Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 6:12–end
Solomon had, in the foregoing verses, signed and sealed, as it were, the deed of dedication, by which the temple was appropriated to the honour and service of God. Now here he prays the consecration-prayer, by which it was made a figure of Christ, the great Mediator, through whom we are to offer all our prayers, and to expect all God's favours, and to whom we are to have an eye in every thing where we have to do with God. We have opened the particulars of this prayer (1 Kings 8) and therefore shall now only glean up some few passages in it which may be the proper subjects of our meditation.
I. Here are some doctrinal truths occasionally laid down. As, 1. That the God of Israel is a being of…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 6:38
If they return to thee . . . in the land of their captivity . . . and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers--These words gave rise to the favorite usage of the ancient as well as modern Jews, of turning in prayer toward Jerusalem, in whatever quarter of the world they might be, and of directing their faces toward the temple when in Jerusalem itself or in any part of the holy land (Kg1 8:44).
Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 6:37
If they bethink themselves - "If thy fear should return into their hearts." - Targum.
The whole of this prayer is amply considered in the parallel place, 1 Kings 8:22-53 (note), where see the notes.
John Gill on 2 Chronicles 6:1
See Introduction to Chapter 5
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Chronicles 6:12–end
Solomon's dedicatory prayer likewise corresponds exactly with the account of it given in 1 Kings 8:22-53 till near the end (Ch2 6:40-42), where it takes quite a different turn. Besides this, in the introduction (Ch2 6:13) Solomon's position during the prayer is more accurately described, it being there stated that Solomon had caused a high stage (כּיּור, a basin-like elevation) to be erected, which he ascended, and kneeling, spoke the prayer which follows. This fact is not stated in Kg1 8:22, and Then. and Berth. conjecture that it has been dropped out of our text only by mistake. Perhaps so, but it may have been passed over by the author of the books of Kings as a point of subordinate impor…
