Sunday, March 11, 2018 Lesson: II Chronicles 6:12-21; Time of Action: 959 B.C.; Place of Action: Jerusalem Golden Text: And said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts (II Chronicles 6:14). I. INTRODUCTION. King David was never able to see his key desire to come to pass. He wanted to build a great temple for his God. Instead, God told David that his seed, namely Solomon, would be the one to build Him a temple (see II Samuel 7:1-17; I Chronicles 1:15). This week s lesson looks at the time after Solomon had completed building the temple of the Lord. Then he expressed his dedication to the Lord in a moving prayer that showed a genuine spirit of humility. It should be noted that throughout Solomon s prayer his focus is not on the temple of God, but on the God of the temple.
II. BACKGROUND FOR THE LESSON. At the time of our lesson, Solomon, David s son was the king of a united Israel. As noted in the introduction, Solomon, not David was the one God wanted to build His temple. II Chronicles chapters 2-5 give the details of Solomon s work of building and furnishing the temple of God in Jerusalem. After it was finished, a cloud identified as the glory of the Lord filled the temple so that the priests were not able to perform their services (see II Chronicles 5:1, 13-14). After Solomon recounted the history that led to the building of the temple (see II Chronicles 6:1-11), he prepared himself for his prayer of dedication for the temple. III. SOLOMON HUMBLES HIMSELF BEFORE GOD (II Chronicles 6:12-13) A. Solomon prepares for his prayer of dedication (II Chronicles 6:12). Our first verse says, And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands. The pronoun he here refers to King Solomon. This verse is actually a summary of the next verse which gives more detail of how Solomon prepared to dedicate the completed temple. We are told that Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of
Israel. The altar mentioned here was the bronze altar that Solomon made during the temple s construction (see II Chronicles 4:1), and was used for offering sacrifices. It was situated in the courtyard in front of the temple (see II Kings 16:14). As Solomon stood in front of the altar and the people, he spread forth his hands as he prepared to pray. B. Details of Solomon s preparation for his prayer of dedication (II Chronicles 6:13). This verse says For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. The writer here said that Solomon had made a brasen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood. For this dedication service, Solomon had built a brazen scaffold or a bronze platform that was placed in the middle of the temple s outer court. The dimensions of this bronze platform were five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high. Since a cubit is about 18 inches or 1 ½ feet, the platform would have been 7 ½ ft. long, 7 ½ ft. wide, and 4 ½ ft. high. As Solomon stood on this platform, he kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. It was unusual for a king to kneel before someone else in front
of his own people because kneeling meant submitting to a higher authority. With great humility, Solomon demonstrated his great love and respect for God as the ultimate King and authority by raising his hands toward heaven and kneeling on the platform. IV. SOLOMON RECOUNTS GOD S GREATNESS (II Chronicles 6:14-18) A. God s faithfulness (II Chronicles 6:14-15). 1. (vs. 14). This verse says And said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts. As Solomon begins his prayer of dedication and consecration, he acknowledges who God is. He said O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth. The God of Israel is a being of incomparable perfection. For every creature there are similar creatures, but the Creator has no peer or equal. Certainly David spoke the truth when he said Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee (see II Samuel 7:22). Like Solomon, we may not be able to fully describe God, but also like him, we do know this that there is none like Him in heaven or in earth. Then Solomon recounted God s
faithfulness when he said which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts. These are almost the same words spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 7:9: Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Both Solomon and Moses were saying the same thing, that God can be counted on to be true to every word that He has spoken to His servants, or all those who obey Him and are anxious to do His will. The Hebrew word for mercy used by both Moses and Solomon is hesed and it speaks of God s covenantkeeping love for His people. Note: It s interesting that in this verse, Solomon refers to God as Lord God. But notice that in the spelling for Lord the letters ord are smaller capital letters than the L in Lord. This is different from the word Lord where the ord is in lower case letters that we normally see in the Scriptures (see Genesis 2:4; 4:4; Exodus 3:7; 4:11; Leviticus 1:1; Isaiah 1:4; Jeremiah 1:6; Jonah 1:1). The reason for this was that this was the translators way of treating yhwh (pronounced Yahweh) the personal and sacred name of the Lord with the respect that the Jews gave it. The Jews thought the name Yahweh was too sacred to even pronounce, so they would use another word that meant Lord which is how we see this word most often in the Bible. The translators decided to use the form Lord with its small capital letters after the L in place of the sacred name Yahweh which refers to God s eternal existence and His faithfulness to His covenant. There is another Hebrew word for the Lord, Adonai which is rendered Lord with the ord in lower
case letters and it is the word we more often see in Scripture. Adonai refers to God s lordship and control over creation. Both names Lord (Yahweh or Jehovah), and Lord (Adonai) are used in Psalms 8:1 where David declares O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. When both names are used together they speak of God s personal name, Yahweh (Lord), and Adonai (Lord) His name for His lordship over creation. So when both names Lord and Lord are used together as in Psalms 8:1, the meaning would be Jehovah Adonai. 2. (vs.15). This verse goes on to say Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. The promise that Solomon was referring to that God made to David was concerning the building of the temple (see I Chronicles 22:6-10). Solomon stated that God had made His promise to His servant David, Solomon s father, and God had kept His promise because the temple stood completed as it is this day. The proof that God was faithful to the promise he made to David concerning the building of the temple was the completed temple itself. B. God s promise (II Chronicles 6:16-17). 1. (vs. 16). This verse says Now therefore,
O Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. When God promised David that his son would build Him a temple, He also made another promise that Solomon asked God to keep which was There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel. In other words, God promised David that his descendants will always reign over Israel. But Solomon knew that this was not a blanket promise. He added yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou (David) hast walked before me. In other words, God s promise that a descendant of David will always sit on the throne in Israel would only be fulfilled if David s children or his descendants obeyed God s laws as David had (see I Kings 2:1-4; I Kings 9:1-8). Note: As usual, God was faithful to His Word. There were a number of David s descendants to sit on the throne of Judah after the kingdom was divided, but only a handful were good kings. As a result of the people following the evil ways of those kings, they were eventually carried into Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C. The last king to sit on the Davidic throne in Judah was Zedekiah an evil king (see II Kings 25:1-12). Because many of Judah s kings failed to obey God, the people also failed to walk before God in obedience. Therefore, there will not be another ancestor of David to sit on the throne in Israel until Jesus Christ establishes His millennial reign.
2. (vs. 17). In this verse, Solomon says Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. Here, Solomon repeats his request that God keep His promise to His servant David. He refers to God as Lord God of Israel or Jehovah Elohim of Israel. When Solomon asked God to let thy word be verified he was asking God to let the promise He made to David regarding his descendants be fulfilled. C. God s immensity (II Chronicles 6:18). In this verse, Solomon said But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! As he continued to pray, Solomon thought about the great temple that he had built for God. But realizing that God is everywhere all the time, he posed the question to himself, But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? In other words Solomon s question was, But will God really live upon the earth with men? Solomon knew that God was immense which means He cannot be measured, so he had to wonder if God was really going to abide in the temple he built. Earlier when Solomon was preparing to build the temple he made a similar statement: And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him? (see II
Chronicles 2:5-6). Then Solomon declared behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! Solomon reasoned that since God is immense or cannot be measured, He can t be confined to this great temple no matter how large it is. Note: Solomon was actually amazed that God who fills everything would actually dwell or live with mankind on earth. His amazement was understandable, but it was also true. One day in the future, God, in His fullest expression would dwell with people on earth in the birth of Jesus Christ who as John wrote was made flesh, and dwelt among us (see John 1:14). That makes Jesus truly Emmanuel, which means God with us (see Matthew 1:23). V. SOLOMON MAKES A PETITION OF GOD (II Chronicles 6:19-21) A. A petition to be heard (II Chronicles 6:19-20). 1. (vs. 19). As Solomon continued his prayer, in this verse He said Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee. When Solomon asked the Lord to Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication he was asking God to
pay attention to His servant s prayer and his requests. It was so important to Solomon that God heard His prayer that he repeated his words saying hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee. Of course the word hearken means to hear or to listen to and his cry was this prayer. 2. (vs. 20). Solomon s prayer continued with That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. In the previous verse, Solomon asked God twice to hear His servant s prayer, and in this verse he reveals what his supplication or request was: That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there. Solomon was asking God to look down with favor day and night upon this Temple upon this place where you have said that you would put your name. Associating God s name with the temple indicates that His character and reputation were closely tied to the temple, and that was the reason why he thought God should hear his prayers. In addition to looking down on the temple with favor, Solomon also asked God to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. Solomon was asking God to please always hear and answer his prayers whenever he prayed in the direction of the temple. Praying towards the temple was very important to God s people. Even while in Babylonian Captivity, Daniel prayed facing the direction of Jerusalem (see Daniel 6:10).
B. A petition for forgiveness (II Chronicles 6:21). Solomon continued his prayer in our last verse saying, Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive. In the previous verse, Solomon asked God to personally hear his prayers when he prayed facing the temple. Now in this verse, he asked the Lord to Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place. This was the third time that Solomon asked God to hear his prayers. But here, he asked God not only to hear his prayer when he prayed toward the temple, he also asked God to hear all the people of Israel whenever they prayed toward the temple. The last part of this verse is probably the most important part of Solomon s prayer. He said hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive. Solomon was certainly aware that at some point God s people would disobey Him because later in his prayer he said For there is no man which sinneth not (see II Chronicles 6:36). Solomon didn t ask the Lord to hear their prayers from the temple, because he knew the temple couldn t contain Him. Instead, he asked the Lord to hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven. And once God heard the people s prayers from heaven, Solomon asked Him to forgive. This gives us some insight into the kind of prayers the people would pray. They would be primarily confessions of their failure to keep God s law, and
also pleas for God s mercy and forgiveness. It was Solomon s desire that his people follow their God. So when they faltered or failed the Lord, Solomon wanted to be sure that God would forgive them and restore them. VI. Conclusion. Solomon knew that it was important to dedicate the temple he built for God. Such a magnificent structure where the infinite God had put His name needed an appropriate dedication. Unlike Solomon and the Israelites, we don t have a brick and mortar temple to dedicate to the Lord. But if we are in Christ and have the Holy Spirit, we believers are the temple of God (see I Corinthians 6:19). However, like the temple that Solomon built for God, our bodies which the infinite God indwells should have an appropriate dedication as described in Romans 12:1: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. But dedicating ourselves to the Lord is not a one-time event. It should be a daily practice for us. We should acknowledge daily that we belong to God and dedicate everything we do to Him (see I Corinthians 10:31).
***The Bible Expositor and Illuminator, Union Gospel Press***