2 Chronicles 7:4

Solomon having ended his prayer, the fire of the Lord comes down from heaven and consumes the offerings, 2Chr 7:1 . The people and the priests see this, and glorify God, and offer sacrifices, 2Chr 7:2-4 . Solomon offers twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the priests and Levites attend in their offices, 2Chr 7:5 , 2Chr 7:6 . He keeps the feast seven days, and the dedication of the altar seven days, and dismisses the people, 2Chr 7:7-11 . The Lord appears unto him by night, and assures him that he has heard his prayer, 2Chr 7:12-16 ; promises him and his posterity a perpetual government, if they be obedient, 2Chr 7:17 , 2Chr 7:18 ; but utter destruction should they disobey, and become idolaters, 2Chr 7:19-22 . Verse 1 The fire came down - The cloud had come down before, now the fire consumes the sacrifice, showing that both the house and the sacrifices were accepted by the Lord. Verse 4 The king and all the people offered sacrifices - They presented the victims to the priests, and they and the Levites slew them, and sprinkled the blood: or perhaps the people themselves slew them; and, having caught the blood, collected the fat, etc., presented them to the priests to be offered as the law required. Verse 5 Twenty and two thousand oxen, etc. - The amount of all the victims that had been offered during the seven days of the feast of tabernacles, and the seven days of the feast of the dedication. Verse 8 The entering in of Hamath - "From the entrance of Antioch to the Nile of Egypt." - Targum. Verse 10 On the three and twentieth day - This was the ninth day of the dedication of the temple; but in 1Kgs 8:66 it is called the eighth day. "The meaning is this," says Jarchi: "he gave them liberty to return on the eighth day, and many of them did then return: and he dismissed the remainder on the ninth, what is called here the twenty-third, reckoning the fourteen days for the duration of the two feasts; in all, twenty-three." The Targum paraphrases this verse thus: "The people departed with a glad heart, for all the good which God had done to David his servant, on whose account the doors of the sanctuary were open and for Solomon his son, because God had heard his prayer, and the majesty of the Lord had rested on the house of the sanctuary and for Israel, his people, because God had favourably accepted their oblations, and the heavenly fire had descended, and, burning on the altar, had devoured their sacrifices." Verse 12 The Lord appeared to Solomon - This was a second manifestation; see 1Kgs 9:2-9 (note), and the notes there. The Targum says, "The Word of the Lord appeared to Solomon." Verse 13 Or if I send pestilence - "The angel of death." - Targum. Verse 15 Now mine eyes shall be open - It shall be pleasing to me in the sight of my Word, that I should incline mine ear," etc. - Targum. Verse 18 There shall not fail thee a man - This promise was not fulfilled, because the condition was not fulfilled; they forsook God, and he cut them off, and the throne also. Verse 20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots - How completely has this been fulfilled! not only all the branches of the Jewish political tree have been cut off, but the very roots have been plucked up; so that the day of the Lord's anger has left them neither root nor branch. Verse 21 Shall be an astonishment - The manner in which these disobedient people have been destroyed is truly astonishing: no nation was ever so highly favored, and none ever so severely and signally punished. Verse 22 Because they forsook the Lord - While they cleaved to God, the most powerful enemy could make no impression on them; but when they forsook him, then the weakest and most inconsiderable of their foes harassed, oppressed, and reduced them to bondage and misery. It was by no personal prowess, genuine heroism, or supereminent military tactics, that the Jews were enabled to resist and overcome their enemies; it was by the Divine power alone; for, destitute of this, they were even worse than other men. Introduction

God's Gracious Answer to Solomon. ( b. c. 1004.) 1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. 2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord , because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord 's house. 3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord , saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord . 5 And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord , which David the king had made to praise the Lord , because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. 7 Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord : for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the meat offerings, and the fat. 8 Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt. 9 And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10 And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had showed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people. 11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord , and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord , and in his own house, he prosperously effected. Here is, I. The gracious answer which God immediately made to Solomon's prayer: The fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, v. 1 . In this way God testified his acceptance of Moses ( Lev. ix. 24 ), of Gideon ( Judg. vi. 21 ), of David ( 1 Chron. xxi. 26 ), of Elijah ( 1 Kings xviii. 38 ); and, in general, to accept the burnt-sacrifice is, in the Hebrew phrase, to turn it to ashes, Ps. xx. 3 . The fire came down here, not upon the killing of the sacrifices, but the praying of the prayer. 1. This fire intimated that God was, (1.) Glorious in himself; for our God is a consuming fire, terrible even in his holy places. This fire, breaking forth (as it is probable) out of the thick darkness, made it the more terrible, as on Mount Sinai, Exod. xxiv. 16, 17 . The sinners in Sion had reason to be afraid at that sight, and to say, Who among us shall dwell near this devouring fire? Isa. xxxiii. 14 . And yet, (2.) Gracious to Israel; for this fire, which might justly have consumed them, fastened upon the sacrifice which was offered in their stead, and consumed that, by which God signified to them that he accepted their offerings and that his anger was turned away from them. 2. Let us apply this, (1.) To the suffering of Christ. When it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief, in that he showed his good-will to men, having laid on him the iniquity of us all. His death was our life, and he was made sin and a curse that we might inherit righteousness and a blessing. That sacrifice was consumed that we might escape. Here am I, let these go their way. (2.) To the sanctification of the Spirit, who descends like fire, burning up our lusts and corruptions, those beasts that must be sacrificed or we are undone, and kindling in our souls a holy fire of pious and devout affections, always to be kept burning on the altar of the heart. The surest evidence of God's acceptance of our prayers is the descent of the holy fire upon us. Did not our hearts burn within us? Luke xxiv. 32 . As a further evidence that God accepted Solomon's prayer, still the glory of the Lord filled the house. The heart that is thus filled with a holy awe and reverence of the divine glory, the heart to which God manifests himself in his greatness, and (which is no less his glory) in his goodness, is thereby owned as a living temple. II. The grateful return made to God for this gracious token of his favour. 1. The people worshipped and praised God, v. 3 . When they saw the fire of God come down from heaven thus they did not run away affrighted, but kept their ground in the courts of the Lord, and took occasion from it, (1.) With reverence to adore the glory of God: They bowed their faces to the ground and worshipped, thus expressing their awful dread of the divine majesty, their cheerful submission to the divine authority, and the sense they had of their unworthiness to come into God's presence and their inability to stand before the power of his wrath. (2.) With thankfulness to acknowledge the goodness of God; even when the fire of the Lord came down they praised him, saying, He is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. This is a song never out of season, and for which our hearts and tongues should be never out of tune. However it be, yet God is good. 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 in this God was good. " It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, but the sacrifice in our stead, for which we are bound to be very thankful." 2. The king and all the people offered sacrifices in abundance, v. 4, 5 . With these they feasted this holy fire, and bade it welcome to the altar. They had offered sacrifices before, but now they increased them. Note, The tokens of God's favour to us should enlarge our hearts in his service, and make us to abound therein more and more. The king's example stirred up the people. Good work is then likely to go on when the leaders of a people lead in it. The sacrifices were so numerous that the altar could not contain them all; but, rather than any of them should be turned back (though we may suppose the blood of them all was sprinkled upon the altar), the flesh of the burnt-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings were burnt in the midst of the court ( v. 7 ), which Solomon either hallowed for that service or hallowed by it. In case of necessity the pavement might be an altar. 3. The priests did their part; they waited on their offices, and the singers and musicians on theirs ( v. 6 ), with the instruments that David made, and the hymn that David had put into their hand, as some think it may be read (meaning that 1 Chron. xvi. 7 ), or, as we read it, when David praised by their ministry. He employed, directed, and encouraged them in this work of praising God; and therefore their performances were accepted as his act, and he is said to praise by their ministry. 4. The whole congregation expressed the greatest joy and satisfaction imaginable. They kept the feast of the dedication of the altar seven days, from the second to the ninth; the tenth day was the day of atonement, when they were to afflict their souls for sin, and that was not unseasonable in the midst of their rejoicings; on the fifteenth day began the feast of tabernacles, which continued to the twenty-second, and they did not separate till the twenty-third. We must never grudge the time that we spend in the worship of God and communion with him, nor think it long, or grow weary of it. 5. Solomon went on in his work, and prosperously effected all he designed for the adorning both of God's house and his own, v. 11 . Those that 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, and it was by the grace of God that he prospered in it.