2 Chronicles 6:1

Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

VI.

2. KING SOLOMON BLESSES HIS PEOPLE AND HIS GOD

(2Chronicles 6:1-11.) (Comp. 1Kings 8:12-21.)

This section also is in verbal agreement with the parallel account, with a few slight exceptions.

(1) The thick darkness.—‘Araphel, which is explained as caligo nubium, “gloom of clouds.” (See Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 4:11; Psalm 18:9. Comp. the Greek, ὅρφνη.) The Targum on 1Kings 8:12 reads Jerusalem, but this is probably a gloss.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 6:1. The Lord hath said he would dwell in the thick darkness — He has made darkness his pavilion; but let this house be the residence of that darkness. For it is in the upper world that he dwells in light, such as no eye can approach.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:1-42 Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple. - The order of Solomon's prayer is to be observed. First and chiefly, he prays for repentance and forgiveness, which is the chief blessing, and the only solid foundation of other mercies: he then prays for temporal mercies; thereby teaching us what things to mind and desire most in our prayers. This also Christ hath taught us in his perfect pattern and form of prayer, where there is but one prayer for outward, and all the rest are for spiritual blessings. The temple typified the human nature of Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The ark typified his obedience and sufferings, by which repenting sinners have access to a reconciled God, and communion with him. Jehovah has made our nature his resting-place for ever, in the person of Emmanuel, and through him he dwells with, and delights in his church of redeemed sinners. May our hearts become his resting-place; may Christ dwell therein by faith, consecrating them as his temples, and shedding abroad his love therein. May the Father look upon us in and through his Anointed; and may he remember and bless us in all things, according to his mercy to sinners, in and through Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare Kings (marginal references).

Compare Kings (marginal references).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 6

2Ch 6:1-41. Solomon Blesses the People and Praises God.

1. The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness—This introduction to Solomon's address was evidently suggested by the remarkable incident recorded at the close of the last chapter: the phenomenon of a densely opaque and uniformly shaped cloud, descending in a slow and majestic manner and filling the whole area of the temple. He regarded it himself, and directed the people also to regard it, as an undoubted sign and welcome pledge of the divine presence and acceptance of the building reared to His honor and worship. He referred not to any particular declaration of God, but to the cloud having been all along in the national history of Israel the recognized symbol of the divine presence (Ex 16:10; 24:16; 40:34; Nu 9:15; 1Ki 8:10, 11).Solomon blesseth the people, and praiseth God. 2 Chronicles 6:1-11. His excellent prayer, wherein he showeth the right use of the temple 2 Chronicles 6:12-42.

This whole chapter, for the substance, and almost all the words of it, are explained See Poole "1 Kings 8:1".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Introduction to Chapter 5

Geneva Study Bible

Then {a} said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

(a) After he had seen the glory of the Lord in the cloud.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. Then said] R.V. Then spake (as 1 Kin.). Then refers to the moment when Solomon perceived that the cloud had filled the House.

that he would dwell in the thick darkness] No Divine declaration corresponding verbally with this occurs in the O.T., but cp. Exodus 20:21, Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was, and ib. Exodus 19:9, the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud. Solomon accepts the coming of the thick darkness as a sign of God’s entrance into the Temple.

Ch. 2 Chronicles 6:1-11 (= 1 Kings 8:12-21). Solomon’s Blessing

1, 2. These verses come from 1 Kings, the only important variation being, But I have built (Chron.), for I have surety built (1 Kin.). They seem to have been originally taken from some song.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1. - In the thick darkness; Hebrew, מַּעֲרַפֶל. The Lord had said this in so many words, and also by not a few practical examples (Leviticus 16:2; Exodus 19:9; Exodus 24:16; Exodus 25:22; Exodus 40:34, 35). This thing which he said, and did, even while really instructing, after the manner of special revelation, a specialized people, is essentially what he ever has said and ever is doing in all time, in all the world, and in all nature and providence. It is a fact and it is necessary that his glory be for the present veiled in "clouds and darkness" (Psalm 97:2; Psalm 18. n). 2 Chronicles 6:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The words with which Solomon celebrates this wondrous evidence of the divine favour, entirely coincide with the narrative in 1 Kings 8:12-21, except that in 2 Chronicles 6:5. the actual words of Solomon's speech are more completely given than in 1 Kings 8:16, where the words, "and I have not chosen a man to be prince over my people Israel, and I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there," are omitted. For the commentary on this address, see on 1 Kings 8:12-21.