2 Chronicles 7:13

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) If I shut up heaven that there be no rain.—Deuteronomy 11:17; 2Chronicles 6:26.

If.—Hēn, as in Jeremiah 3:1; Isaiah 54:15.

The locusts.—Hāgāb, a winged and edible species (Leviticus 11:22). In 2Chronicles 6:28, two other kinds, the ’arbeh and hāsîl, were mentioned.

If I send pestilence.—2Chronicles 6:28; 1 Chronicles 21

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 7:13. If I command the locusts to devour the land — That is, use my authority and power over them to cause them to do so. A metaphor elsewhere used in reference to irrational animals, as 1 Kings 17:4, Amos 9:3, which are not properly capable of receiving a command, or of paying obedience to it. Other national judgments are here supposed, such as famine, war, and the ravages of savage beasts.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:1-22 God's answer to Solomon's prayer. - God gave a gracious answer to Solomon's prayer. The mercies of God to sinners are made known in a manner well suited to impress all who receive them, with his majesty and holiness. The people worshipped and praised God. When he manifests himself as a consuming Fire to sinners, his people can rejoice in him as their Light. Nay, they had reason to say, that God was good in this. It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, but the sacrifice in our stead, for which we should be very thankful. And whoever beholds with true faith, the Saviour agonizing and dying for man's sin, will, by that view, find his godly sorrow enlarged, his hatred of sin increased, his soul made more watchful, and his life more holy. Solomon prosperously effected all he designed, for adorning both God's house and his own. Those who begin with the service of God, are likely to go on successfully in their own affairs. It was Solomon's praise, that what he undertook, he went through with; it was by the grace of God that he prospered in it. Let us then stand in awe, and sin not. Let us fear the Lord's displeasure, hope in his mercy, and walk in his commandments.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An house of sacrifice - This expression does not elsewhere occur. Its meaning, however, is clear. God declares that Solomon's Temple is the place whereunto all Israelites were commanded to bring their burnt-offerings and sacrifices (see Deuteronomy 12:5-6).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 7:12-22. God Appears to Him.

12. the Lord appeared to Solomon by night—(See on [424]1Ki 9:1-9). The dedication of the temple must have been an occasion of intense national interest to Solomon and his subjects. Nor was the interest merely temporary or local. The record of it is read and thought of with an interest that is undiminished by the lapse of time. The fact that this was the only temple of all nations in which the true God was worshipped imparts a moral grandeur to the scene and prepares the mind for the sublime prayer that was offered at the dedication. The pure theism of that prayer—its acknowledgment of the unity of God as well as of His moral perfections in providence and grace, came from the same divine source as the miraculous fire. They indicated sentiments and feelings of exalted and spiritual devotion, which sprang not from the unaided mind of man, but from the fountain of revelation. The reality of the divine presence was attested by the miracle, and that miracle stamped the seal of truth upon the theology of the temple-worship.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

If I command the locusts, i.e. use my authority and power over them to cause them to do so. A metaphor elsewhere used in reference to unreasonable creatures, as 1 Kings 17:4 Amos 9:3, who are not properly capable of a command, or of obedience.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night,.... From hence, to the end of the chapter, much the same things are related as in 1 Kings 9:2. See Gill on 1 Kings 9:2, 1 Kings 9:3, 1 Kings 9:4, 1 Kings 9:5, 1 Kings 9:6, 1 Kings 9:7, 1 Kings 9:8, 1 Kings 9:9, excepting 2 Chronicles 7:13 which contain an answer to the particular requests made by Solomon in case of a famine or pestilence, that when the people of Israel should humble themselves in prayer and supplication, the Lord would be attentive to them, and forgive them, 2 Chronicles 6:26 and which is given as a specimen, and as encouragement to expect the same treatment in all other cases mentioned in Solomon's prayer, they so behaving.

Geneva Study Bible

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. to devour the land] LXX. to devour the trees; cp. Exodus 10:15; Joel 1:6-7.

13–15. These vv. have no parallel in 1 Kings.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 13-15. - These three verses (the counterparts of 2 Chronicles 6:26, 28, 40) are not in the parallel. Although we can scarcely trace the principle of their selection from the seven parts of the prayer, they would seem to have been selected from the original work, as samples of a reply which presumably embraced reference to all the seven. When, in ver. 14, it is said, I will heal their land, the telling expression, according to the Authorized Version, must be understood to refer to the removing of drought by rain. On the other hand, the Authorized Version is, in ver. 15, unfortunate in the unnecessary and misleading insertion of the italics found there, and in the use of the preposition "in" for of, the simple case construct, which is manifestly what is wanted and intended. It was not absolutely essential that prayer should be made in the place. How many references there are to prayer being made from a distance toward the place! 2 Chronicles 7:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Lord's answer to Solomon's dedicatory prayer. Cf. 1 Kings 9:1-9. The general contents, and the order of the thoughts in the divine answer in the two texts, agree, but in the Chronicle individual thoughts are further expounded than in the book of Kings, and expressions are here and there made clear. The second clause of 2 Chronicles 7:11 is an instance of this, where "and all the desire of Solomon, which he was pleased to do," is represented by "and all that came into Solomon's heart, to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house, he prosperously effected." Everything else is explained in the Com. on 1 Kings 9.