2 Chronicles Chapter 6
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
A. Solomon blesses God.
1. (2 Chronicles 6:1-2) Acknowledgement of God’s presence in the cloud.
Then Solomon spoke, The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.
Solomon begins by acknowledging the visible manifestation of God’s presence that filled the temple. He reminds Israel that the Lord had declared His intention to dwell in the dark cloud, a symbol long associated with His glory and nearness. The dark cloud appeared at Sinai, it filled the tabernacle, and it now filled the newly completed temple. Solomon’s statement affirms that God was not distant, He was present in the midst of His people. When Solomon said that he had built an exalted house, a place for God to dwell forever, he expressed his recognition that God had chosen to place His name and presence in Jerusalem in a unique way. This was not a claim that God was confined to a building, rather it was an admission that God had chosen to reveal Himself particularly in this sanctuary. As long as the people avoided superstition and idolatrous thinking, this recognition of God’s dwelling was an act of reverence and humility. Even though only Jesus Christ is God incarnate, the temple was a clear sign that God in His fullness was committed to dwelling among His covenant people.
2. (2 Chronicles 6:3-9) Solomon blesses the people and blesses God.
Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel. Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.
Solomon now turns from addressing God to addressing the nation and blessing them as their king. He publicly exalts the Lord for keeping His word and accomplishing with His hands what He had spoken with His mouth. Solomon does not take credit for the temple project, he directs all praise to the faithfulness of God. This public blessing reminds the people that the temple is the product of divine initiative, not human ambition. Solomon points Israel back to the Exodus, an event that, though centuries past, remained foundational to their identity and faith. He stresses that God chose Jerusalem as the city where He would place His name and David as the king through whom He would establish His covenant purposes. When Solomon recounts God’s words to David, he honors his father’s desire to build the temple and affirms that David’s disqualification was not due to sin, but due to God’s sovereign plan. David did well because his heart was right, yet God had ordained that David’s son would complete the work. David prepared abundantly and sacrificially so that Solomon’s reign could bring the temple to completion. This demonstrates a godly attitude, rejoicing when another receives the honor for what one has labored to prepare.
3. (2 Chronicles 6:10-11) Solomon presents the finished temple to God.
So the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And there I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord which He made with the children of Israel.
Solomon states plainly that the Lord has fulfilled His word. His reign and the successful completion of the temple are the direct result of God’s promise and providence. Solomon was the first hereditary king in Israel’s history, and his peaceful succession marked the faithfulness of God to the house of David. He emphasizes that the temple was built for the name of the Lord, not for political glory, national pride, or personal legacy. The placement of the ark within the Holy of Holies was the true glory of the temple, because the ark represented the covenant of the Lord with His people. It symbolized God’s presence, God’s law, and God’s redemptive relationship with Israel. Without the ark, the temple would be nothing more than an impressive structure. With the ark, it became the earthly center of worship, covenant, and divine fellowship for the nation.
B. Solomon’s Prayer
1. (2 Chronicles 6:12-14) Humility before, and praise to, God.
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands, for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court, and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.
Solomon publicly positions himself before the altar of the Lord, which was the appropriate place for a king to stand during a priestly dedication. He did not attempt to enter the holy place, which was forbidden to kings, and thus maintained the God given distinctions between priestly and royal offices. Standing on the bronze platform ensured the entire assembly could see him, but Solomon does not remain standing. Instead, he kneels and spreads out his hands toward heaven, demonstrating humility, dependence, and submission to God. This posture of open hands was the most ancient and common form of prayer in the Old Testament, reflecting a heart ready to receive from the Lord. Solomon begins his prayer with high praise, declaring that Jehovah is incomparable, that no god in heaven or on earth could rival His character or His works. The Lord keeps His covenant and His mercy with those who walk before Him with all their hearts, highlighting that God’s faithfulness is directed toward those who obey Him. Solomon’s prayer is rich with Scripture, echoing the words of Moses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, showing that his theology was shaped by God’s revealed Word. As Spurgeon observed, the prayer is so full and comprehensive that it resembles a summary of all the kinds of requests Israel would ever bring before the Lord at His temple.
a. Stood before the altar of the Lord: Solomon takes his rightful position, recognizing that although he is king, he is not permitted to serve as priest. God’s order is respected, and Solomon honors the sanctity of the priesthood.
b. And spread out his hands: This posture symbolizes surrender and openness. The modern custom of bowed heads and folded hands is not the biblical model, which instead portrays prayer as direct appeal to heaven with lifted hands.
c. There is no God in heaven or on earth like You: Solomon begins with pure praise, affirming God’s absolute uniqueness. Idols of the nations have no life, no covenant, and no mercy. The God of Israel alone is living, faithful, and unfailing.
2. (2 Chronicles 6:15-17) Solomon recognizes God as the maker and keeper of promises.
You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father, You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me. And now, O Lord God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David.
Solomon turns from praise to petition by grounding his requests in the faithfulness of God. He declares that God has kept every word spoken to David, both by promise and by providence, reminding the nation that the temple and the Davidic kingdom are divine fulfillments. Because God has been faithful in the past, Solomon confidently asks Him to continue fulfilling His covenant with David, preserving the royal line as long as David’s sons walk in obedience. Solomon models the heart of effective prayer, which is to lay hold of what God has already said, believing His promises, and reverently calling upon Him to bring them to completion. The prayer does not presume, but believes. God’s promises are not passive guarantees but active invitations for faith. As Spurgeon noted, God gives promises so that His people will use them, much like one uses money by putting it into circulation. Bringing God’s Word back to Him in prayer glorifies Him because it shows trust in His character and confidence in His faithfulness. Solomon therefore closes this section by asking the Lord to let His word come true, meaning that God’s revealed promise would be fully realized in history.
a. You have kept what You promised: Solomon begins by thanking God for what He has already accomplished, grounding future requests in past mercies.
b. Now keep what You promised… let Your word come true: Solomon boldly asks God to continue fulfilling His covenant. Biblical prayer takes God’s promises seriously, appropriating them through faith. If God’s promises are not claimed, they remain unappropriated blessings.
3. (2 Chronicles 6:18-21) Solomon asks God to dwell in this place and honor those who seek Him here.
But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built. Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You, that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.
Solomon begins this portion of his prayer with a profound question that displays both humility and sound theology. He acknowledges the transcendence of God by confessing that not even heaven, nor the heaven of heavens, can contain Him. This statement guards against any misunderstanding of the temple as a house that confines God or limits His presence. Even though Solomon had previously spoken of God dwelling in the temple, he now clarifies that God’s presence there is relational and covenantal, not spatially restrictive. The temple is a chosen place where God places His name, not a building in which He is contained. Solomon therefore asks the Lord to regard the prayer of His servant, to listen to the cries offered from this place, and to keep His eyes upon the temple continually. He requests that God hear the prayers of Israel when they pray toward this place, establishing a pattern that faithful Jews would follow for centuries. Solomon knows that every prayer must ultimately ascend to heaven, God’s true dwelling place, and he concludes this section with the most essential request: that when God hears, He would forgive. This reveals Solomon’s understanding that Israel’s greatest need is not prosperity, military power, or national unity, but forgiveness from the Holy God who dwells among them.
a. How much less this temple which I have built: Solomon corrects any potential superstition. Though the temple is honored, God is never confined. His presence is special there, yet He remains the infinite God who fills heaven and earth.
b. May You hear the supplications… when they pray toward this place: Solomon asks that God would honor prayers directed toward the temple. This is why devout Jews to this day turn their faces toward Jerusalem when they pray.
c. When You hear, forgive: Forgiveness is the highest blessing Israel can seek because every other blessing flows from a reconciled relationship with God.
4. (2 Chronicles 6:22-23) Hear when Your people take an oath at the temple.
If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.
Solomon now moves to a specific application of God’s justice, asking the Lord to intervene in matters of legal dispute. When one person sins against another and the matter cannot be settled by human evidence, the accused or accuser may be required to take an oath before God at the altar. Solomon prays that in such moments God Himself would judge between the righteous and the wicked. Since the Lord alone sees the hidden things of the heart, Solomon desires divine vindication for the innocent and divine retribution for the guilty. This request acknowledges that human courts are limited, but God’s judgment is perfect. Solomon therefore asks God to enforce truth from heaven, ensuring that oaths made in the temple are not empty ceremonies but matters of real accountability before Him.
a. And comes and takes an oath before Your altar: The temple served as a place where solemn oaths were taken, recognizing that God Himself was witness to the truthfulness of every word.
b. Hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants: Solomon asks for divine action and justice in human disputes. God’s omniscience makes Him the perfect judge in cases where human testimony is insufficient.
c. Puritan example: John Trapp records a striking historical example of this principle. In 1575, a woman in London named Anne Averies invoked God as witness to a lie, asking to be struck down if she were not truthful. Immediately she collapsed, lost the ability to speak, and died with a foul odor. Trapp cites this as an illustration of God bringing a liar’s oath back upon her own head.
5. (2 Chronicles 6:24-25) Hear when Your people are defeated.
Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.
Solomon turns to the painful reality of national defeat, something Israel would experience frequently throughout her history. He acknowledges that sometimes defeat comes because the nation has sinned against the Lord, forfeiting His protection. In such a moment, Israel’s hope is not found in military reform or political strategy, but in repentance. Solomon therefore asks that if the people return to God, confess His name, and make heartfelt supplication in the temple, the Lord will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and restore them to the land. This pattern appears repeatedly in the book of Judges, where God delivered His people after they humbled themselves and cried out to Him. Solomon’s request demonstrates that defeat itself can become a tool of divine mercy, driving the nation back to covenant faithfulness. God answered Solomon’s prayer many times throughout Israel’s history, granting forgiveness and restoration to any generation that returned to Him with genuine repentance.
a. If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy: Defeat was always painful, but it was far worse when the people knew their suffering was due to rebellion against the Lord. When God removes His hand, no army can stand.
b. Return and confess Your name… then hear from heaven: Solomon asks God to respond to repentant hearts. When Israel humbled themselves, He forgave and restored them. This demonstrates that repentance is not a claim on God’s justice but a plea for His mercy.
6. (2 Chronicles 6:26-31) Hear in times of plague and famine.
When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief and spreads out his hands to this temple, then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
Solomon expands his prayer to include a wide range of calamities that could strike the nation, beginning with drought, the most common and devastating judgment for an agricultural society. When rain ceased, Israel had no crops, no livelihood, and no hope outside divine intervention. Solomon prays that when God afflicts the nation because of their sin, and they respond with prayer, confession, and repentance, the Lord would hear from heaven, forgive them, and send rain once more. This connects divine discipline with divine instruction, for Solomon asks that God would use these afflictions to teach His people the good way in which they should walk. He then broadens the list to include every form of disaster, whether famine, pestilence, mildew, blight, locusts, disease, or siege warfare. In all such circumstances, Solomon asks that God hear any prayer offered by individuals or by the nation as a whole. Each person carries unique burdens and griefs, and when they lift their hands toward the temple in prayer, Solomon asks God to respond in mercy. Because the Lord alone knows the hearts of all men, He can judge rightly and give to each person according to their ways. The purpose of this divine hearing and divine correction is that the people would fear the Lord and walk in His ways all the days they live in the land He gave to their fathers.
a. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain: Drought threatened Israel continually. Without rain, the nation faced starvation. Solomon recognizes that God sometimes uses lack as a means of discipline.
b. When they pray toward this place… then hear in heaven: Solomon does not presume that repentance automatically obligates God to respond. Forgiveness flows from grace, not from entitlement. Every answered prayer is an act of divine mercy.
c. Solomon’s desire: As Spurgeon noted, Solomon’s great petition at the dedication of the temple was that God would hear prayer offered in or toward that holy place. The temple was to be Israel’s continual reminder that God is a God who hears.
7. (2 Chronicles 6:32-33) Hear when a foreigner prays.
Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple, then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.
Solomon continues his prayer by including those who were not born into the covenant nation. He acknowledges that a foreigner may come from a distant land after hearing of the Lord’s great name, His mighty acts, and His outstretched arm. Solomon understands that the fame of Israel’s God was intended to draw the nations to Him. Therefore, he asks that when such a foreigner comes to the temple and prays, God would hear from heaven and answer his request. This reflects the missionary heart of God in the Old Testament, where the temple was meant to stand not only as Israel’s worship center but as a witness to all nations. By granting the foreigner’s prayer, God would cause the nations to know His name, fear Him, and recognize that this house was truly called by His name. Solomon’s prayer anticipates the promise that Israel would be a light to the Gentiles and that God’s salvation would reach the ends of the earth.
a. Moreover, concerning a foreigner: The temple was designed to be a house of prayer for all nations, as stated in Isaiah 56:7. God provided a place within the temple complex, the court of the Gentiles, where foreigners could seek Him.
i. Jesus’ anger in Matthew 21:13 arose because the religious leaders had turned the only space available to Gentile seekers into a marketplace, shutting out the very people God intended to draw near.
b. Hear from heaven… that all peoples of the earth may know Your name: Solomon prays out of a genuine desire for God’s glory among the nations. When God answers the petitions of foreigners, it magnifies His mercy and draws the hearts of other peoples toward the Lord.
i. As Selman notes, the idea that foreigners could worship the Lord on equal footing with Israel was rarely expressed openly in the Old Testament, though promised in texts like Genesis 12:3 and Isaiah 19:24-25. Its full acceptance took time, as even the early church wrestled with it in Acts 10 through 11.
8. (2 Chronicles 6:34-39) Hear when Israel goes out to battle and prays from captivity.
When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. When they sin against You, for there is no one who does not sin, and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near, yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness, and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.
Solomon anticipates two difficult yet likely scenarios in Israel’s future: warfare abroad and captivity in foreign lands. First, he prays that when Israel goes out to battle wherever God sends them, and they turn their hearts toward Jerusalem in prayer, God will hear from heaven and uphold their cause. This shows that victory is tied to God’s will and presence, not merely to military strength. Solomon then acknowledges Israel’s inevitable sinfulness, declaring that there is no one who does not sin, a statement fully consistent with the later New Testament teaching in Romans 3:23. Because of sin, Solomon foresees a time when God may rightly deliver Israel into the hands of their enemies, resulting in exile. Yet exile is not the end of hope. Solomon prays that when the people come to themselves, acknowledge their sin, and repent with all their heart in a foreign land, God would hear their prayer, maintain their cause, and forgive them. This section shows Solomon’s understanding that God’s presence is not geographically limited. Even in captivity, far from the temple, the repentant heart can reach the throne of heaven. The prayer also anticipates the Babylonian exile generations later, when Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem in direct fulfillment of these words.
a. When Your people go out to battle… wherever You send them: Solomon does not ask for universal military success, only for God’s blessing when the battle itself is initiated by God. Israel’s victories were never meant to be presumptuous.
b. When they sin against You, for there is no one who does not sin: Solomon articulates the universal corruption of humanity. This confession reveals the necessity for a place of atonement, sacrifice, and intercession.
i. As Selman observes, this universal admission of sin underscores Israel’s ongoing need for a place where forgiveness can be found, pointing forward to the fuller atonement that only Christ would provide.
c. When they come to themselves in the land of captivity: Solomon prays that repentance from exile would still reach God’s ear. This affirms that God is not confined to a location and that His covenant mercy meets the repentant wherever they are.
9. (2 Chronicles 6:40-42) Conclusion to the prayer.
Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. Now therefore, arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed, remember the mercies of Your servant David.
Solomon concludes his magnificent prayer with a series of petitions that bring together the themes of God’s presence, God’s covenant, and Israel’s hope. First, he asks that the Lord’s eyes and ears would remain continually attentive to the prayers offered in the temple. Solomon has repeatedly emphasized throughout this prayer that the temple is not merely a building, but a divinely chosen meeting place between God and His people. He then calls upon the Lord to arise to His resting place along with the ark of His strength. This language recalls the wilderness wanderings described in Numbers 10:35–36, when the ark would rise and go before Israel as they traveled. Solomon uses this imagery to declare that the ark has now come to its permanent home. God’s presence, symbolized through the ark, would wander no more. The prayer continues by asking that the priests be clothed with salvation, meaning that their ministry would be marked by the righteousness, purity, and deliverance that God alone provides. Solomon also requests that the saints, meaning the faithful among Israel, rejoice in God’s goodness. Finally, the king pleads that God would not turn away the face of His Anointed and that He would remember the mercies shown to David. This closing appeal ties the entire prayer back to the Davidic covenant, the foundation upon which the monarchy and temple were both established. Though Solomon speaks of himself as the anointed king, this language points forward to the Messiah, the ultimate Anointed One through whom God’s promises would be perfectly fulfilled.
a. Arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength: Solomon intentionally uses the wilderness formula from Numbers 10 to announce that the days of wandering were over. The ark, which once traveled from place to place, now had a permanent resting place in the temple. This emphasizes God’s covenantal dwelling among His people in stability and peace.
b. Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed: Solomon is referring to himself as Israel’s anointed king. However, the language also carries prophetic weight, pointing to the greater Anointed One, Jesus Christ, through whom all God’s covenant mercies are secured.
i. As Payne notes, the phrase originally referred to Solomon, but later became a messianic expression of Israel’s hope in the future King who would fulfill God’s promises to David.
