What did God promise and warn when he answered Solomon by night?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He said he had heard the prayer and chosen the house for sacrifice. He promised hearing, forgiveness and healing when his named people turned back and did penance, and a continuing throne on Solomon’s obedience; turning to strange gods would bring uprooting and the house’s rejection.

Chapter breakdown

Fire consumes the sacrifices, the temple is dedicated, and God answers Solomon’s prayer with a condition of continued service.

When Solomon ended his prayer, fire descended from heaven and consumed the holocausts and victims. The Lord’s majesty filled the house, so the priests could not enter the temple. All Israel’s children saw the descending fire and the Lord’s glory upon the house. They fell face down on the stone pavement, worshipping and praising the Lord for his goodness and mercy enduring for ever.

The king and all the people sacrificed before the Lord. Solomon offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 rams, and they dedicated God’s house. The priests stood in their offices. The Levites used the Lord’s musical instruments that David had made to praise the Lord’s enduring mercy, singing David’s hymns in their ministry. Priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. Solomon sanctified the middle of the court before the temple and offered holocausts and the fat of peace offerings there because his brass altar could not hold the holocausts, sacrifices and fat.

Solomon kept the solemnity seven days with all Israel, a very great congregation from the entrance of Emath to the torrent of Egypt. On the eighth day he held a solemn assembly; he had kept the altar’s dedication seven days and celebrated the solemnity seven days. On the 23rd day of the seventh month he sent the people home, joyful and glad for the good the Lord had done for David, Solomon and all Israel his people. Solomon finished the Lord’s house and his own house, and everything he had planned in his heart to do in both, and he prospered.

The Lord appeared to Solomon by night, saying he had heard his prayer and chosen this place as a house of sacrifice. If he shut heaven so rain failed, commanded locusts to devour the land or sent pestilence among his people, and his people bearing his name turned back, made supplication, sought his face and did penance for their most wicked ways, he would hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. His eyes would be open and ears attentive to prayer in this place. He had chosen and sanctified it for his name to remain for ever and his eyes and heart to remain there perpetually.

God told Solomon that if he walked before him as David his father had walked, did everything God commanded and kept his justices and judgments, God would raise up his kingdom’s throne as promised to David: a man of David’s stock would not fail to rule in Israel.

But if they turned away, forsook God’s justices and commandments set before them, and served and worshipped strange gods, he would uproot them from the land he had given them. He would cast the house sanctified to his name away from his face and make it a byword and example among all nations. Passersby would be astonished at the house and ask why the Lord had treated this land and house so. The answer would be that they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and taken hold of strange gods, worshipping and serving them; therefore these evils had come upon them.

The story inside

The prayer ends with fire consuming the sacrifices and the Lord’s majesty filling the temple, preventing priestly entry. Israel sees and worships, then the king and people dedicate the house with the counted oxen and rams, music and sacrifices that require the court because the altar cannot hold them. The account gives the dedication and solemnity periods, eighth-day assembly and dated joyful dismissal, then records completion of both houses and Solomon’s plans. God’s appearance by night brings a direct answer: he heard the prayer and chose the place. The speech sets out the people’s turning and penance in the named calamities, Solomon’s obedient walk for the throne, and the opposite warning if they forsake commands and worship strange gods. The final question and answer explain the warned evils; they do not report that this rejection has already occurred here.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The offering and calendar details retain their own terms. Solomon offers 22,000 oxen and 120,000 rams. The altar cannot hold the holocausts, sacrifices and fat, explaining the sanctified middle court. The account distinguishes seven days of altar dedication, seven days of solemnity, an eighth-day assembly and dismissal on the 23rd of the seventh month; it should not flatten all of them into a single festival label.
2
The healing promise has named circumstances and responses. Rain may fail, locusts may devour the land or pestilence may come among God’s people. The people bearing his name turn back, supplicate, seek his face and do penance for their most wicked ways; then he promises hearing from heaven, forgiveness and healing. The exact selected 7:14 quotation keeps these conditions in its admitted DR/Challoner wording.
3
The chosen house and royal promise accompany a warning. Solomon must walk as David did, do all commands and keep justices and judgments. If they instead forsake those commands for strange gods, God warns of uprooting and casting away the house. The passersby’s question receives a specific answer about forsaking the God who brought their fathers out of Egypt, rather than an invented later historical outcome.

Test your recall

Solomon ends his prayer → heavenly fire consumes the offerings and the Lord’s majesty fills the house. That majesty fills the temple → priests cannot enter; Israel sees and worships. The brass altar cannot hold the offerings and fat → Solomon uses the sanctified middle court. The named people turn back, supplicate, seek God’s face and do penance amid the stated calamities → God promises hearing, forgiveness and land healing. Solomon’s commanded walk → the throne promise; turning to strange gods → warned uprooting and rejection with its stated explanation.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 44941–44945
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 7 Fire from heaven consumeth the sacrifices. The solemnity of the dedication of the temple. God signifieth his having heard Solomon’s prayer: yet so if he continue to serve him.
Lines 44947–44957
7:1. And when Solomon had made an end of his prayer, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the holocausts and the victims: and the majesty of the Lord filled the house. 7:2. Neither could the priests enter into the temple of the Lord, because the majesty of the Lord had filled the temple of the Lord. 7:3. Moreover all the children of Israel saw the fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house: and falling down with their faces to the ground, upon the stone pavement, they adored and praised the Lord: because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever.
Lines 44959–44975
7:4. And the king and all the people sacrificed victims before the Lord. 7:5. And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand rams: and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 7:6. And the priests stood in their offices: and the Levites with the instruments of music of the Lord, which king David made to praise the Lord: because his mercy endureth for ever, singing the hymns of David by their ministry: and the priests sounded with trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. 7:7. Solomon also sanctified the middle of the court before the temple of the Lord: for he offered there the holocausts, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar, which he had made, could not hold the holocausts and the sacrifices and the fat:
Lines 44977–44992
7:8. And Solomon kept the solemnity at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Emath to the torrent of Egypt. 7:9. And he made on the eighth day a solemn assembly, because he had kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and had celebrated the solemnity seven days. 7:10. So on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent away the people to their dwellings, joyful and glad for the good that the Lord had done to David, and to Solomon, and to all Israel his people. 7:11. And Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that he had designed in his heart to do, in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, and he prospered.
Lines 44994–45012
7:12. And the Lord appeared to him by night, and said: I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. 7:13. If I shut up heaven, and there fall no rain, or if I give orders, and command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people: 7:14. And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. 7:15. My eyes also shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer of him that shall pray in this place. 7:16. For I have chosen, and have sanctified this place, that my name may be there for ever, and my eyes and my heart may remain there perpetually.
Lines 45014–45020
7:17. And as for thee, if thou walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and keep my justices and my judgments: 7:18. I will raise up the throne of thy kingdom, as I promised to David thy father, saying: There shall not fail thee a man of thy stock to be ruler in Israel.
Lines 45022–45038
7:19. But if you turn away, and forsake my justices, and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve strange gods, and adore them, 7:20. I will pluck you up by the root out of my land which I have given you: and this house which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast away from before my face, and will make it a byword, and an example among all nations. 7:21. And this house shall be for a proverb to all that pass by, and they shall be astonished and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house? 7:22. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore all these evils are come upon them.