Context No. 3164 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 6:34-42: in context

34“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; 35then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 36“If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near; 37yet if they come to their senses in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;’ 38if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; 39then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40“Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 41“Now therefore arise, LORD God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness. 42“LORD God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”

As Solomon dedicates the temple, he looks ahead, past its glory, to the day his people will fail. If they sin, and are carried into captivity, yet come to their senses in exile and turn back, saying, we have sinned, we have done wickedly, and return to you with all their heart, then, he prays, hear from heaven and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

At the very height of the temple's glory, Solomon anticipates the future failure and exile of his people, and builds into his prayer a plea for mercy on the repentant. If they turn back with all their heart, then hear and forgive. Even at the dedication, he knows they will sin, for there is no one who does not sin, and he asks God to receive them whenever they turn. It is a prayer soaked in realism about human failure and hope in God's mercy. The door of repentance is left open in advance, before the sin, before the exile: whenever they turn, God will hear.

Do I trust that whenever I turn back to God with all my heart, even from far off, he hears from heaven and forgives?

Sources

2 Chronicles 6:39: "Then hear from heaven... and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you."
2 Chronicles 6:36: "If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn't sin)."
1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins."