2 Crônicas 6

2 Crônicas 6

Morgan - That Thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night.—2 Chr 6.20 Again, Solomon in this great prayer of dedication, revealed his true understanding of the greatness of God, as he said: "Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have builded?" Realizing the inadequacy of any houses built by man to contain God, he uttered this suggestive and beautiful petition, that the watching eyes of God might ever rest upon the house he had built. It was the place where God had said He would put His name. It was the place to which the people would repair to offer their petitions, in the regular exercises of worship, in special seasons of need through sin, in battle, in drought, in famine. The vision of the king created his prayer. He saw the Temple perpetually watched by the eyes of God, so that whatever worshippers approached they were seen by' the God Whose help they sought. That this might be so, he prayed. It was a figure of speech, but one full of suggestive beauty. For us, the great ideal has found perfect fulfilment through "Jesus the Son of God," Who has "passed through the heavens"; "now to appear before the face of God for us." We "draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace," and we do so in Him, the Beloved. The eyes of God are ever upon Him in satisfaction and delight; and so in our approach we are ever seen, but we are seen in Him, and so accepted. 2 Chronicles 6:21 “Listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive. make (KJV): Heb. pray thy dwelling place (KJV): 2Ch 6:39 30:27 Job 22:12-14 Ps 123:1 Ec 5:2 Isa 57:15 Mt 6:9 forgive (KJV): Ps 85:2,3 130:3,4 Isa 43:25 Da 9:19 Mic 7:18 Mt 6:12 Related Passages: 2 Chronicles 6:38+ if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name, Daniel 6:10+ Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. SOLOMON'S APPEAL FOR OUR GREATEST NEED - FORGIVENESS Listen to the supplication (Lxx - deesis) of Your servant ('ebed) and of Your people Israel, when they pray (palal; Lxx - proseuchomai) toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive (salach; Lxx - be hileos - "be merciful") - See comments on 1Ki 8:30. Supplication means earnest prayer or plea. Solomon is asking God to hear both his personal prayers and the prayers of all Israelites. His approach reflects his humility (as the wisest man alive) and a deep sense of dependence on God. Praying toward the Temple became a Jewish custom (as later in Da 6:10), but there was nothing "magical" about praying toward the Temple. Notice that while they pray toward the Temple, Solomon does not ask God to hear in the the Temple, but in heaven, His dwelling place. The the Temple was sacred, but God’s true dwelling is in heaven (and even it could not contain Him). The most important request was for forgiveness, something we all daily have need of (cf Mt 6:12+). James Smith - This is the longest prayer in the Old Testament, and may be fitly compared with the longest in the New, as recorded in John 17+. Both are intercessory and provisional. This temple, prepared for God and filled with His glory (2Chr 6:14), is a wonderful type of the person and character of the Lord Jesus Christ. What the temple was to Israel, Christ is to the world. What Solomon did on the brazen scaffold (2Chr 6:3), Christ did on the accursed tree—open the way for others into the place of blessing. This prayer of Solomon, like the work of Christ, revealed a large and cosmopolitan heart. Jon Courson - Here, Solomon’s prayer shifts from asking God to bless the temple to asking God to forgive the people. In it, he lists seven situations in which only God’s intervention would avert either individual or national disaster… (Jon Courson's Application Commentary: Volume 1, Old ... - Page 981)