(13) If I shut up heaven that there be no rain.--Deuteronomy 11:17; 2Chronicles 6:26.

If.--H?n, as in Jeremiah 3:1; Isaiah 54:15.

The locusts.--H?g?b, a winged and edible species (Leviticus 11:22). In 2Chronicles 6:28, two other kinds, the 'arbeh and h?sil, were mentioned.

If I send pestilence.--2Chronicles 6:28; 1 Chronicles 21

Verses 13-15. - These three verses (the counterparts of 2 Chronicles 6:26, 28, 40) are not in the parallel. Although we can scarcely trace the principle of their selection from the seven parts of the prayer, they would seem to have been selected from the original work, as samples of a reply which presumably embraced reference to all the seven. When, in ver. 14, it is said, I will heal their land, the telling expression, according to the Authorized Version, must be understood to refer to the removing of drought by rain. On the other hand, the Authorized Version is, in ver. 15, unfortunate in the unnecessary and misleading insertion of the italics found there, and in the use of the preposition "in" for of, the simple case construct, which is manifestly what is wanted and intended. It was not absolutely essential that prayer should be made in the place. How many references there are to prayer being made from a distance toward the place!

7:1-22 God's answer to Solomon's prayer. - God gave a gracious answer to Solomon's prayer. The mercies of God to sinners are made known in a manner well suited to impress all who receive them, with his majesty and holiness. The people worshipped and praised God. When he manifests himself as a consuming Fire to sinners, his people can rejoice in him as their Light. Nay, they had reason to say, that God was good in this. It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, but the sacrifice in our stead, for which we should be very thankful. And whoever beholds with true faith, the Saviour agonizing and dying for man's sin, will, by that view, find his godly sorrow enlarged, his hatred of sin increased, his soul made more watchful, and his life more holy. Solomon prosperously effected all he designed, for adorning both God's house and his own. Those who begin with the service of God, are likely to go on successfully in their own affairs. It was Solomon's praise, that what he undertook, he went through with; it was by the grace of God that he prospered in it. Let us then stand in awe, and sin not. Let us fear the Lord's displeasure, hope in his mercy, and walk in his commandments.And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night,.... From hence, to the end of the chapter, much the same things are related as in 1 Kings 9:2. See Gill on 1 Kings 9:2, 1 Kings 9:3, 1 Kings 9:4, 1 Kings 9:5, 1 Kings 9:6, 1 Kings 9:7, 1 Kings 9:8, 1 Kings 9:9, excepting 2 Chronicles 7:13 which contain an answer to the particular requests made by Solomon in case of a famine or pestilence, that when the people of Israel should humble themselves in prayer and supplication, the Lord would be attentive to them, and forgive them, 2 Chronicles 6:26 and which is given as a specimen, and as encouragement to expect the same treatment in all other cases mentioned in Solomon's prayer, they so behaving.