And Jehovah appeareth unto Solomon by night, and saith to him, 'I have heard thy prayer, and have fixed on this place to Me for a house of sacrifice.

Now the Lord came to Solomon in a vision by night, and said to him, I have given ear to your prayer, and have taken this place for myself as a house where offerings are to be made.

An house of sacrifice - This expression does not elsewhere occur. Its meaning, however, is clear. God declares that Solomon's Temple is the place whereunto all Israelites were commanded to bring their burnt-offerings and sacrifices (see Deuteronomy 12:5-6).

The Lord appeared to Solomon - This was a second manifestation; see 1-Kings 9:2-9 (note), and the notes there. The Targum says, "The Word of the Lord appeared to Solomon."

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.

GOD APPEARS TO HIM. (2-Chronicles 7:12-22)
the Lord appeared to Solomon by night--(See on 1-Kings 9:1-9). The dedication of the temple must have been an occasion of intense national interest to Solomon and his subjects. Nor was the interest merely temporary or local. The record of it is read and thought of with an interest that is undiminished by the lapse of time. The fact that this was the only temple of all nations in which the true God was worshipped imparts a moral grandeur to the scene and prepares the mind for the sublime prayer that was offered at the dedication. The pure theism of that prayer--its acknowledgment of the unity of God as well as of His moral perfections in providence and grace, came from the same divine source as the miraculous fire. They indicated sentiments and feelings of exalted and spiritual devotion, which sprang not from the unaided mind of man, but from the fountain of revelation. The reality of the divine presence was attested by the miracle, and that miracle stamped the seal of truth upon the theology of the temple-worship.