2 Chronicles 7:1-5 Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
“He is good;
his love endures forever.”
Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Can you imagine the scene here with the killing of 142,000 head of cattle, sheep, and goats? The screams, the pain, and the blood would be overwhelming.
As I said in a previous blog, if I was God and had the ability to make the rules, I would not make a rule that required this much pain and suffering to animals. I would have been happy with Cain’s sacrifice of the fruits of the soil.
The UnHoly Bible 
February 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
What about the good points of the glory of the Lord filling the temple so that the priests could not even stand? That would have been overwhelming.
“[God] is good and his love endures forever.”
February 28th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I agree with Anon. There’s so much focus on the negative, the postives are always ignored. I guess it’s easier to attack then defend 🙂
Approx. 7 billion farm animals are killed each year for the production of food. If 142,000 dead animals is that big of a deal, please contact your local politician…
In all seriousness though, these animals were killed to dedicate the temple. It was literally a once in an eon event and the celebration and worship would have been done on a scale never seen before. Sacrifices to God are a recorded as being a “sweet smelling savour”. Personally, I’d rather side with pleasing God then ensuring a goat lives a long and prosperous life.
As mentioned in the same previous blog, the shedding of blood was a fundamental requirement of the forgiveness of sins and a vital link to Jesus’ sacrifice. No shedding of blood, no remission of sins. It is what it is.
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Jason,
The purpose of this blog is to highlight scripture or points within scripture that we tend to ignore.
I’ve heard lots of sermons on the positive aspects of these verses. However, we skip over the other parts.
So yes, this is focused on the “negative” but it is by design and intentional.
Hope that makes sense.
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Cool.
I like this positive verse that doesn’t seem to garner much attention: Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”