiefly on the priests, and hence in
proceeding to describe their several departments of work, the
historian says, generally, "the priests waited on their
offices." While great numbers would be occupied with the
preparation and offering of the victims, others sounded with their
trumpets, and the different bands of the Levites praised the Lord
with vocal and instrumental music, by , the oft-recurring chorus of which is,
"for His mercy endureth for ever."

**7. Solomon hallowed the middle of
the court**—On this extraordinary occasion, when a larger number
of animals were offered than one altar and the usual place of rings
to which the animals were bound would admit, the whole space was
taken in that was between the place of rings and the west end of the
court to be used as a temporary place for additional altars. On that
part of the spacious court holocausts were burning all round.

**8. Solomon kept the feast seven
days**—The time chosen for the dedication of the temple was
immediately previous to the feast of tabernacles (see on ). That season, which came after the harvest, corresponding
to our September and October, lasted seven days, and during so
prolonged a festival there was time afforded for the offering of the
immense sacrifices enumerated. A large proportion of these were peace
offerings, which afforded to the people the means of festive
enjoyment.
**all Israel . . . from the
entering in of Hamath**—that is, the defile at Lebanon.
**unto the river of Egypt**—that
is, Rhinocorura, now El-Arish, the south boundary of Palestine.

**10. on the three and twentieth day
of the seventh month**—This was the last day of the feast of
tabernacles.
. GOD APPEARS
TO HIM.

**12. the Lord appeared to Solomon by
night**—(See on ). 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.

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