Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 7:1-11
Here is, I. The gracious answer which God immediately made to Solomon's prayer: The fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, Ch2 7:1. In this way God testified his acceptance of Moses (Lev 9:24), of Gideon (Jdg 6:21), of David (Ch1 21:26), of Elijah (Kg1 18:38); and, in general, to accept the burnt-sacrifice is, in the Hebrew phrase, to turn it to ashes, Psa 20:3. The fire came down here, not upon the killing of the sacrifices, but the praying of the prayer.
1. This fire intimated that God was, (1.) Glorious in himself; for our God is a consuming fire, terrible even in his holy places. This fire, breaking forth (as it is probable) out of the thick darkness, made it the more ter…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 7:4
SOLOMON'S SACRIFICES. (Ch2 7:4-11)
Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices--Whether the individual worshippers slaughtered their own cattle, or a certain portion of the vast number of the Levitical order in attendance performed that work, as they sometimes did, in either case the offerings were made through the priests, who presented the blood and the fat upon the altar (see on Kg1 8:62).
Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 7:4
The king and all the people offered sacrifices - They presented the victims to the priests, and they and the Levites slew them, and sprinkled the blood: or perhaps the people themselves slew them; and, having caught the blood, collected the fat, etc., presented them to the priests to be offered as the law required.
John Gill on 2 Chronicles 7:4
Then the king and all the people,.... Of these two verses; see Gill on 1 Kings 8:62; see Gill on 1 Kings 8:63.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Chronicles 7:1–end
The divine confirmation of the dedication of the temple. - Ch2 7:1-10. The consecration of the sacrificial service by fire from heaven (Ch2 7:1-3), and the sacrifices and festival of the people (Ch2 7:4-10).
Ch2 7:1-3
At the conclusion of Solomon's prayer there fell fire from heaven, which devoured the burnt-offering and the thank-offering, and the glory of the Lord filled the house, so that the priests could not enter the house of Jahve. The assembled congregation, when they saw the fire and the glory of the Lord descend, bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped God to praise. Now since this narrative is not found in Kg1 8:54., and there a speech o…
