1 Kings 9:1-9 & 2 Chronicles 7:12-22

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Cross-references

For Better Understanding
  • a
Related Topics
  • b
Additional Materials
  • c

Summary

  • Ecological blessing and cursing related to the people's relationship to the God who created the ecology.


Details and/or Comments

  • Part 1 focuses on ecological judgments, because of the sins of the people.
  • Part 2 focuses on the king's responsibility to follow God; and the fact that judgment would come upon the whole nation, if he didn't. (This doesn't mean that the people would be innocent! As shown in later chapters, all but a few wholeheartedly followed the evil that the king practiced.)


Scripture

1 Kings 9:1-9 & 2 Chronicles 7:12-22

Scripture Passage Scripture Passage Comments and Links
1Ki 9:1 It happened, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Yahweh, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,
1Ki 9:2 that Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

1Ki 9:3 Yahweh said to him,

2Ch 7:12 Yahweh appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, "At Gibeon" - 1Kings 3:5 (when Solomon prayed for wisdom).
I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. God heard his prayer - at the dedication of the temple, etc.
2Ch 7:13 If I shut up the sky so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If God sent a judgment of ecological disaster...

Drought, locusts, disease - sent by God as judgment.

2Ch 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

2Ch 7:15 Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.

... then he would heal the land after they repented of their sins.
I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. 2Ch 7:16 For now have I chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. Though the buildings would change, this location will have a significance for all eternity - even on the new earth.
1Ki 9:4 As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;

1Ki 9:5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.

2Ch 7:17 As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;

2Ch 7:18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.

"And if you follow me, you will have descendants on the throne."

This passage applied to both Solomon and his offspring - see 1 Kings 9:6.

1Ki 9:6 But if you shall turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 2Ch 7:19 But if you turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; The word “you” is plural. "If you abandon God and go after fakes..."

As it turned out, the day would come in which God would forever remove Solomon's biological offspring from the throne. (Though Jesus is legally descended from David through Solomon's line, he is biologically descended from Nathan, Solomon's brother. One of Solomon's descendants, Joseph, was Jesus' legal father, though he did not contribute anything biologically to Jesus' physical nature.)

The judgment described below applied to the whole nation. As seen in later chapters, both leader and people chose to be wicked. Both experienced the judgment.

1Ki 9:7 then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

1Ki 9:8 Though this house is so high, yet shall everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house?

1Ki 9:9 and they shall answer, Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore has Yahweh brought all this evil on them.

2Ch 7:20 then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

2Ch 7:21 This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house?

2Ch 7:22 They shall answer, Because they abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore has he brought all this evil on them.

"... your destruction (and exile) will be so great that people will be astonished... and will know that it was because you abandoned your God."

The actions of a leader will influence the actions of the people. At times, the actions of a leader will influence the judgment of an entire nation, though the people didn't commit the action. But in this instance (as history would show), the people chose the idolatry that the leader encouraged; so both leader and group were guilty. (At the same time, there were some who did not commit idolatry - such as the prophet Jeremiah - who would also experience the judgment of the group, when the exile finally came.)



4:29-34  •  Ch. 5 - 7 (selected)  •  8:4-5  •  8:10-13  •  8:27  •  8:35-40  •  8:62-64  •  9:1-9  •  16:30-17:24  •  16:34  •  18:1-46  •  21:1-3

Ch. 2 - 4 (selected)  •  5:5-6  •  6:18  •  6:26-31  •  7:1-3  •  7:4-7  •  7:12-22

Scripture Passages
(Only books that have relevance to this study have active links. The others are in italics.)

Genesis  •  Exodus  •  Leviticus  •  Numbers  •  Deuteronomy  •  Joshua  •  Judges  •  Ruth  •  1 Samuel  •  2 Samuel  •  1 Kings  •  2 Kings  •  1 Chronicles  •  2 Chronicles  •  Ezra  •  Nehemiah  •  Esther  •  Job  •  Psalms  •  Proverbs  •  Ecclesiastes  •  Song of Solomon  •  Isaiah  •  Jeremiah  •  Lamentations  •  Ezekiel  •  Daniel  •  Hosea  •  Joel  •  Amos  •  Obadiah  •  Jonah  •  Micah  •  Nahum  •  Habakkuk  •  Zephaniah  •  Haggai  •  Zechariah  •  Malachi


Matthew  •  Mark  •  Luke  •  John  •  Acts  •  Romans  •  1 Corinthians  •  2 Corinthians  •  Galatians  •  Ephesians  •  Philippians  •  Colossians  •  1 Thessalonians  •  2 Thessalonians  •  1 Timothy  •  2 Timothy  •  Titus  •  Philemon  •  Hebrews  •  James  •  1 Peter  •  2 Peter  •  1 John  •  2 John  •  3 John  •  Jude  •  Revelation

—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——
The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.
Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.