2 Chron 7 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Chron 7:1-10

1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,

‘He is good;
    his love endures for ever.’

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 6 The priests took up their positions, as did the Levites with the Lord’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, ‘His love endures for ever.’ Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.

8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him – a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.

A. Find Out:

1. 1hat 2 things happened when Solomon finished praying? v.1
2. What couldn’t happen as a result? v.2
3. What did the people do? v.3
4. What did everyone then do? v.4-7
5. How long did the celebrations continue? v.8,9
6. How did it finish? v.10

B. Think:

1. How did God show His approval of all Solomon had done?
2. What were their feelings about God?
3. How would you describe what went on?

C. Comment:

      The Temple has been completed, the glory of God has come and filled it (5:14), and Solomon has prayed and there had been sacrifices presented (5:6). Suddenly there is fire from heaven and the sacrifices are burnt up (v.1). What further sign could there be of the approval of God receiving the offering presented to Him.

      The response of the people is to worship the Lord but notice that as much as there is awesome respect in it as they bow down, their appreciation of God is that He is a God of love (v.3c).

      Solomon’s offering can only be described as wholehearted (v.5). The priests are in their places, the musicians play. This is pageant at its best. By every means possible they acknowledge and honour the Lord. Thus they give the Temple over to the Lord (v.5c). Because the volume of offerings was so great, Solomon separated off as holy (consecrated) the middle courtyard area and there for a week they offered sacrifices and praised the Lord.

     On the eighth day they held a more solemn day of acknowledgement of the Lord’s greatness, bringing to an end the specific period of dedicating the temple and its altar for sacrifices, and then had a further week of general celebrations, which in fact was the Feast of Tabernacles finishing on the 22nd of the month.

D. Application:

1. Worship: Can we say that our worship is wholehearted?
2. Worship: Does our worship ‘cost’ us anything?

Passage: 2 Chron 7:11-16

11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:

‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

13 ‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

A. Find Out:

1. What had Solomon finished doing? v.11
2. What did the Lord then do and say? v.12
3. What things did he envisage happening? v.13
4. What four things would His people need to do? v.14a
5. What would He then do? v.14b
6. What will He do and why? v.15,16

B. Think:

1. Why do you think the Lord appeared to Solomon at night?
2. How would you sum up the situation the Lord speaks about?
3. What is to be the key to future problems?

C. Comment:

       There is a sense of completeness in verse 11. Solomon has completed his palace and he’s completed the temple. The two central focal points for rule in Israel have been established. Solomon will rule from the palace, and God will rule from the temple. It is at this point that the Lord comes and speaks directly to Solomon at night. Why at night? Perhaps because it is a time of quietness when no one else is there, a time when Solomon can hear without interruption.

      The Lord first reaffirms that He has chosen the temple as the place of sacrifice, the place where people can come and meet with their God and offer either their sins or their thankfulness (those essentially were the two main reasons for the sacrificial system). The Lord focuses on the former, the potential sin of the people in the years to come. He speaks about times when He might cause there to be a drought, or cause pests to destroy the land, or cause a plague among the people.

      Each of these would be a judgement of God on the people because of their sin (though that is only implied by what follows). If His people will come to their senses and humbly come before Him in true repentance, then He WILL hear and He WILL heal the land. Repentance will be the key to all national failings in the future. The temple will be a place of hope in this respect, that’s why the Lord has established the place.

D. Application:

1. The fruit or consequences of Sin. Do we see a link between sin and things going wrong?
2. The way out of Sin? Do we understand that repentance is always the key to forgiveness?

Passage: 2 Chron 7:17-22

17 ‘As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, “You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.”

19 ‘But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple which I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?” 22 People will answer, “Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them – that is why he brought all this disaster on them.”’

A. Find Out:

1. What condition does the Lord place on blessing Solomon? v.17
2. What does He say He will do if that condition is met? v.18
3. What does He warn against? v.19
4. What does He say He will do if that happens? v.20
5. What will the on-looking world ask? v.21
6. What will be the answer? v.22

B. Think:

1. How is the future seen to be in Solomon’s hands?
2. How is it seen to be in the hands of the people?
3. How is it seen to be in the hands of the Lord?

C. Comment:

      There was nothing accidental about the ups and downs of Israel ‘s subsequent history that we read about in the Old Testament. It is entirely down to the choices made by Solomon and the subsequent kings, and their people. Life did not just keep on as a uniform steady flow. The good or bad times were entirely determined by Israel ‘s spiritual state! Their relationship with the Lord was all-important.

      In this passage the Lord clearly warns Solomon about this. His requirement is that Solomon walks faithfully with the Lord keeping God’s Law. If Solomon does that then he can be assured that God will bless his family and they will continue to rule. If he DOESN’T then he is in for trouble. If he forsakes the Lord and goes after idols and leads the nation astray, then the Lord will both take Israel out of this land and reject the temple as the gateway to His presence.

     So obvious will this be that the whole world that looks on will see and know why this has happened. Israel are called to be a light to the nations and that includes the nations seeing when they are judged and disciplined. What was tragic was that this king who has been given such wisdom by God, will eventually disobey God and be led astray to idol worship. That seems hardly possible at this moment, but that is the stupidity of the sin that indwells the human race. However, the choice is always still ours!

D. Application:

1. The end of unrestrained sin: Do we realise that Sin will seek to lead us into self-centred godlessness?
2. Human choice: We must always remember that we are in control of what we do and can still choose NOT to go down that path of sin.