2 Chronicles 5-6
Scripture Thought (What I Learned):
Chapter 5: The Temple is Finished
Solomon
finishes the temple and brings in everything that his father had dedicated
towards the temple, the gold, silver and all the instruments were put in the
treasuries of the house of the Lord. Solomon then commanded all the elders of
Israel to go up to bring the ark of the Lord unto the city of David which is
Zion.
So they
go and get the ark of the Lord and they bring it back to the house of the Lord,
the newly built temple and rest the ark in the Oracle of the Sanctuary of the
Temple. The men with the instruments began to play and glory in God and the
glory of God was shown through the Temple.
Chapter 6: Dedicatory Prayer for the Temple
Solomon
blesses all the congregation of Israel that is gathered before the temple on
the day of the dedication. Solomon gets down on his knees and spreads his hands
toward heaven and prays;
“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: 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. 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. Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which
thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. 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! 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:
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. 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. If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon
him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; Then
hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked,
by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by
giving him according to his righteousness. And if thy people Israel be put to
the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return
and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;
Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and
bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.
When
the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against
thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and
turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them; Then hear thou from heaven,
and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast
taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy
land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.
If there be dearth in the land,
if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or
caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land;
whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:
Then what prayer or what
supplication so ever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel,
when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread
forth his hands in this house: Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place,
and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart
thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of
men:)
That they may fear thee, to walk
in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our
fathers. Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel,
but is come from a far country for thy great name’s sake, and thy mighty hand,
and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house; Then
hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do
according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the
earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may
know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.
If thy people
go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and
they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house
which I have built for thy name; Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer
and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
If they sin against thee, (for there
is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver
them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a
land far off or near; Yet if they bethink themselves in the
land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land
of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt
wickedly;
If they return to thee with all
their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither
they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest
unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and
toward the house which I have built for thy name:
Then hear thou from the heavens, even from
thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their
cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee.
Now,
my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent
unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God,
into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy
priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints
rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine
anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.” (2 Chronicles 14-42)
We
learn a lot from Solomon’s prayer. Mainly asking God to be patient and
understand of the weakness of man. Solomon prays that God will forgive men of
their weakness, if only they turn away from it and come back to the Lord.
