2 Chronicles 7

(first draft, found)
Well we know God answered Solomon's long prayer. Fire came down on the sacrifice in the temple and burned it all up. Then the glory of God filled the house. The consecration had to stop because the priests could not enter. God had accepted the temple as his own, his symbolic dwelling place. Even Solomon proclaimed in his prayer that God did not really live in one place. He is too big for that.

The people responded by bowing low and giving praise to God for his loving kindness. His faithful love is everlasting.

We are told Solomon sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep (7:5). Some might find it hard to believe there were even that many animals in all of Israel. They would insist these numbers are inflated. The story in Chronicles, a repeat of the same story in 1 Kings, was written after Kings. Perhaps some memories are distorted. I like to think this story is largely accurate and the writer meant to be accurate.

Well a lot of animals sacrifices would create a great feast. Solomon spent the first seven days consecrating the middle court and seven more days consecrating the altar. All the people came. It was an enormous assembly. All those animals would be part of a great feast.

God responds by saying, "I have chosen and consecrated the house." (7:16) God makes it clear he is in control.

God's covenant with Israel is conditional. Israel must continue to worship God. They must be faithful. God will mightily bless them. But if they are not faithful and worship other gods God will repudiate his covenant with them. The consequences will be death and destruction.

However God promises to forgive them if after falling away they repent and return to him. If they humble themselves and repent God promises to forgive. We are under a similar covenant today. Except that because of Jesus we now are forgiven for all sins. But we must believe and accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord. The new covenant is greater than the old. But God has always been a forgiving God.

Solomon's dynasty is also under the same kind of covenant. The descendants must stay faithful, not following other gods and leading the people into following other gods. Again, if they return to God, he will forgive them. But we will see later that God forgives but the consequences are still real. So it best to not sin in the first place.