If I shut up the heavens that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
God's answer to Solomon's prayer opens not with prosperity but with three troubles: drought, locusts and plague. The pronoun is what startles — God does not say these things may happen, but that He shuts, He commands, He sends.
Solomon had prayed about drought, failed crops and sickness. God's answer matches his prayer point by point, and changes one word in it.
The Lord is as detailed and particular in His answer as Solomon was in his prayer... Solomon prays for Israel as the Lord's people. In his prayer he said, "Your people." The Lord owns them as His, and says, "My people."
Israel's land lived on rain from the sky. A neighbour with a great river of its own felt no such loss.
Things on earth must be terrible when "the heaven is shut up." This world must look barren and dreary when heaven holds back its refreshing showers. That is especially true of the land that was to "drink water by the rain from heaven." Egypt might not have cared much when heaven was shut up, since she had never looked there for her supplies. She had her resources in herself. "My river is my own," was her independent language.
God held the rain back for a reason.
We know well that it is not God's desire that His people should suffer. He is not stingy, and if the rain is withheld, the fault is with His people and not with Him. He had made this clear to them, so that they understood well that when heaven was "shut up" it was in chastening.
Insects take orders. A locust swarm looks like blind appetite, but Scripture calls it an army.
Man may have departed from God and become hostile to Him, but nature in its whole framework is obedient, and serves Him still. So the sinner finds himself in a stream of forces set against him — the hosts of the Lord, pictured for us by the army of locusts. "The locusts have no king," says Agur, "yet all of them march in rank" (Prov. 30:27)... They keep this discipline by instinct, with no king in sight. That shows whose armies they are and who orders their ranks: the Lord calls them "His army" (Joel 2:11).
David had already lived through the third of these troubles. Given a choice of judgments, he took the one that came straight from God's hand.
David owns the great difficulty and perplexity of his soul, but he chooses the last; and he was right. "Let me fall into the hand of Jehovah, for very great are His mercies. Let me not fall into the hand of man." David preferred — and rightly, in my opinion — the direct hand of Jehovah... he could not bear the thought of God seeming to starve His people and leave them to a slow death. He could not bear the enemy triumphing over Israel either.
Because the hand is God's, hard times call for more than endurance. They call for a question.
The famine, then, was God's call to repentance. It should always have been taken that way: "When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You." Even where there had been no open turning away from God, such trouble should always have brought them onto their faces, searching their hearts and asking, Why is this?
God's discipline moves in steps. He measures each one, and stops it the moment it has done its work.
These steps show how Jehovah's heart longed over His rebellious people. He chastised them only as much as was needed to lead them to repentance... If that had brought them to repentance, God would have stopped dealing with them in government. But when it failed, He would send drought, and the famine that followed.
Israel later met every trouble on this list and still learned nothing from it.
There had been famines and drought. Rain fell here and there: some patches of ground got rain while others stayed parched, so that they might see the hand of God in it... The locusts came and devoured the plants. There were dreadful plagues and other judgments, but they did not return to Him. Five times in this paragraph we find the same statement: "Yet you did not return to Me."
- The hand. God claims authorship of the drought, the locusts and the plague — He shuts, He commands, He sends.
- The obedience. Even locusts march under orders; nature still serves the God man has walked away from.
- The purpose. God measures the chastening only as far as it takes to bring repentance, and stops it when it works.
- The response. Hard seasons should put God's people on their faces asking, "Why is this?" The fault lies with them, never with God.
- The mercy. The Lord's own hand is the safest hand to fall into, because His mercies are very great. Yet Israel took every blow and still did not return.
and my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin, and heal their land.
God appeared to Solomon the night after the king dedicated the temple, and answered the prayer he had just prayed. They deal with a hard question: what happens when God's own people fail, and He Himself shuts the sky over their heads?
Solomon had stood before God and pleaded for the nation. This promise is God's reply. One writer notes that the reply is fuller here than in the parallel account in Kings.
In the previous chapter Solomon took the place of one who pleads for others. God gives him a full answer (vv. 13-14), and Kings does not record it... From the moment Solomon stands before God, the answer to his pleading is certain. The people's unfaithfulness may delay it. It is still a real fact, granted because the king God had anointed asked for it.
Notice the shift in the pronoun between the prayer and the answer. God answers in the same detail Solomon prayed in, and changes one word.
The Lord is as detailed in His answer as Solomon was in his prayer... Solomon prays for Israel as the Lord's people, and in his prayer he said, "Your people." The Lord claims them as His own and says, "My people."
The verse begins with "if," and what comes before it is a list of troubles God says He Himself sends.
The Lord then answered Solomon's prayer about how He disciplines Israel. He may hold back rain, or send locusts, or send disease. If Israel would humble themselves and pray, seeking God's face, and turn from their evil ways, then God would hear from heaven, forgive them, and heal their land (vv. 13-14).
That changes how we should read trouble. God never meant hard times to be endured in silence or explained away.
A famine, then, was God's call to repentance, and they should always have read it that way: "When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You." Even when there had been no open turning away from God, such trouble should have brought them face down before Him. It should have made them search their hearts and ask, Why is this?
The promise is generous, but it has limits. God asks four things before He gives anything: humbling, praying, seeking His face, turning.
There can be no recovery apart from the conditions named in these verses. His people who have failed must first humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn away from their evil ways.
Solomon had asked God to keep His eyes open and His ears attentive to prayer at that house. The reply grants that, and then goes further.
The excess seen in 2 Chronicles 7 is delightful. Both Solomon and Nehemiah ask that God's eyes and ears be open to His people. God adds to that and says, "My heart." It is a blessed thing to see. God's eyes and ears are turned towards His people, and His heart is towards them too.
God said His name would be at that house forever, yet the building came down. One writer asks why, and gives a blunt answer.
God says again that He had chosen the temple and set it apart for Himself. His name would be there forever, and His eyes and His heart would be there always (v. 16). Yet after this the temple was destroyed and there has been no temple in Jerusalem for centuries! Why is this? Because Israel themselves were guilty of desecrating the temple.
The principle in this verse is not confined to Israel's fields and rainfall. One writer traces the same order in a day of defeat: it starts in self-confidence and ends in the dust.
That memorable day began in the pride of confidence in self, but it ends with torn clothes in the dust before God. It is a merciful provision of grace, for if it did not end there, where else could it end? There restoration begins, and there only... The same thing is true now; restoration can only come after confession, whether for one believer or for a whole company.
- The cause. Shut skies, locusts and disease are named by God as His own chastening — trouble is a call to repentance, not just a misfortune to escape.
- The conditions. Humble, pray, seek His face, turn. There is no recovery apart from these; the "if" is real.
- The claim. Solomon prayed about "Your people"; God answered about "My people" — He owns the very people He is disciplining.
- The excess. Solomon asked for God's eyes and ears; God added His heart as well, and grounded the whole answer in the intercession of His anointed king.
- The result. Forgiveness first, then a healed land — and where Israel ignored the conditions, they lost the temple itself. Restoration begins in the dust, and only there.
Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attentive to the prayer [made] in this place;
Solomon had asked God to watch this temple and hear the prayers made there. God answers in almost the king's own words — but what happened to that promise when the temple fell?
God does not reply in general terms. He takes up Solomon's own prayer, request by request.
The Lord shows that He accepts the worship of Israel and Solomon's prayer. Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the sacrifices. His glory fills the house. He also graciously grants the king's requests. He will hear and forgive if the people humble themselves and pray to Him. He will look on that house and be attentive to the prayer that is made in it. And the Lord is as detailed and particular in His answer as was Solomon in his prayer. … Solomon prays for Israel as the Lord's people; he said in his prayer, "Your people." And the Lord owns them as His, and says, "My people."
Solomon asked for eyes and ears. In the next verse God adds a third thing that no one had asked for.
The extra we see in 2 Chronicles 7 is delightful. Both Solomon and Nehemiah ask that God's eyes and God's ears be attentive, but God adds to that and says, "My heart." This is a blessed thing to see. Not only are God's eyes and ears towards His people — His heart is towards them too.
God promises the open eyes and attentive ears in a particular setting: a nation under His discipline, praying its way back.
The Lord then spoke of answering one part of Solomon's prayer in detail. It was about His discipline of Israel in government — withholding rain, or sending locusts or pestilence. If Israel would humble themselves and pray, seeking God's face and turning from the evil of their ways, then God would indeed hear from heaven. He would forgive them and heal their land.
God had said it, so later generations could hold Him to it. Daniel, living in exile, prayed with this promise in mind.
It is clear that Daniel fully knew God's will. He showed it by opening his window towards Jerusalem. When the temple was dedicated, Solomon prayed about a day when the nation might be so unfaithful that it was taken into captivity. If any then prayed towards this temple, God was to hear them, maintain their right, and grant them compassion from those who held them captive. Here we find a man in full possession of that knowledge. He has not forgotten God's word, he has not forgotten that prayer, for God granted Solomon's request. "Yes," He says, "My ear will be towards the temple, and not only My ear but My eye, and My heart continually."
Nehemiah did the same. He too asked God for open eyes and attentive ears.
If God chose the place forever, why is there no temple in Jerusalem now? The failure was not on God's side.
God affirms again that He had chosen the temple and set it apart for Himself. His name would be there forever, His eyes and His heart there perpetually. Yet after this the temple was destroyed and there has been no temple in Jerusalem for centuries! Why is this? Because Israel themselves were guilty of desecrating the temple. It was rebuilt in the days of Ezra, then destroyed again and rebuilt by Herod. Yet before His crucifixion, when His disciples showed Him the buildings of the temple, the Lord Jesus declared, "You see all these things, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."
Writers apply the promise beyond Israel, to those who meet where God has put His name.
Let us once more widen our view. Let us look past our personal situation to the collective testimony for Him, and to the place where He has set His name. Even Solomon, the king, wanted God to look at this place. … Not only My eyes and My ears, says the Lord, but also My heart is at this place where the saints are gathered to My name. This is surely a thought to revive us in these last days.
- Asked — Solomon asked for open eyes and attentive ears. God's reply is as detailed as the prayer itself.
- Answered — God takes Solomon's phrase "Your people" and returns it as "My people," owning the nation as His own.
- Exceeded — to eyes and ears God adds what no one asked for: "My heart," there perpetually.
- Conditioned — God hears a people who humble themselves, pray, seek His face and turn from evil. Then He forgives them and heals their land. When Israel defiled the house instead, judgment left not one stone standing.
- Carried forward — Daniel and Nehemiah prayed on the strength of this answer. Writers see the same eyes, ears and heart where His people gather to His name today.
for I have now chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
God speaks these words to Solomon after the dedication of the temple. They settle three things: who chose the site, what He set it apart for, and how long His eyes and His heart would rest on it.
One writer points out that the choice was God's own, and that Solomon knew it when he began to build.
He had clearly chosen Jerusalem. He had marked out mount Moriah as the mount of the Lord. Solomon knew of God's choice when he began to build the temple, and after the dedication God assured him of the place He had selected, having sanctified the house so that His name should be there for ever. From this purpose God never went back.
Two verbs carry the verse. One writer explains "sanctified" as setting apart for God's own use, then faces the problem that follows.
God says again that He had both chosen and sanctified the temple. That is, He had set it apart for Himself, so that His name might be there forever, and His eyes and His heart there always (v. 16). Yet after this the temple was destroyed, and there has been no temple in Jerusalem for centuries! Why is this? Because Israel themselves were guilty of desecrating the temple.
The same chapter that sanctifies the house also warns Solomon what follows if he turns away.
But God anticipated all this even in 2 Chronicles 7, for He speaks conditionally to Solomon in verse 17 and the verses that follow… If Solomon turned away, forsaking the commandments of the Lord and serving and worshipping other gods, he could expect God's serious judgment. God would uproot Israel from the land, cast the temple out of His sight, and make it a proverb and byword among all the nations.
The verse names His heart as well as His eyes. One writer asks why God's heart should rest on a temple rather than on heaven.
Why does He promise that His eye and His heart shall be in the temple perpetually? Is it not because in the temple there was the witness of His grace? Heaven, the place of angels, gave His eye no such object. Yet angels were more beautiful creatures, and heaven a far more magnificent place, than the priests and the temple at Jerusalem. But angels and heaven did not tell Him of His grace in the way that the temple did. And there lay the attraction.
Someone will object that others hold Jerusalem today. One commentator answers that the promise still stands as written.
I take that just as it plainly means. You will tell me, Well, the Gentiles are there now; some of the most wicked of the Gentiles are there now. But faith can wait. It need not be in a hurry… as sure as God has spoken it, Jerusalem will be recovered — not by the power of man, but by the power of God.
The temple fell, but the promise held. One writer points to Daniel.
The Lord had said of Jerusalem, "My eyes and My heart will be there for all time"; so Daniel would not stop praying towards that blessed centre. The word of the Lord endures for ever, and faith takes its stand on that imperishable foundation.
The principle of a chosen place for His name did not end with the temple. One writer shows where that place is now.
Today, there is still a place He has chosen to "put His name there", to be present in Person. This is, of course, not a geographical place but a spiritual place. Where two or three are gathered to His name, He would be in the midst of them. Gathered "to" His name is more than "in His name"… they make Him the centre, they give Him the authority… His rights are respected, His will is done.
- Chosen — the site was God's choice, not human opinion, and He never went back on it.
- Sanctified — set apart for Himself. The house belonged to God before it belonged to Israel.
- Heart — God's heart rested there because the temple showed His grace, as no place in heaven did.
- Conditional — the same chapter warned Solomon: turn away, and God would cast the house out of His sight. Israel defiled it, and that is what came.
- Perpetually — the promise outlasted the ruins. Daniel still prayed towards Jerusalem, and one commentator takes "for ever" at face value: God will recover the city.