In the midst of the temple court a brass platform had been built. On this Solomon stood, and with hands lifted up he blessed the vast multitude before him. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ... ‘I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there.’” 2 Chronicles 6:4-6.
Solomon then knelt on the platform, lifted his hands toward heaven, and prayed: “Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! ... 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. ...
“If Your people Israel ... 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. ...
“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. ...
“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 toward this temple: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, ... that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
“Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who ... has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name ..., 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. ...
“When Your people ... 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 committed wickedness’; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, ... 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. 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.” Verses 18-41.
As Solomon ended his prayer, “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices.” The priests could not enter the temple because “the glory of the Lord had filled” it. 2 Chronicles 7:1, 2. Then king and people offered sacrifices. “So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.” Verse 5. For seven days the multitudes kept a joyous feast. They spent the week following in observing the Feast of Tabernacles. At the close of the celebrations the people returned to their homes “joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.” Verse 10.
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