1 Then said Solomon, `Jehovah said -- to dwell in thick darkness,
2 and I -- I have built a house of habitation for Thee, and a fixed place for Thy dwelling to the ages.'
3 And the king turneth round his face, and blesseth the whole assembly of Israel, and the whole assembly of Israel is standing,
4 and he saith, `Blessed `is' Jehovah, God of Israel, who hath spoken with His mouth with David my father, and with His hands hath fulfilled `it', saying:
5 `From the day that I brought out My people from the land of Egypt, I have not fixed on a city out of any of the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name being there, and I have not fixed on a man to be leader over My people Israel;
6 and I fix on Jerusalem for My name being there, and I fix on David to be over My people Israel.
7 `And it is with the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah God of Israel,
8 and Jehovah saith unto David my father, Because that it hath been with thy heart to build a house for My name, thou hast done well that it hath been with thy heart,
9 but thou dost not build the house, for thy son who cometh forth out from thy loins, he doth build the house for My name.
10 `And Jehovah doth establish His word that He spake, and I rise up in the stead of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah spake, and I build the house for the name of Jehovah, God of Israel,
11 and I place there the ark, where `is' the covenant of Jehovah that He made with the sons of Israel.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 6
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
The glory of the Lord, in the vehicle of a thick cloud, having filled the house which Solomon built, by which God manifested his presence there, he immediately improves the opportunity, and addresses God, as a God now, in a peculiar manner, nigh at hand.
2Ch 6:1-11
It is of great consequence, in all our religious actions, that we design well, and that our eye be single. If Solomon had built this temple in the pride of his heart, as Ahasuerus made his feast, only to show the riches of his kingdom and the honour of his majesty, it would not have turned at all to his account. But here he declares upon what inducements he undertook it, and they are such as not only justify, but magnify, the undertaking.
2Ch 6:12-42
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 Ki. 8) and therefore shall now only glean up some few passages in it which may be the proper subjects of our meditation.