II Chronicles 6:1 "Then said Solomon, "The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness."

King Solomon is saying here in these first thirty nine verses all those things that were written in I Kings 8:12-50. However these Kenites have added two complementary items, but omitted the part written in I Kings 8:51-61. They also added three other verses. These Kenite scribes that wrote this book of the Chronicles have left out the part dealing with the blessings and faithfulness our Jehovah to His people. They just bypassed the part dealing with God's promises to the people when they both individually and as a nation keep His commandments. It seems like there is nothing new under the sun, for the Kenites are trying today to remove those commandments form our court house steps even today.

I Kings 8:55-58 "And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying," [55] ""Blessed be the Lord, That hath given rest unto His People Israel, according to all that He promised: there hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant." [56] "The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers: let Him not leave us, nor forsake us:" [57] "That He may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgment, which commanded our fathers." [58]

The Temple has been completed and this chapter then is directed to the dedication of the Temple to God, by Solomon and the People of Israel. The Temple construction was started about the year 917 B.C., and this dedication took place in 910 B.C., so there had been plenty of time to prepare completely for this event, to be a beautiful and mindful service in honoring our Lord YHVH.

II Chronicles 6:2 "But I have built an house of habitation for Thee, and a place for Thy dwelling for ever."

This is a reminder that God would not allow David to build this magnificent Temple to honor and worship YHVH our heavenly Father. That duty was set aside for Solomon to complete, yet God did allow David to start gathering the materials, and put the nations around Israel at peace with Israel during this time of construction.

II Chronicles 6:3 "And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood."

The "Congregation" is including all the people of Israel during their time of assembly, convocation, or at a time when God's people are called together for a purpose of worship and praise. It is time to give honor to the Lord, and dedicate this house of God; and ask God to bless all the people of Israel, both individually, and as a nation. Notice also from I Kings 8:58, that this blessing is tied directly to the people's obedience to following the laws, statutes, and judgments, which we call the commandments of God. Sure the blood ordinances are done away with through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, but Jesus reminded that He did not come to change one part or word of the prophets or the commandments.

Matthew 5:17-19 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." [17] "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." [18] "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." [19]

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill the blood law ordinances dealing with animal sacrifice, for without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness from sin. The animal sacrifice ordinances were a temporary covering for one year, and then they were to be done all over again. Year after year these animal sacrifices continued, from the shedding of the blood of the lamb and placing it over and on the side of the entry posts of each home, as the death angel passed over; to that moment in time when Jesus hung on the cross, and said; "It is finish, and He gave up the Ghost". That moment is what all the great prophets of the Old Testament looked forward to, the coming of the Messiah, the Christ [the Anointed One]. Do you think for one moment God took pleasure in those thousands of animals being slaughtered?

Hebrews 10:3, 4 "But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year." [3] "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." [4]

No those sacrifices did not take away sins, but they were a covering, a remembrance that was required each and every year by YHVH our heavenly Father.

Hebrews 10:5, 6 "Wherefore when He [Jesus Christ] cometh into the world, He [The Father] saith, "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me:" [5] "In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure." [6]

For our Lord's Virgin birth, through Jesus' entire life, His purpose for coming into the dimension of this earth age of flesh man was to prepare Himself to be that perfect sacrifice that would be the only acceptable way back to the Father. To come to the Father, you must come through the Son of God, and in repentance in Jesus Name, you come under this blood that was shed for one and all times.

Hebrews 10:7 "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God."

This is the summary of the entire life of Jesus, that He came to fulfill every thing that was written of Him through all the prophets of the Old Testament. Remember back in Genesis 3:15 where this time of Christ death on the cross was prophesied?

Genesis 3:15 "And I [God] will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between thy [Satan's] seed [the Kenites] and her Seed [Jesus Christ]: It [Christ] shall bruise thy [Satan's] head, and thou [the Kenites] shalt bruise His [Jesus] heel."

This was the stated purpose by God for the coming into this earth age of flesh man, and this prophecy was given even before the birth of Cain and Abel. Cain is the father of the Kenites, the son to the man Satan, called the devil, the serpent, and by many other names in the Scriptures. So as we read of these many sacrifices that are given here at the time of the dedication service by Solomon, remember that it all is looking forward to that time when Christ would be that perfect Sacrifice for one and all times. Solomon is looking forward to that time over nine hundred years away, when the perfect sacrifice would be completed.

II Chronicles 6:4 "And he said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, Who hath with His hands fulfilled that which He spake with His mouth to my father David, saying,"

"Blessed be the Lord God"..."God" as stated here in the Hebrew text is "Elohim", which is God the Creator, as related to those creatures of His creation. As we will see later in 2 Chronicles 18:31, as well as in the New Testament: John 1:1, Col. 1:15-17; and Revelation 3:14, it is Jehovah that is indicating a covenant relationship. Elohim then is God the Son, the living Word, "Begotten of the Father before all worlds (ages); born of His mother (Virgin Mary) into this world age of flesh man." In this creature form, God appeared to the Patriarchs. Our Heavenly Father and His Son, with the Holy Spirit are One, One God, not three Gods. Though Jesus was born into this earth age, He was from the beginning.

John 1:1-4 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." [1] "The same was in the beginning with God." [2] "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made," [3] "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." [4]

Jesus Christ is the living Word. This earth age, just like that first earth age that was, when all souls were in their heavenly bodies as the angels are now, will pass away. You can count on it...however Jesus Christ, the Word, the Heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit has always been. Elohim is eternal, always was and always will be. All souls were created for one thing, that is to please our Heavenly Him. Jesus told us that "I and My Father are One": How can that be? One person with three obligations, I am a father to my children, yet a son of my father, and my soul has a spirit. This may be confusing to many, but to the Christian we have one God.

Though we pray to the Father YHVH, we must pray in the name of the Son Jesus the Christ, for in praying in Jesus Name we recognize that Jesus is the Christ that was crucified as prophesied by the Prophets, was in the tomb for the three days and then over came death, to pay the price and intercede on our part at the right hand of the YHVH Father in heaven.

So as king Solomon is praying to God, Elohim, this would include the Word, Jesus the Messiah that was promised, but would not be born into this world age for another 900 years or so. This beautiful temple with its sacred inner chamber, the Holy of Holies is where God would commune with His Children until that day of our Lord's resurrection. "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." Only through Jesus Christ is their eternal life, and at that moment when Jesus gave up the ghost of His flesh body, the vail in the temple was rent in two, and Jesus then at that moment established the only way to come to the Father. Jesus told us that "no man cometh to the Father but by Me."

All of the sacrifice that were required and would go on at the altar in this fine Temple that Solomon built would be fulfilled in the shed blood of Christ on the cross. However at this moment in time when this assembly of the congregation is standing before the temple for this service, this would be the only way for them to approach our Heavenly Father. It is laid out in the law God gave to Moses and had been in practice for five hundred years to this time of Solomon.

II Chronicles 6:5 "`Since the day that I brought forth My People out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that My name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over My People Israel:"

That generation that came out of the land of Egypt all died in the wilderness, except for two souls, Joshua and Caleb. When the children of Israel entered into the promise land, there would be fighting until the land would be taken and divided by lot. Once peace come, the children of Israel lived under the time of Judges, with God as their king, until the people pleaded with God for a king, and God gave them Saul to rule over them. At Saul's death, David was to be the anointed King over Israel, and to this point in time, there was not a man God selected to build His house.

God selected the sight for His Temple, and the man that would build it, and that location was on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, and the man was David's son Solomon. The Temple is now built and Solomon is humbly standing before the children of Israel, and addressing our Lord in prayer.

II Chronicles 6:6 "But I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there; and have chosen David to be over My People Israel.' "

God revealed to Samuel the prophet the identity of the one that He wanted to rule over Israel. God sent Samuel to the home of David's father, and after looking over each of the sons of Jesse, was drawn to David, the shepherd boy. It was David then that would go to war and take Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and claim it for God. Second Samuel 5:4-8 tells us how David moved the capital city of Israel from Hebron to Jerusalem, and called it the "city of David".

II Chronicles 6:7 "Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel."

We read in I Chronicles chapters 28, and 29 how David made preparation to build the Temple, but God stepped in and forbid David to build it. Instead He revealed in 29:1 that it would be "Solomon my son" that was chosen by God to build the temple.

II Chronicles 6:8 "But the Lord said to David my father, forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for My name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart:"

II Chronicles 6:9 "Notwithstanding then shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for My name.' "

II Chronicles 6:10 "The Lord therefore hath performed His word that He hath spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel."

"As" should read, "According as the Lord promised..."

II Chronicles 6:11 "And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, that He made with the children [sons] of Israel." 

II Chronicles 6:12 "And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands:"

Sure "Solomon stood" before the ark to speak to the people, but then he knelt down before the altar of God. Some teachers say that there is a discrepancy between verses twelve and thirteen here, but there is none in the Massorah text. Don't create a problem that just isn't there.

II Chronicles 6:13 "For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven,"

This "brasen scaffold" was a round bowl-like pulpit, about ten feet wide and five to six feet high. This pulpit that Solomon used sat in the court and he spoke from it as he addressed all the congregation that was present for this dedication service of the house of God.

II Chronicles 6:14 "And said, "O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; Which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants, that walk before Thee with all their hearts:"

God's "mercy" is His loving-kindness or grace that is offered to anyone that comes to Him in repentance. Notice that in Solomon's prayer, he is asking for this grace to be offered to those that keep his covenant, [the commandments] and walk in the light or path that God has laid out with in His Word. It is a conditional promise to all of His people, no matter what your color, race or nation you come from, for we are all created by God to give Him pleasure. Have you given Him pleasure lately, and told Him that you love Him?

Revelation 4:11 "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."

Even Satan's soul was created just as you were. Ezekiel 28:15 "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

II Chronicles 6:15 "Thou Which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day."

Again, God has made certain promises to David, and Solomon is asking God to keep and fulfil those promises in this nation that he will rule over.

II Chronicles 6:16 "Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, `There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My law, as thou hast walked before Me.' "

"Yet so" means that the conditions that exists here were offered unconditionally to David, and to father Abraham. Remember that the promise to David was that there would always be a seed of David sitting over the people of Israel, and in this we see the lineage of the royal families of not only England but also of the tribal nations of ancient house of Israel. These family trees are well know today, and it is for this reason that the king and queen lines are so very carefully watched when a person is chosen to take the throne of their land.

Abraham's covenant with God was in three parts; a land, a seed that would be as the sands of the seas, and a blessing to his people. Look around today and see the nations that are blessed, and notice what they call themselves; "Caucasians" after those people of many groups of the tribes of the house of Israel that came through the Caucus Mountains. The House of Israel tribes were removed from their lands by the Assyrians, to a place in northern Iraq, as we know it today. In time these people split into many groups and fled to the north and far west, and became known by many names; Celts, Cimmerons, Gauls, and many more. But each were still referred to as Caucasians.

II Chronicles 6:17 "Now the, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David."

"Verified" as used in the text means to be rendered firm and lasting, something that the people can believe and trust continually. God's Word is firm and lasting and can be trusted, for God is faithful to His Word and His people.

II Chronicles 6:18 "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built!"

This is what Paul was writing about in Acts 7:48-50; "Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands; as saith the prophet [Solomon]," [48] "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye Me? saith the Lord: `or what is the place of My rest?" [49] "Hath not My hand made all these things?' " [50]

II Chronicles 6:19 "Have respect therefore to the prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which Thy servant prayeth before Thee:"

II Chronicles 6:20 "That Thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof Thou hast said that Thou wouldest put Thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant prayeth toward this place."

II Chronicles 6:21 "Hearken therefore unto the supplications of Thy servant, and of Thy People Israel, which they shall make toward this place: Hear Thou from Thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when Thou hearest, forgive."

II Chronicles 6:22 "If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before Thine altar in this house;"

"Oath" as given here is "chata" in the Hebrew text, and it is an agreement between a person and his neighbor. This is a reminder to the people that if this sin of breaking an agreement is committed, this altar that Solomon is standing before is the place to make it right. Of course today we can take our confession directly to the Father in Jesus name, and through our repentance those sins are put under the blood of Christ.

II Chronicles 6:23 "Then hear Thou from heaven, and do, and judge Thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness."

"Requiting the wicked" means to cause them to turn back from the way they were heading, in other words, to change their ways. And when they won't turn from their wicked ways, then turn their wick deeds back on their own head. "Justifying the righteous", means acquitting the righteous man or woman from those things he or she has wrongly been charged with.

II Chronicles 6:24 "And if Thy People Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against Thee; and shall return and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication before Thee in this house;"

II Chronicles 6:25 "Then hear Thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of Thy People Israel, and bring them again unto the land which Thou gavest to them and to their fathers."

II Chronicles 6:26 "When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin, when Thou dost afflict them;"

This is in reference to a warning that Moses gave to Solomon's forefathers while in the promise land. That if they shall keep the commandments of God and follow His ways, God would give the rain in its season, and cause the Israelites to prosper.

Deuteronomy 28:12; "The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow."

As our nation has removed the commandments of God, and the ways of God from its government and schools, and way of life, we see that our weather patterns have changes, and we have changed from being a lending nation to becoming a debtor nation to the institutions of the Kenites.

Deuteronomy 28:23, 24 "And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under The shall be as iron." [23] "The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed." [24]

Stop for a moment and look at our weather patterns, then observe what is going on in our land, or government, schools, and even in our homes. When you turn your back on the Lord, His commandments and His ways, expect this to happen: both individually and as a nation. God is keeping His Word, He warned His people, and this then become one of His promise kept to His people. Solomon is asking that when His people do fall away from Him: that their eyes open enough to see these warnings, and when repentance comes to their lips, He will heal their land and their peoples from these curses.

II Chronicles 6:27 "Then hear Thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy servants, and of Thy People Israel, when Thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon Thy land, which Thou hast given unto Thy People for an inheritance."

II Chronicles 6:28 "If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:"

II Chronicles 6:29 "Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy People Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:"

Solomon is referring to the curses that Moses warned about in Deuteronomy 28:20-23. God warned the people that they would have pestilence, consumption, sickness, mildew, and their crops blasting in the fields when they left the commandments of God.

II Chronicles 6:30 "Then hear Thou from heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest; (for Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)"

II Chronicles 6:31 "That they may fear Thee, to walk in Thy ways, so long as they live in the land which Thou gavest unto our fathers."

This is looking back to that time, the end of the wanderings through the wilderness, when Moses drew all the people together and gave them a final warning. They were about to cross over the Jordan and take their lots in the promise land. Moses told the Israelites that if they kept the commandments of the Lord, many blessings would come their way, and each of these are promised by God to them. These blessings are recorded in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. Then Moses warned the people that if they did not follow the laws of God, and keep the commandments, many curses would come down upon them. These ways of being cursed are given in Deuteronomy 28:15-58.

Every wonder why there are so many different diseases, pestilence and things that are going wrong in neighborhood. Why the worms are getting the gardens, the wife or husband is becoming unfaithful, and so on; well it is all spelled out there. You will be blessed when you do things the Lord way, by the commandments and laws of God, and you can also expect to be cursed in all that you do and have when you go against those ways.

II Chronicles 6:32 "Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of Thy People Israel, but is come from a far country for Thy great name's sake, and Thy mighty hand, and Thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;"

II Chronicles 6:33 "Then hear Thou from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for; that all people of the earth may know Thy name, and fear Thee, as doth Thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by Thy name."

II Chronicles 6:34 "If Thy People go out to war against their enemies by the way that Thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Thee toward this city and they pray unto Thee toward this city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have build for Thy name;"

II Chronicles 6:35 "Then hear Thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause."

This again is referring to the many blessings that God will send to any person that will follow the instructions and ways that God has written in His Word. You get the blessings when you keep those commandments and ways, and you get the curses when you don't. Solomon is reminding the people of this in this dedication prayer to God, as the people are listening and open to God at this dedication meeting of the Temple.

II Chronicles 6:36 "If they sin against Thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and Thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;"

II Chronicles 6:37 "Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto Thee in the land of their captivity, saying, `We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly [lawlessly]:' "

II Chronicles 6:38 "If they return to Thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which Thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name:"

II Chronicles 6:39 "Then hear Thou from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Thy People which have sinned against Thee."

II Chronicles 6:40 "Now, my God, let, I beseech Thee, Thine eyes be open, And let Thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place."

Of course God will have His eyes open and given His ear to the prayers of repentance and help to YHVH our heavenly Father.

II Chronicles 6:41 "Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting place, Thou, and the ark of Thy strength: Let Thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, And let Thy saints rejoice in goodness."

II Chronicles 6:42 "O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine Anointed: Remember the mercies of David Thy servant." 

David and Solomon were both well versed in the promises of God, of the promise of a coming Messiah, called the Anointed one, that would come into this earth age, born of a virgin [Virgin Mary], and live the perfect Life. Jesus was that Anointed one, the Christ, meaning the Anointed one. And that he would be offered as the perfect sacrifice on the cross, just as prophesied by the prophets of God. To Solomon it was to take place far into the future, but to you and I, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ took place over two thousand years ago. The vail still existed in Solomon's day, separating the people from the Ark of the Covenant, and the mercy seat, but that vail is rent in two, and we can not go directly to the Father in repentance, in Jesus Name. The way is through the blood of Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto Him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." 

This is why all prayers must be prayed "in Jesus name", for there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. So what about other religious forms? they are all man made forms, and they are given to please man, not God. God's promise is that if you keep His commandments, and follow His Way, through Jesus Christ, then and only then will you come to the Father for forgiveness and blessings.