2 Chronicles 7:1-7 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices… I. THE ANSWERING GOD. (Vers. 1, 2.) By himself set forth (Isaiah 65:24; Jeremiah 33:3), by his people recognized (Psalm 65:2; Psalm 99:8; Isaiah 58:9), and by Christ revealed (Matthew 7:7-11; Matthew 18:19; John 16:23) as a Hearer of prayer, Jehovah responded to the intercession of Israel's king by a twofold sign. 1. By fire from heaven. "The God that answereth by fire," said Elijah upon Carmel, "let him be God" (1 Kings 18:24); and in this case "the fire came down from heaven and consumed" - not the people, as it did Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:2), and Azariah's captains with their fifties (2 Kings 1:10, 12, 14), and as James and John wished it to do to the Samaritans (Luke 9:54); but the sacrifices, as it did with Moses (Leviticus 9:24), Gideon (Judges 6:21), David (1 Chronicles 21:26), and Elijah (1 Kings 18:38). That this fire was that which symbolized Jehovah's presence at the bush (Exodus 3:2), on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18), at Horeb (1 Kings 19:12), on the Chebar (Ezekiel 1:4), in Babylon (Daniel 7:9), and now also in the temple, may be assumed. That as a symbol this fire pointed to the holiness and judicial wrath of God against sin seems plausible and indeed probable (see Delitzsch's 'Biblical Psychology,' p. 225, Eng. trans.); if so it becomes apparent, without comment, why the sacrifices and not the people were devoured. The victims on the altars were the people's substitutes, the bearers of the people's sins; hence on them rather than on the people the fire from heaven fell. The consumption of the sacrifices was an intimation that the people were accepted. Or, if fire be taken as the symbol of God's refining and sanctifying power (Kurtz, 'Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament,' p. 155, Eng. trans.), the notion is hardly different, since God refines and sanctifies by burning up and destroying (legally by his judicial wrath, and spiritually by his gracious influences within the soul) all that is sinful, and therefore obnoxious to his holiness and justice alike (cf. Hebrews 12:29). So God still accepts the inward spiritual sacrifices of his people by sending down upon them fire from heaven, by annihilating and destroying the sin that attaches to them, through the fire of Christ's Passion, and by refining the hearts that offer them through the fire of his Spirit (Matthew 3:11). 2. By the glory-cloud. This, which appears to have taken possession of the holy of holies, and indeed of the entire shrine immediately on the close of the ceremony of the introduction of the ark (ver. 14), is again said to have filled the house, Not that it had withdrawn from the house and afterwards returned when Solomon had ended his prayer; but merely that the two things are now brought together - the fire upon the altar and the glory in the house as parts of one and the same complex phenomenon, which indicated the acceptance of Solomon's temple and prayer. The heart which God accepts he stills fills with his glory - the glory of his presence as a prayer-hearing, sin-forgiving, love-manifesting, holiness-working, glory-preparing God (John 14:21, 23; Romans 5:5; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Colossians 1:27; Revelation 3:20). II. THE WORSHIPPING PEOPLE. (Ver. 3.) Overawed by the spectacle they beheld, the people adored the presence of their covenant God and condescending King, presenting before him their supplications. 1. With reverent humility. "Bowing themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement," as they did in the wilderness when, on Aaron's first offerings being presented, "a fire came out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat" (Leviticus 9:24), and as Moses and Aaron did when the former interceded for the people (Numbers 14:5), as the Israelites on Carmel (1 Kings 18:39), Christ's disciples on the holy mount (Matthew 17:6), and the four and twenty elders of the Apocalyptic vision did (Revelation 11:16). Humility a foremost characteristic of all who would approach God in prayer (Genesis 18:30), or with whom God would dwell (Isaiah 57:15). 2. With fervent acclamation. "Praising the Lord and saying;" for though prayer and praise without audible speech are not impossible (1 Samuel 1:13; Ephesians 5:19), when the heart is hot the tongue cannot well be silent (Psalm 39:3). Men that are in earnest, like David, cry and weep in their prayers (Psalm 6:8; Psalm 18:6), while in their praises they dance and sing (2 Samuel 6:14; Psalm 71:22). 3. With true faith, recognizing his Divine goodness and believing in the unchangeableness of his mercy (see on vers. 13, 14). III. THE THANKSGIVING KING. (Vers. 4, 5.) Besides the people, Solomon was specially affected by the great sight. His heart swelled with gratitude, which he expressed: 1. By sacrifices. Gratitude which overflows merely in lip-service may well be suspected. The true index of a heart's feeling of indebtedness is its willingness to part with something belonging to itself for the sake of him towards whom the feeling is cherished. Hence the emphasis laid by Old Testament Scripture on the duty of offering the sacrifices of thanksgiving (Psalm 50:14; Psalm 107:22). 2. By repeated sacrifices. Solomon and his subjects had already offered victims on the altar (ver. 6); but these were presented in addition because new mercies had evoked new occasions of thanksgiving. As the saint's gratitude should not be a momentary feeling, cherished for a little season and then dismissed till some more convenient opportunity shall arrive, but a perennial emotion continually welling up within the breast; so should the saint's sacrifices not be occasional acts, but deeds that are constantly being repeated and renewed. 3. By large sacrifices. Solomon offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep - indeed, so abundant were the victims that the brazen altar was not spacious enough, large as it was (2 Chronicles 4:1), to receive the burnt offerings and the meat offerings and the fat; yet, rather than that any of them should not be presented to the Lord, the pavement in the middle of the court was "hallowed," i.e. extemporized into an altar (ver. 7), and the victims slaughtered and burnt thereupon. Solomon had no notion of being stinted in his "givings" to Jehovah. Neither should Christians in their offerings to the God of the Christian Church. The Lord still loveth a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), and never fails to reward a liberal giver (2 Corinthians 9:6). 4. By timely sacrifices. The king chose the right moment for his offerings - "then" (ver. 4), when his eye was arrested and his heart affected by the sight of the fire and the glory, and by the contemplation of Jehovah's goodness and grace. Had he delayed, the offerings might not have been so numerous as they were, if indeed they had not been omitted altogether. "Strike while the iron is hot" is a proverb applicable to all good resolutions. Bis dat qui cito dat. Evil purposes should be delayed till the passions exciting them have cooled; good intentions should be carried through while the spirit glows with the holy enthusiasm that has given them birth. IV. THE ASSISTING PRIESTS. (Ver. 6.) In addition to the king and commons, the ministers of the sanctuary bore their part in the great act of worship. 1. The priests waited on their offices, or stood, in their stations - not according to their divisions (Bertheau), but in their offices (Vulgate); i.e. they preserved the ranks and functions which had been assigned them by David (1 Chronicles 24:7). They also sounded trumpets before them. 2. The Levites acted as instrumentalists and singers. They used the instruments of the song of Jehovah which David had invented and appointed, and with which David himself had praised God by their service, i.e. by making use of their playing, as he did when fetching up the ark out of Obed-edom's house (1 Chronicles 15:16-28). Learn: 1. The certainty that God can answer prayer. 2. The duty of Divine worship. 3. The joyous character of true religion. 4. The necessity of practising Christian liberality. - W. Parallel Verses KJV: Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house. |
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