II CHRONICLES CHAPTER 1 - 7

2 CHRONICLES 1

1 And Solomon who’s David’s son
Was strengthened in his kingdom won,
And YHWH his Ælohim was with
Him and raised his fame beyond myth.
2 It happened then Solomon spoke
Unto all Israel, to the folk
Of captains of thousands as well
As of hundreds of Israel,
And to the judges and to each
Governor of all Israel’s reach,
The chief of the fathers to preach.
3 So Solomon and all the folk
Along with him went up to stoke
The high place there in Gibeon,
For there was the congregation
Tent of Ælohim Moses slave
Of YHWH had made in desert wave.
4 But the ark of Ælohim had
David brought up from the town glad
Of Kirjathjearim to the place
That David had prepared with grace,
For he had pitched a tent for it
In Jerusalem’s town to sit.
5 The brass altar that Bezaleel
The son of Uri and appeal
Who was the son of Hur, had made,
He put there before the tent stayed
Of YHWH, where king and the folk prayed.
6 And Solomon ascended to
The brass altar and before YHWH,
That was at the folk’s tent in view,
And offered a thousand, not few,
Of burnt offerings up from that pew.
7 That night did Ælohim appear
To Solomon, said not to fear,
“Ask what I’ll give you, be a dear.”

The tent that Moses made in wilderness
So long before was still at the address
In Gibeon. So many years had torn
Its coverings and usage had outworn
Its sockets and bolts and left it forlorn.
Only the ark had been brought down to bless
Jerusalem and despite Michal’s scorn.
Still that tent could cause divine dreams’ caress.
Would You appear, Beloved, to me if I
Brought in a thousand animals to die?
Three wishes is a thing in fairy-tale,
The right of cobbler’s daughter, knight in mail.
My tattered tent looks out upon the breeze
And only You can tell me what it sees.

8 And Solomon told Ælohim,
“You showed great mercy and esteem
To my dad David, and have made
Me to reign and rule where he stayed.
9 “So now, O YHWH Ælohim, let
Your promise to David my dad
Come true, for You have made me get
To be king over the folk glad
And numbered like the dust of earth
For multitude as well as worth.
10 “Give me now wisdom, knowledge sum
That I may go out and may come
In before this nation, for who
Can judge this great people of YHWH?”
11 And Ælohim told Solomon,
“Because this was in your heart done,
And you’ve not asked for riches, wealth
Or honour, nor the death in stealth
Of your foes, nor yet asked long life,
But have asked wisdom in the strife
And knowledge for yourself, so you
May judge My people and be true
To royal task appointed you,
12 “Wisdom and knowledge shall be given
To you, and I’ll give you to live in
Riches and wealth and honour too
Such as none of the kings in view
Have had before you, neither shall
Come after such seigneurial.”
13 Then Solomon came to the high
Place from Gibeon by the by
Jerusalem, and from before
The tabernacle of the store
And reigned over Israel once more.
14 Solomon gathered chariots and
Horsemen, and he had in the land
A thousand and four hundred grand
Chariots and twelve thousand to stand
As horsemen, which he quartered in
The chariot cities and in bin
With the king at Jerusalem.
15 And the king made silver in hem
And gold at Jerusalem like
Stone and cedar trees he made like
Sycamore trees that in the vale
Stand for abundance and in tale.
16 And Solomon had horses brought
Up from Egypt, and linen wrought,
The king’s merchants received the bought
Linen yarn to weave as was taught.
17 And they fetched up and brought forth out
Of Egypt a chariot stout
For six hundred shekels in clout
Of silver, and a horse at price
Of one hundred and fifty nice,
And so had all the kings Hittites,
The kings of Syria for rights.

King Solomon invented the arms trade
And made his wealth so dazzling on parade
Through middlemen between the factories run
By the Egyptians to the men for fun
Who needed every sort of arm and gun
Whether in Syria or in the land
That spread out North in violence and sand.
He could have made a mint if he had brought
His wares as far as the American
Cities and stirred up strife there too and sought
Markets beyond the seas. But he was not
Ambitious. No, Solomon found the way
Sufficient to his happiness and play.
Beloved, I’ll talk to You another day.

2 CHRONICLES 2

1 Solomon decided to build
A temple for YHWH’s name fulfilled
And a house for his kingdom’s guild.
2 Appointed Solomon seventy
Thousand working men to carry
And eighty thousand to cut down
Trees in the mountain for the town,
And three thousand six hundred men
For management in road and glen.

Perhaps the cutters on the mountain cut
Stone and not trees, but be that which or what
I find it interesting that Solomon
Appointed management when he was done
And not merely workers to do the tasks.
Unlike the academic world that asks
More management than teachers, he chose some,
As few as needed when the workers come.
I wonder if he paid the ruling class
Ten times as much as workers at the pass.
In kingly days perhaps the hierarchy
Was not so vast as in the modern spree
Where difference in wealth is there to see,
Where workers, though not poor, are called rag-ass.

3 Solomon sent to Huram king
Of Tyre saying “Now according
To how you dealt with David dad
Of mine, and sent him cedars clad
To build him a house where to live,
Just so deal with me too and give.
4 “See now, I’m building a house to
The name of my Ælohim YHWH
Dedicated to Him in view
Of burning to Him sweet incense,
And for the showbread’s permanence,
And for burnt offerings morn and eve,
On the Sabbaths, month’s first days’ leave,
And on the solemn feasts of YHWH
Our Ælohim. This ever do
For Israel and so come true.
5 “And the house that I build is great,
For great’s our Ælohim in state
Beyond all exalted by fate.
6 “But who can build a house for Him,
Since heaven of heaven and heavens are dim
And unable to carry Him?
Who am I then that I should build
A house which by Him may be filled?
I merely bring burnt offerings late.

No room in all the universe can hold
Your image or reality enfold.
This truth is fixed in mind of Solomon
As brightly and as sure as shines the sun,
And he repeats it to both king and folk
In every public speech he came and spoke.
I see the clouds immensely cover all
The sky with swift retreat upon the hall
Of space filled with the filaments of what
The universe is made of and unshut.
But all the grandeur does not give You place,
And nothing can appear before Your face.
Beloved, come to find dwelling place and room
Within my heart until I fill my tomb.

7 “So send me a man good in gold
And working silver and the cold
Brass and iron and in purple stuff,
And crimson and in blue not rough,
With skill in detailed work along
With the skilled men gathered and strong
In Judah and Jerusalem,
Whom David my dad took in hem.
8 “Send me also cedar trees and
Fir trees and algum trees that stand
In Lebanon, because I know
Your servants have the skill to go
And cut the timber in the snow
Of Lebanon, and see, my workers
Will be with your workers not shirkers.

Some say that algum trees are sandalwood,
And others refrain from comments they could,
Since meanings of words change over the years
And centuries that a language appears.
Some say that barosh does not mean the fir,
But rather, at least here, the juniper.
But cypress can be read from dictionary
And heard on tongue of every Tom and Jerry.
Beloved, the argument of names of trees
Ought to resolve in what Adam may please
Who wanders through the gardens of Your making
Seeing the leaves and fruit on branches shaking.
I too seek out the taste and holy smell
Of pines and firs, the two trees I know well.

9 “Even to fit me lots of wood
For the house I build really should
Be wonderfully great if it could.
10 “See, I’ll give your servants who cut
The timber twenty thousand butt
Measures of winnowed wheat as well
As twenty thousand barley spell,
Twenty thousand barrels of wine,
And as much filled with oil and fine.”

I know there were no barrels in the days
When Solomon requested by his praise
The wealth of Lebanon and promised fit
Wages for those who cut and carried it.
In vessels ceramic and skin were brought
The oils and wines that king Hiram had sought
To plenish palace and the market place
Beside the sparkling see for wealth and grace.
Beloved, I seek Your wages in repair,
The oil and wine I sip upon the air,
The bread winnowed from dusty book and field
To nourish body and spirit in yield.
In my return I build for You a place
In my praises’ and cantillations’ race.

11 Then Huram king of Tyre replied
In writing, which he sent beside
Solomon, “Because YHWH was pleased
With His people, that’s why He eased
Them by making of you their king.”
12 “Furthermore Huram said a thing,
“Blessed be YHWH Israel’s Ælohim
Who made the skies and earth to beam,
Who gave to king David a son
So wise that he knew how to run
With prudence and with understanding,
To build a house for YHWH commanding,
As well as for kingdom’s demanding.
13 “And now I’ve sent a skilful man,
One full of knowledge and of plan,
Who belonged to Huram, dad’s man,
14 “The son of a daughter of Dan,
And his father’s a man of Tyre,
Skilful to work in gold in hire,
And silver, brass, in iron, in stone,
In timber, purple, blue condone,
And in fine linen, crimson red,
Also to ingrave flower in head,
Accomplishing every device
Set to him as a task surplice,
With your men skilful and with those
My lord David your father chose.
15 “So now then send the wheat as well
As barley, oil, grape juice to smell
That you, sir, spoke about and send
To the servants as you intend.
16 “And we’ll cut wood from Lebanon,
As much as you shall need anon,
And we shall bring it to you by
Sea to Joppa, and you will try
To transport to Jerusalem.”
17 And Solomon counted the strangers
All that were in Israel’s lands’ dangers,
The way David his father had
Counted them, and they found they had
A hundred fifty-three thousand
And six hundred of them on hand.
18 He set seventy thousand of them
To bear the burdens, and to hew
In the hills eighty thousand crew,
And three thousand and six hundred
Administrators over head
To set the folk to work instead.

Here’s a solution for the frantic state
That finds its borders filled with those of late
Who had no passport nor visa to stay
In the land and to work there for their pay,
And yet in hiding or quite openly
Fulfil the jobs that they find low and free.
Those who would follow Scripture in the call
Rather than any sense of justice pall
Will take the foreigners and make them work
At all the hardest jobs, and not to shirk
Set over them their own with whip and rule
To chastize every slow or lazy fool.
Beloved, Your word is limited, I trow,
To that spoken on Sinai anyhow.

2 CHRONICLES 3

1Then Solomon began to build
The house of YHWH both floored and silled
Jerusalem in Mount Moriah,
Where had appeared to David friar
His dad, in the place David made
In the threshingfloor and the glade
Of Ornan of Jebusite grade.
2 And he began to build upon
The second of second month’s dawn
In the fourth year of his reign drawn.
3 These are how Solomon was taught
For building Ælohim’s house wrought.
The arm-lengths after the first measure
Were sixty arm-lengths and the treasure
Of the width were twenty as sought.
4 The porch that was set at the front
Was in proportion to the blunt
Width of the house, arm-lengths to twenty,
And the height one hundred and twenty,
He gilded inside with pure gold.
5 The ceiling of the large hall told
He set with fir wood, which he covered
With fine gold and set on it hovered
Palms and chains in relief and bold.
6 He decorated the house with
Jewels of beauty like a myth,
And the gold was the gold that came
From Parvaim and with Parvaim’s fame.
7 He also overlaid the place,
Its beams and posts and every trace
Of walls and doors with gold and cut
Cherubim in the walls to shut.

Beloved, I build with gold and stone and wood
Within my inner chamber as I should
A temple to Your glory and Your fame:
And in that temple I repeat Your name.
With palm and chain my ceiling arts are decked,
And with the fleeting cherubim select
My walls are sure, though made of flesh and bone:
The silly straws enclose Your sovereign throne.
Beloved, I build invisibly of late
What Solomon restored to consumate
The beauty of a world none second-rate.
Beloved, I build in silence without gloom
The temple with its garnishings and room
To stand before You on the day of doom.

8 And he made the most holy house,
The length of which was without grouse
The same as the width of the house,
Twenty arm-lengths, and just as wide,
Twenty arm-lengths on every side,
And he enlaid it with fine gold
To six hundred talents all told.
9 And the weight of the nails came to
Fifty shekels of gold in view,
And he overlaid the upside
Chambers with gold and purified.
10 And in the most holy place he
Made two cherubim faithfully
Of image work and overlaid
Them both with gold and so they stayed.
11 And the wings of the cherubim
Were twenty arm-lengths long to brim,
One wing five arm-lengths reaching to
The wall of the house and in view
The other wing five arm-lengths too,
Reaching to the wing once outspread
Of the other cherub instead.
12 The other cherub’s wing was five
Arm-lengths, and reaching up to drive
To the wall of the house, and yet
The other wing was also set
Five arm-lengths up to where it joined
The other cherub’s wing purloined.
13 These cherub wings spread themselves out
For twenty arm-lengths in redoubt,
And they stood there upon their feet
With faces inward where to meet.
14 He made the veil of blue and yet
Of purple and of crimson set,
And fine linen embroidred on
With cherubim rising to dawn.

The image in the temple seems to make
A prophecy of churchly ways at stake
Where images of angels for the sake
Of Mary wander in the navely wake.
The Roman vest is not the only kind
That finds a paradigm upon the rind,
For icons still festoon the veil between
The holy and most holy on the scene
Of Orthodoxy for an image keen.
Beloved, let cherub images of gold
Festoon my heart and let me be so bold
As to remember on the veil that shuts
My inner temple also flies and struts
With cherubim in golden bolts and nuts.

15 Also he made before the house
Two pillars thirty-five to rouse
In arm-lengths, while the capital
On top of each pillar so tall
Was five arm-lengths across in all.
16 And he made chains in oracle,
And set on pillar tops, and made
A hundred pomegranates displayed
Upon the chains all in parade.
17 He set the pillars up in front
Of the temple, one to bear brunt
On the right hand, the other on
The left, and called the name once drawn
Of that upon the right hand Jachin,
And the name of the left one taken
He called Boaz in strength unshaken.

Stability and strength I guess are right
Good names for pillars on the temple site.
I do not wonder at the names themselves,
But rather that such names at all like elves
Must be given to pillars made of stone.
I’d think that names implied both flesh and bone,
Or at least spirit and mind in the drone.
Name pillars and name windows, doors and shelves.
Beloved, the pillars of my temple here
Carved in the flesh and bone and sinew sere
Are nameless unless You see fit to give
Them names from Solomon’s own porch and sieve.
I lay a hand on Strength and patiently
Await times of faith and Stability.

2 CHRONICLES 4

1 And then he made altar of brass,
Twenty arm-lengths and then to pass
Twenty arm-lengths in width and ten
Arm-lengths in height of it again.
2 Also he made a molten sea
Of ten arm-lengths from lea to lea
Across, and its height from the ground
Was five arm-lengths, the line around
It was thirty arm-lengths to see.
3 And under it the likeness of
Oxen were set around in love,
Ten in an arm-length, going round
The sea, two rows of oxen found
When it was cast upon the ground.
4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three
Faced north and three faced toward the west,
And three looked toward the south and best
Three faced the east, the sea was set
Above upon them and they met
Their hind parts towards the inward net.
5 The thickness of it a handspan,
The brim of it like the work can
Look at a cup’s brim, lily-flowered,
And when it was filled up and scoured
It held three thousand baths by plan.
6 He made ten lavers and put five
On the right hand and then put five
On the left to wash in them there,
What they offered burnt in its share
They washed in them, but the sea’s care
Was for the priests to wash them fair.

The question of baptism drains the strength
Of human heart and spirit, and at length
Suffices to make war on every hand.
The Qur’an says that You above all planned
Are the best of baptizers in the land.
So take my flesh (though spirit shrink and flee)
And wash me in the laver of the free,
Whether in priestly scope or in the tank
Where sheep and goats come dripping when they sank.
It makes no difference to me, Beloved,
Whatever the baptism You have shoved
Upon me, whether in spirit or fire
Or in the waters of my dark desire.
I take either the high or lower rank.

7 He made ten candlesticks of gold
According to their form when told,
And set them in the temple there,
Five on the right hand, and to share
Five on the left, let souls beware.
8 He also made ten tables, and
Placed them in the temple, five grand
On the right side and on the left
Five. And since he was not bereft
He made a hundred kettles set
Of gold as much as he could get.
9 He also made the court of priest,
And the great court, and doors increased
For the court, and overlaid their
Doors with brass and set them with care.
10 And he set the sea on the right
Side of the east end and in sight
Against the south for water sprite.
11 And Huram made the pots and spoons,
And kettles, and Huram’s festoons
Finished the work that he should make
For King Solomon and the sake
Of Ælohim’s house in its wake.
12 Two pillars and the bowls and tops
Upon the two pillars in fops,
And the two wreaths to cover two
Bowls of the capitals in view
On the top of the pillars too.
13 And four hundred pomegranates on
The two wreaths, and two rows upon
Pomegranates on each wreath at bay
On the two bowls in the tops’ way
Upon the pillars not to sway.

The lavers, candles, tables, all come in
As tens divided in two groups for sin
Beyond two pillars of strength and well set:
All these remind me of something I’ve met
In the commandments strewn on Sinai’s peak,
The Decalogue in stone, traced with the streak
Upon two tables caught beneath the glare
Of lightning and of silence on the air.
Beloved, I find Your speaking once aloud
Had turned the silences of fire and cloud
Into the greater depths of speech construed
By wreath and flower and pomegranate dewed.
Beloved, I find Your speaking in the calm
Of silence golden apples set in balm.

14 He made the bases too and made
Lavers on bases where they stayed.
15 One sea, twelve oxen under it.
16 Pots too, and spoons, and fleshhooks fit,
And all their tools, Huram his dad
Made for king Solomon and had
In house of YHWH in bright brass clad.
17 In the plain of Jordan the king
Cast them in the clay ground a ring
Twixt Soccoth and Zeredathah.
18 So Solomon made all in awe,
Plenty of vessels for the draw.

I wonder if wise Solomon could cast
His brazen works in clay so they would last
And come out perfect, without need to trim,
As did those of my great grandfather grim.
That gentleman was tight-lipped with the fact
That he could cast in metal and enact
A perfect piece each time without a file
To cut away the straggling edges’ smile.
He bore the secret to the grave and would
Let no one know the founder’s magic good.
I wonder if Solomon among men
Was wise as my great grandfather was then,
Who quietly worked on the dusky core
And waded in the darkness of the shore.

19 And Solomon made all the pots
For Ælohim’s house in their lots,
The golden altar too and more
The shewbread tables set in store.
20 The candlesticks too with their lamps
To burn away the evening damps
Just as the oracle revealed,
Made of pure gold and there unpeeled.
21 And flowers and lamps and tongs of gold,
With perfections of gold untold.
22 And snuffers, basins, spoons and all
The censers of pure gold in thrall,
The entry of the house, the doors
Inside it for most holy stores,
And the doors of the temple space
Were all of gold within their place.

If I should find upon my bosky path
A golden door that did not lead to wrath,
A shining way metalic above stone
That led me up and out toward Your throne,
If I should find beneath my closing lid
At dusk a swathe of silvered mining hid
From satyr and from every passing crow,
I’d open up the door and find the show.
Beloved, the snuffers, basins, spoons and craft
Are precious to the great and small who laughed
To find the faith decked out in wondrous store.
But I am here to ask, Beloved, for more.
The golden altars gleam both fore and aft,
But I am here to find a further shore.

2 CHRONICLES 5

1 So all the work that Solomon
Made for the house of YHWH was done.
And Solomon brought in the things
Of David his dad’s christenings,
The silver and the gold in gleam,
And all the instruments to beam
Among treasures of Ælohim
In the divine house fit for kings.
2 Then Solomon gathered together
Israel’s elders, foul and fair weather,
And all the heads of all the tribes,
The chiefs of fathers with their bribes
Of Israel’s people to the town
Jerusalem, and to bring down
The ark of covenant of YHWH
From David’s city which men knew
As Zion with fortress and crew.
3 And so all men of Israel
Assembled by the king a spell
To the seventh month feast as well.

The seventh month feast coming later shone
As feast of trumpets before divine throne
And then the day of the Atonement set
Before the feast of tabernacles met.
The seventh month was well the time to bring
The courtiers and the trumpeters to sing
With voices lifted up before the king.
The seventh month was the month to atone.
Beloved, I take the seventh month in task
And bring my days before You and to ask
The blessing of the trumpets on my ears
Until the earth pass out beyond its tears,
The blessing of the harpists to my eyes
Until the world come in another guise.

4 And all of Israel’s old men came,
The Levites raised the ark of fame.
5 They brought up the ark and the tent
Of congregation as they went,
And every holy pot and cup
Did the priests and Levites bring up.
6 Also king Solomon and all
Israel’s assembly on the ball
With him before the ark to bring
In sacrifice sheep and a thing
In oxen without numbering.

As in the days of Moses people brought
More wealth in sacrifice than they were taught
So that the word went out to bring no more
Because the house was full of the rich store,
So in the days of Solomon they came
With sheep and oxen to the holy flame
To give to You in honour and in right
The best of everything they had in sight.
Beloved, it is today anomoly
That men bring nothing to You in Your fee
Unless a costly campaign turns the tide
Of stingy heart and pocket to Your side.
Like me, a dervish, set in poverty,
You stand alone throughout eternity.

7 And the priests brought in ark of YHWH’s
Covenant to its place to chose
The oracle of the house, to
The most holy place under view
Of the wings of the cherubim.
8 The cherubim spread out the gleam
Of their wings over the ark’s space
And the cherubim covered trace
Of ark and its staves in their place.
9 And they pulled out the staves whose ends
Were visible from the ark’s bends
Before the oracle, but they
Were not brought to the light of day.
And there it is until this day.
10 Nothing was in the ark beside
The two tables which came to hide
Moses at Horeb, when YHWH made
Pact with Israel’s folk on parade
When they came out of Egypt’s shade.

Beloved, within the temple of my life
Beyond the measured beat of worldly strife
Where I pretend to live in hope of steel
And that my wealth might increase on the wheel,
Let there be nothing found. Let nothing there
Be kept in barren trace except the ware
Of tablets two engraved with Your word sure
To keep my heart and doings always pure.
The ten commandments set in the estate
Of ark of covenant has found of late
Lip-service in the temples of the great.
Let my work and reward be of profile
So low that none of those in rank and smile
Recover the due. Let me serve no guile.

11 It happened when the priests came out
Of the holy place without doubt,
For all the priests were holy there,
Not waiting by their turns to share.
12 Also the singer Levites all:
Asaph, of Heman, and the fall
Of Jeduthun with sons at call
And their brothers in linen white
With cymbals, psalteries and light
Harps, stood before the altar and
With them a hundred twenty grand
Priests blowing on trumpets like beasts.
13 It happened as in unison
The trumpeters, singers as one
Made one sound heard in praise and thanks
To YHWH, and lifted up in banks
The sound of trumpets, cymbals and
Instruments of music as manned
And praised YHWH for the good, since His
Mercy’s for ever, the house is
Filled with a cloud, YHWH’s own house grand,
14 So much that the priests could not stand
To minister, because the cloud
Of YHWH’s glory had filled aloud
Ælohim’s house and in a crowd.

The implication’s clear. When You arose
And blessed the temple with Your feet and toes,
The priests could not stand in the room to bear
The sacrifice and singing as their share.
So where the priests now gather in their rate
And fill the sacred precincts and of state
With song and prayer and incense, then I know
The cloud of Your presence lacks from the show.
Where You are, my Beloved, no priest can stand,
Not even the chosen and holy band,
To say no word at all of those who rise
From their own choice and study to comprise
A college of bishops and cardinals wise
For popes and presidents not to despise.

2 CHRONICLES 6

1 Then Solomon said that YHWH’s said
That he would live in darkness spread.
2 “But I have built a house for You
To live in and a place in view
Of Your dwelling for always too.”

But for the universe spread out to be,
I’d think You’d need a tent to live with me.
Have I the strength and will to build a house
Built with the energy and skill of mouse,
A place where the king of the worlds might rest,
House on the lakeshore, in the woods at best?
For You, Beloved, I’d build a house so bright
You’d think that you had come into the sight
To find the treasures of Your worlds assigned,
Live where even You would not feel confined.
In all my plans and duties here below,
And in my wanderings on the rocky blow,
A melody and plan appear to make
Place and a room where to put Your tent stake.

3 The king turned his face and blessed all
Israel’s assembly in the hall
Where all Israel’s assembly stood.
4 And he said “Blessed YHWH Ælohim
Of Israel, whose hands as could
Fulfilled what He spoke in a dream
With His mouth to David my dad,
Saying 5 ‘Since the day I was glad
To bring my people from the land
Of Egypt I chose no town grand
Among all Israel’s tribes to build
A house wherein My name is filled,
Neither did I choose any man
To My folk Israel by plan.
6 ‘But I’ve chosen Jerusalem
So My name might be set a gem,
And I have chosen David there
To keep My folk Israel with care.’
7 “David my dad had it in mind
To build a house for name consigned
Of YHWH and Israel’s Ælohim.
8 “YHWH told David my dad in dream,
‘Since it was in your mind to build
A house for My name to be filled,
You did well in intending so.
9 ‘And yet you’ll not build the house show,
But your son come out of your loins,
He’ll build the house for My name’s coins.’

Your choice of cities and of family,
Son not the eldest whose mother’s pretty,
Come from the hope of David and the womb
Out on the rooftop and outside the room
Of faith, obedience and charity;
Your choice of city just as sparsely minds
Loins pagan and of Jebusitic kinds.
He’ll live to multiply treaties with kings,
Build temples also to their heathen things,
The star humility now will return
House to the worship of the things that burn.
For human promises are weak and sold,
My eyes are set on those who would be bold.
Name Your price, my Beloved, Solomon’s told.

10 “YHWH then has carried out His word
That He had spoken and was heard,
Since I have come up in the place
Of David my dad, set in trace
Upon the throne of Israel,
As YHWH promised, and have built well
The house for the name of YHWH’s fame,
The Ælohim of Israel’s claim.
11 “And there I’ve placed the ark in which
Is YHWH’s covenant that in pitch
He made with Israel’s folk to stitch.”

There is no better place in land or town
I have found than where the ark’s sitting down.
Have any human hands found human grief
Placed in that sacred chest for man’s relief?
The few that have were stricken down before
Ark and the cattle cart that led its store.
In every house that human hands have built,
Which bear the brunt of human act and guilt,
Is some heart chamber where Your throne stands still,
YHWH’s place of residence in Jack and Jill.
Covenant of the blessed to all renewed
There springs eternally in nightly dewed,
He finds You quickly who goes in to pray,
Made ready by Your speech along the way.

12 He stood before YHWH’s altar in
The sight of Israel’s folk and din,
And stretched out his hands’ petition.
13 Solomon made scaffold of brass
Five arm-lengths long, and five to pass
In width, and three arm-lengths in height,
And set it there within the site
Of the court, and upon it stood
And knelt down on his knees as should
Before all Israel’s folk and spread
Out his hands toward the sky 14 and said
“YHWH Ælohim of Israel,
There’s no Ælohim like You tell
In heaven or in the earth, who keep
Your covenant and mercy’s steep
To Your servants who walk before
You with all their hearts held in store.

See here, Beloved, how Solomon goes down
On both knees bent in front of all the town,
Sits back upon his heels and stretches hands
Out in petition like Saracen bands.
I follow Solomon in circle prayer,
I follow Solomon beneath the air
Of Medina, and all around me there
The thousands take the same trouble and stair.
The form of prayer may well be hollow and
A bare hypocrisy upon the sand,
But who will not bow down because of that
Fail of obedience there where they’re at.
Beloved, I stretch my hands palms to the sky,
Obedient to You as trains go by.

15 “You who have kept Your promise to
My dad Your servant David’s view,
What You spoke with Your mouth You do
Fulfil with Your hand this day’s due.
16 “Now then, YHWH Israel’s Ælohim,
Keep with my dad Your servant’s dream,
David, what You have promised him,
Saying ‘There shall not fail man grim
To sit by Me on Israel’s throne
As long as Your sons not alone
Remember to act by My law
As before Me you’ve kept your paw.’
17 “Now then, YHWH Israel’s Ælohim,
Let Your word be true and to seem
What You have spoken to Your slave
David. 18 “But will Ælohim crave
To live with men on earth? See now
The sky and the sky’s sky in trough
Cannot contain You, and so how
Can this house I’ve made such allow?

You’ve kept Your promise to this far-flung day,
Millennia from Solomon’s bright ray,
For still the house of David raises call
Within my heart at least and in my wall.
And yet You are not One today to seek
The marbled palaces that were Your stall.
Today too the blue skies above the meek
Are small to contain You, Beloved, and bend
Beneath the weight of even divine friend.
You still join in the house of David here
To dwell among men who retain Your fear,
You sing the Psalms of David in the tone
That Solomon heard sitting on his throne.
Invisibly You dwell, not to appear.

19 “Regard then Your slave’s humble prayer,
And hear his supplication’s care,
O YHWH my Ælohim, the prayer
Which Your servant prays on Your stair.
20 “That Your eye opened on this place
Day and night and upon the trace
Of which you’ve said You’d put Your name,
To hear the prayer Your slave in claim
Prays toward this place and for its fame.
21 “So hear the supplications that
Your servant and Your folk out flat,
Israel make bowed down toward this place,
Hear from the sky Your dwelling place
And when You hear, forgive with grace.
22 “If someone sins against another,
And an oath lie upon the brother,
And the oath come up before this
Your altar in this house of bliss,
23 “Then hear from heaven and do and judge
Your servants by requiting smudge
Of wickedness to recompense
His way upon his own head’s sense,
And justifying righteousness
By giving by his righteousness.

Though thousands of the sacrifice are done,
And Solomon bows in the house he’s won,
It’s not the flesh and blood burnt on the run
That brings You to forgive daughter and son;
It is rather the interceding prayer
Of Son of David on the golden stair
That moves Your grace in infinite to care
And brings to humankind Your goodness’ share.
I turn away from every Christian priest
Who robs the altar of all things increased,
And makes the tragedy of Jesus’ death
The gift of life and power and hope and breath.
Instead I see a living Christ that stands
Within the golden courts with praying hands.

24 “And if Your people Israel
Flee before the enemy fell,
Because they’ve sinned against You, then
Return confessing once again
Your name and pray and supplicate
Before You in this house and great,
25 “Then hear them from the skies, forgive
The sin of Your folk Israel, live
To bring them back into the land
That You gave them and as the stand
Of their ancestors by command.
26 “When the skies close and there’s no rain
Because they’ve sinned against Your vein,
If they pray toward this place confessing
Your name, and turn from sin addressing,
When You afflict them for their guessing,
27 “Then hear from the sky and forgive
The sin of Your servants to live,
And of Your folk Israel, when You
Have taught them the good way and true,
Not disobeying, haughty, vain,
By which they should act, and send rain
Back on Your land, which You have given
To Your folk heritage to live in.
28 “If there’s a dry spell in the land,
Of pestilence, or blasting fanned,
Or mildew, locusts or the like
In caterpillers come to strike,
If their enemies come lay siege
To their land’s gates upon the squeege,
Whatever’s plague or illness there,
29 “What prayer or supplication share
Shall be made of anyone’s care,
Or of all Your folk Israel,
When each shall know his sore and spell,
And stretch out his hands to this space,
30 “Then hear from heaven Your dwelling place,
Forgive and render to each man
According to all his way’s span,
Whose heart You know, for only You
Know the hearts of the human crew.
31 “So they may fear You, walk Your ways,
As long as they live in the stays
Of the land you gave to our dads,
Both civilized as well as cads.

You hear the prayer of Solomon arise
And meet You with Enoch in upper skies,
And yet it is no small thing to despise
That he prays for the power to do Your will,
Not merely for forgiveness of the bill.
You heard the prayer of Solomon of old
And answered, not leaving him in the cold.
Now after all the comings of false kings,
And after all the crucifixionings,
You ought, Beloved, to hear and answer too
Better even than in those times when new
The temple spires gained entrance to Your view.
I bow with Solomon and beyond grace
I ask forgiveness and right doings’ place.

32 “As for the stranger, who is not
Of Your folk Israel in lot,
But comes from a far country for
Your great name’s sake and for the score
Of Your power and Your stretched out arm,
If they come pray in this house warm,
33 “Then hear from the skies where You dwell,
And do by all that stranger well
Calls on You for, so all the earth
And its peoples may know Your worth,
And fear You as does Your own folk
Israel, and may know to a bloke
That this house I have built is called
By Your name by all it enthralled.

The prayer for every foreign folk that sees
The place of Solomon’s temple’s degrees
That they be equally accepted where
Your throne and power beat out upon the air
Shows that no other bastion’s needed now
Than that long laid before on David’s brow.
The son of David brings no newer light,
No new faith and no new way to the right,
Who built Your temple in three day and night.
Through all eternity the promise true
Brings both acceptance and the right to do.
No new kingdom, no new dispensing rue,
Can ever displace David and his crew.
I cling to that promise and keep in view.

34 “If Your people go out to war
Against their enemies in store
Of the way You send them, and they
Pray to You toward this city’s sway
Which You have chosen, and the room
Which I have built for Your name’s bloom,
35 “Then hear their prayer from the skies and
Their supplication at Your hand
And maintain their cause in the land.
36 “If they sin against You, for none
Exists but sins when he has done,
And You are angry with them and
Deliver them into foes’ hand,
And they carry them captive to
A land far off or near to You,
37 “Yet if they mind themselves to think
In the land where in captives’ brink
They stand, and turn and pray to You
In the land of the captives’ due,
Saying ‘We’ve sinned and done amiss
In wicked dealings set our bliss,’
38 “If they return to You with all
Their heart and all their soul to call
In land of their captivity,
Where they have taken them to be
Captives, and pray toward their land,
Which You have given in the hand
Of their ancestors, and toward
The city You chose above board,
And toward the house built for Your name,
39 “Then hear from the skies where You dwell
Their prayer and supplications well,
And maintain their cause and forgive
Your sinful people, let them live.

Despite the altar, and despite the grand
Temple rising above the city’s sand,
You ask no sacrifice in any land,
But that the folk repenting bow to You
As they look toward the temple place in view.
The sacrifice still living of the soul
Bowed down in prayer is vehicle and goal.
You ask no bloody mess nor crucifixion,
Nor myths repeated for their blessèd diction.
I bow, Beloved, without a sacrifice,
Without a lamb, without the blood of nice,
And only plead Your grace above the spire
Of temple and extinguished altar’s fire.
Your blessing spreads unseen in my desire.

40 “Now my Ælohim, let, I pray,
Your eyes be open, Your ears pay
Attention to the prayer that’s made
In this place and let heart be swayed.
41 “So now get up, YHWH Ælohim,
Into Your resting place on beam,
You and the ark of Your strength here,
Let Your priests YHWH Ælohim rear
Clad with salvation, let Your saints
Rejoice in goodness and restraints.
42 “YHWH Ælohim, turn not away
The face of Your anointed’s day,
Remember David’s mercies, who
Is Your servant and always true.”

You do, Beloved, remember David’s while,
You mind the prayer of Solomon and smile.
But I too would remember and keep well
Within my heart the loving, sacred spell.
There is no God but You and You are great
Above every temple and every state,
Above the heavens beyond their glory found
And yet appear here on the humble ground.
You are One and beyond all reckoning,
And yet You have set up eternal king
In David’s house, and thither I speed wing.
Clad in salvation, I come to rejoice
Both in Your oneness and Your royal choice,
And lift a Psalm at last in David’s voice.

2 CHRONICLES 7

1 When Solomon finished his prayer,
The fire came down from heaven there,
Burnt up the burnt offering as well
As sacrifices, and the glory
Of YHWH filled the house, every storey.
2 And the priests could not come into
The glory-filled temple of YHWH,
Because the glory of YHWH filled
YHWH’s house into which it had spilled.
3 When all the folk of Israel saw
How the fire came down and with awe
The glory of YHWH on the house,
They bowed themselves with face like mouse
To the ground on the paving stone
And worshipped praising YHWH on throne:
For He’s good, His mercy full-blown
Forever and ever is shown.

Beloved, You came and filled the temple there
With glory and destroyed the offering’s share.
Your coming sets aside the sacrifice
And turns out every priest, even the nice.
Your temple’s made for glory and to dwell
In state before the folk of Israel,
Not for eternal killing and for blood.
You seek a temple cleansed for aye of mud.
Beloved, Your coming to my inner place,
My stony inner chamber, brings me grace
Beyond all covenant of flesh and skin:
Your coming is to dwell ever within.
I turn from sin and sacrifice to You,
And find at last the glorious and true.

4 The king and all the people brought
Sacrifices before YHWH’s plot.
5 King Solomon gave sacrifice
Of twenty-two thousand high price
Oxen, and the number of sheep
One hundred twenty thousand deep.
So the king and all the folk came
To dedicate Ælohim’s claim
The house that was to be for fame.

Despite all evidence that You are great,
And eat no flesh of bulls in Your estate,
Nor drink their blood, still king and people wait
With tearing of lambs flesh before Your gate.
In love and pity You return to see
The gory mess that worship brings in fee,
Desire to earn something beyond Your grace.
You give eternal gift in Your own face.
Today men still turn from grace in their plot
Demanding something more than what they’ve got,
Blind to the glory of Your daily spot.
In pity look on them in pity raise
The multitude if possible to praise.
If not, keep me alone within Your ways.

6 And the priests waited on their tasks,
The Levites also with their masks
Of music of YHWH that David
The king had made to raise the lid
Of praise to YHWH, because always
Is His mercy, when David’s praise
By their service, and the priests sounded
Trumpets before them and well-grounded
All Israel stood as though dumb-founded.
7 Moreover Solomon made holy
The middle of the court there lowly
Before the house of YHWH, for there
He offered burnt offerings in air,
And the fat of peace offerings fair,
Because the brass alter he made,
Solomon did, met not the grade
To take the burnt offerings and meat
Offerings and the fat for a treat.
8 At the same time Solomon kept
The feast for seven days unswept
And all Israel with him, a great
Assembly, from at Hamath’s rate
To the river of Egypt’s state.
9 On the eighth day they gathered there
To dedicate the altar’s share
For seven days, and the feast too
For seven days and all in crew.
10 And on the twenty-third day of
The seventh month he sent above
The folk away into their tents,
Glad and joyful in heart for vents
Of YHWH’s goodness He showed David
And Solomon as well as bid
To Israel His folk in His love.
So Solomon finished YHWH’s house
And the king’s palace, not to grouse,
And everything that Solomon
Intended to do in the run
Of YHWH’s house and his own room’s fun,
He did prosperously and won.

You granted humankind by their demand
The right to sacrifice upon the sand
An animal or two each day with prayer
And singing of the Psalms upon the air.
You limited the rate of sacrifice
And told them in Your law what would suffice,
But they brought thousands more and thought it nice,
Benighted as all men are by their world.
But as the stinking smoke arose and swirled,
There was another sound sweet with the Psalm,
The prayer of praise, petition, without qualm
The penance and the plaint that I’ve been wronged.
Behind the dark blood and fit I have longed
For that pure faith to David’s son belonged.

12 YHWH came to Solomon at night
And said to him, “I’ve heard you right,
And chosen this place for myself
As house of sacrifice and shelf.
13 “If I shut up the sky from rain
Or command locusts on the plain
To eat it up, or if I send
A plague among the folk and friend,
14 “If My folk who’re called by My name
Humble themselves and in prayer’s claim
Seek My face and turn from their ways
Of wickedness, I’ll hear their lays
From heaven and will forgive their sin
And heal the land that they live in.
15 “So My eyes will be open and
My ears listen to the prayers fanned
In this place. 16 “For now I have come
To chose and make holy the sum
Of this house so My name may be
There always and My eyes that see
And heart be there perpetually.
17 “And as for you, if you will walk
In my sight, and never to balk,
As David you father would walk,
And act by all that I command,
Observing My statutes and band
Of My judgements, 18 “then I shall set
Your kingdom’s throne by the pact met
With David your father to say
‘There shall not fail in any way
To be your man as king to rule
In Israel by royal stool.’
19 “But if you turn away and leave
My statutes and commandments grieve
Which I have set before your face,
And go to serve another race
Of gods and worship them for grace,
20 “Then I’ll pull them up by the roots
Out of My land till it confutes
That I have given them, and this
Temple I’ve sanctified to kiss
My name I shall cast out of sight
And make it a proverb to bite
And byword among every folk.
21 “And this house which is high shall be
A marvel to each one to see
Who passes by it, so he’ll say
‘Why has YHWH acted in this way
Toward this land and house to slay?’
22 “And the reply shall come, ‘Because
They forsook YHWH Ælohim’s laws
To their ancestors, who brought out
Of Egypt’s land, and went about
To lay hold on other gods and
Worship them and serve them in band,
That’s why He’s brought this evil thing
Upon the people and their king.’”

The three conditions of forgiveness lie
In the promise You gave once from the sky
To Solomon in answer to his prayer:
That Your folk humble themselves on the stair,
That they seek You in prayer and that they turn
Away from sinful paths to strict and stern
Of the ten promises in pact. I spurn
All other gospels, those of meat and bread,
And those that forgive oppressers unled
To turn away from evil in the bed.
Beloved, three steps to faith and justice are
Without any substitution or bar.
I praise You that Your grace is infinite,
Enough without sacrifice of the fit.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html