Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon blesses the people and gives thanks to God, because He fulfilled in him the promises made to David about the building of the temple, and he beseeches Him to hear the prayers of those who pray in the temple.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 6:1-42
1. Then Solomon said: The Lord promised that He would dwell in darkness. 2. But I have built a house to His name, that He might dwell there forever. 3. And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole multitude of Israel (for all the people stood attentive) and said: 4. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled in deed what He spoke to David my father, saying: 5. From the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel, for a house to be built in it to My name; nor did I choose any other man, to be the ruler of My people Israel; 6. but I chose Jerusalem, that My name might be therein, and I chose David, to set him over My people Israel. 7. And when it was the will of David my father to build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel, 8. the Lord said to him: Since it was your will to build a house to My name, you have done well indeed in having such a will; 9. but you shall not build the house; rather your son, who shall come forth from your loins, he shall build a house to My name. 10. The Lord therefore has fulfilled His word, which He had spoken; and I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke; and I have built a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel. 11. And I have placed in it the Ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with the children of Israel. 12. He stood therefore before the altar of the Lord, in the presence of all the multitude of Israel, and stretched out his hands. 13. For Solomon had made a bronze platform, and had set it in the midst of the great hall, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, and three cubits high; and he stood upon it, and then kneeling down in the presence of all the multitude of Israel, and lifting up his hands toward heaven, 14. he said: O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth; who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants, who walk before You with their whole heart. 15. who has fulfilled to Your servant David my father all that You had spoken to him; and what You promised with Your mouth, You have accomplished in deed, as the present time proves. 16. Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill to Your servant my father David all that You spoke, saying: There shall not fail you a man before Me, to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that your sons keep their ways, and walk in My law, as you also have walked before Me. 17. And now, O Lord God of Israel, let Your word be confirmed, which You spoke to Your servant David. 18. Is it then credible that God should dwell with men upon the earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built? 19. But it was made only for this, that You may regard the prayer of Your servant, and his supplication, O Lord my God, and hear the prayers which Your servant pours forth before You; 20. that You may open Your eyes upon this house day and night, upon the place in which You promised that Your name should be invoked, 21. and that You would hear the prayer which Your servant prays therein; and hear the prayers of Your servant and of Your people Israel. Whoever shall pray in this place, hear from Your dwelling place, that is, from heaven, and show mercy. 22. If any man shall sin against his neighbor, and comes ready to swear against him, and binds himself with a curse before the altar in this house, 23. hear from heaven, and do justice to Your servants, so as to requite the wicked by making his way fall upon his own head, and to avenge the just, rewarding him according to his justice. 24. If Your people Israel shall be overcome by their enemies (for they will sin against You) and being converted shall do penance, and shall call upon Your name, and pray in this place, 25. hear from heaven, and be merciful to the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back into the land which You gave to them and to their fathers. 26. If the heavens be shut up, and there be no rain because of the sins of the people, and they shall pray in this place, and confess to Your name, and be converted from their sins when You have afflicted them, 27. hear from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the sins of Your servants and of Your people Israel, and teach them the good way in which they should walk; and give rain to the land which You have given to Your people to possess. 28. If a famine arise in the land, and pestilence, blight, and mildew, and locust, and caterpillar, and if enemies, having wasted the regions, shall besiege the gates of the city, and every plague and infirmity press upon them: 29. if any of Your people Israel shall make supplication, knowing his own plague and infirmity, and shall spread out his hands in this house, 30. hear from heaven, from Your lofty dwelling place, and be merciful, and render to each one according to his ways, which You know him to have in his heart (for You alone know the hearts of the children of men): 31. that they may fear You, and walk in Your ways all the days that they live upon the face of the earth which You gave to our fathers. 32. And the foreigner also, who is not of Your people Israel, if he shall come from a far country for Your great name's sake, and for Your strong hand, and Your outstretched arm, and shall worship in this place, 33. hear from heaven, Your most firm dwelling place, and do all for which that stranger shall call upon You, that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, and fear You as Your people Israel does, and may know that Your name is invoked upon this house which I have built. 34. If Your people shall go out to war against their enemies by the way in which You shall send them, and shall worship You toward the way in which this city is, which You have chosen, and the house which I have built to Your name: 35. hear from heaven their prayers and supplication, and avenge them. 36. But if they shall sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them, and deliver them to their enemies, and they carry them away captive to a land far off, or one that is near, 37. and if they are converted in their heart, in the land to which they have been led captive, and do penance, and pray to You in the land of their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have acted unjustly; 38. and they return to You with their whole heart and their whole soul, in the land of their captivity to which they have been led, and worship You toward the way of their land which You gave to their fathers, and the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built to Your name: 39. hear from heaven, that is, from Your firm dwelling place, their prayers, and execute judgment, and forgive Your people, though they be sinners: 40. for You are my God; let Your eyes, I beseech You, be open, and Your ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 41. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into Your resting place, You and the Ark of Your strength; let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in good things. 42. O Lord God, turn not away the face of Your anointed; remember the mercies of David Your servant.
I have explained this chapter in 3 Kings VIII, 12.
Verse 13: The Bronze Platform
13. SOLOMON HAD MADE A BRONZE PLATFORM, in the manner of a raised podium, on which, sitting and teaching, or kneeling and praying, he could be heard by all the surrounding people. Whence he adds: IN THE MIDST OF THE GREAT HALL — that is, in the midst of the court of the people, as I said in chapter IV, 9.
Verse 28: Blight and Mildew
28. BLIGHT AND MILDEW — these are diseases of crops, when they contract a rust and as it were a jaundice, a jaundice-like color, like that of bronze and gold, so that they wither and are consumed.
Verse 41: Arise, O Lord, into Your Resting Place
41. ARISE, O LORD, INTO YOUR RESTING PLACE — that in this temple, which You commanded me to build, You may rest with us and among us, and dwell continually. The resting place of God, therefore, is the temple; for there He is worshipped with prayers, vows, sacrifices, etc.
Verse 42: Turn Not Away the Face of Your Anointed
42. TURN NOT AWAY THE FACE OF YOUR ANOINTED — that is, of me myself, who have been made by You the anointed one, that is, anointed as king. Do not reject me, whom You have made king, as I pray to You with suppliant face turned intently toward heaven; do not offend me and my face, and put me to shame.