2 Chronicles 6:22-39 If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid on him to make him swear, and the oath come before your altar in this house;… I. THE OATH OF PURGATION. (Vers. 22, 23.) 1. The case supposed. (Ver. 22.) (1) Common - that of a man sinning, or being suspected of sinning, against his neighbour in any of the ways specified in the Law of Moses - by theft (Exodus 22:10, 11), by finding and retaining lost goods (Leviticus 6:1), or in the case of a wife by adultery (Numbers 5:19-22). (2) Hard - one in which distinct and satisfactory evidence is a-wanting. Perhaps (3) wicked - on one side or another most likely so, either the accuser's charge or the accused's denial being consciously false. Certainly (4) solemn - an oath or appeal to Heaven having been either demanded by the accused or imposed by the accuser (Exodus 22:10), and carried through or performed "before the altar in his house," i.e. in the immediate Divine presence (Exodus 20:24). 2. The prayer offered. (Ver. 23.) (1) That Jehovah would listen to the appeal of the litigants, not merely as he does to all words spoken on the earth (Psalm 139:5), in virtue of his omnipresence (Jeremiah 23:33; Ephesians 1:23),but as acting in the character of judge or umpire between the two (Job 21:22; Psalm 9:7; Psalm 58:11; Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 29:26). (2) That Jehovah would pronounce judgment on the case submitted to him (Psalm 12:9; 119:137). This practically is what is meant by all judicial oath-taking. It is a virtual placing of the case before God, that he may elicit a true and righteous verdict (Romans 2:2; 1 Peter 1:17). (3) That Jehovah would make known his decision by punishing the guilty and vindicating the innocent (Genesis 18:25; Exodus 34:7; 2 Samuel 22:26; Nahum 1:3), not by supernaturally interposing to smite the former with death, as in the case of Korah and his company (Numbers 16:32), or as in the case of Miriam (Numbers 12:10), with some. malady, which might be interpreted as a signal of the Divine displeasure, but by providentially bringing it about that the wickedness of the wicked should be discovered, as in the cases of Abimelech (Judges 9:56) and Haman (Esther 7:10), and the uprightness of the good man should be declared, as in those of Job (Job 42:10) and David (Psalm 41:12). II. THE PRAYER OF THE CAPTIVE. (Vers. 24, 25.) 1. The instance selected. That of God's ancient people (1) having sinned against God, which they had often done in days past (Psalm 106:6; Psalm 78:17; Hosea 10:9), and would most probably do again (2 Chronicles 6:36; 1 Kings 8:46); (2) having been defeated in battle on this account, as frequently before had happened to them (Judges 7:1, 5; 1 Samuel 4:3); (3) having been carried off in part into exile, as they subsequently were into Assyria (2 Kings 17:5) and Babylon (2 Kings 25:21); (4) having repented of their wickedness (1 Kings 8:47), saying as at Mizpeh, "We have sinned against the Lord" (1 Samuel 7:6), or as at Jerusalem in the restoration, "Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day" (Ezra 9:7); (5) having confessed God's Name in their sorrowful calamity, i.e. acknowledged God's justice in all that had befallen them (Psalm 51:4; Romans 3:4); and (6) having prayed and made supplication before God in the temple, i.e. those of them who remained behind for those who had been carried off. 2. The request presented. (1) That God would hear from heaven the cry of his suppliant people, and so vindicate his condescending character as a prayer-hearing God (Psalm 65:2; Isaiah 45:11). (2) That he would forgive the sin of his erring people, and so prove himself a gracious and compassionate God (Exodus 34:9; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 78:38; Psalm 86:5; Isaiah 55:7). (3) That he would restore his banished ones to their own land, and so show himself a faithful and covenant-keeping God (Deuteronomy 7:9; Nehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; 1 Kings 8:23). III. THE CRY OF THE FAMISHED. (Vers. 26, 27.) 1. The distress pictured. Solomon imagines a state of matters that in Oriental countries might easily happen, when through long-continued drought, as in the days of Joseph (Genesis 41:57), the inhabitants might be perishing (or in danger of perishing) through lack of food - a state of matters not unknown in the land of Israel, both before (Ruth 1:1; 2 Samuel 21:1) and after (1 Kings 17:7; 2 Kings 4:38; 2 Kings 6:25-29; 2 Kings 25:3; Acts 11:28) his time, and commonly regarded as a visible token of Divine displeasure on account of sin (Leviticus 26:20; Deuteronomy 11:17; Deuteronomy 28:23; Amos 4:7), as abundance of rain and fertility of ground were customarily accepted as intimations of Heaven's favour (Leviticus 26:4; Jeremiah 5:24; Joel 2:23). The state of matters depicted is rendered even more sorrowful, and the wretchedness more pitiable, by the fact that the famine and the drought spoken of are represented as having been sent upon the people on account of their wickedness, exactly as Jehovah had threatened. 2. The condition presupposed. Solomon asks nothing for his people when in this plight except under limitations. He requests absolutely neither the complete removal of the judgment nor its mitigation. He assumes that his people shall have (1) learned the lesson designed to be taught by the afflictive dispensation sent upon them, since in his dealings neither with nations nor with individuals does God afflict the children of men willingly or gratuitously, but always for their profit (Hebrews 12:10), that he might impart to them instruction (Job 33:16) concerning their sin (Job 36:9, 10), lead them back into "the good way" (Ezekiel 14:10; Ezekiel 20:37, 43), and make them fruitful in holy deeds (Hebrews 12:11; James 1:2 4); (2) put the lesson in practice by turning from sin and walking in the good way, acknowledging the Divine justice in their calamity, and supplicating the Divine forgiveness of their trespass - three things, reformation, contrition, and prayer, without which none need expect mercy even from a God of grace. 3. The favour solicited. (1) A favourable audience: "Hear thou from heaven." (2) Immediate forgiveness: "And forgive the sin of thy servants." (3) Effectual assistance: "Send rain upon thy land." 4. The reason given. (1) The stricken people are "thy people" - "thy people Israel," to whom thou art engaged in covenant. God loves to be reminded of the gracious and endearing relationship in which believers stand towards him - he having taken them for his people, and made himself over to them as their God. (2) The barren land is "thy land" even more than thy people's. It is thine by right of creation; theirs in virtue of donation: "Thou hast given it to thy people." Thine by possession; theirs by inheritance: "Thou hast given it to them for an inheritance." God's people have nothing they have not received from him (1 Corinthians 4:7; James 1:17). Yet all things are theirs, as co-heirs with Christ (1 Corinthians 3:22, 23). IV. THE WAIL OF THE AFFLICTED. (Vers. 28-31.) 1. Their case destructed. (Ver. 28.) Their distress - stricken by plague or sickness - is set forth (1) as to its character, which might be either national or individual, since no man or community may claim exemption from the stroke of outward calamity; (2) as to its cause, which might be either a "dearth in the land," a failure in the fruits of the earth, in consequence of long-continued drought as in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 17:1), or a destruction of the same by pestilence, by "blasting or mildew," by "locust or caterpillar," such as Moses had threatened God would send upon them if they apostatized from him (Deuteronomy 28:22), and as he afterwards did send upon them in the days of Amos (Amos 4:9), or a famine superinduced by a siege like that which occurred in Samaria in the days of Elisha (2 Kings 6:25); (3) as to its consequence, which is supposed by the king to have been salutary, leading the afflicted people, collectively and individually, to a knowledge of their sin, as in the instances of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:18) and of the Israelites in the wilderness (Numbers 21:7), and to a crying unto God in prayer as formerly the people had done when sore distressed by the children of Ammon (Judges 10:15), and as afterwards Manasseh did when God laid affliction on his loins (2 Chronicles 33:12). 2. Their cause pleaded. (1) The blessings craved on their behalf were acceptance of their prayers whensoever they were moved to cry to Heaven, and whatsoever supplication might ascend from their lips - forgiveness of their sins, out of which all their trouble had arisen; requital of their deeds, by giving unto each man according to his ways, which has always been the Divine principle of dealing with men (Job 34:11) under the New Testament dispensation (Romans 2:6; Matthew 16:27) quite as much as under the Old (Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12; Jeremiah 17:10; Ezekiel 33:20). (2) The arguments employed in support of these requests were founded on God's omniscience as a Searcher of hearts, which in its operation extended to all - "Thou knowest the hearts of all the children of men;" and belonged only to him - "thou only knowest;" and on the moral and spiritual effect which such exercise of clemency would have upon the objects of it - "that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers." It is doubtful if men are ever improved by outward calamity alone. Deterred from crime they may be, through fear of the sword; they are not likely to be changed at heart without an experience of Divine mercy. V. THE PRAYER OF THE STRANGER. (Vers. 32, 33.) 1. His personal history narrated. (1) He is a stranger - not of thy people; one belonging to the Gentile world, which, in respect of relation to Jehovah, stood on an altogether different footing from Israel, and in respect of privilege was not "near unto God" as Israel was (Psalm 148:14), but "afar off" (Ephesians 2:17), not merely geographically (Isaiah 66:19; Jeremiah 31:10), but also religiously, being "separate from Christ" or from the hope of Messiah, "alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). (2) He has heard of Jehovah's great Name, and of Israel's relation thereto. Though the Hebrew Church was not missionary in the proper sense of that expression, her gates were closed against none who sought admission within her pale (Isaiah 60:11). In contradistinction, the New Testament Church is under obligation not alone to keep her gates open, but, going out into the highways and among the nations of the earth, to compel men to come in (Matthew 28:19; Luke 14:23). Solomon expected that the nations of the earth would be attracted towards Israel by the report of his greatness and of his glorious achievements on behalf of Israel (1 Kings 8:42); how much more should Christians anticipate the flowing towards them of the inhabitants of heathen lands, to whom they bear the glad tidings of salvation, and eternal life through him who was and is the highest embodiment of Jehovah's Name? (3) He has come from his distant home to worship at Jehovah's altar, if not permanently separating himself from his heathen kinsmen like Abraham (Genesis 12:4), at least doing so for a season like the chamberlain of Candace (Acts 8:27). 2. His religious conduct described. He is represented as (1) praying, calling, asking with audible voice and fervent heart - prayer a natural instinct of the awakened soul, and one of the first signs of grace (Acts 9:11); (2) praying unto Jehovah, the only right Object of prayer, not unto heathen divinities which cannot hear or help their devotees (Psalm 115:4-8); (3) praying in the temple, then the appointed place (Exodus 20:24), though now any spot on earth may serve as an oratory (John 4:21). 3. His favourable acceptance requested. (1) For his own sake, that he may have the joy of answered prayer; and (2) for the nation's sake, that men might come to fear Jehovah and recognize the temple as his dwelling-place. VI. THE APPEAL OF THE SOLDIER. (Vers. 34, 35) 1. A fourfold assumption. (1) That the people shall have gone forth against their enemies - which they did not always do when they should (1 Samuel 17:11), just as Christian soldiers, called to do battle with the principalities and powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12), sometimes sulk like Achilles in their tents instead of marching forth like David to meet the foe (1 Samuel 17:40). If not always right for either nations or individuals to go to war with their enemies (James 4:1), it is never wrong for Churches or Christians to contend against their spiritual foes (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7). (2) That the way in which they have gone forth has been of God's choosing - an important distinction. As many run upon errands not of God's sending, so many plunge into strifes and contentions without God's directing. Even when the battle is of God's appointing, i.e. when nation, Church, or individual feels that the warfare to be entered on has God's countenance so far as its object is concerned, it is still conceivable that it may be entered on in a way that God cannot approve. Hence Solomon assumes that Israel shall have gone out upon their campaign "by the way that thou shalt send them." It were well that all warriors, national and individual, political, social, religions, evinced a like solicitude to go forth by God's ways rather than their own. (3) That they have solemnly commended their cause to God in prayer. This presupposes that their cause is right, which of necessity it must be since God has sent them to the field. But all appeals to Heaven from battalions preparing to plunge into strife have not equal ground to rest upon. Neither kings nor parliaments, neither soldiers nor private persons, neither Christian Churches nor Christian individuals, should go to fight unless sure they can pray upon the scene of conflict. (4) That they have directed their prayer to the city of Jerusalem and the temple of Jehovah. Any sort of prayer will not suffice. It must be prayer in the manner God has shown. 2. A twofold petition. (1) That their prayer should be heard - "Hear thou," etc. - and (2) that their cause should be maintained. Both petitions Solomon might offer with confidence, seeing it is God's practice to attend to the supplication of the needy, more especially when their need arises from doing his will, and seeing that, though God is not always on man's side, he ever is upon his own. If not always on the side of the strongest battalions, he is always on the side of truth and right. VII. THE SUPPLICATION OF THE EXILE. (Vers. 36-39.) 1. The calamity apprehended. (1) That the people should sin against God. A dreadful apprehension, considering the character and power of God; yet natural, remembering the universal corruption of the race: "There is no man who sinneth not" (Psalm 14:3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23). (2) That God should be angry with them. This inevitable if the preceding hypothesis should be at any time realized (Exodus 32:33; Exodus 34:7; Psalm 7:11; Psalm 11:6; Psalm 78:21; Isaiah 64:7; Luke 19:27; Romans 1:18). If God cannot but be angry with unforgiven and unrenewed men when they sin, he cannot possibly be pleased with his people when they backslide into wicked ways. (3) That God should permit them to be defeated by their enemies. This they had oftentimes experienced because of their transgression (Joshua 7:2; Judges 2:15; Judges 13:1; 1 Samuel 4:1); the king feared that a like experience might occur again. That which had been might be. (4) That God should suffer them to be carried captive into a foreign land whether far or near. This Solomon knew to be the common lot of prisoners of war. The monumental histories of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon have rendered Bible students familiar with this phase of ancient warfare. The king also knew that such a fate had been threatened against his people in the event of their declining from their covenant fidelity to Jehovah (Deuteronomy 28:63). 2. The supposition made. (1) That the captive people should bethink themselves of their sinfulness in the land of their captivity. Such as have no consideration of their wickedness while at home, amongst friends, and in circumstances of outward prosperity, not unfrequently are led to serious reflection when far from home, among strangers, and in want. So the Israelites were in Egypt (Exodus 2:23) and again in Babylon (Psalm 137:1); so was the prodigal in the far country (Luke 15:17). (2) That they should make candid acknowledgment of the same unto God saying, "We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly;" not merely in a mild way stating the fact, but with earnest repetition emphasizing the guilt of their declension from God, as Moses had enjoined them in such circumstances to do (Leviticus 26:40), as the Babylonian captives afterwards did (Psalm 106:6; Daniel 9:5), as did the returned exiles under Ezra (Ezra 9:7), and as all who hope in God's mercy are expected to do (1 John 1:9). (3) That they should return to Jehovah with all their hearts - a step beyond and in advance of confession. This, when earnest and sincere, ought to lead to reformation, but because it is sometimes formal and purely verbal it does not always bring amendment in its wake. Hence the necessity of insisting upon a practical demonstration of its genuineness by a renunciation of those evil courses which have been confessed, and a reassumption of those good ways which have been forsaken (Isaiah 55:7; Ezekiel 18:21; Daniel 4:27; Amos 5:14, 15; Matthew 3:8; Revelation 2:5). (4) That they should pray to Jehovah in the land of their captivity, directing their supplication "towards the land of their fathers," thereby evidencing their faith in Jehovah's covenant, "and towards the city which thou hast chosen," so acknowledging Jehovah's grace, "and toward the house which I have built for thy Name," in that fashion showing their belief in Jehovah's readiness to forgive - all of which are still indispensable as subjective conditions of acceptable prayer. 3. The intercession made. That God would grant his repenting and praying people (1) an audience to their supplications by admitting these to his dwelling-place in heaven, and into the ear of his infinite heart; (2) support in their cause as against their oppressors, by upholding them while in exile, and by causing them to return from it in his own time and way; and (3) forgiveness of their sins, since without this all other blessings are in vain. Learn: 1. That good prayers, while never prolix, vague, or rambling, are always full, specific, and well arranged. 2. That the loftiest prayer a human lip can utter is that of intercession for the welfare of others. 3. That, though the heart of man stands in no need of arguments to make it pray, it is not forbidden to employ arguments in the act of prayer. 4. That prayer, conceived as the converse of a finite soul with the infinite Deity, is the highest exercise of which a creature is capable. 5. That long prayers do not weary God, though meaningless repetitions do. - W. Parallel Verses KJV: If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; |
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