For your steadfast love endures forever… (2 Chron 7.3, 6)
They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.”
The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD that King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry.
Background
As King Solomon ends his prayer at the Temple dedication, fire comes down from heaven and consumes the sacrifices. The writer also tells us that “God’s glory filled the Temple,” and the priests could not enter. While it is not clear how we are to understand all this, the basic meaning is clear. God was confirming the Solomon had fulfilled his role in building the Temple. The fire indicates that this was now the place where the people could come before God and encounter him in prayer, worship, and sacrifice.
God had used fire at other crucial times in Israel’s history, and the importance of that would not be lost on Solomon or the people. Fire came down when the Tent of Meeting was completed and the first sacrifice was offered (Lev 9.24). Later, when Israel was in apostasy and the prophet Elijah confronted the priests of Ba’al, God sent fire down to consume all the sacrifices (1 Kings 18.28).1 When David was shown the spot in which his son would build the Temple, he offered sacrifices, and again, fire from heaven came down and consumed them (1 Chron 21.26).
In this passage, when the fire came down, the people fell to their knees before the temple, with their faces to the ground. This is not surprising in the face of such holy power. The priests and musicians then sing this prayer: “God is good, and his love never stops.”
They may have already known of a song with those words because Psalm 136 used it as an echo of every other line. It is also found as an echo in Psalm 118 and appears singly in Psalms 100, 106, and 107.
Subscribe to continue reading
Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.
