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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Chronicles 7:12 - 7:22
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The Lord's Answer to Solomon's Prayer
v. 12. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, the prayer made at the dedication of the Temple, and have chosen this place to Myself for an house of sacrifice.
v. 13. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, all these being special punishments of the Lord upon the disobedience of His people at all times;
v. 14. if My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, in true repentance, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land, as the body of a person afflicted with severe ulcers.
v. 15. Now, Mine eyes shall be open and Mine ears [be] attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
v. 16. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever, to be proclaimed by sacrifices, by prayers, and by the singing of the glorious psalms; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually, His eyes to watch over this Sanctuary, and His heart to be united in love with all true believers.
v. 17. And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before Me, as David, thy father, walked, ordering his whole life according to the divine will, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe My statutes and My judgments, both the precepts of the covenant relation and those of the general relation toward God and men,
v. 18. then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David, thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel, 2Ch_6:16.
v. 19. But if ye turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, in any form of idolatry,
v. 20. then will I pluck them up by the roots, eradicate them completely, like noxious weeds, out of My land which I have given them, and which they possess merely as stewards or tenants, as all men do in reality; and this house, which I have sanctified for My name, will I cast out of My sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations, Deu_28:37; Jer_24:9.
v. 21. And this house, which is high, both by reason of its location and its distinction, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it, so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land and unto this house?
v. 22. And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them; therefore hath He brought all this evil upon them. Cf 1Ki_9:3-9. The same holds true today. A mere dead orthodoxy, without true piety of the heart, will not uphold the Church. Luther's warning regarding the swiftness with which God's pure Word is taken from the people that forsake Him in their hearts may well be heeded even at this time. Believers should never become self-reliant, for let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.