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.

2 Chronicles 7

(I sure hate it when my first attempt to type this gets lost in the ether.  SIGH.)

Well we know that God answered Solomon's long consecration prayer by sending fire down on the whole sacrifice and burning it up.  Then the glory of the Lord filled the house.  So the consecration is over.  God has blessed his house.  No one could enter the temple anymore, God's glory kept them out.
How did God's glory keep them out?  We are told them it was like a cloud.  One can move through a cloud, at least physically.  But God's holiness, God's righteousness causes such shame that unholy man feels unable to move towards, even to raise his head. Is it different in the age of Jesus' forgiveness? 
The people responded by bowing low and giving praise to God for his lovingkindness.  His faithful love is everlasting.  This is an appropriate response.
We are told Solomon sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep (7:5).  Some will find it hard to belief that there were even that many animals in the whole land of Israel.  They do not believe enough people to keep or produce that many animals.  But later the writer describes all the people gathered here and describes it in terms of area where they are staying.  This area is pretty big and implies a very big crowd, millions.  These sacrificed animals will make a pretty large feast.
Solomon spent seven days consecrating the middle court and seven more days consecrating the altar.  All the people came.  It was an enormous assembly.  I tend to believe these numbers.  But I know that Chronicles was written after the version given in 1 Kings.  From a distance of time things might get distorted, perhaps inflated.  However I do not believe anyone meant to lie.  They meant to tell the truth to the glory of God.
God responds by saying, "I have chosen and consecrated this house (7:16).  God is actively involved.  God describes this present covenant.  It is conditional.  God will bless his chosen people if they continue faithful.  They must continue to worship God but also to live righteously, as God lives.  God also promises to correct and punish his people if they act unrighteously and worship other Gods.  I suppose the writers already knew what happened.  It sort of seems that the people being unfaithful was a foregone conclusion.
But God promises to forgive their unfaithfulness if they humble themselves and repent.  God promises to be the big man.  No matter how much we offend God, God promises to forgive and take us back.  Surely he knows as he takes us back, that we will do it again.  God promises that we can be faithful, but our experience gives us little comfort that is true.  We believe it only by faith..
Solomon's dynasty is also contingent on his descendants staying faithful. not worshiping other gods and leading the people into worshiping other gods. The writer likely is writing this from exile or from the experience of having to build a second temple after the first temple is destroyed.  Solomon was promised God would be faithful if he and his descendants were faithful.  But the unfaithfulness started at the end of his life and continued with his sons.

2 Chronicles 6

Chapter is a long consecrating prayer for Solomon's new temple. Anyone have to sit through a long prayer? Often invocations can be long. Sometimes I get restless. Well, in fact usually I do. Yet there are times for long prayers. After my first reaction I try to be patient and listen. Prayer for healing often seems like it should be long. The consecration prayer in the Episcopal church every Sunday for communion is pretty long. I may not really pay attention to any of, often just one thing. Yet it seems appropriate to have a long consecration for such a serious thing.

People often think they must take a long time when they lay hands on someone and pray for healing. Often a prayer like that includes elements of encouragement and teaching for the person being prayed for. Solomon's prayer of consecration includes elements of that. The prayer is directed at the listener as well as to God.

Yet prayers for healing or for important needs do not have to be long. Who was it, James? who said, "The prayer of the righteous man is powerful." How well you walk before God in obedience to his commandments has a lot more to do with whether your prayer gets answered than how long it is. I know God has shown me that some of my prayers got answered not because of how good I am but because of how good the person I pray for is. Or even it could be how good someone agreeing with me in prayer is. And God answers prayer sometimes simply because he is compassionate and he wants to.

Well anyway the consecration prayer of Solomon is pretty long. The consecration of such a spectacular building, devoted to God certainly deserves to be long. And Solomon does a great job. He thanks God. He tells of God's character, his might and his faithfulness to Israel. Then he asks God to dwell in his temple and pay attention to his people. Then, taking the role of prophet he foretells (pretty much) that the people will fall away. He asks God to forgive them when they have suffered because of their iniquity and make an effort to repent. Solomon tells God and he tells the people that when they have worshiped other Gods and done evil if they humble themselves and repent, resolve to do better God will forgive them. Jesus, remembering God the Father, tells the disciples to forgive 70 time 7 if someone sins against you and comes back and asks forgiveness. That is God's way. It is what Solomon, in wisdom, ask God to do, because it is already God's way.

We too may suffer for our sins, for our wrongdoing. If we use that as an opportunity to repent, ask God for forgiveness, we will be restored to fellowship with Him. It is God's promise in John's epistles, in Paul's epistles, here in Solomon's prayer.

God gave a tangible answer to Solomon's prayer by sending down fire and consuming the sacrifice (7:1).

I think I will leave God's response, chapter 7, until tomorrow.

2 Chronicles 2

This is the second telling of the building of the temple by Solomon. An interesting tidbit is that Solomon waited until his fourth year to start. It took a while to establish his kingdom but also to begin to amass wealth.

I am reading these books about cities that were at their time the political and military centers of the world. Almost by default they also became the richest cities in the world. I am reading books about London and Rome specifically but also some about New York (or maybe Washington) as the present center of power in the world. Now for a time the center of power, certainly in this region is Jerusalem.

Some archaeologists/pre-historians claim that this never happened. It is hard to find corroborations in the extant writings of the neighboring countries. But accuracy was not a goal for these writings, usually royal records extolling the successes of their kings and armies. They are not likely to tell of the times when their power was in eclipse. So a time when Jerusalem and its king were powerful, more powerful even than the neighboring countries, well it is certainly possibly.

Hiram of Lebanon is again spoken of. I'd like to think Hiram was paid for his lumber, paid fairly. But we are not told that. We are told that his workers are paid for their labor. But it looks like Hiram sent the lumber as tribute. He is the vassal and he sends this precious resource to Solomon certainly because Solomon is his protector. But he also does seem to genuinely have respect for Solomon and his father David. And Hiram speaks well of Israel's God. Perhaps he does admire Solomon's desire to build a permanent temple in Israel's relatively new capitol city.

Hiram sent what he has in abundance and Solomon sends what he needs, food. Tyre seems to be a coastal city-state with little land for producing crops. Tyre is a net importer of food, probably. So it is a fair trade though what Hiram has is a rare commodity in this region, a forest of tall hardwood trees.

In chapter three we learn that the gold Solomon uses in the temple comes from a place called Parvaim. I do not know where this is. Anyone know. Perhaps it comes from lower Africa. I seem to remember in first kings there is mention of ships heading down the Red Sea to Ophir and trading with people there. With power comes control of trading. Solomon also sent traders in the Mediterranean as well. That brought lots of resources and increased the wealth of the people.

Here it is mentioned (1:17-18) that the conscripted workers were aliens. This probably made some redactor happy but in 1 Kings the conscripted workers seem to be Israelites. Also it seems that when Rehoboam becomes king and the people ask for less conscription this is a big issue for the people. So it seems that Solomon did find use for a lot of conscripted labor by Israelites during his reign. That is what absolute rulers do and it was in the best interest of people. These workers built walled cities and forts throughout the land. We look back and think it unfair that they were not paid and that they were not able to volunteer. There certainly were people hurt and killed in this dangerous work. But it must have been normal practice in this day and time.

In this chapter we are seeing practical ways in which Solomon's wisdom was used and some details of his wealth.

2 Chronicles 1

Solomon asks for wisdom when God appears to him in a dream. It seems Solomon is trying his best to be righteous before God as he takes over the kingdom.

Verse 1 speaks of "securing the kingdom". Securing the kingdom could involve some pretty earthy things. It could involve judging some people worthy of death or banishment. Yet God blessed Solomon (1).

Solomon communicated with his people. This is so important. Many leaders do not spend the time to communicate. Then he went both to the old altar at Gibeon and then the new altar set up by his father in Jerusalem. He honors the old and the new. He tries to cover all his spiritual bases.

He sacrifices lavishly. That sacrificed meat has to be eaten. All this fresh meat was likely to be shared with all the people who came for the coronation/celebration. So the people were rewarded for supporting Solomon. They received a lavish meal which they could rarely get otherwise.

Probably as a result of Solomon's honest attempt to please God, without expecting anything in return, God responded by appearing to him (7). Solomon asked for wisdom. Many of us remember this story. God granted him wisdom and gave him riches too.

The rest of the chapter shows how the happened. Israel controls major trade routes between Africa and Asia. As Solomon builds up his power, the writer numbers his horses and chariots, he able to extract tolls from traders as they passed through Israel.

But also Israel becomes the middle man. They buy chariots and horses and then sell them at a profit to those who wish to buy them. Chariots and horses were used primarily for war. Solomon is essentially controlling the sale of implements of war.

Solomon, by virtue of the location of Israel controlled the trade routes and as they became a local power the people amassed great wealth. Jerusalem, at least in Solomon's time, became a world city.

Sermon review - part 2

Reviewing what I wrote about the first sermon, it barely resembles the actual sermon. Just a FYI. Any complaints should come this way.

RC spoke of the guilt (of sin) that we all have. He gave the example of his hiring. Before he came on to the staff the bishop called LH and asked to have an appointment to speak to the new priest. When LH told him about he asked with some worry, "What did you do wrong?" RC's answer was (or should have been) "How long do you have?" RC gave some trivial but funny examples. Then he commented "I have done much worse but LH will not let me tell you about those." {I talked to his wife later and her opinion was that he is not so bad.}

But we all are bad. Some of us are worse than other. But all of are bad. And we feel the sense of guilt even when we are not conscious of a specific sin. {I am reminded of the anecdote from Alpha. Arthur Conan Doyle, a great prankster, once sent cables to twelve prominent London men. The cable stated, "All is discovered. Flee at once!" Very soon all twelve men had left London.} We all felt that nagging guilt for evil done and evil contemplated. And we know others are capable of similar evil.

He concluded with a presentation of the gospel: Yet that is what Jesus came for. That is why he died, taking on our sin, past, present, and future. In him we are righteous and spotless.

Sermon review September 2 - part one

I have not done this in a while. Disclaimer, this is an impression from memory of the first of two sermons I heard Sunday. I have not "cheated" and looked at notes. This is what I took away 24 hours later. Some parts of this may be my own thoughts that were born from what was said. Major parts of the this sermon may have been omitted as not important to me or because I have simply forgotten.

MP has been doing a series on the book of James. This is his second to last sermon on James. I missed last week. This week's portion was the last part of chapter 4 and most of chapter 5. His theme is summarized by James' admonition: "The wages of your workers that you have withheld from them have cried up to heaven."

The pastor spoke on not taking advantage of people in business. Living a moral life with money. He mentioned not necessarily looking for the cheapest price, the best deal. We should think about whether people are receiving a living wage while producing things.

MP spoke of the people you use for lawn care. This is also one that concerns me a lot. I find it wonderful that it came up in a sermon. I do worry and pray about this very thing. I also think about when I hire a handy man to work around the house. Do you just think about how little you can get by with paying? Or do you consider how well they work and pay fairly, even generously? I do think he mentioned restaurant tipping but this applies here too. It was amazing to hear from the pulpit things that DW and I have always struggled with. As he said, this is hard.

We also have some rental apartments and we have to think about that too with the poorer people that we get for renters. Sometimes they despite-fully use us but that does not give us reason to be unfair to them.

James said, "The wages that you have withheld from your workers have cried up to heaven." God has heard their complaint, seen their plight. And he will act against you. I do wonder if some of the troubles that happen to us are the result of my selfishness with money and people I hurt crying to heaven. I really try to be fair and do right. But I am sure I get it wrong sometimes. Someone might get me angry and I retaliate.

But when I am in a position of power this is sin. This is wrong. Our powerful God is just even when we provoke him to anger. We must strive to follow his example. And we must be merciful even as God, through Jesus Christ, is merciful to us.