A Lofty House

The ark has been placed in the temple, the Levitical musicians have played, Yahweh’s glory has descended to fill the house, and then Solomon start talking. He declares the completion of the building (2 Chronicles 6:1–2), blesses Yahweh for fulfilling His promise (6:3–11), asks Yahweh to hear prayers (6:14–21), and then prays a series of seven petitions asking Yahweh to hear prayers offered in specific circumstances (6:22–42).

The blessing to Yahweh (6:4–11) is complexly, repetitively structured. On the surface, it has a general chiastic structure:

A. Yahweh spoke with mouth, fulfilled with hands, 6:4

B. Yahweh chose Jerusalem and David, 6:5-6

B’. Yahweh selected Solomon to build a house, 6:7-9

A’. Yahweh has fulfilled His word, 6:10-11

But this smooth outline obscures the texture of the text. It is dense with repeated formulaic phrases. David is never simply “David” but “my father David” (vv. 4, 7, 8, 10). Israel is not “Israel” or “my people” but “my people Israel” (vv. 5, 6). Yahweh is “Yahweh, Elohim of Israel” (vv. 4, 7, 10). The temple is not “house” but “house for My name” (vv. 5, 7, 8, 9, 10).

With these repetitions, the passage has a zig-zagging quality. The A section is broken up as follows:

1. Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel

2. who spoke to my father David

3. and has fulfilled it with his hands.

B is even more complex:

1. I did not choose a city

2. from the tribes of Israel

3. in which to build a house for My name.

1′. I did not chose 

2′. any man

3′. as leader over my people Israel.

1”. But I have chosen Jerusalem

3”. that my name might be there.

1”’. I have chosen David

3”’. Over my people Israel.

B’ likewise fragments into short, repetitive phrases:

1. It was in the heart

2. of David my father

3. to build a house for the name of Yahweh.

1′. Yahweh said: Because it was in your heart

3′. to build a house for my name,

1”. You did well that it was in your heart

3”. But you shall not build the house

3”’. your son will build a house for My name.

A’ returns to the “fulfillment” theme of A, but it also gathers up the contents of B/B’ to form a concluding statement:

1. Yahweh fulfilled the word He spoke:

2. I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne

3. and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh.

Verse 11 stands outside this structure. It leaves behind the repetitive phrases and returns to vocabulary that was used in chapter 5—ark and covenant. Yahweh’s promise fulfilled, His choice of Jerusalem and David, His selection of Solomon to build the house for His name—all of that is concretely captured in the fact that the ark is set in the house, the ark “in which is the covenant of Yahweh, which He cut with the sons of Israel.”