A Simple and Profound Prayer (2 Chron 5.13)
“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever,”
Background
The previous prayer was a request for God to bless Solomon and his work on the Temple. Following that prayer, the author described the details of the preparation and the actual construction. He takes us through each item used, each architectural detail, and even a listing of the furnishings. The minutiae might bore us a little, but the writer of Chronicles believes the construction of the first Temple was a crucial event. Before, God’s followers had used simple altars made of stone, special locations, and the mobile Tent of Meeting. But now God would have a magnificent place of his own—one that would stand in immense glory for centuries, be destroyed, then rebuilt with even more glory, and destroyed again. Even today, its remains are a holy place, drawing people from all over the world each day. So the building of this temple is a monumental event.
When the Temple is completed, the writer tells us about the dedication ceremony. The time is the Festival of Booths, the major harvest festival when the people thanked God for the bounty. The people gathered outside the new structure. The priests brought the Ark of the Covenant, the Tent, and all the accoutrements to the new Temple. There were sacrifices as they brought them all inside. They placed the Ark inside the Holy of Holies—the inner room that no one was allowed inside except for the high priest on the Day of Atonement, once a year.1
Every priest from every tribe sanctified themselves and assembled before the new structure. The Levitical singers—Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, along with their sons and families—assembled with their instruments. One hundred twenty priests, along with the singers, played and sang the prayer-hymn of praise above. The prayer is simple, declaring God’s eternal goodness and love.
Meaning
We have noted how important events are always marked with prayers in the Bible. The dedication of the Temple is also found in 1 Kings 8, where there is an initial prayer by Solomon and then a longer prayer, just as here.2 Here, the Chronicler tells the same story, but adds a little information of his own. He also stresses the word “all”—see how often he repeats it! This is symbolic, of course—God intends Israel and all her people to be united around the Temple, where God’s glory on earth will reside.3
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