Text Patterns in 2 Chronicles 7

The Lord’s response to Solomon’s prayer, and to Israel’s song and sacrifice, is laid out in an interlocking series of chiasms (2 Chronicles 7:12–22). After an introductory notice that Yahweh appeared to Solomon by night (v. 12), the first, affirmative response is a pledge of God’s presence and attention:

A. I have heard prayer and chosen this place, 7:12b

B. If I send shut heaven, command locust, send pestilence, 7:13

C. and My people humble themselves, pray, seek, turn, 7:14a

B’. I will hear, forgive, heal, 7:14b

A’. My eyes are open and ears attentive to the chosen place, 7:15-16

B and B’ both describe the Lord’s own action, and each consists of a triad—a threefold judgment followed by a threefold favor. At the center, the Lord calls His people to a fourfold response.

The final verses of the section (vv. 15–16) are themselves chiastically patterned: 

A. My eyes are open and ears attentive 

B. to the prayers in this place.

C. For I have chosen and consecrated this house

B’. that My name may be there

A’. and My eyes and heart will be there.

A and A’ both refer to Yahweh’s eyes, but there is a progression from ears to heart. This follows what John Breck has called the “what’s more” structure of chiasm: My eyes and years will be attentive, and what’s more, I will place my heart there. There is a similar progression from B to B’, from Yahweh’s promise to hear prayers to (what’s more) His pledge to place His name in the house. The house is the place of Yahweh’s eyes, ears, name, and heart because He has chosen it. 

Verse 17 marks a disjunction in the Lord’s speech, as He turns attention to Solomon himself: “and as for you.” Verses 17–18 are a conditional promise of a perpetual dynasty: If Solomon walks before Yahweh as David did, his throne will be established and he will never lack an heir. Verses 19–22 are a chiastically-arranged threat:

A. If you turn, forsake statutes, go, serve, worship idols, 7:19

B. I will uproot you from land, 7:20a

C. I will cast this house from my sight, 7:20b

D. I will make it a proverb and byword, 7:20c

C’. When people will ask about this house, 7:21a

B’. Why did Yah do this to this land and house? 7:21b

A’ Because they forsook, adopted, worshiped, served idols, 7:22

A and A’ share several words (forsake, worship, serve) and both are concerned with idolatry. B and B’ refer to the land that will be scoured, while C and C’ focus on the house. At the center is the threat that the Lord will turn Israel’s history into a cautionary tale, and the temple into a warning against idolatry. The central threat is that Israel will lose the reputation of the people chosen by Yahweh and gain the reputation of a people who forsook Him.