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Context No. 2328 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 7:7-11: in context

7Moreover Solomon made the middle of the court that was before the LORD’s house holy; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat. 8So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. 9On the eighth day, they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, to Solomon, and to Israel his people. 11Thus Solomon finished the LORD’s house and the king’s house; and he successfully completed all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the LORD’s house and in his own house.

When Solomon has finished the temple and held the great feast of dedication, with a vast assembly gathered from the whole land, the celebration comes to an end. On the twenty-third day of the month, Solomon sends the people away to their homes. And the account describes how they went: joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, to Solomon, and to his people Israel. They returned to their daily lives not weary or burdened, but with hearts glad for the goodness of God.

The note worth dwelling on is how the people went home: joyful and glad of heart for the goodness of the LORD. They had gathered to worship, to dedicate the temple, to celebrate; and they went home not drained or dutiful but glad, their hearts full of joy for all the goodness God had shown. Their worship and celebration of God had filled them with gladness, and they carried that gladness back into their ordinary lives, returning to their homes joyful for the goodness of the LORD. This shows us something of what our relationship with God is meant to produce: gladness of heart. We can imagine that devotion to God is a matter of duty, solemnity, obligation, and forget that it is meant to fill us with joy. But the people went home from worship glad of heart for God's goodness; the contemplation and celebration of God's goodness produced gladness in them. Serve the LORD with gladness, the psalmist says; come before his presence with singing. God's goodness, rightly considered, fills the heart with joy, and we are meant to carry that gladness into our daily lives. This searches whether our devotion to God produces gladness or merely duty. Do we, considering God's goodness, find our hearts glad, and carry that gladness into our ordinary lives? Or is our relationship with God a matter of solemn duty without joy? The people went home from the dedication glad of heart for the goodness God had shown; and God's goodness is meant to produce such gladness in us. The joy of the LORD, Nehemiah says, is your strength; the gladness that God's goodness produces is not incidental but a strength for daily life. This calls us to a glad-hearted joy in God's goodness, carried into daily life. The people returned home from worshiping God joyful and glad of heart for all his goodness; and we too are meant to find our hearts glad in the goodness of God, and to carry that gladness into our ordinary lives, not going through our days weary and burdened but glad of heart for what God has done. Let us consider God's goodness until our hearts are glad, and carry that gladness into our daily lives, serving the LORD with the joy that his goodness rightly produces, and returning from his presence, as the people returned from the dedication, joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness he has shown.

Is my relationship with God a matter of solemn duty and obligation without joy, or does the contemplation of his goodness fill my heart with gladness, and can the people who went home from the temple's dedication joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness the LORD had shown move me to a glad-hearted joy in God's goodness, carried into my daily life, so that I serve the LORD with gladness and go through my days not weary and burdened but glad of heart for what God has done?

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