‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there and I chose no man to be prince over my people Israel; but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart; nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who will come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’
“Yahweh has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. There I have set the ark, in which is Yahweh’s covenant, which he made with the children of Israel.”
He stood before Yahweh’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands (for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven) and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; you who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart; who have kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.
“Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 Or, Temple.
Or, Temple.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v12 Solomon had, in the foregoing verses, signed and sealed,…
Solomon had, in the foregoing verses, signed and sealed, as it were, the deed of dedication, by which the temple was appropriated to the honour and service of God. Now here he prays the consecration-prayer, by which it was made a figure of Christ, the great Mediator, through whom we are to offer all our prayers, and to expect all God's favours, and to whom we are to have an eye in every thing where we have to do with God. We have opened the particulars of this prayer (1 Kings 8) and therefore shall now only glean up some few passages in it which may be the proper subjects of our meditation.
I. Here are some doctrinal truths occasionally laid down. As, 1. That the God of Israel is a being of incomparable perfection. We cannot describe him; but this we know, there is none like him in heaven or in earth, Ch2 6:14. All the creatures have their fellow-creatures, but the Creator has not his peer. He is infinitely above all, and over all, God blessed for ever. 2. That he is, and will be, true to every word that he has spoken; and all that serve him in sincerity shall certainly find him both faithful and kind. Those that set God always before them, and walk before him with all their hearts, shall find him as good as his word and better; he will both keep covenant with them and show mercy to them, Ch2 6:14. 3. That he is a being infinite and immense, whom the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain, and to whose felicity nothing is added by the utmost we can do in his service, Ch2 6:18. He is infinitely beyond the bounds of the creation and infinitely above the praises of all intelligent creatures. 4. That he, and he only, knows the hearts of the children of men, Ch2 6:30. All men's thoughts, aims, and affections, are naked and open before him; and, however the imaginations and intents of our hearts may be concealed from men, angels, and devils, they cannot be hidden from God, who knows not only what is in the heart, but the heart itself and all the beatings of it. 5. That there is no such thing as a sinless perfection to be found in this life (Ch2 6:36): There is no man who sinneth not; nay, who doeth good and sinneth not; so he writes, agreeable to what he here says, Ecc 7:20.
Read full note →
II. Here are some suppositions or cases put which are to be taken notice of. 1. He supposed that if doubts and controversies arose between man and man both sides would agree to appeal to God, and lay an oath upon the person whose testimony must decide the matter, Ch2 6:22. The religious reverence of an oath, as it was ancient, so, it may be presumed, it will continue as long as there are any remains of conscience and right reason among men. 2. He supposed that, though Israel enjoyed a profound peace and tranquillity, yet troublesome times would come. He did not think the mountain of their prosperity stood so strong but that it might be moved; nay, he expected sin would move it. 3. He supposed that those who had not called upon God at other times, yet, in their affliction, would seek him early and earnestly. "When they are in distress they will confess their sins, and confess thy name, and make supplication to thee." Trouble will drive those to God who have said to him, Depart, Ch2 6:24, Ch2 6:26, Ch2 6:28. 4. He supposed that strangers would come from afar to worship the God of Israel and to pay homage to him; and this also might reasonably be expected, considering what worthless things the gods of the nations were, and what proofs the God of Israel had given of his being Lord of the whole earth.
III. Here are petitions very pertinent. 1. That God would own this house, and have an eye to it, as the place of which he had said that he would put his name there, Ch2 6:20. He could not, in faith, have asked God to show such peculiar favour to this house above any other if he himself had not said that it should be his rest for ever. The prayer that will speed must be warranted by the word. We may with humble confidence pray to God to be well pleased with us in Jesus Christ, because he had declared himself well pleased in him - This is my beloved Son; but he says not now of any house, "This is my beloved place." 2. That God would hear and accept the prayers which should be made in or towards that place, Ch2 6:21. He asked not that God should help them whether they prayed for themselves or no, but that God would help them in answer to their prayers. Even Christ's intercessions do not supersede but encourage our supplications. He prayed that God would hear from his dwelling-place, even from heaven. Heaven in his dwelling-place still, not this temple; and thence help must come. When thou hearest forgive. Note, The forgiveness of our sins is that which makes way for all the other answers to our prayers, Removendo prohibens - The evil which it drives away it keeps away. 3. That God would give judgment according to equity upon all the appeals that should be made to him, Ch2 6:23, Ch2 6:30. This we may, in faith, pray for, for we are sure it shall be done. God sitteth on the throne judging right. 4. That God would return in mercy to his people when they repented, and reformed, and sought unto him, Ch2 6:25, Ch2 6:27, Ch2 6:38, Ch2 6:39. This we also may, in faith, pray for, building upon the repeated declarations God has made of his readiness to accepts penitents. 5. That God would bid the strangers welcome to this house, and answer their prayers (Ch2 6:33); for, if there be in duty, why should there not be in privilege one law for the stranger and for one born in the land? Lev 24:22. 6. That God would, upon all occasions, own and plead the cause of his people Israel, against all the opposers of it (Ch2 6:35): Maintain their cause; and again, Ch2 6:39. If they be the Israel of God, their cause is the cause of God, and he would espouse it. 7. He concludes this prayer with some expressions which he had learned of his good father, and borrowed from one of his psalms. We had then not in the Kings, but here we have them, Ch2 6:41, Ch2 6:42. The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; and how can we express ourselves in better language to God than that of his own Spirit? But these words were of use, in a special manner, to direct Solomon, because they had reference to this very work that he was now doing. We have them, Psa 132:8-10. He prayer (Ch2 6:41), (1.) That God would take possession of the temple, and keep possession, that he would make it his resting-place: Thou and the ark; what will the ark do without the God of the ark-ordinances without the God of the ordinances? (2.) That he would make the ministers of the temple public blessings: Clothe them with salvation, that is, not only save them, but make them instrumental to save others, by offering the sacrifices of righteousness. (3.) That the service of the temple might turn abundantly to the joy and satisfaction of all the Lord's people: Let thy saints rejoice in goodness, that is, in the goodness of thy house, Psa 65:4. "Let all that come hither to worship, like the eunuch, go away rejoicing." He pleads two things, Ch2 6:42. [1.] His own relation to God: "Turn not away the face of thy anointed. Lord, thou hast appointed me to be king, and wilt not thou own me?" [2.] God's covenant with his father: Remember thy mercies of David thy servant - the piety of David towards God (so some understand it and so the word sometimes signifies), his pious care of the ark, and concern for it (see Psa 132:1, Psa 132:2, etc.), or the promises of God to David, which were mercies to him, his great support and comforts in all his troubles. We may plead, as Solomon does here, with an eye to Christ: - "We deserve that God should turn away our face, that he should reject us and our prayers; but we come in the name of the Lord Jesus, thy anointed, thy Messiah (so the word is), thy Christ, so the lxx. Him thou hearest always, and wilt never turn away his face. We have no righteousness of our own to plead, but, Lord, remember the mercies of David thy servant." Christ is God's servant (Isa 42:1), and is called David, Hos 3:5. "Lord, remember his mercies, and accept us on the account of them. Remember his tender concern for his Father's honour and man's salvation, and what he did and suffered from that principle. Remember the promises of the everlasting covenant, which free grace has made to us in Christ, and which are called the sure mercies of David," Isa 55:3 and Act 13:34. This must be all our desire and all our hope, all our prayer and all our plea; for it is all our salvation.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9, 14 But thy son, &c. - Thus one sows, and…
But thy son, &c. - Thus one sows, and another reaps. And let not the wisest of men, think it any disparagement to pursue the good designs which those that went before them had laid.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10, 14 Verse 10. For the name of the Lord] "For…
Verse 10. For the name of the Lord] "For the name of the WORD of the Lord God of Israel." - Targum.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv9, 14 2Ch 6:9. Thy son, he shall build the house,…
2Ch 6:9. Thy son, he shall build the house, &c. — Thus one sows and another reaps: and one age begins that which the next brings to perfection. And let not the wisest of men think it any disparagement to them to pursue the good designs which those that went before them had formed, and to build on their foundation.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12–14 Hands. Such external gestures promote attention in prayer; and…
Hands. Such external gestures promote attention in prayer; and hence were much used by holy people, at all times. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v13 Solomon had made a brazen scaffold--a sort of platform.…
Solomon had made a brazen scaffold--a sort of platform. But the Hebrew term rendered "scaffold," being the same as that used to designate the basin, suggests the idea that this throne might bear some resemblance, in form or structure, to those lavers in the temple, being a sort of round and elevated pulpit, placed in the middle of the court, and in front of the altar of burnt offering.
upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees--After ascending the brazen scaffold, he assumed those two attitudes in succession, and with different objects in view. He stood while he addressed and blessed the surrounding multitude (Ch2 6:3-11). Afterwards he knelt down and stretched out his hands towards heaven, with his face probably turned towards the altar, while he gave utterance to the beautiful and impressive prayer which is recorded in the remainder of this chapter. It is deserving of notice that there was no seat in this pulpit--for the king either stood or knelt all the time he was in it. It is not improbable that it was surmounted by a canopy, or covered by a veil, to screen the royal speaker from the rays of the sun.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16 5. neither chose I any man to be a…
5. neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel] The Chronicler regards Saul as rejected rather than chosen; 1Ch_10:13-14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 (5) My people out of the land of Egypt.—Kings,…
(5) My people out of the land of Egypt.—Kings, “My people Israel out of Egypt.” (Comp 2Ch_5:10.) The Syr. and Arab. have Israel here also.
Neither chose I any man to be a ruler (nâgîd) over my people Israel.—Neither this sentence nor the following is found in the parallel passage, where the second half of 2Ch_6:6 forms the last clause of the preceding verse (1Ki_8:16). The Syriac and Arabic here follow Kings as often. There is nothing in the language against the supposition that the words originally formed part of the older text.
Read full note →
Neither chose I any man.—Saul was originally the people’s, not God’s, choice. Holy Scripture nowhere teaches that the vox populi is identical with the vox Dei. (See 1Sa_8:5, and Bishop Wordsworth’s Note.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 I chose no city, neither chose I any man.…
I chose no city, neither chose I any man. The tabernacle and all it contained had but travelled from place to place, and rested at temporary halting-places; and from Moses" time all the leaders of the people Israel had been men in whom vested no permanent and no intrinsic authority (1Sa_16:1-15; 2Sa_24:18-25)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv6, 12 Now it was in the heart of David my…
2Ch_6:6-9
Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.
Read full note →
Davids intention to build the temple
I. Mans purposes are sometimes greater than his power. Limitation of--
1. Character.
2. Body.
3. Culture.
4. Circumstances--want of means or liberty.
5. Destiny.
6. Life.
II. The importance and value of these gracious but unfulfilled intentions. Earnest purposes, sincere desires, are facts, and as facts will be recompensed.
1. They are facts to God.
2. They are facts to those who cherish them.
3. Unfulfilled intentions are not without their practical influence upon society.
III. The comfort which these considerations are calculated to afford to--
1. The poor and uneducated.
2. The suffering.
3. Those who are called to premature death.
4. All good men in the presence of their imperfect lives. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The rejected service, but approved motive
I. A rejected service. Here is a good man bent upon a service which he is not permitted to perform. It is an instance of a mans purposes outrunning the possibilities of his life. There are many reasons why a man should sometimes not be allowed to accomplish sell-imposed tasks, although they may be the outcome of very fine motives. There were reasons in Davids life. David had been a man of war, and as such had shed human blood (1Ch_22:8). There was an incongruity which God recognised, which had escaped Davids attention, between shedding blood and building a sanctuary for God. Then, again, there may be some special hindrance in the age in which a man lives, or the circumstances by which he is surrounded, which makes the postponement of the work necessary. A man may live, as we say, before his age, he may project great purposes into human life, and yet God may say to him, Stop, the motive is pure enough, and it is accepted as such, but the world is not yet ready; My providence must mature things, and we must wait. Again, there may be something in Gods design--worldward: that design which includes time and eternity within the scope of its operation--which may put a veto upon any such scheme, his accomplishing tasks which are in themselves very praiseworthy, and which are prompted by pure and exalted motives. Now I have said that every man who has lived to a purpose must know some time or other what such a disappointment as this means. Why, this, book tells us that God has put eternity into a mans heart. God has put eternity into a mans heart; therefore the impulses of eternity, or the aims and purposes which take in eternity, are there. Man is not a mere creature of time: he strikes great outlines, not as the mere creature of time, but as one who is to live for ever. Thus, as long as it is true that God has put eternity into a mans heart, and has only put seventy years, or at most eighty or ninety years, into his life, there must be an overlapping of purposes and designs in relation to attainments in this life. It is impossible, therefore, that he should fulfil all his designs, or fill up the outlines of these plans, in a brief life. David was bent upon building a house unto the Lord: he was denied that privilege: but who will say that his life was therefore a failure? David, after all, was permitted to do a nobler work than building a sanctuary for God, great as that privilege would have been. He sang out the hymns which were destined to become the inspired psalter for all ages. Now, there are some men who escape these disappointments; but at what cost! The men who never aim at high things, who never strike the outline of any noble work; men who never allow the immortal spirit which is within them to design immortal things, and therefore things which can never be accomplished in a mortal life, doubtless escape these disappointments, but at the cost of degrading that which is noblest and best in their natures.
II. The approved motive: Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house for My name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart. Many a man would have said, Ah, poor David, all the inspiration of a great purpose, all the patient planning, and all the earnest endeavour to accomplish the task on his part, have been useless. The Divine veto has put an end to all. Nay, not so. David does not occupy the same position Godward or manward which he would have occupied if he had never designed so devout and exalted a scheme.
1. It was well for David himself--well for his own soul that this thought took possession of it. Remember the circumstances. David had built for himself a house with cedared roof, but was then shocked with the thought of his dwelling in a palace while his God dwelt in the old tattered tabernacle of the wilderness. Surely that recoil itself was ennobling.
2. It was well, too, for Davids outward, as well as his inner, life. While engaged in gathering materials for the temple, he was saved from doing things less worthy of his calling and position as the anointed of the Lord. While engaged at this work he had less disposition to engage in conflict with his neighbours.
3. It was also well that this was in his heart, because by gathering the materials for the building of the temple ha had furthered the object by preparing the way for some one else to finish the task..
4. It was well, too, because, now that he knew that he himself would never be permitted to build the house, he would have an opportunity of exercising a self-denial which he would not have done if his had been the privilege of completing the task. Thus there was a spiritual blessing, an enriching grace, an ennobling providence in this denial. Now, we see this often in life. It is a law of human life that some men originate a work, and others accomplish it. There is nothing final about mans work on earth; we pick up the thread where other hands dropped it, and soon will drop it into younger hands than ours. Gods designs cover millenniums. Look at daily life. There is a man who founds a house, or originates a business: a man who begins in a small room, and by dint of genius and perseverance, under Gods blessing, so extends his business that it well-nigh takes up one side of a street. That man passes away. But he has had dreams greater than his accomplishment. Among his later thoughts was that something else might be done, but he was denied the privilege of giving embodiment to those thoughts. His son takes his place. Ah, and when the motive is never attained, still, if it be noble, it is not fruitless. There is that child overboard: a man leaps after it, but the storm rages and the ocean heaves and lounges terribly, so that the man at length fails to rescue the child. Who shall say that it was not well that he thought of it, and risked his own life in the noble endeavour? It is heaven that will supply the final solution, and it is the future that will crown the edifice of tasks unfinished in this our mortal life, although they were originated with high motives and far-reaching purposes. David entered eternity, not as a disappointed man, but as one who was inspired with an exalted aim that he bequeathed to a succeeding generation, whose noblest activities it set going. (D. Davies.)
Pious purposes frustrated but rewarded
I. The Lord notices the pious purposes of the heart. And here the following points require attention.
1. He is omniscient. All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. I the Lord search the heart. We judge by external manifestations, and know the tree by its fruit; but He understands our thought afar off.
2. The omniscient Jehovah approves the godly purpose. It is acceptable to Him through Jesus Christ, as it springs from faith and love, as it means glory to God and goodwill toward man. The Lord knows and approves your desire to serve Him, whatever obstacles may arise to prevent the fulfilment. The desire of a man is his kindness, and is accepted as such.
3. He sees the effect of His grace. From Him all good things do come. And where is the believer who will not gratefully own, Thou hast wrought all our works in us? We have no purposes which, in the sight of God, are godly, until a good work is begun in us; for, as depraved creatures, we are all alienated from the life of God. Our purposes are worldly and sinful.
II. It may please the Lord, in the exercise of infinite wisdom and goodness, to disappoint us with regard to the accomplishment of our purposes of serving Him.
1. To impress us with the conviction of His independence. He is the Lord God Almighty, who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Such dispensations of Providence may be appointed to teach the Church of God that its great Head, when He thinks proper, can dispense with the instrumentality we expected Him to employ.
2. Another reason for the Divine conduct in the case in point is to induce the spirit of submission and resignation. And can you say, Thy will, my God, Thy will be done? We naturally like our own way. Our purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of our heart. God thwarts us, not to grieve, but to teach us deference to His will.
3. We may add another reason why God takes away the young and useful, to prevent idolatry.
III. If the Lord thus prevent the fulfilment of the pious purpose, He tenderly says, thou hast well done in that it was in thine heart.
IV. God graciously rewards the intention, even as much as if it had been accomplished. It is our painful duty to charge the sinner to remember that God notices and takes account of his evil devices. (S. Eldridge.)
The unfulfilled ideal
A religious ideal may be defined as a product of sanctified imagination, and sanctified imagination may again be described as faith considered in its free, intellectual expression. An ideal is the outline picture of possible usefulness and success, conceived under the incitements of faith, hope, and love inherent in the new life. An ideal that is born of pure religious life, and not of mere worldly ambition, is a child of Gods inspiration in the second degree of descent. Every Christian worker has his ideals. The ideals cherished by Gods people vary with the requirements of the age. Davids was to build a temple; ours probably concern the building of living stones into that peerless temple in which God shall be worshipped throughout all ages. The value of unfulfilled ideals is a lesson we all need to learn. Only a slight fraction of the zeal that promised so much at first ever seems to bear visible fruit. We see the ideals of fellow-labourers out short by the act of God, almost before they have touched their coveted tasks. The achievements of the best lives do not equal the measure of ardent aspiration, and God rewards for aspiration as well as for perfected deed. There are also ideals the secret of whose frustration is to be found in our own hearts. We had, perhaps, miscalculated our strength, or pride mingled with our ideals, and God was holding us back from their realisation till pride had been extinguished and faith and hope and humility had grown to proportions commensurate with the success He was about to give us. But we do not understand the meaning of Gods delays, and so our ideals of work and obligation and evangelistic success have been relegated to the lumber-room and have been lying there in ignoble dust and dry-rot for years. A famous traveller has written a book to tell us how remunerative the abandoned goldfields of Midian may yet become. Some of the most productive silver mines of South America are mines that were worked by Spanish conquerors, forsaken for two and a half centuries, and are now being worked again. Boundless spiritual wealth and possibility lie hidden in the half-forgotten ideals of our youth and early manhood.
I. The influence exerted by the unfulfilled idea upon the personal character. It is just conceivable that religious life may exist without the help and influence of ideals, but it will only be marked by feebleness and insipidity. It will find its appropriate emblem in the dead-level of the prairie rather than in the towering majesty of the forest. The moment you give up your large ideals you cease to feel the necessity for large sacrifice, large heroism, generous self-forgetting toll. An ideal occupies precisely the same relation to religious growth and power that the faculty of imagination in the child does to the character and success of the after-man. Students of social science tell us that the education provided in the parish workhouse supplies no element to stimulate the imagination of the child, and that the little ones placed under the regime grow up dull, sullen, void of interest in everything about them, and without a single ambition to improve themselves. In the course of time, after every potential interest and aspiration is battered down and deadened, the child is turned into the world; and it is almost invariably found, after a few years of indolence, stolidity, and mild crime, the child returns to the workhouse to shelter its incompetency and approaching age. Let imagination be denied its proper function in the religious life, and the result will be to limit that life to a very low and abject plane. The professor of religion who is without an inspiring ideal is spending the life of a creeping, torpid, spiritual pauper. All our religious virtues gain or lose as our ideals of religious work are grasped or abandoned. There is a logical impediment to the growth of faith in the heart of the man who has given up his ideals. All faith is twofold in its action, personal and vicarious, and the one type of action can no more go on without the other than the systole can be separated from diastole in the action of the heart. Decay in the faith you exercise on behalf of the world will bring decay in the faith exercised on your own behalf. Hence it is that in genuine revivals of religion the sanctification of believers and the conversion of the ungodly always proceed by equal paces. An ideal, if deferred in its fulfilment, or even unfulfilled in the precise form in which you first conceived it, will be a perpetual fountain of health and prosperity to your own soul. Doubtless the whole character of David was raised and ennobled by the ideal he had so long cherished within his heart. If you cannot see the worth of your unfulfilled ideals, God, who traces their influence upon character, can; and if the inward ear were not heavy with the worlds distracting babel, you would hear the testimony of His favour and approval, Thou didst well that it was in thine heart. Never weigh against your moral and spiritual interests the temporal sacrifices you make for your ideals.
II. These ideals move the mind of Almighty God. The ideal touches with some lasting impression the unforgetting God, and passes into one of the abiding motive-forces of the universe He governs to redeem. There is a spiritual doctrine of the conservation of energy which is the heritage of all the true people of God. When Providence puts its arrest upon the progress of our ideals, every fraction of the force lives on. Blessed doctrine of the conservation of energy! David held some clue to it when he exclaimed, Are not my tears in Thy book? Christ was recognising it when He spoke the words that immortalised Marys love: Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her. The writer of the Hebrews felt it when he exclaimed, God is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love which ye have showed toward His name. There is a God-moving force in our own keeping. How is power to be brought out and applied? It must be stimulated and increased by temporary delay. There is a danger of one-sidedness in the action of our ideals. They sometimes stimulate the power of work without stimulating at the same time the twin power of prayer. You thrust on this side, and smite on that, and accomplish nothing. God seems to confound you, and you are ready to give up all your ideals in your vexation and impatience. God wants you to drop the rude staff and take up the jewelled weapon of all-prayer. Again, when our ideals are postponed in their accomplishment it is that faith may be made perfect, and that we may cast ourselves more fully upon God. What frightful infidels we should become if we saw our ideals leap up to immediate completion at our mere touch as by a process of rapid tropical growth! You lose power over the mind of God when you begin to throw away your ideals.
III. Think of the influence of Davids ideal upon the actual work of erecting the temple. Davids ideal became the accomplished work of his successor. Your towering ideals of to-day, if grasped with fidelity and followed up as far as God permits, shall be a secured platform for the action of the next generation. Conclusion:
1. You should pitch your ideals high enough to make sure they will be called extravagant by all those in whose hearts is the love of the world, and not the love of the Father. Never mind how daring they are, if the pure love of God and men enters into their deepest essence.
2. Above all things try to keep pride out of them.
3. Having once formed your ideals, hold them fast. Some men sneer at the ideals of their youth, as if they were a species of wild oats they had been sowing, and not God-begotten and immortal seed. Do not be satirist where God is admirer, and set your small, cynical sneers at yourself over against His word of approbation. Thou didst well that it was in thine heart. (Thomas G. Selby.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 Solomon’s Dedicatory Prayer
Solomon’s Dedicatory Prayer
v. 12. And he stood before the altar of the Lord, facing the altar of burnt offerings, in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands, in a gesture of entreaty;
Read full note →
v. 13. for Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, a pulpitlike platform, of five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high (approximately nine by nine by five feet), and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, visible to the entire multitude, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven,
v. 14. and said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in the heaven nor in the earth, Jehovah being the only true God; which keepest covenant and showest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts, ordering their entire lives in conformity with God’s holy will;
v. 15. 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 finished Temple being a proof of the faithfulness of the Lord’s promises.
v. 16. Now, therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David, my father, continuing to fulfill His promises also in the future, that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel, 2Sa 7:12-16, yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as thou hast walked before Me.
v. 17. Now, then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy word be verified which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David. Mark that this is the proper and effective way of approaching the Lord, reminding Him of His promises and urging His own faithfulness.
v. 18. 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! The object of Solomon’s magnificent Temple was not to confine God to this one building, as the heathen did by erecting shrines for their idols, but to provide a place where His people might worship Him; the Temple was erected not for the Lord, but for the people.
v. 19. Have respect, therefore, to the prayer of Thy servant, literally, "turn Thou to the appeal 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, concerning the mode and the effectiveness of the public worship which was to be instituted in this Temple,
v. 20. 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, in the Word proclaimed and in the prayers offered, to hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant prayeth toward this place, this building being at that time the one Temple in the entire world where the worship of Jehovah was publicly held.
v. 21. 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, this phase of God’s work, the forgiveness of sins, being prominent even at that time, just as all the sacrifices were but types of the great and only true Sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Special types of sins and special occasions of distress are now discussed.
v. 22. If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before Thine altar in this house. the reference being to the practise of having men swear by or before the altar, where witnesses were not available, Mat 23:20, the oath in that case being equal to an imprecation calling down the curse of God in the event of a false oath,
v. 23. then hear Thou from heaven, and do, and judge Thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head, letting the curse implied in his oath strike him, and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.
v. 24. And if Thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, utterly defeated and put to flight in battle, because they have sinned against Thee, and shall return and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication before Thee in this house, making their prayer toward this Sanctuary, where the ark of God’s presence was stationed,
v. 25. 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.
v. 26. When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, droughts of this kind being expressly named as punishments of the Lord upon a disobedient people, because they have sinned against Thee, yet, if they pray toward this place, as was the custom of the Jews in all foreign countries, and confess Thy name and turn from their sin when Thou dost afflict them,
v. 27. 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, if they have learned the lesson intended to be conveyed to them by the Lord’s punishment, and send rain upon Thy land which Thou hast given unto Thy people for an inheritance.
v. 28. If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be, only a few of the curses being named here which are threatened Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 upon a stubborn and rebellious people,
v. 29. then, what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man or of all thy people Israel, when everyone shall know his own sore and his own grief, coming to the knowledge of his sins and grieving over them in true repentance, and shall spread forth his hands in this house,
v. 30. then hear Thou from heaven, Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, He would be able to judge the sincerity of a man’s repentance, (for Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men, since He, the Omniscient One, reads all the thoughts of the heart,)
v. 31. that they may fear Thee, to walk in Thy ways, so long as they live in the land, sustained by the fruit on the face of the land, which Thou gavest unto our fathers.
v. 32. Moreover, concerning the stranger, which is not of Thy people Israel, but Is come from a far country for Thy great name’s sake, becoming a proselyte to the Jewish faith, as, for instance, the eunuch of Queen Candace, Act 8:27, and Thy mighty hand, and Thy stretched-out arm; If they come and pray in this house,
v. 33. 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, becoming acquainted with it through such missionaries, and fear Thee as doth Thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built Is called by Thy name, literally, Thy name is called upon this house, for it was consecrated by the fact that the Word of God was observed and proclaimed there.
v. 34. If Thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that Thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Thee, from the country where their expedition might lead them, toward this city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name,
v. 35. then hear Thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause, giving them the victory over their enemies.
v. 36. If they sin against Thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not, that is a principle which has been held in the Church at all times,) 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, as happened afterward with both divisions of the nation;
v. 37. 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, in true repentance over their sins, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly, the formula which was afterward constantly used by the Jews in their public confessions of sins;
v. 38. 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, as it is related of Daniel, Dan 6:10,
v. 39. then hear Thou from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, siding with them in the issue presented, and forgive Thy people which have sinned against Thee. In this way the Temple would become the central Sanctuary of the Jews, the one place where Jehovah’s presence would be revealed.
v. 40. 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, both the present appeal and all prayers that would be made there in the future. For the entire prayer Cf 1Ki 8:23-53.
v. 41. Now, therefore, arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting-place, the fixed and permanent man a ion of the Temple, Thou and the ark of Thy strength, from which He would manifest His power in behalf of His people, a solemn summons to the Lord to take formal possession of His Sanctuary. Let Thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, their white linen garments being expressive of the righteousness and moral beauty which the sacrifices they offered brought to the worshipers, and let Thy saints rejoice in goodness, being glad in the possession of the good and shouting for joy.
v. 42. O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed, namely, from Solomon, who was making this fervent appeal; remember the mercies of David, Thy servant, those promised to him, for whose fulfillment the king pleaded in faithful confidence. We believers of the New Testament have an even safer assurance that God will hear our prayers, if we but call to Him in the name of Jesus; for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 10, 12, 14, 16 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
King Solomon continues speaking to the people at the temple.
Read full note →
it was in the heart of David my father ... it was in your heart ... for it to be in your heart
Here David's heart is spoken of as if it were a container, and what he desired is spoken of as if it were an item in the container. AT: "David my father desired ... you desired ... to desire to do that" (See: Metaphor)
for the name of Yahweh ... for my name
Possible meanings are 1) Yahweh's name represents himself. AT: "for Yahweh ... for me" or 2) Yahweh's name represents his reputation. AT: "for Yahweh's reputation ... for my reputation" (See: Metonymy)
In that it was in your heart
"Because it was in your heart" or "Because you wanted"
one who will come from your loins
"one who will be your own offspring" or "one whom you yourself will father"
translationWords
heart
loins
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v10 6:10-11 The Chronicler blends the covenant of Sinai, represented…
6:10-11 The Chronicler blends the covenant of Sinai, represented by the Ark, with the Jerusalem Temple and the Davidic dynasty; he makes no mention of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, only implying it with reference to the Ark. God’s covenant relationship with Israel under Solomon and David formed the basis for the community’s relationship with God at the time of the Chronicler.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.