Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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 a house of sacrifice.
11 22 (= 1Ki 9:1-9). The Night vision in answer to Solomon’s Prayer
12. appeared by night ] Cp. 2Ch 1:7.
a house of sacrifice ] Cp. 2Ch 2:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
An house of sacrifice – This expression does not elsewhere occur. Its meaning, however, is clear. God declares that Solomons Temple is the place whereunto all Israelites were commanded to bring their burnt-offerings and sacrifices (see Deu 12:5-6).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ch 7:12-16
And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer.
The answer of God to the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple
1. How strikingly does the answer meet the prayer. Solomon anticipated days of sorrow. He asked of God, If we call upon Thee, wilt Thou hear us? I will, says God, I will. Solomon asks that Gods eye and ear may be open to his house. God exceeds the prayer of the king. Not only shall Mine eyes and Mine ears be there, but My heart shall be there also.
2. God not only declares that He has heard the prayer of Solomon, He says something more encouraging: I have chosen this house for Myself, for a house of sacrifice.
3. God affirms national judgments to be the work of His own hand. If I shut up heaven, etc.
4. God supposes that always in national calamity the people will come running to Him.
5. God regards His house as pre-eminently a house of prayer. Mine ears shall be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
6. God gives a promise of His perpetual presence in His house.
Conclusion: What duty devolves upon us having such abundant mercies?
1. Personal religion.
2. Family religion.
3. Liberal offering to the Lord. (T. Mortimer, B.D.)
If I shut up heaven.—
Pestilence Gods retribution for sin
I. God claims to Himself the authorship of the calamity for whose removal we entreat.
II. The direct connection which is pointed out between the visitation of the pestilence and a peoples impiety as the provocation which has caused it.
III. Though pestilence be of gods sending, yet will he be entreated for its removal (Robert Bickersteth, M.A.)
The cessation of the cholera
I. There is no one truth that is more universal in its application, or which more commends itself to every mans conscience, than that guilt is followed by punishment, most certainly in the next world, and most probably in this.
II. That as true repentance will always be accepted, for Christs sake, for the putting away of sin, so will it often avail, in the mercy of God, to the removal of the temporal calamity which may have been the consequence and punishment of the sin. (F. O. Morris.)
The means and method of healing in the Church
I. The supposition of judgments.
1. Judgments light not on a people casually or by chance, but by the overruling command and commission of God (Job 5:6-7).
(1) Sometimes by way of dominion and absolute power.
(2) Sometimes as a preparation unto intended mercy, as men plough the ground which they mean to enrich with precious seed, and carve the stone which they mean to put in the top of the building. As men put forth longest into wind and sun that great timber which must bear the greatest burden and stress of the building.
(3) But most usually in a way of justice (Jer 30:15; Neh 9:33; Eze 14:23). Personal chastisements may be for trial and exercise of faith and patience, but general and public judgments are ever in wrath and displeasure. Let us therefore labour to find out our sins by our sufferings. Chastisements never mend us till they teach us (Psa 94:12; Mic 6:9).
2. The Lord hath variety of judgments whereby to reduce froward and stubborn sinners. Gods method in these various judgments usually is–
(1) He begins at the outward man, exercising a people many times with change of rods, which is ever a sign of anger in the father and stubbornness in the son.
(2) He proceeds to the soul, revealing His wrath, causing guilt and fear to gripe and seize on the conscience (Psa 51:8; Job 6:4; Pro 18:14).
(3) Towards obdurate sinners the Lord many times deals in a more fearful manner, sealing them up under hardness of heart, a spirit of slumber, a reprobate sense, a seared conscience, etc., till destruction unawares overtake them (Mat 24:39; Eze 24:14; Hos 4:17; Rev 22:11).
II. A direction unto duties. Consider–
1. The quality of the persons who are to perform them: My people that are called by My name. All men are His creatures, only a select and peculiar inheritance that bear His name and are in covenant with Him are called His people (Eze 16:8; Psa 4:3; Isa 43:21; Isa 63:18; Act 15:14). To be called by His name noteth to be His adopted children. We are Gods people–
(1) By visible profession or sacramental separation from the world, as the whole nation of the Jews are called His people (Exo 19:5; Deu 4:7).
(2) By spiritual sanctification and internal dispositions (Joh 17:6; Gal 6:16; Rom 2:29; Rom 9:8; Rom 11:5; Php 3:3).
2. The duties required for the removal of judgments.
(1) Humiliation.
(2) Prayer. Without this humiliation is but a sinking under God, not a seeking unto Him.
(a) By this we honour God in acknowledging Him the fountain of all our good, the inflicter of all evil. As a diamond is cut only by a diamond, so God is pacified only by Himself.
(b) By this we ease ourselves. Prayer lighteneth affliction where it doth not remove it. The heart is meekened to accept the punishment of sin, as wool or mud deadens the force of a bullet.
(3) Seeking the face of God. His favour to comfort us, and His counsel to direct us.
(4) Reformation of life.
III. A gracious promise of mercy.
1. A promise–
(1) Of gracious condescension: from heaven.
(2) Of gracious audience.
(3) Of forgiveness.
(4) Of healing:
2. Touching these promises, observe–
(1) That when God comes down to deliver, and looks from heaven, He doth it by no other way than by the Incarnation of His Son, the efficacy of His Spirit, the operation of His providence, or the ministry of angels.
(2) When He hears prayers, it is only by the intercession and mediation of Christ.
(3) When He forgives sins, it is only by the merits and righteousness of Christ.
(4) But when He heals a land, He often useth in that work the ministry of men. Magistrates are healers and repairers (Isa 3:7). Ministers are healers of the sick (Eze 34:4). (Edward Reynolds, D.D.)
Sin and judgments
1. The sins of Gods own people may provoke and procure judgments.
2. Their sins have some aggravations in them that other mens have not. They are sins against–
(1) Special light (1Ki 11:9).
(2) Special love and experiences of Divine favour (2Sa 12:7-9).
(3) Special relations (Isa 1:2).
(4) Special grace and assistance of the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30).
(5) Special covenants and engagements, after avouching God for theirs (Psa 78:34).
(6) Special deliverances from greatest dangers (Ezr 9:13-14).
(7) Special hopes and more special promises which should have persuaded them to holiness (2Co 7:1; 1Jn 3:3).
(8) Special peace and glorious comforts, as David sinned against the joy of Gods salvation (Psa 51:12). Peter denied Christ after he had seen His transfiguration. (Edward Reynolds, D. D.)
If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves.
Humiliation, its obligation and nature
I. It is a duty called for by prophets and apostles and specially respected by God (Mic 6:8; Jam 4:10; 1Pe 5:6; 2Ki 22:19; Lev 26:41-42).
1. It emptieth the heart of self-confidence and is the root of the fundamental duty of self-denial.
2. It fits for approach to God.
3. It disposeth to a confession of sin (Luk 15:17-19; Luk 18:13).
4. It prepares the heart for the entertainment of mercy.
5. It makes way for the forsaking of sin; the more a soul is humbled for it, the more it is fearful of it and watchful against it.
II. It is twofold in its nature.
1. Passive, when God breaks the heart by the hammer of His Word (Jer 23:29), or by some sore affliction.
2. Active, when the soul humbleth itself under sin and wrath. This may be–
(1) Legal, proceeding from a spirit of bondage, when the heart roars on a rack, or melts in a furnace, is filled with consternation and anguish under the weight of sin and wrath, as in the case of Pharaoh, Ahab, Belshazzar, Felix, the jailor, and the murderers of Christ.
(2) Evangelical. When the soul is not only broken and battered with the horror and dread of wrath (this it may be and remain hard, as every piece of a broken flint is hard still), but when it is kindly melted and softened with apprehensions of Gods goodness and free-grace. A compounded duty made up of love and sorrow; Hezekiah, Josiah (Jer 26:19; 2Ch 34:27).
III. This is a perpetual duty. As long as sin remains there must be a sense of it, and sorrow for it. But in some times and cases it is to be specially renewed. In times–
1. Of extraordinary sins and provocations.
2. Of public dangers and distresses.
3. Of great enterprises attempted.
4. Of successes and blessings desired (Ezr 8:21). (Edward Reynolds, D. D.)
Helps to the performance of the duty of humiliation
I. Take a view of God.
1. In Himself.
(1) His searching eye and mighty hand (Jam 4:10; 1Pe 5:6).
(2) His majesty and glory (Isa 6:2; Psa 89:6-7).
(3) His, holiness (Exo 15:11; Jos 24:19).
(4) His jealousy and justice (Nah 1:2).
(5) His mercy and goodness (Hos 3:5; Rom 2:4).
(6) His omniscience.
Such considerations have humbled the holiest of men. Moses (Exo 3:6); Job (Job 42:5); Elijah (1Ki 19:13); Isaiah (Isa 6:5); Ezra (Ezr 9:15); Peter (Luk 5:8).
2. In His relations to us. He is our Maker, King, Judge, Father, Master.
3. In His dealings with us.
(1) In His judgments and various providences.
(2) In His mercies which have shined upon us through all our clouds.
II. Take a view of yourselves, of your own hearts and lives. This is a duty of singular use and benefit. It enlargeth the heart in godly sorrow for sin past, upon the discoveries which this scrutiny maketh. (Edward Reynolds, D. D.)
Fruits and evidences of humiliation
1. A godly sorrow, so called because it sets the soul God-ward. Cain, Judas, Felix, all sorrowed, but they ran from God. As a ship in a tempest ventures not to any shore, but gets further into the sea, so the soul, when it is humbled by God, betakes not itself unto any carnal shore, but still runs closer unto Him.
2. A justifying of God, ascribing to Him the glory of His righteousness if He should condemn us; and of His mercy, that He absolves us (Psa 2:4; Dan 9:7-9).
3. A self-judging and subscribing to our condemnation (Deu 27:15). As St. Austin saith of the poor publican, He judged and accused himself, that God might deliver and defend him. Also Bernard, This is a good judgment indeed which withdraws and hides me from the severe judgment of God. (Edward Reynolds, D. D.)
The Divine philosophy of revivals
This is a revival text. It contains the germs of the whole Divine philosophy of revivals. A revival implies religious declension, and is itself such a waking up of the spiritual life of the Church as leads to the conversion of sinners.
I. An explicit description of the proper method for promoting a revival.
1. The first duty of a people seeking a revival is humiliation before God. This state of mind is produced by our contemplating the purity: and perfection and loving-kindness of the Lord, in contrast with our own sinfulness, unworthiness, and ingratitude.
2. Prayer is the next divinely prescribed means in promoting a revival of religion. Prayerfulness is one of the main characteristics of a godly life. But our prayers are sometimes prayerless. They are an unwritten liturgy, made up of hackneyed phrases in which there is hardly a spark of vitality. They lack the strong pinions of faith and ardent desire without which they cannot reach the third heaven. They lack the Divine electricity. When Gods people beseech Him, as John Knox did when he prayed, Lord, give me Scotland, or I die, then their prayers are effective.
3. We must seek Gods face. He never intended that His people should pray to Him as strangers. He wants us to draw near to Him as children go to a loving father or mother.
4. There must be a forsaking of sin.
II. Some definite and good reasons which we have for expecting a revival.
1. Gods intimate relation to the Church.
(1) He claims a special and unrivalled property in its members. He calls them His people.
(2) He puts a special honour upon them. He calls them by His name.
2. Gods explicit promise.
(1) He will hear from heaven.
(2) And will forgive their sins.
(3) And will heal their land. (David Winters.)
The duty of a people under Divine chastisements
I. There are three modes in which it has pleased Almighty God at different periods of the world to inflict His righteous judgments on national delinquency: by the sword without, the famine and pestilence within.
II. The duties enjoined upon a people under the afflictive visitation of a pestilence..
1. Humiliation.
2. Prayer.
3. Reformation.
III. The encouraging assurance of the God of mercy to a humbled, praying, and converted people. (James Williams, M.A.)
National chastisements
It seems to have been after an interval of thirteen years that the Lord signified in detail that He had listened to the solemn prayer that Solomon offered at the dedication of the temple. God notifies the possibility of His punishments falling on the land in the event of their sinning against Him, and then adds, If the people shall humble themselves, etc.
I. This passage is only one of many which point out how entirely nature is ruled by God. Take such examples as these: the flood; the destruction of Sodom; Elijah fed by ravens; the destiny of Jonah, etc. They all proclaim that the whole world is under the immediate control of a personal God who regulates it in reference to man.
II. National trouble should cause a people to consider their ways, and to seriously reflect upon their national sins.
III. A proper consciousness of national sins ought to bring a people to their knees in humble submission, and lead them to acknowledge that national chastisements are of His appointment. In reply to the objection that might be urged against this teaching, Why ascribe to God what may easily be traced to natural causes? I observe, the more science the better. Trace out the causes as best you can: discover the laws of rain and sunshine, of temperature and weather. But, after all, these are not the first cause. They are only second in order. There is still the sphere in which God rules supreme. It is only too obvious in a case of personal sickness. A man may be laid upon a bed of affliction: the illness may upset his plans–deepen his reflections–bring him to a true repentance–and, in fact, alter his whole career for the better; in this the first cause is God, in His mercy and love to a wayward soul; the second cause is, perhaps, that one day he caught a chill But then that chill does not exclude God. It is worthy of special remark, moreover, that our Lords teachings and miracles were pointedly in this direction. He did not deny that the tower of Siloam was a judgment, though He repressed self-righteous inferences on the part of others. He adduced the flood and the destruction of Sodom as warnings to His own generation.
IV. It may be objected that better days will come whether a people will humble themselves and pray or not. It may be so. Just as a sick man may refuse to repent, and yet will in due time get well again. But the moral loss is well-nigh beyond recovery. It involves the blunting of the moral sense, the deadening of conscience, and the loss of the higher benefit which God willed to bestow. A nation which cannot recognise the correcting hand of God must be indeed estranged from Him. Conclusion: Our personal duty.
1. Repentance.
2. Intercession.
God sets His mark of love and protection upon them who sigh and cry for all the abominations. No one can tell how much he may do by himself returning to God. (C. A. Raymond, M.A.)
Biblical anthropomorphism
In anthropomorphic language eyes are ascribed to God; thus we read that the eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him (Psa 38:18). Thus again, I will guide thee with Mine eye (Psa 32:8). He is said to be of purer eyes than to behold evil (Heb 1:13). A similar form of speech ascribes ears to God. Thus we have these words–In Mine ears, saith the Lord of hosts (Isa 5:9); The cries of them which have reaped are entered into the cars of the Lord of Sabaoth (Jam 5:4.) What does this language mean? Why are eyes and cars ascribed to a Spirit that has no limits and no form? The language is used for two purposes.
I. To express His cognizance of man. Through the eye and the ear we derive our knowledge of all outside of us.
1. He knows us directly.
2. He knows us thoroughly.
(1) He knows what we are.
(2) He knows what we have been.
(3) He knows all that we ever shall be.
To him there is nothing old appears, to Him there is nothing new. A sense of His knowledge of us should make us frank, solemn, circumspect, devout.
II. To express His interest in man. Gods interest in us is shown–
1. In the various capacities of enjoyment with which He has endowed us, and the provisions He has made for them. We have capacity for every species of enjoyment–sensuous, intellectual, social, religious. We can drink of all the rivers from the eternal ocean of joy. For the sensuous there is matter, for the intellectual there is truth, for the social there is society, for the religious there is Himself.
2. In the preservation of our existence, notwithstanding our sinfulness. We have transgressed His precepts, warred against His arrangements, yet He preserves us year after year. The patience of an Infinite Love is here.
3. In our redemption by Jesus Christ. God so loved the world, etc. He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up, etc.
Conclusion: Thou God seest me, we unite with the blessed fact, Thou God lovest us. It is His interest in us that prompts Him to watch our movements and listen to our words. (Homilist.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The Lord appeared to Solomon] This was a second manifestation; see 1Kg 9:2-9, and the notes there. The Targum says, “The WORD of the Lord appeared to Solomon.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
12. the Lord appeared to Solomon bynight(See on 1Ki 9:1-9). Thededication of the temple must have been an occasion of intensenational interest to Solomon and his subjects. Nor was the interestmerely temporary or local. The record of it is read and thought ofwith an interest that is undiminished by the lapse of time. The factthat this was the only temple of all nations in which the true Godwas worshipped imparts a moral grandeur to the scene and prepares themind for the sublime prayer that was offered at the dedication. Thepure theism of that prayerits acknowledgment of the unity of Godas well as of His moral perfections in providence and grace, camefrom the same divine source as the miraculous fire. They indicatedsentiments and feelings of exalted and spiritual devotion, whichsprang not from the unaided mind of man, but from the fountain ofrevelation. The reality of the divine presence was attested by themiracle, and that miracle stamped the seal of truth upon the theologyof the temple-worship.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 12-22. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night,…. From hence, to the end of the chapter, much the same things are related as in 1Ki 9:2,
[See comments on 1Ki 9:2],
[See comments on 1Ki 9:3],
[See comments on 1Ki 9:4],
[See comments on 1Ki 9:5],
[See comments on 1Ki 9:6],
[See comments on 1Ki 9:7],
[See comments on 1Ki 9:8],
[See comments on 1Ki 9:9], excepting 2Ch 7:13 which contain an answer to the particular requests made by Solomon in case of a famine or pestilence, that when the people of Israel should humble themselves in prayer and supplication, the Lord would be attentive to them, and forgive them, 2Ch 6:26 and which is given as a specimen, and as encouragement to expect the same treatment in all other cases mentioned in Solomon’s prayer, they so behaving.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| God’s Promises to Solomon. | B. C. 1004. |
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 a house of sacrifice. 13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 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. 15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments; 18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. 19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. 21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house? 22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.
That God accepted Solomon’s prayer appeared by the fire from heaven. But a prayer may be accepted and yet not answered in the letter of it; and therefore God appeared to him in the night, as he did once before (ch. i. 7), and after a day of sacrifice too, as then, and gave him a peculiar answer to his prayer. We had the substance of it before, 1 Kings ix. 2-9.
I. He promised to own this house for a house of sacrifice to Israel and a house of prayer for all people (Isa. lvi. 7): My name shall be there for ever (2Ch 7:12; 2Ch 7:16), that is, “There will I make myself known, and there will I be called upon.”
II. He promised to answer the prayers of his people that should at any time be made in that place, v. 13-15. National judgments are here supposed (v. 13), famine, and pestilence, and perhaps war, for by the locusts devouring the land meant enemies as greedy as locusts, and laying all waste. 2. National repentance, prayer, and reformation, are required, v. 14. God expects that his people who are called by his name, if they have dishonoured his name by their iniquity, should honour it by accepting the punishment of their iniquity. They must be humble themselves under his hand, must pray for the removal of the judgment, must seek the face and favour of God; and yet all this will not do unless they turn from their wicked ways, and return to the God from whom they have revolted. 3. National mercy is then promised, that God will forgive their sin, which brought the judgment upon them, and then heal their land, redress all their grievances. Pardoning mercy makes ways for healing mercy, Psa 103:3; Mat 9:2.
III. He promised to perpetuate Solomon’s kingdom, upon condition that he persevered in his duty, 2Ch 7:17; 2Ch 7:18. If he hoped for the benefit of God’s covenant with David, he must imitate the example of David. But he set before him death as well as life, the curse as well as the blessing. 1. He supposed it possible that though they had this temple built to the honour of God, yet they might be drawn aside to worship other gods, v. 19. He knew their proneness to backslide into that sin. 2. He threatened it as certain that, if they did so, it would certainly be the ruin of both church and state. (1.) It would be the ruin of their state, v. 20. “Though they have taken deep root, and taken root long, in this good land, yet I will pluck them up by the roots, extirpate the whole nation, pluck them up as men pluck up weeds out of their garden, which are thrown to the dunghill.” (2.) It would be the ruin of their church. This sanctuary would be no sanctuary to them, to protect them from the judgment of God, as they imagined, saying, The temple of the Lord are we, Jer. vii. 4. “This house which is high, not only for the magnificence of its structure, but for the designed ends and uses of it, shall be an astonishment, it shall come down wonderfully (Lam. i. 9), to the amazement of all the neighbours.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(12) By night.This is implied in Kings, which has, as He had appeared unto him in Gibeon.
I have heard thy prayer.From this point begins the chroniclers addition to the prayer as extant in the older text. Judging by the style, the added section must have formed an integral part of the original text, from which both the editor of Kings and the chronicler drew their narratives.
An house of sacrifice (bth zbah).A phrase occurring nowhere else in the Old Testament.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord’s Answer to Solomon’s Prayer
v. 12. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, v. 13. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, v. 14. if My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, v. 15. Now, Mine eyes shall be open and Mine ears v. 16. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever, v. 17. And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before Me, as David, thy father, walked, v. 18. then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David, thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel, v. 19. But if ye turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, v. 20. then will I pluck them up by the roots, v. 21. And this house, which is high, v. 22. And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them; therefore hath He brought all this evil upon them.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
This gracious second visit of the Lord to Solomon is related, 1Ki 9 . In addition to what was there observed, I only beg the Reader to remark with me how the Lord delighteth in mercy. If we read the Lord’s answer with an eye to Christ, how beautiful is the paraphrase. “If to prompt my people to call upon me I withhold their comforts: If the influence of my spirit be restrained, like heaven shut up; or if I permit the enemy to distress them, like the locusts devouring the land; yet under all these discouraging circumstances, if my people feel their souls humbled, and shall look with an eye of faith to my dear Son, mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attend unto the supplication of my people, for I have placed salvation in Zion for Jesus my glory.” Isa 46:13 . Oh! how sweet, how very sweet, are all the Old Testament mercies, when explained to our souls with an eye to the New Testament blessing in Jesus!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 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.
Ver. 12. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night. ] Night and day God is doing good to his people. As a good householder, if he hear but a noise in the house by night, or smell but a smoke, starteth up, &c.; so here.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
appeared to Solomon. This was thirteen years after the dedication. Compare 2Ch 7:1 with 2Ch 8:1. 1Ki 6:37; 1Ki 9:1. The fire from heaven was the immediate answer to Solomon’s prayer. This later answer shows that the prayers of God’s people are ever fresh before Him.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Lord: 2Ch 1:7, Gen 17:1, 1Ki 9:2
I have heard: 2Ki 20:5, Psa 10:17, Psa 66:19, Luk 1:13, Act 10:31, 1Jo 5:14, 1Jo 5:15
have chosen: 2Ch 7:16, Deu 12:5, Deu 12:11, Psa 78:68, Psa 78:69, Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14
an house of sacrifice: 2Ki 2:6, Deu 12:6
Reciprocal: 2Ki 21:7 – In this house Joh 4:20 – and ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 7:12. The Lord appeared to Solomon, and said, I have heard thy prayer That God had accepted his prayer was shown by his sending fire from heaven. But a prayer may be accepted, and yet not answered in the letter of it. God therefore appeared to him in the night, as he had done once before, (1Ch 1:7,) and gave him a particular answer to his prayer. See notes on 1Ki 9:2-9.