7 1When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry. Opposite them the priests sounded trumpets; and all Israel stood.
7 Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the offerings of well-being because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat parts. 8 At that time Solomon held the festival for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they had observed the dedication of the altar seven days and the festival seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and in good spirits because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.
7 1-3 When Solomon finished praying, a bolt of lightning out of heaven struck the Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices and the Glory of God filled The Temple. The Glory was so dense that the priests couldn’t get in—God so filled The Temple that there was no room for the priests! When all Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the Glory of God fill The Temple, they fell on their knees, bowed their heads, and worshiped, thanking God: Yes! God is good! His love never quits!
4-6 Then the king and all Israel worshiped, offering sacrifices to God. King Solomon worshiped by sacrificing 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep at the dedication of The Temple. The priests were all on duty; the choir and orchestra of Levites that David had provided for singing and playing anthems to the praise and love of God were all there; across the courtyard the priests blew trumpets. All Israelites were on their feet.
7-10 Solomon set apart the central area of the courtyard in front of God’s Temple for sacred use and there sacrificed the Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, and fat from the Peace-Offerings—the Bronze Altar was too small to handle all these offerings. This is how Solomon kept the great autumn Feast of Booths. For seven days there were people there all the way from the far northeast (the Entrance to Hamath) to the far southwest (the Brook of Egypt)—a huge congregation. They started out celebrating for seven days, and then did it for another seven days, a week for dedicating the Altar and another for the Feast itself—two solid weeks of celebration! On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon dismissed his congregation. They left rejoicing, exuberant over all the good God had done for David and Solomon and his people Israel. (NRSV)
7 1-3 When Solomon finished praying, a bolt of lightning out of heaven struck the Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices and the Glory of God filled The Temple. The Glory was so dense that the priests couldn’t get in—God so filled The Temple that there was no room for the priests! When all Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the Glory of God fill The Temple, they fell on their knees, bowed their heads, and worshiped, thanking God: Yes! God is good! His love never quits!
4-6 Then the king and all Israel worshiped, offering sacrifices to God. King Solomon worshiped by sacrificing 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep at the dedication of The Temple. The priests were all on duty; the choir and orchestra of Levites that David had provided for singing and playing anthems to the praise and love of God were all there; across the courtyard the priests blew trumpets. All Israelites were on their feet.
7-10 Solomon set apart the central area of the courtyard in front of God’s Temple for sacred use and there sacrificed the Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, and fat from the Peace-Offerings—the Bronze Altar was too small to handle all these offerings. This is how Solomon kept the great autumn Feast of Booths. For seven days there were people there all the way from the far northeast (the Entrance to Hamath) to the far southwest (the Brook of Egypt)—a huge congregation. They started out celebrating for seven days, and then did it for another seven days, a week for dedicating the Altar and another for the Feast itself—two solid weeks of celebration! On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon dismissed his congregation. They left rejoicing, exuberant over all the good God had done for David and Solomon and his people Israel. (MSG)
In this lesson, we explore the worshipful aftermath of Solomon’s dedicatory prayer. After the king petitions the Lord, the entire national assembly is enveloped, consumed and overtaken by God’s awesome glory (chabod in Hebrew). The awe-inspiring Divine presence of God unleashes unabashed worship of God that in turn transforms the hearts of the people of God.
At the core of the Chronicler’s theology is the conviction that authentic worship of God would positively affect Israel’s religious, political, and social life. As evidenced by the first commandment (Exodus 20:3) Israel believed its sustained welfare rested on “having no other gods before the LORD,” and affirmed their total devotion to the Lord by reciting the Shema daily: “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul and might (See Deuteronomy 6:4, 5). Ancient Israelites did not relegate worship to religious ritual, or the occasional celebration of feast days regularly occurring on the liturgical calendar. Worship was the central to their everyday lives! The Chronicler expresses this theological principle by shaping his regnal history through the lens of Israel as a worshipping community. It is Israel’s covenant faithfulness or faithlessness to the worship of the True God, which will ultimately determine their collective future. Within the theological paradigm of Temple as place of worship and place of divine presence, the Chronicler reaffirms God’s presence with Israel in the lesson text because Solomon and the nation faithfully worship God through prayer, praise, sacrifice and fellowship.
1-3 When Solomon finished praying, a bolt of lightning out of heaven struck the Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices and the Glory of God filled The Temple. The Glory was so dense that the priests couldn’t get in—God so filled The Temple that there was no room for the priests! When all Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the Glory of God fill The Temple, they fell on their knees, bowed their heads, and worshiped, thanking God: Yes! God is good! His love never quits!
After Solomon concludes his prayer, the Chronicler makes it clear that the dedicatory sacrifices mentioned in II Chronicles 5:6, and the prayer of dedication narrated in II Chronicles 6:12-42 have been accepted by God. The fire that comes from heaven consumes—in Hebrew literally eats the burnt offerings—the sacrifices symbolizing their acceptability to God. This divine action cements the two-fold purpose of the temple as understood by the book of Chronicles, “to be a place of prayer and a house of sacrifice.” The acceptable nature of the burnt offerings and sacrifices is also marked by the Lord’s supernatural presence filling the temple. Characterized as the glory (chabod in Hebrew) of the Lord, God’s presence descends like a cloud and completely fills the temple. In fact, the Lord’s presence was so weighty that the priests are unable to enter the temple because God’s substance and essence so inhabits the house.
The Chroniclers description of the cloud of God’s presence invokes descriptions of God’s cloud-like presence that descended upon Mt. Sinai during the giving of the law (Exodus 19, 20), and the pillar of cloud that stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting in Exodus 33:9-11). Further, this theophanic manifestation of the Lord appears to be a continuation of God’s divine presence that descends like a cloud upon the priests in II Chronicles 5:13, 14 after the ark and tent of meeting are installed in the holy of holies. However, at this time, both the priests and the entire nation witnessed the Glory of God. Every individual within this collective worship experience gets an upfront and personal glimpse of God’s Glory. It does not matter is you have a religious pedigree, or if you have no pedigree—all are witness to God’s supernatural presence.
In response to the God’s glory, everyone bows down, prostrates himself or herself in worship, and begins to audibly praise the Lord by saying, “Yes, God is good, His love never quits”, MSG. However, in the NRSV it says, “His steadfast love (chesed in Hebrew) endures forever.” Their praise recounts how good God has been in the collective life of Ancient Israel. The liturgical chorus, “his steadfast love (mercy) endures forever,” is also found in Psalm 118, Psalm 136, I Chronicles 16:34, II Chronicles 5:13; 20:21, and Ezra 3:11, to name a few biblical cross references. In Chapter 5, the cloud descends in response to the priests praise. But in the lesson text, the people praise because God chooses to descend. According to biblical scholar Leslie C. Allen, the gathered assembly co-opts the priests praise song to exult in God’s goodness and celebrate how God’s covenant faithfulness to Solomon and the nation has “inaugurated a new era of grace for Israel.”
4-6 Then the king and all Israel worshiped, offering sacrifices to God. King Solomon worshiped by sacrificing 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep at the dedication of The Temple. The priests were all on duty; the choir and orchestra of Levites that David had provided for singing and playing anthems to the praise and love of God were all there; across the courtyard the priests blew trumpets. All Israelites were on their feet.
In verses 4-6, Israel’s corporate worship moves from vocal praise to offering sacrifices to the Lord. Solomon offers to God 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. The priests, Levite choir and orchestra offers sacrifices of singing, trumpeting, and other musical accompaniment that praise and adore God. For the first time in Israel’s history, both song and sacrifice were offered together in Jerusalem, as it was previously done at the national shrine in Gibeon. Every Israelite rose to their feet in adoration of God—they even offered their bodies in worship. This reminds present-day Christians that authentic worship alters business as usual. You cannot authentically be in the presence of God, wholeheartedly worship God, and do the same thing, the same way all the time. Worship centered on the all-consuming presence of God radically reorients the status quo. Something should change because of the corporate worship experience. Further, authentic worship costs you something. It involves sacrifice. For worship to be sacrificial, we must give up something of value that matters to us.
7-10 Solomon set apart the central area of the courtyard in front of God’s Temple for sacred use and there sacrificed the Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, and fat from the Peace-Offerings—the Bronze Altar was too small to handle all these offerings. This is how Solomon kept the great autumn Feast of Booths. For seven days there were people there all the way from the far northeast (the Entrance to Hamath) to the far southwest (the Brook of Egypt)—a huge congregation. They started out celebrating for seven days, and then did it for another seven days, a week for dedicating the Altar and another for the Feast itself—two solid weeks of celebration! On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon dismissed his congregation. They left rejoicing, exuberant over all the good God had done for David and Solomon and his people Israel.
The final verses outline the various types of offerings that Solomon and the people submitted to God and the importance of worship by assembly through their observance of annual feast days. The Whole-Burnt-Offering (Leviticus 1:3-17) required the complete consumption of an animal sacrifice, except for the skin which was given to the priests. The Grain-Offerings were non-bloody offerings consisting of cereal grains (Leviticus 2:1-15), and the Peace-Offering involved sacrificing an animal that represented mediating the peaceful relationships between God and humans (Leviticus 7:11-36). However, the focus is not so much on the type of offerings shared, but the quantity of such offerings. The offerings were so great that the bronze altar could not handle the offerings. He had to use the courtyard area as a makeshift altar. This symbolized how Solomon and the people held nothing back from God.
Finally, the people gathered from both the northern-most (Lebo-hamath) and southern-most (Wadi of Egypt) edges of the unified Kingdom to worship through fellowship and feasting. All of Israel celebrated the temple dedication for one full week, followed by celebrated the annual Feast of Tabernacles (or booths) for another seven days. On the final (eighth) day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Israel had one more day of feasting before King Solomon dismissed them to return to their homes. The people left this time of corporate worship changed by their collective experience of recounting God’s goodness, inspired by the witnessed presence of the Glory of God, and renewed by encouraging fellowship with other Israelites.
1. See Geoffrey Wainwright’s article, “Worship” in Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan’s The Oxford Companion to the Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) p. 819-820.
2. See Leslie C. Allen’s “The First and Second Books of Chronicles: Introduction, Commentary and Reflections” in The New Interpreter Bible Commentary Volume X (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015) p. 922.
3. Ibid, 923.
4. Ibid.
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