Passage Overview · Free · 2 Chronicles 6:12–21
Solomon Appeals to the Covenant-Keeping God
2 Chronicles 6:12–21 forms the movement “Solomon Appeals to the Covenant-Keeping God.” Solomon kneels before the altar with his hands spread toward heaven. He praises the incomparable God who keeps covenant and mercy, asks that the promise to David continue, and immediately recognizes that heaven itself cannot contain God. His first petition is that God will hear prayers directed toward the temple and forgive.
In the book’s larger argument, Solomon’s dedication prayer interprets the temple as a place toward which a sinful people may pray to the God who hears from heaven, including the foreigner.