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2 Chronicles 6:1-42

2 Chronicles 6:1-42

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public Domain

EXPOSITION

The first thirty-nine verses of this chapter (less the thirteenth) correspond very closely with the thirty-eight verses of the parallel that run 1 Kings 8:12-50. For once also the two places are in closer accord in the original than might be augured from our English Version. Our thirteenth verse is not found in the parallel, and this fact, with the phenomenon of its presence here, will be considered under the verse when we reach it. The chapter consists of: first, Solomon's remarks addressed to his people (1 Kings 8:1-11); and secondly, the prayer and intercession he offers to God (1 Kings 8:14-42).

2 Chronicles 6:1

In the thick darkness; Hebrew, מַּעֲרַפֶל. The Lord had said this in so many words, and also by not a few practical examples (Le 2 Chronicles 16:2; ; ; ; , ). This thing which he said, and did, even while really instructing, after the manner of special revelation, a specialized people, is essentially what he ever has said and ever is doing in all time, in all the world, and in all nature and providence. It is a fact and it is necessary that his glory be for the present veiled in "clouds and darkness" (; ).

2 Chronicles 6:2

Solomon's words now address themselves to God. For ever. These words refer rather to the permanence and station-ariness of the temple as the dwelling-place of the ark. and the mercy-seat and cherubim, and all that symbolized and invited the Divine presence, than design any prophecy of length of time. They contrast with the wandering people, and wandering worship and sacrifices, and wandering tent and tabernacle with all their sacred contents (; ; 1 Chronicles 22:10; 1 Chronicles 28:6-8; 2 Samuel 7:5-16).

2 Chronicles 6:3

Reading between the lines, this verse shows us that the face of Solomon had been turned to the symbol of God's presence, while he addressed to him the words of our second verse, since he now faces round to the assembly of the congregation. What words Solomon used in thus blessing the whole congregation are not given either here or in the parallel. The impression one takes is that the blessing was, in fact, wrapt up tacitly in all that Solomon recounts, when he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, etc. (2 Chronicles 6:4). However, it is not impossible that, with the variation of the tense in verse 59, the verses of 1 Kings 8:55-61 may contain the substance of it, if not itself.

2 Chronicles 6:4

(See 2 Samuel 7:4-17; 1 Chronicles 11:2; 1 Chronicles 17:4-14.) With his hands,… with his mouth. Expressions like this, antithesis and all, remind how language formed itself in the concrete mould at first, from that, ever becoming more abstract as time grew. The ampler language of later date would be, Who hath indeed fulfilled that which he spake.

2 Chronicles 6:5

I chose no city,… neither chose I any man. The tabernacle and all it contained had but travelled from place to place, and rested at temporary halting-places; and from Moses' time all the leaders of the people Israel had been men in whom vested no permanent and no intrinsic authority (1 Samuel 16:1-15; 2 Samuel 24:18-25).

2 Chronicles 6:6

(See again references of preceding verse, and 2 Samuel 7:8; .)

2 Chronicles 6:7-9

(So 2 Samuel 7:2, 2 Samuel 7:10-16; 1 Chronicles 22:9, 1 Chronicles 22:10; 1 Chronicles 28:2-7.)

2 Chronicles 6:10, 2 Chronicles 6:11

The moment that might have witnessed the utmost inflation of spiritual pride, the acme of ambition, the highest point of even moral kind of grandeur, being touched, is saved from the peril. To the "performing of the Lord" the glory is all given (, , ). Probably delivered from earthly feeling, and sheltered just now from self and human ambition, Solomon was in a very high degree "in the spirit" () on this great day. The moment was a proud moment in Solomon's history, as well there may be proud moments in men's lives, but it was divinely shielded, as divinely inspired. Hereafter, for all that, "the thorn in the flesh" might become very necessary, lest Solomon "be exalted above measure" in the memory of all that had transpired.

2 Chronicles 6:12

Before the altar. This means to say that Solomon stood (and afterwards knelt down) eastward of the altar indeed, but with his face to the temple and congregation. Although the voice of Solomon was raised in prayer to God, yet the prayer was to be that of the whole congregation and not of priestly proxy, and therefore of the whole congregation it must be heard.

2 Chronicles 6:13

A brazen scaffold. The Hebrew word is כִּיּוֹר. The word occurs twenty-one times. It is translated, in the Authorized Version, "laver" eighteen times, once "pan" (1 Samuel 2:14), once "hearth" (), and once "scaffold," here. The meaning evidently is that the stand was in some sort basin-shaped.

2 Chronicles 6:14

No God like thee, etc. The quoting of Scripture and the utilizing of language in which the religious feeling of those who have gone before has expressed itself had plainly set in (, ; ). The prayer which this verso opens occupies twenty-eight verses; it is the longest prayer recorded in Scripture. It consists of two verses (14, 15) of opening; then follow three petitions—first, that God would perpetuate the line of David (2 Chronicles 6:16); next, that he would have regard to the place where his Name is put (2 Chronicles 6:17-20); and thirdly, that he would hear the prayers addressed to him toward this place (2 Chronicles 6:21). Of this last subject, seven different cases are propounded—firstly, the case of the man wronged by his neighbour (2 Chronicles 6:22, 2 Chronicles 6:23); secondly, of the people worsted by their enemies (2 Chronicles 6:24, 2 Chronicles 6:25); thirdly, of the people suffering from drought (2 Chronicles 6:26, 2 Chronicles 6:27); fourthly, of the people visited by death or special calamity (2 Chronicles 6:28-31); fifthly, of the stranger who comes to offer to pray (2 Chronicles 6:32, 2 Chronicles 6:33); sixthly, of the people going to war by God's permission (2 Chronicles 6:34, 2 Chronicles 6:35); seventhly, of the people in captivity (2 Chronicles 6:36-39). Then the prayer closes in 2 Chronicles 6:40-42.

2 Chronicles 6:16

There shall not fail thee, etc. (so 2 Samuel 7:12; 1 Kings 2:4; 1 Kings 6:12). Yet so that thy children, etc. (so ).

2 Chronicles 6:17

Let thy word be verified (so 1 Chronicles 17:9-13).

2 Chronicles 6:18

Dwell with men (). Heaven and the heaven of heavens. Solomon's conception of the infinite God comes plainly to view here (2 Chronicles 2:6; ; ; ; ; ; ).

2 Chronicles 6:20

This house …. the place whereof;… this place (so ; ; ; ; ).

2 Chronicles 6:21

The supplications of thy servant. "The great thought of Solomon now is that the centre and core of all worship is prayer" (Professor Dr. James G. Murphy, in 'Handbook for Bible Classes: Chronicles'). Toward this place (see other instances of this expression, ; ; ; ; ). From thy dwelling-place. 1 Kings 8:30 has, "hear to thy dwelling-place, to heaven," by probably the mere error of a copyist.

2 Chronicles 6:22

And an oath be laid upon him to make him swear. This verse is explained by ; Le . The case of ordeal by self-purgation of oath is supposed. And the oath come. The Septuagint translates here, "and he come and declare by oath," etc.—a translation which a very slight alteration in the Hebrew, consisting in prefixing a vau to the word for swear, will allow. The Vulgate follows the Septuagint.

2 Chronicles 6:23

The prayer is that God will command his blessing on the oath ordeal.

2 Chronicles 6:24, 2 Chronicles 6:25

(See Le 2 Chronicles 26:3, 2 Chronicles 26:17, 33, 40; , ; also , ; ;

2 Chronicles 6:26

No rain (see 1 Kings 17:1; Le 26:19; ; ).

2 Chronicles 6:27

When thou hast taught them; rather, when thou art guiding them to the right way.

2 Chronicles 6:28-31

(See Le 2 Chronicles 26:16 -26; , ; .) In the cities of their land. This, to represent correctly the Hebrew, should read, in the land of their gates. Reference probably is being made to the fact that law and justice and judgment were administered "in the gate of the city" (; ; ). Thou only knowest (so 1 Chronicles 28:9). That they may fear thee (so ). In the absence of a healthy fear is involved both the absence of a healing hopefulness, and too probably the presence of recklessness.

2 Chronicles 6:32, 2 Chronicles 6:33

The stranger … come from a far country for thy great Name's sake. These two verses, with every clause in them, must be felt most refreshing by every reader; but they ought also to be particularly observed, as both corrective of a common but strictly erroneous impression as to exclusiveness and a genius of bigotry inhering in the setting apart of the Jewish race for a certain purpose in the Divine government and counsel, and also as revealing very significantly that that setting apart was nothing but a method and means to an end, as comprehensive and universal as the world itself The analogies, in fact, in the world's history are linked, in one unbroken chain, to what sometimes seems to a mere reader of the Bible pages as an artificial and somewhat arbitrary decree or arrangement (see, amid many significant parallels, ; Le ; ; ; ). Not of thy people Israel (; ; ). For thy great Name's sake. The insertion of the adjective "great" here ( גָּדוֹל) is not Pentateuchal, but is found in ; in our parallel, 1 Kings 8:42; ; ; ; ; . All people of the earth. Not only are many of the psalms utterly in harmony with the spirit of this verse, but also the light of it is reflected brilliantly in such passages as . This house is called by thy Name; literally, thy Name is called upon (or perhaps, into) this house, meaning that God himself is invoked there, or present there in order that he may be constantly invoked.

2 Chronicles 6:34, 2 Chronicles 6:35

The different supposition of these verses, compared with 2 Chronicles 6:24, 2 Chronicles 6:25, is plain. Here we are reminded how right it is to implore a blessing before we go out to our allotted labour, or even on some specially and divinely appointed enterprise.

2 Chronicles 6:36-39

The matter of these verses is given fuller in the parallel (1 Kings 8:46-53). The prayer is remarkable all the more as the last of the whole series, and one so sadly ominous! The last clause of 2 Chronicles 6:36, carrying the expression far off, as the alternative of near, throws its lurid glare of unwelcome suggestion on all the rest. No man which sinneth not. The words need the summoning of no biblical parallels, for these are so numerous. But out of the rest emphasis may be placed at least on those furnished by Solomon himself—; ; both of which are particularly sententious. Bethink themselves. The words well express, in English idiom, the literal Hebrew, as in margin, "bring back to their heart" (). Have sinned,… done amiss,… dealt wickedly (so ; ). The Authorized Version in the parallel (1 Kings 8:47) is somewhat happier in its rendering of the three verbs employed here. It seems doubtful whether these have it in them to form a climax; more probably they speak of three different directions in wrong going. The parallel is well worthy of being referred to, in its verses 50, 51.

2 Chronicles 6:40-42

These three verses are wanting in the parallel, which has kept us four verses (50-53) not shown here. Our two 2 Chronicles 6:41 and 2 Chronicles 6:42 are doubly interesting, first, as almost an exact copy of the words of David (); and secondly, as not an entirely exact copy, in some respects the form of word not being identical, though the signification is the same, and in other respects the clause being not identical, though still the meaning is essentially equal.

HOMILETICS

2 Chronicles 6:1-42

The dedication, and Solomon's prayer.

The ark once within the most holy place, the whole temple seems to wait expectant for its own solemn offering and dedication, to that heaven from which its pattern came, to its own supreme Architect, of whose wisdom it was designed, and of whose inspiration of the mind and heart of so many, its beautiful and costly materials had been ungrudingly given and skilfully wrought. The picture photographed so faithfully in this chapter does not fail of rivetting our gaze, but its points of view are very various, and we do not embrace them all by any means at one glance. We seem to hear also while we gaze. Now it is the broken snatch of a soliloquy that we seem to hear; now the unfeigned and adoring ascription, of blessing, and honour, and power, and of mercy's majesty, to the one Father of heaven and earth; now again the vast throng of worshippers, priests, princes, and people, is hushed in silence audible, on the knees of prayer. The royal typical son of David utters the solemn prepared service of prayer and supplication. The God, to whom none in heaven or on earth can be compared, is invoked, and the praise of his covenant-keeping and of his mercy and of his free promises is celebrated. These are made the ground, not indeed of any expostulation (for there was nothing in respect of which to expostulate), but rather of earnest pleading, that what seemed sometimes too great, too good to be true on the earth, might nevertheless be "verified," "in very deed with men upon the earth;" and then the measured sevenfold prayer begins. It cannot but be that in this service of dedication, followed upon so promptly with Heaven's own acceptance and most graciously vouchsafed consecration, there should be manifest lessons, or possibly more recondite principles of ever-enduring application and value. Let us, then, observe from this whole service of dedication the following suggestions.

I. HOW THE INEFFABLE NATURE PERMITS ITSELF TO BE REPRESENTED, AS HAVING LOCAL HABITATION ON EARTH. If that infinite, spiritual Nature or Being did of old neither preclude the possibility nor prohibit the imagination of such a thing, there can be no intrinsic reason why it should not be so now and for all time. We must not suppose that certain well-known and sublime passages in New Testament Scripture outruled this. But, on the contrary, they acknowledge it rather, and are only anxious to do so to the extent of universalizing it. The place of this worship is, indeed, wherever the worshipper himself is; and not only in Jerusalem, nor only "in this mountain" but where Jacob stretched himself, when his head was pillowed on the stones, and waking he exclaimed, "This is the house of God;" or in the dungeon; or in the windowless, chimneyless, mud-built croft; or in the chamber's solitude; or in the palace, the church, or cathedral, all-gorgeous with arch and pavement, height and length, music and painting. In fact, God's condescending grace gives what the nature of man, once also itself given of him, constantly and everywhere either postulates as of course, or craves with stimulated spiritual force. There is scarcely anything that sits closer to our, not mere outer but innermost nature, than that law which binds us by association, and by the associations of place in particular. There is no reason why we should disown it, or be ashamed of it, or slight it, or try at any time to rid ourselves of it by force. The reasons lie rather to the contrary, if only we cherish the sacred associations and discourage the reverse. It is not when our sense of God as a Presence in a place is nearest, that we least feel that he still "dwells," to be wondered at and adored, "in the thick darkness," or that we least "fear because of him." The acts of worship, no doubt legitimate everywhere, are helped there, and to cherish that help is wise.

II. THE ESSENTIAL, OR NATURAL AND MOST DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS OF SUCH A DEDICATION—THE DEDICATION OF A PLACE FOR THE WORSHIP AND SERVICE OF GOD. They are such as these:

1. The presence of the people, or era representative gathering of them, in a prepared and quickened state of mind, of whom in part and for whom the occasion of the dedication arises. The people were certainly present on this occasion. They are already in a very quickened state of mind, which is greatly added to when their leader faces them, and in the act, as it is here called, of "blessing them," summons them to take an earnest and intelligent part in the impending ceremony.

2. A rehearsal, in the nature of a preamble, of the circumstances which had led up to the present work—the human side of them, the Divine side of them, the motives which had been at work in them, the promise and providence of God, and the gratitude due to him for them.

3. Prayer uttered by one, offered by all, acknowledging the sole Godhead, without comparison in heaven and earth, magnifying his infinite condescension, reposing entire confidence upon his supporting and encouraging goodness; with imploring petitions that an ear may be opened to the special prayers now waiting to be offered, and a gracious eye bent down upon the place and the scene now outstretched before heaven. Special note may be made under 2 Chronicles 6:19-21 of the three points:

III. THE SEVENFOLD PETITION OF THE SERVICE. Whatever these petitions are, they speak distinctly the apprehensions—and those from a religious point of view—which the king and leader of the nation had in respect of that nation. The circumstances of the position compel us to regard them as a correct and faithful reflection or transcript (from the inner thoughts of Solomon and those who co-operated with him in the composition) of those perils to national well-being which might sadly ripen as time went on. It is evident that the estimate formed of these perils was such, and of such significance, that to deprecate them most importunately absorbs the larger part of the whole prayer. The petitions are manifestly more what concern the outer life, for the most part, than the inner thought of the people; the providence of Heaven, than their own work and doing. But, for that very reason, they bind together so much more indissolubly the welfare of a people's outer life and the Divine favour. They illustrate forcibly the dependence of the former on the latter. They remind us how this was at one time the chief way, probably at all time a necessary and leading way (as bodily pain is for the individual), to teach the fear of God and not less the fullest love of him. The seven petitions may be enumerated, as:

1. That relating to what may be designated as the ordeal-altar-oath.

2. That relating to the condition of those who at any time might be taken captive in war—an event only supposable on the assumption of the people "having sinned against" God.

3. That relating to the visitation of drought, as punishment in the same way of sin.

4. That relating to dearth, pestilence, blasting, mildew, locusts or caterpillars, siege, sore or sickness of what sort soever, as in the same way punishment of sin.

5. That relating to the stranger—a petition surely charged with significance and sweet compassion, and most prophetic in its character.

6. That relating to absence from their home and their land, and the holy city of their solemnities, through the enterprise of just and divinely sanctioned war, where no case of capture by the enemy is contemplated.

7. And lastly, that by fearful omen relating to the possibility of the sin of the people having reached such a pitch, that their punishment should consist in a general captivity, and exportation to a foreign land "far off or near." And it is the supplication of Solomon, and the vast Church there assembled before the temple, with its most holy place and ark, with its brazen sea, layers, and altar, that, when under any of these eases "confession" has been made, "repentance" has been approved, and prayer for "forgiveness" has been importuned, while the worshipper turns his thought, his faith, his hope, towards the temple, and its adorable indwelling Majesty, that confession may be heard, that repentance may be accepted, and that prayer be answered to by healing and restoring mercy. The one collective result left on our mind is that the structure of civil and national society, so infinitely complex, dependent on so many individuals, the likely victim of such an unlimited variety of influences and motives, good, bad, and most vague and inconclusive, needs nothing short of the wisdom and compassion, the justice and the tenderness, of the infinite God.

IV. THE FINAL INVOCATION—ALL GATHERED INTO ONE—THAT THE LORD GOD WOULD, ACCEPTING THE DEDICATION, PERFORM THE VERY CONSECRATION ITSELF. Amid the seven distinct appeals of entreaty (contained in our 2 Chronicles 6:40-42), instinct with highly elevated energy, and six of which may be said to be rather of the nature of material helps of faith and imagination of spiritual realities, how clear we may count it that the absolute grasp of spiritual truth, and apprehension of the spiritual Being, were not strange to Solomon and the true Israelite of the elder dispensation! What a real exertion of such power, gift, grace, is told by the central invocation, to which all the rest are but the setting, viz. "Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting-place, thou"! The open eyes, the attent ears, the uttered sound of prayer, the sight of the place, the ark, the priests, the saints, the face of the anointed, the memory of the mercies of David,—these, these all are but the surroundings and aids to the grand effort, the effort of Solomon and his people, to which they address themselves, and, we may believe, successfully rose, at the one commanding climax of the whole pomp, ceremony, and most really religious service—this, that effort—to have, to know, to believe in, the Lord God, the Thou (as Solomon, addressing him, says), as the Indwelling, effective Presence, and Glory of the place.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

2 Chronicles 6:1

God, the incomprehensible One.

What is the historical reference? Is it to the luminous cloud that shone between the cherubim? or is it not, rather, to the Divine manifestation, on. Mount Sinai, of which God had said, "I will come unto thee in a thick cloud" ()? God "dwells in the light which no man can approach unto" (1 Timothy 6:16), and this is the same thing; for the dazzling light is to us as the darkness. As our eye is constituted to receive no more than a certain degree of light, so our mind is created to receive no more than a measure of truth. And this is markedly and manifestly true of our knowledge of God. He is the incomprehensible One, whom we "cannot find out," whose "ways are unsearchable." This is true of—

I. THE DIVINE NATURE. Of his eternity, of his infinity, of his sovereignty, and of his omniscience, taken in connection with our human liberty, how little can we comprehend! how soon do we find ourselves beyond our depth, involved in difficulties which are hopelessly insoluble!

II. HIS REVELATION OF HIMSELF IN JESUS CHRIST. "His rich, his free redemption" is, as has been said or sung, "dark through brightness." Jesus Christ is distinctly and pre-eminently the Revelation of God to man. Yet is there in the connection of his Sonship of God with his Sonship of man a mystery which baffles us. How One equipped with Divine power and wisdom as was Jesus the Christ could "grow in wisdom" as well as in stature, is dark and impenetrable to our understanding.

III. HIS RULING OF OUR RACE. Why did God allow forty centuries of sin and strife, of superstition and sorrow, of darkness and death, to pass away before he sent his Son into the world to be its Light, and to redeem it from its ruin?

IV. HIS DIRECTION OF OUR INDIVIDUAL LIVES. How is it, we wonder, that God allows certain things to happen which (as it seems to us) are certain to be so injurious in their effects? how is it that he does not act in a way which would (as we are convinced) be fraught with so much blessing? Events in the lives of others or in our own lives are often so different from, so contrary to, what we should expect at the hand of One who rules in wisdom, in faithfulness, in love. Consider:

1. How inevitable it is that this should be so. The feeble-minded and uncultured man completely fails to understand his gifted and educated brother; the little child completely misunderstands his father; Day, he thinks his father unwise, unjust, or unkind in those very things in which that father knows himself to be most wise, most just, most kind. And what is the difference which separates human ignorance from human wisdom when compared with that which separates us from God?

2. We may reasonably hope that this will gradually lessen, though they can never disappear. As we pass on in life, we understand more of God's character and his ways. When we shall receive that glorious enlargement of spiritual faculty for which we look and long, we shall know God as the best and wisest do not know him here. But we rejoice to think that, in the remotest future to which our imagination can look forward, we shall still be inquiring and gaining knowledge of our heavenly Father.

3. How much we know now that is of the greatest practical value. We know that God is One who is a Spirit even as we are, but sinless and Divine; that he is perfectly holy, wise, faithful, kind; that he is accessible to our prayer, and is not only ready but eager to receive us again into his favour; that he is a Father who is tenderly interested in all his children, and who responds to the filial love and obedience of those who seek to serve him; that he is pleased with an endeavour to do and bear his will; that he is seeking and outworking our spiritual, our eternal well-being. This is enough for the highest ends of our existence, for the restoration of our soul, for the ennoblement of our character.—C.

2 Chronicles 6:7, 2 Chronicles 6:8

The worth of a wish-the estimate of Christ.

"David did well in that it was in his heart" to build a house for the Lord. The purpose of his heart, though it "lost the name of action," was acceptable to the God he served. Almost everything, in the estimate of him who "trieth the reins and the heart," depends on the motives by which we are inspired. Hence we may speak of—

I. THE WORTHLESSNESS OF SOLOMON'S EXECUTION apart from the excellency of his motive. That building now complete (at the time of the text) was very grand, very costly, very beautiful; it was very elaborate in its workmanship; it was very complete in all its parts; it lacked nothing that treasure and time, that skill and strength, could furnish. But, supposing that Solomon had done everything with the one desire to signalize his reign over Israel, his execution would have counted for much among men, but it would have weighed nothing at all with God. It would not have advanced him by one step in the favour of the Most High. We need not, however, think that Solomon was devoid of a sincere desire to magnify Jehovah's Name. He said that he had "built the house for the Name of the Lord God of Israel" (2 Chronicles 6:10); and this prayer of dedication, adopted if not composed by him, is indicative of a reverent as well as a patriotic spirit (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

II. THE WORTH OF A TRUE AND PURE DESIRE. God was pleased with David that he wished to build him a house; he "did well in that it was in his heart."

1. It is our motive that makes our action to be our own. Another may command our speech or our action, our tongue or our hand; but we are masters of our own thoughts; our desires and purposes are our own. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he".

2. There is an ascending scale in our motives, reaching from the very low to the very high. Men may have enough of the Satanic in them to be actuated in their conduct by absolute vindictiveness or even a positive delight in the misery and ruin of their neighbours; at the other end of the scale they may have enough of the Divine in them to be inspired by pure magnanimity, by a wish to befriend those who have done them injury (). Very high up in this scale stands the motive of desiring the glory of God, longing for the coming of the kingdom of Christ, an earnest wish to do something for his exaltation. And though the voice may be too feeble to speak any words that men may care to listen to, though the hand may be too weak to strike any blow that will shake the walls of iniquity, yet the very wish to do something for Christ, the prayer, "Make use of me, my God," weighs much in the balances of Heaven. It may be a pure desire to give of our substance to the needy, or to go forth to comfort some stricken heart, or to take a class in a ragged or a Sunday school, or to enter the ranks of the Christian ministry, or to do work in the foreign field. In Christian homes, in every land, there are hearts that sincerely and even ardently desire to serve their Saviour and to be a blessing to their brethren; but there intervenes some forbidding word of God, some frustrating providence of his. The purse is emptied, or health fails, or home duties suddenly assume a new form or take much larger proportions; and God says, "This is not for thee." But the desire is accepted; the purpose of the soul is taken for the deed; it is chronicled in the hooks of Heaven, "Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart."

III. ITS EFFECTIVE VALUE. When the pure desire of the true heart is not granted, it does not follow that it is without effect. Certainly it was not so in David's case. This desire of his heart, expressed to God but not granted by him, had very much to do with the ultimate result. It led to the Divine permission and direction extended to Solomon; it led to Solomon's personal aspiration and resolution; it led to the preparation and storage of many valuable materials. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the temple was the work of David as much as of his son; for he who originates the idea and inspires the people with his thought is as effective an agent as he who executes it. And many, since then, in the kingdom of Christ have succeeded where they seemed to fail; many a lonely and, apparently, unblessed worker for his Master, both at home and abroad; both in the haunts and slums of some great city here, or in the depths of India, or in the heart of Africa, or in the midst of the idolatry and iniquity of China, or amid some island population;—many such have gone home with no reward in their hand, unable to point to the gathered fruits of their toil and patience; and yet their unaccomplished efforts have been a precious and powerful inspiration, moved by which others have followed in their track, like Solomon in David's, and have built the edifice, have wrought the work, in the Name and in the strength of God. The finished work is, in some real sense and perhaps even in a large degree, the fruit of the good thought "in the heart" of him whom no one regards as its author. We do more than we know when we think and feel in the spirit of our Lord.—C.

2 Chronicles 6:12-14

Spiritual attitude.

We have in these three verses four references to attitude. Solomon "stood before the altar;" he "spread forth his hands;" he "kneeled down upon his knees;" he spoke of those who "walk before God." Now, it is worth while to observe that—

I. BODILY ATTITUDE IS NOT WITHOUT ITS VALUE. In the gospel of Christ, with all its precious and glorious spiritual freedom, there are no regulations as to posture in prayer; it is in no particular position of body that we must draw nigh to God and nave fellowship with him. The sufferer on his couch, the workman at his post, is as free to converse with God as the minister in the church. We glory in this divinely bestowed liberty. But it is wise to remember that one bodily attitude may be more closely associated with prayer than all others are, and, being thus associated in our minds, we in that attitude more readily fall into, and more successfully maintain ourselves in, the spirit of devotion than we can in any other. The body is the servant of the mind, and we may compel it to serve us thus; by constantly suggesting to us and thus favouring in us the idea and the spirit of worship. Here, as everywhere, is action and reaction. Our heart prompts us to worship, and this devout desire leads us to assume the attitude of devotion; then the bodily attitude helps, in its way and measure, to sustain the spirit in its reverential mood.

II. OVERT ACTS ARE IMPORTANT.

1. Attendance at the place of worship: "standing before the altar."

2. Recognizing sacred obligations publicly; doing the right thing "in the presence of all the congregation."

3. Using right and true words, not only concerning God (as in 2 Chronicles 6:14), but concerning man.

4. Acting, "walking," in honesty, in purity, in sobriety, in rectitude, in all relations. But, most important of all, because at the root of all—

III. SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE IS OF THE FIRST CONSIDERATION. What is the attitude of our soul toward God, toward the Lord Jesus Christ? We cannot propose to ourselves a more radical, a more vital question. The answer decides our position in (or towards) the kingdom of God. If our spiritual attitude is that of enmity, aversion, indifference, then, whatever our overt actions may be, or whatever our professions may be, we stand outside that kingdom, and are in danger of hearing the words, "I never knew you." But if our attitude is not this, but rather one of hope and trust, if it be one of desire to understand and please God, if it be one of honest and earnest inquiry, then, though there be many imperfections in our behaviour, and though there be much to be learned and acquired, we are right in the sight of God, and are counted among his servants and his friends. It was the spiritual attitude of Mary when she came with her precious spikenard which drew the Saviour's commendation; it was the attitude of penitence and faith which called forth his gracious assurance to the poor malefactor by his side. As Christian men, it concerns us much that our spiritual attitude is one of

(1) reverence;

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