2 Chronicles 1:8

And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David.—Literally, Thou, thou hast done great kindness with David. (The regular phrase; comp. Luke 1:72.) From this point the relation here is briefer on the whole than that of Kings. The greater part of the long verse (1Kings 3:6) is omitted, and the variations between the two texts become numerous, though the general sense is the same in each.

And hast made me to reign in his stead.—Comp. 1Kings 3:7; and the similar language of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria (B.C. 681-668): “Ever since Asshur, Samas, Bel, Nebo . . . made me, Esarhaddon, sit securely on the throne of my father” (Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, 3:15, Colossians 2).

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 1:8. And hast made me to reign — Give me the spirit of my father David, that Israel may not suffer by the change. The eminence of those that went before us, and the obligation that lies upon us to keep and carry on the good work they were engaged in, should quicken our prayers for wisdom and grace, that we may do the work of God in our day as faithfully as they did in theirs.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-17 Solomon's choice of wisdom, His strength and wealth. - SOLOMON began his reign with a pious, public visit to God's altar. Those that pursue present things most eagerly, are likely to be disappointed; while those that refer themselves to the providence of God, if they have not the most, have the most comfort. Those that make this world their end, come short of the other, and are disappointed in this also; but those that make the other world their end, shall not only obtain that, and full satisfaction in it, but shall have as much of this world as is good for them, in their way. Let us then be contented, without those great things which men generally covet, but which commonly prove fatal snares to the soul.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The verbal differences between this passage and the corresponding one of Kings 1 Kings 3:5-14 are very considerable, and indicate the general truth that the object of the sacred historians is to give a true account of the real bearing of what was said: not ordinarily to furnish us with all or the exact words that were uttered. The most important point omitted in Chronicles, and supplied by Kings, is the conditional promise of long life made to Solomon 1 Kings 3:14; while the chief point absent from Kings, and recorded by our author, is the solemn appeal made by Solomon to the promise of God to David his father 2 Chronicles 1:9, which he now called upon God to "establish," or to perform.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 1:7-13. His Choice of Wisdom Is Blessed by God.

7. In that night did God appear unto Solomon—(See on [406]1Ki 3:5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

In that night did God appear unto Solomon,.... From hence to the end of 2 Chronicles 1:12 it is the same with 1 Kings 3:5. See Gill on 1 Kings 3:5, 1 Kings 3:6, 1 Kings 3:7, 1 Kings 3:8, 1 Kings 3:9, 1 Kings 3:10, 1 Kings 3:11, 1 Kings 3:12, 1 Kings 3:13, 1 Kings 3:14, 1 Kings 3:15

Geneva Study Bible

And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. mercy] R.V. kindness (as 1 Kings 3:6). God shewed David not merely compassion, but also bounty.

made me to reign] R.V. made me king.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father. These also are the exact words found in the parallel place, but they omit the words, "thy servant," before "David," found there. And hast made me to reign in his stead. This concise expression takes the place of two equivalent expressions, found at the end of the sixth and beginning of the seventh verses in the parallel passage, the former of which passages also describes it as "this great kindness," i.e. kindness on the part of God - a description very much in harmony with David's own grateful acknowledgment to God (1 Kings 1:48). Up to this point our present account differs from its parallel in cutting out Solomon's eulogy of his father ("According as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee"), and his humbler disparagement of himself ("And I, a little child, know not how to go out or come in"). 2 Chronicles 1:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The theophany, cf. 1 Kings 3:5-15. In that night, i.e., on the night succeeding the day of the sacrifice. The appearance of God by night points to a dream, and in 1 Kings 3:5-15 we are expressly informed that He appeared in a vision. Solomon's address to God, 2 Chronicles 1:8-10, is in 1 Kings 3:6-10 given more at length. The mode of expression brings to mind 1 Chronicles 17:23, and recurs in 2 Chronicles 6:17; 1 Kings 8:26. מדּע, with Pathach in the second syllable, elsewhere מדּע (2 Chronicles 1:11, 2 Chronicles 1:12), occurs elsewhere only in Daniel 1:4, Daniel 1:17; Ecclesiastes 10:20.