2 Chronicles · chapter 6 of 36
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2 Chronicles 6 records the speech and prayer with which Solomon dedicates the temple. He first blesses the people and praises God for keeping his promise to David; then, kneeling before the altar, he asks that the Lord hear the prayers lifted toward that place. He lays out several situations in which the people will turn to God, from an oath to exile, and ends by asking the Lord to rise to his resting place.
The glory of the Lord has just filled the house in the previous chapter. Now Solomon speaks. This chapter holds one of the great prayers of the Bible, and the chronicler presents it almost in full because his readers, who had lived through exile, needed to know that God hears those who turn to him, even far from Jerusalem.
Solomon recalls that the Lord had said he would dwell in thick darkness, and that he has built him a house. He turns to the assembly and blesses it. Then he praises God, who fulfilled with his own hand what he promised David: that his son would build the house for his name and that his throne would stand over Israel. Solomon explains that he has taken his father's throne and built the temple where the ark with the Lord's covenant rests.
He stands before the altar, spreads out his hands and kneels on a bronze platform. He begins his prayer by praising God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, and asks him to fulfill what he promised David. He marvels that the heavens cannot contain God, much less this house, and asks that God's eyes be open toward it and that he hear the prayers directed to this place.
He then presents a series of situations: someone who swears an oath before the altar, defeat before an enemy because of sin, drought, famine and plague, the foreigner who comes for the sake of the Lord's name, the people at war and the people carried captive because there is no one who does not sin. In each case he asks the Lord to hear from heaven, forgive and respond. He ends by asking the Lord to rise to his resting place, with his priests clothed in salvation and his saints rejoicing, and to remember his steadfast love for David.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Solomon proclaims that there is no God like the Lord, in heaven or on earth, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with his servants who walk before him with all their heart. The prayer starts with who God is before asking for anything.
Solomon asks whether God will truly dwell with people when the heavens cannot contain him, much less this house. He marvels at the grace of an immense God who chooses to be near.
He asks the Lord to hear the pleas of his servant and his people from heaven, his dwelling place, and, when he hears, to forgive. Forgiveness is the word that holds the whole prayer together.
Solomon admits that there is no one who does not sin and asks that, if the people are carried captive, God would hear them when they repent. This petition anticipates the exile and is a hope for all who return to God after failing.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: What he had promised his father David: that his son would build the house for his name. — 2 Chronicles 6:4-10
Answer: Kneeling on a bronze platform with his hands spread toward heaven. — 2 Chronicles 6:13
Answer: That the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain God, much less this house. — 2 Chronicles 6:18
Answer: That God would hear from heaven, forgive their sin and bring them back to the land. — 2 Chronicles 6:24-25
Answer: That God would hear and do all that the foreigner asked, so that all peoples would know his name. — 2 Chronicles 6:32-33
Answer: That there is no one who does not sin. — 2 Chronicles 6:36
Solomon's prayer is a model for praying with others. It begins with worship, recalls God's promises and then presents concrete needs: justice, defeat, drought, sickness, foreigners, war and failure. In a small group it can serve as a guide for praying about real problems in the neighborhood, the church and our families.
It also reminds us that forgiveness is not a detail. Solomon knows his people will fail and pleads in advance that, when they repent, God will hear them. Christians can pray with the same hope, because in Christ we have an open way to God, and there is no failure from which we cannot return to him in humility.
2 Chronicles 6 ends with the request that the Lord rise to his resting place and remember his steadfast love for David. In 2 Chronicles 7 God answers with fire from heaven, with his glory upon the house and with a warning and a promise that the people will remember for generations.
The text says Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five wide and three high, in the middle of the court, and he stood on it. In that way the whole assembly could see him. He knelt before everyone as a sign of humility and reverence.
Solomon asks God to hear prayers directed toward the temple, even from those far away. It is not magic or dependence on the building: it is a way of saying that they trust the promises God made at that place. Daniel prayed facing Jerusalem during the exile.
In 2 Chronicles 7, God answers with fire from heaven, with his glory upon the house and with a night appearance to Solomon. There he promises to hear prayer and also warns that, if the people turn away, the temple will be abandoned. The chronicler joins hope and responsibility.