(20) Then will I pluck them up by the roots--i.e., your children (see last verse). (Comp. Deuteronomy 29:27.) Vulg. rightly, "evellam vos de terra mea." The opposite idea is that of planting a nation in a land (Jeremiah 24:6). Kings, "Then will I cut off Israel from upon the face of the land." The chronicler has softened the severity of the expression, cut off Israel.

Will I cast out of my sight.--Vulg. more literally, "projiciam a facie mea." The exact phrase occurs nowhere else; but comp. Psalm 51:13, which is very similar; also Psalm 102:11. Instead of 'ashlik, "I will cast," Kings has 'ashallah, "I will send," i.e., throw (Amos 2:5).

And will make it.--A softening down of, and Israel shall become (Kings). Comp. Deuteronomy 28:37. So Syriac.

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.