Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 7:12-22
That God accepted Solomon's prayer appeared by the fire from heaven. But a prayer may be accepted and yet not answered in the letter of it; and therefore God appeared to him in the night, as he did once before (2 Chron. 1:7), and after a day of sacrifice too, as then, and gave him a peculiar answer to his prayer. We had the substance of it before, 1 Kgs. 9:2-9. I. He promised to own this house for a house of sacrifice to Israel and a house of prayer for all people (Isa. 56:7): My name shall be... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 7:1-11
Here is, I. The gracious answer which God immediately made to Solomon's prayer: The fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, 2 Chron. 7:1. In this way God testified his acceptance of Moses (Lev. 9:24), of Gideon (Jdg. 6:21), of David (1 Chron. 21:26), of Elijah (1 Kgs. 18:38); and, in general, to accept the burnt-sacrifice is, in the Hebrew phrase, to turn it to ashes, Ps. 20:3. The fire came down here, not upon the killing of the sacrifices, but the praying of the prayer. 1.... read more