GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 7:1-3
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7:1 When Solomon finished praying, fire fell down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the Glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the House of the LORD because the Glory of the LORD filled it. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the Glory of the LORD above the House, they bowed down on the ground with their faces on the pavement, and they worshipped. They gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”
This part of the dedication is not in 1 Kings 8. Although the two accounts are very similar, and at times identical, this is a good example of a detail that is unique to one book or the other. We already saw that the Glory of the LORD came and filled the temple (“house”) in 1 Chronicles 5:13-14, but this is another event at the end of the dedication.
How do we know that the author is not just repeating what he said earlier? The previous descent or appearance of the Glory of the LORD was followed is followed by ‘az (אָז), “then….” It was after that appearance that Solomon made his prayer on the bronze platform, the prayer we read in chapter 6. Chapter 7 begins with the words, “When Solomon finished praying,” and so we know that this was a separate, later event. Perhaps a way of describing this is that last night at about ten o’clock, the northern lights filled the sky here in Minnesota: vast red, yellow and blue-green bands of color moving and rippling all across the sky. They are not there now. But tonight, they will return at about the same time. Two separate events: one last night, and another tonight.
The word “pavement” (verse 3) is a word usually associated with a stone floor in a temple or palace. There is one in Ezekiel’s vision of the spiritual temple (Ezekiel 40:17-18; 42:3). The reference here is clearly to the stone floor of the inner and outer courts of Solomon’s new temple. The same word, ritspah (רִצְפָּה) is used for the decorated flooring of the Citadel of Susa in Esther 1:6, and the “stone base” that King Ahaz set the Bronze Sea upon when the King of Assyria demanded the bronze bulls that Solomon had used for a base and other things be given to him in tribute, or “protection money” (2 Kings 16:17; compare 2 Chronicles 28:21).
Moses also describes God as having “under his feet something like a ‘pavement’ of sapphire” (Exodus 24:10), although Moses uses a different phrase, “an artistic work of tiles,” which perhaps we would call a mosaic. Other words are used for such decorative floors in Jeremiah 43:9, and most famously the Gabbatha or “Stone Pavement” where Pilate put Jesus on display during his trial (John 19:13). In an age when dirt floors were usual, where rugs might cover the grass or might not in a person’s home, a stone or clay pavement was special.
Fire consumed the offerings. There was the Glory of the Lord above, and a stone pavement below. Top, middle and bottom were remarkable enough to mention all in one passage. God was everywhere. Let’s put that more clearly into our hearts: God is everywhere.
God is the source of all goodness and blessing, as the people pray at the end of our text. The temple shows this: It is the place for prayer, it is the place for sacrifice as a request for forgiveness or sacrifice as an offering of thanks. It is the place of God’s word and of learning about God’s word. It is the place for healing. It is the place for being declared holy. The people of Israel learned things about God through the architecture, through the work of the priests, through the constant and daily offerings that were made, and through the words of God spoken in prayers and as lessons and reminders, as well as the music that was played. Our path of worship does something similar, whether we have the benefit of worshipping in a sanctuary, or a living room (like when I was a missionary), or in a clearing in the woods. We begin with a reminder of God’s name. We confess our sins and hear the forgiveness from God through his servant. We hear the Scriptures, and hear them explained. We respond with our voices and offerings. We pray together and for one another. We might receive the sacrament, but we always sing the praises of God. Christ says to us again and again as we gather this way: “Come to me, all who labor and have heavy burdens. Just ask me for help and consolation, and you will be given rest. You will not leave without comfort and rest; as a matter of fact, even in the middle of death or the cross, you will remain joyful.”
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 Pavement, temple and sky