2 Chronicles 6:12-42--Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

2 Chronicles 6:12-42
English Standard Version

Solomon's Prayer of Dedication
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, 15 who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. 16 Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17 Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 19 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, 20 that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 21 And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

22 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, 23 then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

24 “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

26 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, 27 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 29 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, 30 then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, 31 that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

32 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, 33 hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order 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 that I have built is called by your name.

34 “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

36 “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, 37 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 38 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 39 then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

41 “And now arise, O LORD God, and go to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.
Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation,
    and let your saints rejoice in your goodness.
42 O LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one!
    Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.”

---

I love this prayer of Solomon, and I think we talked about it when we studied 1 Kings which also tells of the rule and reign of Solomon.  Solomon made a platform for himself so that he was able to be seen by all (the platform was six feet tall so that everyone in the crowd should have been able to look up and see him) and he prostrated himself before the LORD as he prayed as a sign of his humility before God--he may have been exalted above the people but was nothing before God Himself.

He started off thanking God for being a covenant-keeping God and doing everything that He promised.  Specifically, Solomon is thanking the LORD for the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, but we can thank the LORD in a similar way for His fulfillment of the covenant of redemption that came through Jesus (the New Covenant as many today call it).  Now the LORD has also allowed Solomon to build a Temple to Him and His Name (another part of the Davidic Covenant).  Solomon understands that God's blessings on the kings of Israel and the people of Israel through the Mosaic and Davidic covenants are conditional in that God said He would do certain things as long as they obey His commandments).  Solomon prays for the strength to lead the LORD's people well and in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.

Solomon knows that the LORD does not need a house to live in--even the immeasurable space of the heavens cannot contain Him and His glory.  However, the LORD wanted to make a statement to His people and to all the other nations that He still dwells among His people and cares about them and for them.  He also wanted a place for all the nations of the world to come and learn about Him and His covenant and where they could choose to become part of His covenant people.  The main function of the Temple, like the Tabernacle before it, was atonement, and that needed to be made on an all-day, every-day basis from sun-up to sun-down.  It was also a place for the people to gather together and worship the LORD on a weekly basis as well as for special feasts and holy days (holidays).

Solomon knows that he, his descendants, and the people of Israel that he is standing before cannot and will not completely obey the Law.  He knows somewhere in his heart that the people will eventually experience the curses of the Law instead of the blessings of the Law, and that it will get to a point as the LORD described in the book of Deuteronomy when the LORD will have to drive them out of the Land.  So, Solomon prays for the people that when that day comes, and the LORD judges them that He will hear their prayers when they pray towards the Temple and that He will allow them to return to the Land and will heal it.  This is the background for one of the misquoted verses when the LORD replies to Solomon's request--"If my people who are called by my Name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land."  These are all the things that Solomon asks for here (the LORD even goes a little further than Solomon asks for in promising forgiveness of sins).  This is a promise in this context made towards the people of Israel that was fulfilled in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah when the LORD brought His people back from captivity because He heard the prayers of people like Daniel and the other Babylonian exiles.  This is not a "name it and claim it" promise--however if we are the people of the LORD, He still wants us to be obedient to Him and He still wants us to humble ourselves and pray.  We just don't necessarily have a national identity as the people of God with God's name on the line unless we are part of the people of Israel that is still to this day known to be "The LORD's chosen people."

Solomon also asks for success in military campaigns (the LORD gave him peace on every side so that he did not have to fight), for security from famine, blight, and pestilence, and Solomon even prayed for the foreigners that would come to worship the LORD in Jerusalem that the LORD would also hear their prayers and forgive their sins as well so that the whole world would know that the LORD, He is God and that they may all join together and worship Him as David talked about many times in the Psalms.

Solomon ends his prayer by asking the LORD's presence to reside in the Temple in a way that all would see that He was once again living among His people and was still keeping His covenant with Israel.  The LORD would do this very thing as we've already mentioned before by His glory filling the Temple.  We'll look at the LORD's answer to Solomon's prayer next time.