There is No God like You

March 11, 2018 Background Scripture: 2 Chronicles 6:1 – 21 Lesson Passage: 2 Chronicles 6:12 – 21 This lesson examines the prayer that King Solomon prayed in dedicating the newly completed temple in Jerusalem. At King David’s request, his son, Solomon, was anointed by the priest, Zadok, and the prophet, Nathan, to be the heir to the throne that governed Israel. On his death bed, David made two requests of Solomon to be completed after he had been enthroned over Israel. One request was for Solomon to execute judgment concerning David’s former captain of the military, Joab. Joab was ruthless, and David knew it. In fact, David took advantage of it when he needed to. His request to Solomon was to not allow Joab to die of old age. David’s second request was for Solomon to build a temple in Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant. David made provisions by acquiring all of the materials needed but God told David that he could not build it because he was a man of war and because of the blood that was on his hands. David gave the plans to Solomon for the construction. The temple was to be the most magnificent in the known world. The temple became known as one of the great wonders of the world and travelers from afar came just to see it. Its construction took seven and a half years to complete and no expense was spared. The formal dedication of the temple would not spare any expense either. Israel’s God was a great God; and the temple and its dedication were designed to reflect that greatness. During the dedication, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep were offered to God as burnt sacrifices. Today’s lesson passage is part of the dedicatory prayer that Solomon prayed before the congregation of Israel. “There is no god like You” was the opening statement Solomon made in the prayer after addressing the Lord as the God of Israel. Solomon prayed about God keeping promises and covenants that He made with His servants. Solomon asked for the confirmation of God’s words that were spoken to his father, David: that there would not fail to be a descendant of David’s to sit on the throne of Israel. Solomon acknowledged that man’s finite work is not adequate to contain an infinite God. In spite of the temple’s finite limitations, Solomon requested that God bestow an honor upon the temple. He requested that God give attention to prayers offered in the temple, prayers offered by His servants who are away but would pray facing the temple, and even prayers offered by His servants who would be in exile in a foreign land who prayed facing in the direction of the temple. (Daniel experienced a fulfillment of this while in exile in Babylon. He prayed at a window looking towards Jerusalem.) Solomon prayed that all that had been done, in an attempt to acknowledge God’s greatness, would be accepted by God. Although the temple could not contain the vastness of God, Solomon’s prayer was that God would honor the temple by placing His name there. No other name would suffice for the temple; seeing that “There is no god like You.” Robert C. Hudson February 21, 2017