When Solomon had finished the house of the LORD and the royal palace, successfully carrying out all that was in his heart to do for the house of the LORD and for his own palace, the LORD appeared to him at night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people, and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’ But if you turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' And others will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, He has brought all this disaster upon them.'"
and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,
Significance
Leviticus 26:41 describes the condition for restoration: "when their uncircumcised hearts (לְבָבָם הֶעָרֵל, levavam he'arel) are humbled and they accept the punishment for their iniquity." 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 restates this restoration formula in God's response to Solomon at the temple dedication: "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves (וְיִכָּנְעוּ, veyikkane'u), and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." Both texts prescribe humbling as the prerequisite for divine restoration after judgment. The Chronicler adapts the Levitical framework to the temple context, adding the specific elements of prayer, seeking God's face, and turning from wickedness, while preserving the core dynamic of humiliation leading to healing.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Echo
Connection Method(s)
Longitudinal Theme
Suggest a correction or idea
Spotted a broken link, a typo, a wrong reference — or have an idea that would help? Tell us. Keeping the web of Scripture accurate is a shared work.
