Chapter 7

This chapter adds that when Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices on the altar, then the glory of the Lord fills the Temple.  1 Kings 8 I don't think mentions the fire from heaven.  1 Kings 8 says the glory filled the Temple when the Ark was put into its place. 

Read these two chapters - 1 Kings 8, 2 Chron 6, in parallel (they were broken up in my chronological reading), and also check MSB to resolve the timing.

2021 - It seems to me that these people are constantly seeing visible signs of God's presence, or even more fundamentally, of his reality.  Only God can send fire down from heaven - at least until the end times.  So here we are in Solomon's time with a sign of the reality of the God of Israel that is undeniable.  It should have confirmed that all the old stories of the miracles of God, of his calling of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea and the water from the rock...all these things should have been confirmed as undeniable truth by this fire from heaven in Solomon's day.  Yet they turn away, in just a generation, and start worshiping idols again.  How can this be so?  And how can we accuse them, we who have more than any nation probably since their time ever had, and what are we doing with it?  Do we thank God for it, or aggressively try to remove him even from conscious thought. 

Possible FB post with this verse: 1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. [2Ch 7:1 ESV]

2021 - I may have said this before, but there is indication again in vs. 6 that it was David who "invented" musical instruments and singing as part of worship.  Perhaps no nation, no culture had ever included music in worship, and no idol had ever been worshiped this way.  Just a thought.  Need to find that previous place where it said this. (Done, at least in part.  Found one earlier place and tagged it, but there is a place where David is preparing items for the future temple where he orders musical instruments prepared.  And as he "orders" the ranks of the Levites, it is David who sets some to sing.  All this can, I think, be traced to David.  Didn't he play cymbals when he danced before God as the Ark was brought into Jerusalem?  That may have been a first also.

2023 - Vs 7 ends with "His lovingkindness is forever",  "ki olam hesed".

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. [2Ch 7:14 ESV]

This is God's answer to the prayers Solomon had prayed for Israel that day at the dedication of the Temple.  God comes to Solomon by night and makes the statement above.  Solomon's prayer - with the one exception about foreigners praying toward the Temple - was exclusively about God's actions following rebellion against Him by His people.  It was Israel that could humble themselves and pray.  You can generalize "my people who are called by my name", but it seems to me that it is a real stretch to think we as Americans can invoke a promise God made to Solomon about the nation of Israel.

2024 - Really, it is more profound than that.  Why does no one ever quote 13, the preceding verse, the verse about which verse 14 makes a promise?

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, [2Ch 7:13 ESV].

IF it has gotten so far that God is sending drought, devouring insects, or nationwide sickness as punishment for the people's sins, and they repent of whatever sin that was in the face of these physical, earthly punishments sent by God, THEN, for those affected by these plagues, God will hear, forgive, and rescind the plague or plagues.  We, today, in the USA, are just NOT in this boat in any manner shape or form.  We are not suffering these plagues, we are not Solomon's people.  It's a great verse...if you are an Israeli living in Israel.

15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. [2Ch 7:15-16 ESV]

For all time.  How can anyone argue that a prayer offered at the wailing wall, or from anywhere in Jerusalem or anywhere on the planet, that is prayed toward Solomon's Temple, will not be heard especially by God, whether prayed by Israeli or foreigner?

2025 - Perhaps they can say that if they continued reading in this chapter and got to vvs 19-22!!!

2021 - This verse is right here also:

17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.' [2Ch 7:17-18 ESV]

In the same way that in vs 14 God refers to "my people", here He addresses whom?  Solomon.  Not any king in any time who follows God's command.  This is three verses later, and is specifically, only, uniquely a promise to Solomon son of David.  We don't try to apply this verse universally, so why are we so keen to do it with vs. 14.

2025 - And here is a verse of which we should take special note:

19 "But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. [2Ch 7:19-20 ESV].

Who can say that 19-20 didn't happen in 586 BC and again in 70 AD.  The house was leveled and has yet to be rebuilt.  God has forsaken that house because of the rebellion of the people for who's sake he had inhabited it in the first place.

Israel will be restored, but I do not believe it will happen until the 70th week.  Today, now, they are worse off than we Gentiles, because God has partially blinded them for abandoning him.  That is not going to change until the end.