33 then Thou dost hear from the heavens, from the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast done according to all that the stranger calleth unto Thee for: so that all the peoples of the earth do know Thy name, so as to fear Thee, as Thy people Israel, and to know that Thy name is called on this house that I have built.
and My people on whom My name is called be humbled, and pray, and seek My face, and turn back from their evil ways, then I -- I hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin, and heal their land.
`And they have put My name upon the sons of Israel, and I -- I do bless them.'
This day doth Jehovah shut thee up into my hand -- and I have smitten thee, and turned aside thy head from off thee, and given the carcase of the camp of the Philistines this day to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth, and all the earth do know that God is for Israel.
From the day that I brought out My people, even Israel, from Egypt, I have not fixed on a city out of all the tribes of Israel, to build a house for My name being there; and I fix on David to be over My people Israel.
And now, O Jehovah our God, save us, we pray Thee, out of his hand, and know do all kingdoms of the earth that Thou `art' Jehovah God -- Thyself alone.'
Desist, and know that I `am' God, I am exalted among nations, I am exalted in the earth.
For the knowledge in earth of Thy way, among all nations of Thy salvation.
And there hath been, in that day, A root of Jesse that is standing for an ensign of peoples, Unto him do nations seek, And his rest hath been -- honour!
And He saith, `It hath been a light thing That thou art to Me for a servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And the preserved of Israel to bring back, And I have given thee for a light of nations, To be My salvation unto the end of the earth.'
Sing, O barren, she hath not borne! Break forth with singing, and cry aloud, She hath not brought forth! For more `are' the sons of the desolate, Than the sons of the married one, said Jehovah. Enlarge the place of thy tent, And the curtains of thy tabernacles they stretch out, Restrain not -- lengthen thy cords, And thy pins make strong. For right and left thou breakest forth, And thy seed doth nations possess,
Who doth not fear Thee, king of the nations? For to Thee it is becoming, For among all the wise of the nations, And in all their kingdom there is none like Thee.
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.