8 So Solomon kept the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great meeting, for the people had come together from the way into Hamath and from as far as the river of Egypt.
Say to the children of Israel, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month let the feast of tents be kept to the Lord for seven days. On the first day there will be a holy meeting: do no field-work. Every day for seven days give an offering made by fire to the Lord; and on the eighth day there is to be a holy meeting, when you are to give an offering made by fire to the Lord; this is a special holy day: you may do no field-work on that day. These are the fixed feasts of the Lord, to be kept by you as holy days of worship, for making an offering by fire to the Lord; a burned offering, a meal offering, an offering of beasts, and drink offerings; every one on its special day; In addition to the Sabbaths of the Lord, and in addition to the things you give and the oaths you make and the free offerings to the Lord. But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have got in all the fruits of the land, you will keep the feast of the Lord for seven days: the first day will be a Sabbath, and the eighth day the same. On the first day, take the fruit of fair trees, branches of palm-trees, and branches of thick trees and trees from the riverside, and be glad before the Lord for seven days. And let this feast be kept before the Lord for seven days in the year: it is a rule for ever from generation to generation; in the seventh month let it be kept. For seven days you will be living in tents; all those who are Israelites by birth are to make tents their living-places: So that future generations may keep in mind how I gave the children of Israel tents as their living-places when I took them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month let there be a holy meeting; do no field-work, and keep a feast to the Lord for seven days; And give a burned offering, an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord, thirteen oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, all without any mark on them; And their meal offering, the best meal mixed with oil, three tenth parts for every one of the thirteen oxen, two tenth parts for every male sheep, And a separate tenth part for every one of the fourteen lambs; And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering. On the second day of the feast give an offering of twelve oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark on them; And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen and the sheep and the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered: And one he-goat for a sin-offering in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings. And on the third day eleven oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark; And their meal offering and drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered: And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering. And on the fourth day ten oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark: And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered. And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering. And on the fifth day nine oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark: And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered: And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering. And on the sixth day eight oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark: And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered: And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, its meal offering, and its drink offerings. And on the seventh day seven oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark: And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered: And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering. On the eighth day let there be a holy meeting: you may do no field-work; And give a burned offering, an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord: one ox, one male sheep, seven he-lambs of the first year, without any mark: With the meal offering and the drink offerings for the ox, the male sheep, and the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered: And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.
And from Azmon it will go round to the stream of Egypt as far as the sea. And for your limit on the west you will have the Great Sea and its edge: this will be your limit on the west. And your limit on the north will be the line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor: And from Mount Hor the line will go in the direction of Hamath; the farthest point of it will be at Zedad:
You are to keep the feast of tents for seven days after you have got in all your grain and made your wine: You are to keep the feast with joy, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you. Keep the feast to the Lord your God for seven days, in the place marked out by the Lord: because the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all the produce of your land and all the work of your hands, and you will have nothing but joy.
From the Shihor, which is before Egypt, to the edge of Ekron to the north, which is taken to be Canaanite property: the five chiefs of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, as well as the Avvim; On the south: all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah which is the property of the Zidonians, to Aphek, as far as the limit of the Amorites: And the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, looking east, from Baal-gad under Mount Hermon as far as Hamath:
And Solomon was ruler over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the edge of Egypt; men gave him offerings and were his servants all the days of his life. And the amount of Solomon's food for one day was thirty measures of crushed grain and sixty measures of meal; Ten fat oxen and twenty oxen from the fields, and a hundred sheep, in addition to harts and gazelles and roes and fat fowls. For he had authority over all the country on this side of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace round him on every side. So Judah and Israel were living safely, every man under his vine and his fig-tree, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.
And on the second day the heads of families of all the people and the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe, to give attention to the words of the law. And they saw that it was recorded in the law that the Lord had given orders by Moses, that the children of Israel were to have tents for their living-places in the feast of the seventh month: And that they were to give out an order, and make it public in all their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and get olive branches and branches of field olives and of myrtle, and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make tents, as it says in the book. And the people went out and got them and made themselves tents, every one on the roof of his house, and in the open spaces and in the open squares of the house of God, and in the wide place of the water-doorway, and the wide place of the doorway of Ephraim. All the people who had been prisoners and had come back, made tents and were living in them: for from the time of Jeshua, the son of Nun, till that day, the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great joy. And day by day, from the first day till the last, he was reading from the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast for seven days: and on the eighth day there was a holy meeting, as it is ordered in the law.
And it will come about that everyone who is still living, of all those nations who came against Jerusalem, will go up from year to year to give worship to the King, the Lord of armies, and to keep the feast of tents. And it will be that if any one of all the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to give worship to the King, the Lord of armies, on them there will be no rain. And if the family of Egypt does not go up or come there, they will be attacked by the disease which the Lord will send on the nations: This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to keep the feast of tents.
However, it is clear to us where this man comes from: but when the Christ comes no one will have knowledge where he comes from. Then, when he was teaching in the Temple, Jesus said with a loud voice, You have knowledge of me and you have knowledge of where I come from; and I have not come of myself; but there is One who has sent me; he is true, but you have no knowledge of him. I have knowledge of him because I came from him and he sent me. Then they had a desire to take him: but no man put hands on him because his hour was still to come. And numbers of the people had belief in him, and they said, When the Christ comes will he do more signs than this man has done? This discussion of the people came to the ears of the Pharisees; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent servants to take him. Then Jesus said, I will be with you a little longer and then I go to him who sent me. You will be looking for me, and you will not see me: and where I am you may not come. So the Jews said among themselves, To what place is he going where we will not see him? will he go to the Jews living among the Greeks and become the teacher of the Greeks? What is this saying of his, You will be looking for me and will not see me, and where I am you may not come? On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus got up and said in a loud voice, If any man is in need of drink let him come to me and I will give it to him. He who has faith in me, out of his body, as the Writings have said, will come rivers of living water. This he said of the Spirit which would be given to those who had faith in him: the Spirit had not been given then, because the glory of Jesus was still to come.
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Commentary on 2 Chronicles 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 7
2Ch 7:1-3. God Gives Testimony to Solomon's Prayer; the People Worship.
1. the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering—Every act of worship was accompanied by a sacrifice. The preternatural stream of fire kindled the mass of flesh, and was a token of the divine acceptance of Solomon's prayer (see on Le 9:24; 1Ki 18:38).
the glory of the Lord filled the house—The cloud, which was the symbol of God's presence and majesty, filled the interior of the temple (Ex 40:35).
2. the priests could not enter—Both from awe of the miraculous fire that was burning on the altar and from the dense cloud that enveloped the sanctuary, they were unable for some time to perform their usual functions (see on 1Ki 8:10). But afterwards, their courage and confidence being revived, they approached the altar and busied themselves in the offering of an immense number of sacrifices.
3. all the children of Israel … bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement—This form of prostration (that of lying on one's knees with the forehead touching the earth), is the manner in which the Hebrews, and Orientals in general, express the most profound sentiments of reverence and humility. The courts of the temple were densely crowded on the occasion, and the immense multitude threw themselves on the ground. What led the Israelites suddenly to assume that prostrate attitude on the occasion referred to, was the spectacle of the symbolical cloud slowly and majestically descending upon the temple, and then entering it.
2Ch 7:4-11. Solomon's Sacrifices.
4. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices—Whether the individual worshippers slaughtered their own cattle, or a certain portion of the vast number of the Levitical order in attendance performed that work, as they sometimes did, in either case the offerings were made through the priests, who presented the blood and the fat upon the altar (see on 1Ki 8:62).
5, 6. so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God—The ceremonial of dedication consisted principally in the introduction of the ark into the temple, and in the sacrificial offerings that were made on a scale of magnitude suitable to the extraordinary occasion. All present, the king, the people, and the priests, took part according to their respective stations in the performance of the solemn service. The duty, of course, devolved chiefly on the priests, and hence in proceeding to describe their several departments of work, the historian says, generally, "the priests waited on their offices." While great numbers would be occupied with the preparation and offering of the victims, others sounded with their trumpets, and the different bands of the Levites praised the Lord with vocal and instrumental music, by the hundred thirty-sixth Psalm, the oft-recurring chorus of which is, "for His mercy endureth for ever."
7. Solomon hallowed the middle of the court—On this extraordinary occasion, when a larger number of animals were offered than one altar and the usual place of rings to which the animals were bound would admit, the whole space was taken in that was between the place of rings and the west end of the court to be used as a temporary place for additional altars. On that part of the spacious court holocausts were burning all round.
8. Solomon kept the feast seven days—The time chosen for the dedication of the temple was immediately previous to the feast of tabernacles (see on 1Ki 8:1-12). That season, which came after the harvest, corresponding to our September and October, lasted seven days, and during so prolonged a festival there was time afforded for the offering of the immense sacrifices enumerated. A large proportion of these were peace offerings, which afforded to the people the means of festive enjoyment.
all Israel … from the entering in of Hamath—that is, the defile at Lebanon.
unto the river of Egypt—that is, Rhinocorura, now El-Arish, the south boundary of Palestine.
10. on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month—This was the last day of the feast of tabernacles.
2Ch 7:12-22. God Appears to Him.
12. the Lord appeared to Solomon by night—(See on 1Ki 9:1-9). The dedication of the temple must have been an occasion of intense national interest to Solomon and his subjects. Nor was the interest merely temporary or local. The record of it is read and thought of with an interest that is undiminished by the lapse of time. The fact that this was the only temple of all nations in which the true God was worshipped imparts a moral grandeur to the scene and prepares the mind for the sublime prayer that was offered at the dedication. The pure theism of that prayer—its acknowledgment of the unity of God as well as of His moral perfections in providence and grace, came from the same divine source as the miraculous fire. They indicated sentiments and feelings of exalted and spiritual devotion, which sprang not from the unaided mind of man, but from the fountain of revelation. The reality of the divine presence was attested by the miracle, and that miracle stamped the seal of truth upon the theology of the temple-worship.