Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 7

Verses 1-22

2 Chronicles 7:1 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 Chronicles 7:1 “the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices” - Comments - This event took place during the dedication of the Temple. This fire also came down and consumed the sacrifice of Moses at the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Note:

Leviticus 9:24, “And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”

The angel accepted the sacrifice of Manoah, the father of Samson by consuming it with fire.

Judges 13:19, “So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.”

A fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice of King David at the threshing floor of Ornan.

1 Chronicles 21:26, “And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.”

Fire also consumed the sacrifice of Elijah on Mount Carmel.

1 Kings 18:38, “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”

In addition, during the time of Moses, God consumed the children of Israel with fire as a form of judgment (Numbers 11:1-2; Numbers 16:35).

2 Chronicles 7:2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house.

2 Chronicles 7:2 Comments - The description of glory of the Lord filling Solomon’s Temple in 2 Chronicles 7:1-2 is similar to Revelation 15:8, when the glory of God fills the Temple in Heaven.

2 Chronicles 7:12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

2 Chronicles 7:12 “and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice” - Comments - The Lord spoke to Moses five hundred years earlier in the book of Deuteronomy that He would chose a place to put His name (Deuteronomy 12:5). God's promise in Deuteronomy was fulfilled in 2 Chronicles 7:12.

Deuteronomy 12:5, “But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:”

The Jews believed that Jerusalem was the center of the universe. [37] They believed that Adam was created on the rock where the Temple was built. [38] They also believed that this was upon the Dome of the Rock at the Temple mound where Abraham offered up Isaac. [39]

[37] The Babylonian Talmud reads, “The sages, however, said: The world was created beginning with Zion. As it is written [Ps. l. 1, 2]: ‘The God of Gods, the Lord Speaketh,’ etc. ‘Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty’; That signifies, from Zion began to be the beauty of the whole world. In another Boraitha we have learned: R. Eliezer the Great said, It is written [Gen. ii. 4]: ‘These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.’ The luminous stars, etc., were created from the heavens, and all earthly things from the earth. But the sages say: Everything was created from Zion. As it is written [Ps. l. i]: ‘A Psalm of Assaph. The God of gods,’ etc. ‘The perfection of beauty,’ i.e., the beauty of the whole world.” See Michael L. Rodkinson, “Tract Yomah (Day of Atonment),” in New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, vol. 6 (Boston: New Talmud Publishing Company, 1903), 78; Louis Ginzberg writes, “The construction of the earth was begun at the centre, with the foundation stone of the Temple, the Eben Shetiyah, for the Holy Land is at the central point of the surface of the earth, Jerusalem is at the central point of Palestine, and the Temple is situated at the centre of the Holy City. In the sanctuary itself the Hekal is the centre, and the holy Ark occupies the centre of the Hekal, built on the foundation stone, which thus is at the centre of the earth.” See Louis Ginzberg, Legend of the Jews, vol. 1, trans. Henrietta Szold (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication of America, 1909), 12.

[38] Louis Ginsberg writes, “It is a beautiful and certainly an original idea of the rabbis that ‘Adan was created from the dust of the place where the sanctuary was to rise for the atonement of all human sin,’ so that sin should never be a permanent or inherent part of mans nature. (Gen. R. xiv., Yer. Naz. vii. 56b).” see Louis Ginsberg, “Adam,” in The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 1, ed. Isidore Singer (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1901), 176.

[39] Max Seligsohn, “Moriah,” in The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 9, ed. Isidore Singer (New York: KTAV Publishing House, no date), 17.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” - Comments - The story of Hezekiah's restoration of Temple worship (2 Chronicles 29-31) is a good example of 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Hear their prayer:

2 Chronicles 30:27, “Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.”

Forgive their sin:

2 Chronicles 30:18-20, “For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one That prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.”

Heal their land:

2 Chronicles 30:20, “And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.”

Why?

They humbled themselves:

2 Chronicles 30:11-12, “Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.”

They prayed:

2 Chronicles 30:18, “For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one”

They sought God’s face:

2 Chronicles 29:20, “Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.”

They turned from their wicked ways: