Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 22:1
Then David said, This [is] the house of the LORD God, and this [is] the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
1. Then ] The word refers back to 1Ch 21:28, At that time.
David said ] The king acts in conformity with the law contained in Deu 12:5-6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This is the house of the Lord God – The double miracle – that of the angelic appearance and that of the fire from heaven – had convinced David that here he had found the destined site of that house which it had been told him that his son should build 1Ch 22:10. Hence, this public announcement.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXII
David makes great preparations for building a temple to the
Lord, 1-5;
gives the necessary directions to Solomon concerning it, 6-16;
and exhorts the princes of Israel to assist in the undertaking,
17-19.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXII
Verse 1. David said, This is the house of the Lord] Till a temple is built for his name, this place shall be considered the temple of God; and on this altar, and not on that at Gibeon, shall the burnt-offerings of Israel be made. David probably thought that this was the place on which God designed that his house should be built; and perhaps it was this that induced him to buy, not only the threshing-floor, but probably some adjacent ground also, as Calmet supposes, that there might be sufficient room for such a building.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then David said; partly by his observation of this gracious and glorious appearance of God, and his command to erect an altar, and his acceptance of a sacrifice offered in this place; and partly by the instinct and direction of Gods Spirit, by which, as he is said to have had the pattern of the house, porch, altar, &c., 1Ch 28:11,12,19; so doubtless he was also instructed as to the place where the house should be built. This is the house of the Lord God; this is the place appointed by God for the building of his temple and altar.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. David said, This is the home ofthe Lord GodBy the miraculous sign of fire from heaven, andperhaps other intimations, David understood it to be the will of Godthat the national place of worship should be fixed there, and heforthwith proceeded to make preparations for the erection of thetemple on that spot.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then David said,…. Within himself, or to some principal persons about him:
this is the house of the Lord God; the place where the temple was to be built, hinted at in De 12:5 and elsewhere; the meaning is, here, or in “this” place, shall be the house of God, so Noldius o, for as yet there were none; but it was now made known to David that here it should be built, and so the words in 2Ch 3:1 should be rendered,
then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, which was shown to David his father, which he prepared in the place of David, that which he bought in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite: and this is the altar for the burnt offering for Israel; not which he had built here; but this is the place where one should be built for the people of Israel to bring their offerings to, and to be here offered for them by the priests: this he said by a divine impulse upon his mind, or which he concluded from the acceptance of his sacrifice here, signified by fire that came down from heaven and consumed it; and this being in the threshingfloor of the Jebusites, might prefigure the church of God to be built up among the Gentiles.
o Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 352. No. 1257.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With this chapter commences the second section of the history of David’s kingship, viz., the account of the preparations, dispositions, and arrangements which he made in the last years of his reign for the establishment of his kingdom in the future under his successors. All these preparations and dispositions had reference to the firm establishment of the public worship of the Lord, in which Israel, as the people and congregation of Jahve, might show its faithfulness to the covenant, so as to become partakers of the divine protection, and the blessing which was promised. To build the temple-this desire the Lord had not indeed granted the fulfilment of to David, but He had given him the promise that his son should carry out that work. The grey-haired king accordingly made preparations, after the site of the house of God which should be built had been pointed out to him, such as would facilitate the execution of the work by his successor. Of these preparations our chapter treats, and in it we have an account how David provided the necessary labour and materials for the building of the temple (1Ch 22:2-5), committed the execution of the work in a solemn way to his son Solomon (1Ch 22:6-16), and called upon the chiefs of the people to give him their support in the work (1Ch 22:17-19).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Preparations for the Temple. | B. C. 1017. |
1 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. 2 And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. 3 And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight; 4 Also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David. 5 And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
Here is, I. The place fixed for the building of the temple (v. 1): Then David said, by inspiration of God, and as a declaration of his mind, This is the house of the Lord God. If a temple must be built for God, it is fit that it be left to him to choose the ground, for all the earth is his; and this is the ground he makes choice of-ground that pertained to a Jebusite, and perhaps there was not a spot of ground besides, in or about Jerusalem, that did so–a happy presage of the setting up of the gospel temple among the Gentiles. See Act 15:16; Act 15:17. The ground was a threshing-floor; for the church of the living God is his floor, his threshing, and the corn of his floor, Isa. xxi. 10. Christ’s fan is in his hand, thoroughly to purge his floor. This is to be the house because this is the altar. The temple was built for the sake of the altar. There were altars long before there were temples.
II. Preparation made for that building. David must not build it, but he would do all he could towards it: He prepared abundantly before his death, v. 5. This intimates that the consideration of his age and growing infirmities, which showed him his death approaching, quickened him, towards his latter end, to be very diligent in making this preparation. What our hands find to do for God, and our souls, and our generation, let us do it with all our might before our death, because, after death, there is no device nor working. Now we are here told,
1. What induced him to make such preparation. Two things he considered:– (1.) That Solomon was young and tender, and not likely to apply with any great vigour to this business at first; so that, unless he found the wheels set a-going, he would be in danger of losing a great deal of time at first, the rather because, being young, he would be tempted to put it off; whereas, if he found the materials got ready to his hand, the most difficult part of the work would be over, and this would excite and encourage him to go about it in the beginnings of his reign. Note, Those that are aged and experienced should consider those that are young and tender, and provide them what help they can, that they may make the work of God as easy to them as possible. (2.) That the house must be exceedingly magnificent, very stately and sumptuous, strong and beautiful, every thing about it the best in its kind, and for a good reason, since it was intended for the honour of the great God, the Lord of the whole earth, and was to be a type of Christ, in whom all fulness dwells and in whom are hid all treasures. Men were then to be taught by sensible methods. The grandeur of the house would help to affect the worshippers with a holy awe and reverence of God, and would invite strangers to come to see it, and the wonder of the world, who thereby would be brought acquainted with the true God. Therefore it is here designed to be of fame and glory throughout all countries. David foretold this good effect of its being magnificent, Ps. lxviii. 29 Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.
2. What preparation he made. In general, he prepared abundantly, as we shall find afterwards; cedar and stones, iron and brass, are here specified, v. 2-4. Cedar he had from the Tyrians and the Zidonians. The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift, Ps. xlv. 12. He also got workmen together, the strangers that were in the land of Israel. Some think that he employed them because they were generally better artists, and more ingenious in manual operations, than the Israelites; or, rather, because he would not employ the free-born Israelites in any thing that looked mean and servile. They were delivered from the bondage of making bricks in Egypt, and must not return to hew stone. These strangers were proselytes to the Jewish religion, but, though not enslaved, they were not of equal dignity with Israelites.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Temple Preparations, 1Ch 22:1-13
(Author’s note: First Chronicles, chapters 22-29, contain information concerning the closing years. of David’s reign not found in the Book of Second Samuel. They are treated here [in 2 Samuel hardbound commentary] in this commentary because this is their chronological position in the Scriptures. For an introduction to the Books of Chronicles see comments following Second Kings, chapter 25.)
This account follows immediately upon the account of David’s offering at the threshingfloor of Oman the Jebusite. This came at the cessation of the plague on Israel because of David’s insistence on taking the census of able-bodied fighting men contrary to God’s will. The opening words of David in this chapter indicate his selection of the site of the threshing floor for his proposed house of God, or temple. The angel had appeared to him here poised with sword over Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord had relented and spared the city. Since the Lord had accepted the offering of David here the king had concluded that the Lord was pleased for the building of the temple in this place, and the erection of His burnt sacrifice altar in this very spot.
David proceeded to gather the material and make the plans needful for the erection of a great temple. He began by training an adequate work force. For this purpose he conscripted the strangers, or non-Israelites, who lived in Israel. These would have included the descendants of the Canaanites left in the land, as well as any other who may have come to dwell in the land. This may have been a great boon for these people, inasmuch as they must make their living other than on the land which was allotted to the families of Israel. These were trained as masons and stone cutters.
David also collected iron for nails and doors in the gates, and for hinges and clasps, etc. He acquired brass in such abundance its weight ceased to be accounted. Cedar timbers were brought down from the land of Lebanon, via the cities of Zidon and Tyre.
David reasoned that this great preparation should be made because of the youth of Solomon. Though the Scriptures do not indicate the exact age of Solomon when he became king it seems likely he was no more than twenty years of age. David says he was young and tender, or inexperienced and immature. Yet the temple was to be a glorious and magnificent structure, so David felt he should do all that he could to see that this was accomplished, and to assist his young son before his death.
David brought Solomon before him to charge him with the momentous task of constructing the temple. He first reviewed his own plans, which had been frustrated by the Lord’s refusal to allow him to build a house of God. David had purposed to build the house in honor of the Lord, but God had refused to allow it, chiefly because of the much blood he had shed in his wars. He speaks of this bloodshed being in the Lord’s sight, showing the serious regard God has for the shedding of men’s blood (see Gen 9:4-6; Lev 17:11). The Lord had proceeded to tell David that his son after him would build such a house for Him as he was proposing (cf. 2Sa 7:12-13; 1Ch 17:11-12). That son would have rest from war around him and would rule in a period of peace and quietness. David informed Solomon of the Lord’s promise to be with his son to establish His kingdom over Israel for ever. This last promise was, of course, prophetic of the divine Son of David, Jesus Christ.
Solomon was commended to the Lord by David, that he might prosper in the building of the house of God as the Lord had promised. He prayed for his son that he might be a roan of wisdom and understanding, that he might have proper charge over Israel as their king, and that he might be obedient to the law of the Lord, as it had been given Israel by Moses. By this David assured his son he would be able to prosper. He closed his admonition with the repetition of the blessing given by Moses, from the Lord, to Joshua, when Moses was about to die and pass on the leadership of Israel to Joshua (De 31:7-8; cf. Jos 1:9).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.] The remaining chapters of this book are peculiar to the chronist. They narrate the arrangements of David for the building of the temple, his religious and political regulations, and his last will and death [Murphy]. This chapter, which consists entirely of new matter, helps to fill up the gap which had been left by the earlier authors between 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Kings 1 [Speak. Com.].
1Ch. 22:1-5.Preparations for the Temple. This, the spot on which the altar was built, he regards as the site of the temple. 1Ch. 22:2. Strangers, non-Israelites, descendants of old Canaanites, war captives from whom exacted a tribute of bond-service (2Ch. 8:7-10), and war captives (2Ch. 2:7) reserved for the great work contemplated [Jamieson]. Masons, stone-cutters. 1Ch. 22:3. Joinings, braces or brackets for binding wood or stone. 1Ch. 22:4. Zidon, abounded in timber merchants and navigators (cf. 1Ki. 5:1; 1Ki. 5:15-18; 2Ch. 2:16). 1Ch. 22:5. Tender, exact age unknown. It cannot have been more than 24 or 25. It may have been as little as 14 or 15 [Speak. Com.].
1Ch. 22:6-16.Charge to Solomon. 1Ch. 22:6. Called, a short time before his death to give him special instructions. 1Ch. 22:7. Mind, heart (2Sa. 7:1-17). 1Ch. 22:8. Blood. This referred to in ch. 1Ch. 28:3 and 1Ki. 5:17, though not in same terms. Nathans message (ch. 1Ch. 17:4-14) assigned no ground for prohibition. In form of command here and the first intimation of reason why David must not build. On character of Davids wars, cf. 2Sa. 8:2; 2Sa. 10:18; 2Sa. 12:31; 1Ki. 11:16. Sol., had two namesviz., Solomon, peaceful, and Jedidiah, beloved of Jehovah (2Sa. 12:25). The former name prevailed on account of this prophecy, which attached to the name the promise of a blessing [Speak. Com.]. Give peace (1Ki. 4:20-23; 1Ki. 5:4). 1Ch. 22:10. Son in peculiar and special manner. 1Ch. 22:11. Prosper, literally The Lord shall be with thee, and thou shalt prosper. But future may have an imperative sense [Speak. Com.]. 1Ch. 22:12. Wisdom (cf. Psa. 72:1; Sol.s prayer, 1Ki. 3:5-15). 1Ch. 22:13. Strong, words which are found in Deu. 4:1; Deu. 5:1; Deu. 7:4; Deu. 11:32; Deu. 31:6; Jos. 1:7. 1Ch. 22:14. Trouble, poverty. By my strenuous labour, according to Gen. 31:42; see the precisely similar expression (ch. 1Ch. 29:2), I have prepared with all my might [Keil]. Talents, taking usual idea of talent, this would be more than eighty millions sterling. Either the talent of smaller value or text corrupted. The latter is certainly the more probable supposition [Speak Com.]. 1Ch. 22:15. Cunning, i.e., skilful, serfs of ancient kingdoms very numerous (cf. 2Ch. 2:17).
1Ch. 22:17-19.Charge to Princes. Members of court, including other sons of David. 1Ch. 22:18. Reasons for liberality in giving. 1Ch. 22:19. Set, make this your purpose and effort; holy vessels used in tabernacle service.
HOMILETICS
THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.1Ch. 22:1-5
This chapter and the seven which follow are supplementary to the Second Book of Samuel, and fill up the space between the end of that Book and the beginning of the First Book of Kings. Preparations for building going on for twenty-five or thirty years. In times of war and domestic affliction, David accumulated treasure and materials to be handed over to his successor.
I. The work for which he prepared. This is house of the Lord God. Its building exceeding magnifical.
1. In the costliness of its materials. Iron and brass, timber and stone, gold and silver. In the spiritual temple the materials are human beings, intellectual and immortal spirits. The preparation and forming of these materials into a temple for God includes the calling, regeneration, and consecration of men in Christ, in whom all the building, fitly framed (exactly fitted) together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:20).
2. In the grandeur of its Design. Not for earthly and inferior objects.
(1) For the honour of the great God, Lord of heaven and earth. Build an house for the Lord God.
(2) For the benefit of men. Of fame and of glory throughout all countries. Reminding men of Gods existence and claims; the centre of light and purity, bringing heaven down to earth, and securing the triumphs and praise of redeeming grace.
II. The incentives to the performance of this work. There are many.
1. Consider the greatness of the work. More than the erection of a palace, the building of a city, the founding of an empire. A work agreeing with youth and age; affords scope for ambition, enthusiasm, and skill.
2. Divine instructions are given to its performance. God revealed the site, the plan, the ornaments, and all the arrangements for service. When way is known, walk in it. Knowledge given to practice.
3. Good example inspires. Precepts teach, but examples draw. Man a creature of imitation by education and habit. A noble example interests, rouses attention, and stimulates to action. Illustrates the possibility and the manner of doing what is enjoined. David set a noble example.
4. The circumstances of others should influence us. Solomon is young and tender. Others may not be situated, prepared, blessed as we are, may be weak, aged, and helpless. Consider the wants of the Churchmen, money, and materials; the wants of the rising generationgood examples, education, and sympathy; the wants of the worldtemples, Bibles, and missionaries. Care for the future, and if you cannot build, gather materials.
PREPARATION FOR THE WORK OF GOD.1Ch. 22:1-5
This needful, urgent, and within the reach of all. I. By personal effort. David earnest, patient, and persevering; getting ready in prosperity and adversity. Warned by shortness of time, infirmity, and approaching end, prepared abundantly before his death. II. By initiation of the work. Gather materials, begin or enter some work for God. Forethought is the best security against waste, idleness, and failure. An unfurnished minister, scholar, or church member cannot be a wise master-builder. Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house. III. By employment of willing helpers. Strangers gathered together and enlisted in the service. Aliens (the non-Israelite population) hewed wood, carried burdens, &c. Often questioned whether help for building sanctuaries, supporting and maintaining religious institutions and worship, should be received from ungodly. But God urges every one to surrender to him. All our possessions are Gods, and should be consecrated to him. Some are willing, others may be induced. Only cherish a liberal, kindly feeling, and they shall be his servants, that they may know his service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
All the means of action
The shapeless masses, the materials,
Lie everywhere about us. What we need
Is the celestial fire to change the flint
Into transparent crystal, bright and clear [Longfellow].
DAVIDS CHARGE TO SOLOMON.1Ch. 22:6-16
Something more than dead materials required. Gold and silver nothing without willing hearts and active hands. David would gladly have done the work, but forbidden. Gives a touching and direct charge to incite Solomon to build. Learn
I. That some originate a good work, but are not permitted to execute it. David himself gives a special reason (1Ch. 22:8). Hands stained with blood not fit to build a house of worship, the abode of love and peace. What a lesson! Sin may be forgiven, but a stain left behind. Present acts may influence future character, hinder holy work, decide the lot that should fall to us, or be lost by us. Cruelty and inconsistency will ever deprive of noble work and honour.
II. That others may be called to execute work which they never originated. David prepared, and Solomon used the materials. One soweth and another reapeth, and thus the work is carried on under a divine plan. A work for us, and a sphere appointed to do it. What matter middle, beginning, or end? No Christian effort, no mans life isolated. In our surroundings and duties our lifes purpose is unfolded.
1. They are specially designated for the work. He shall build an house. Cyrus called by name to do Gods pleasure, and set captives free (Isa. 44:28; Isa. 45:1).
2. Opportunities are given them to work. Solomon had rest from enemies, and Israel enjoyed peace and quietness in his days. Where God gives opportunity, leisure, and talent he expects work. If not done in time and place, may be left undone, or given to another. Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
III. That, when called, they should finish the work given them to do. Arise, therefore, and be doing (1Ch. 22:16).
1. The work is urgent. Arise, &c. We are apt to fall into apathy, formalism, and forgetfulnessto be absorbed by earthly cares, or overcome by temptation. Awake to holy zeal, intense concern for the Redeemers work.
2. God has promised help. Need of men and money, sanctified intellects and eloquent tongues, broad shoulders and active hands; but with all, and more than all, the Lords presence. Do we rely upon this? Are we earnestly desiring and praying for this? The Lord be with thee, and prosper thee, &c. (1Ch. 22:11).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch. 22:2. Gather the strangers. A notable type of the calling of the Gentiles; and the like we may say of the temples being built on the ground of a Jebusite, and by the help of Tyrians and Zidonians, and adorned with the spoils of divers nations (chap. 18) [Trapp].
1Ch. 22:3. Prepared. Many parents prepare guilt in abundance, hoards and heaps of evil-gotten goodsand there-withal Gods curseto spend on their lusts, &c. As for pious and charitable uses, they cry out with Judas, Whereto is this waste? [Ibid.].
1Ch. 22:5. Magnifical. The second temple was nothing like it, though the glory of it was greater (Haggai 2), by the presence and preaching of Jesus Christ in it [Ibid.].
1Ch. 22:9. A son predicted. I. Son of David; so was Christ. II. A man of rest; so was Christ. III. The giver of peace; so was Christ. IV. He had a significant name; so has Jesus Christ. V. He was a glorious king; so is Christ. VI. His great work was the building of the temple; so is the work of Christ [Bib. Museum].
1Ch. 22:11-13. A fathers prayer for his son. I. For the possession of moral qualities.
1. Wisdom and understanding. Parents should be anxious for the education and religious welfare of children. Inheritance, wealth, and position nothing without this. Wisdom needed to turn all to good account. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding.
2. Strength and moral courage. Be strong and of good courage. 1Ch. 22:13. Enemies and dangers cause dread. In possession of sound wisdom and in vital alliance with God we are perfectly safe. Men without understanding and courage, out of place, weak and useless.
Let not the world see fear and sad mistrust
Govern the motion of a kingly eye [Shakespeare].
II. For the presence of God. The Lord be with thee. A petition often repeated, too little understood; needful and appropriate to all times, undertakings, and places; the wish of every good father, and the prayer of every true Christian for an earnest worker. Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. III. For successful undertaking. Prosper thou and build. All parents wish success to children in every pursuit, possession of influence and authority, charge over Israel. This often selfish, without reverent regard for the Lords will. Be anxious for moral integrity and loyal obedience of youth. No prosperity without obedience to the law of the Lord and regard for his will. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes, &c.
Tis not in mortals to command success,
But well do more, Sempronius; well deserve it.
HOMILETICS
CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL EFFORT.1Ch. 22:11-13
Time procured by our labours or help of others most profitably spent in Gods service, utilising the preparations, improving the advantages, and carrying on the work of predecessors. But success only on certain conditions.
I. Personal fitness. There must be ability, power, capacity, physical, intellectual, and moral.
1. Wisdom to direct. Wisdom and understanding. Not worldly policy, human education, earthly wisdom; but wisdom from above (Jas. 3:15-17), that wisdom profitable to direct (Ecc. 10:10).
2. Strength to work. Weakness, distrust, and hesitancy certain to fail. Fortune favours the brave. Woe unto him that is faint-hearted, says the son of Sirach. There must be no unfitness in act, heart, or capacity.
II. Gods presence to help in its prosecution. The word only (1Ch. 22:12) most suggestive, indicates entire failure without this. Skilful workmen, wise diplomatists, useful materials for work, may be needful, but divine help can never be dispensed with. The wisdom, the royal influence, and the powerful rule of Solomon not sufficient. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man.
III. Loyal obedience to God. Keep the law of the Lord. Success in departments of nature gained by submission to matter and co-operation with its laws. Our strength lies in keeping the law. The throne of kings, the business of merchants, the prosperity of churches, established by obedience. Observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
THE EARNEST APPEAL.1Ch. 22:17-19
Princes urged to help, to consecrate themselves first, for this the foundation of zeal; then reasons given for liberality in the work. This earnest appeal suggests
I. That God has a temple to build among men. Build ye the sanctuary.
1. A sanctuary to be built. Not by earthly materials, but by lively (living) stones (1Pe. 2:5). A spiritual temple, a Christian church, as well as a material palace.
2. A sanctuary to be furnished. Bring the ark and the holy vessels. Furnished not with pompous ceremonies and burning tapers, but with moral beauty, appropriate rites, spiritual songs, devout attendants, and the presence of God. This the work of Solomon on the throne, courtiers in the palace, and people in the cottage. Gather your materials, and offer your gold and silver; give yourselves, and resolve to help.
II. That to this work the Christian Church is called. Not privileged to help in rearing the first or second temple, but earnestly called to this work.
1. Called by favourable circumstances. Land taken, inhabitants overcome, and rest given. Hindrances moved, and opportunities many.
2. Called by the will of God. Expressed in his word, by his servants, and by everything around us.
3. Called by the urgency of the work. Arise, therefore, and be doing. Now is the time. Delay risky to yourselves and others. It is sinful in itself, and an evil example to others.
III. That a spirit of active zeal should characterise the prosecution of this work. This designed by God in bestowment of gifts and arrangements of providence. Now, because this done for you, arise, therefore.
1. The heart should be fixed on it. Not the work of accident nor compulsion. Must be your choice and purpose. Energy, aim, and sympathy must be roused and fixed. Everything within us set.
2. Active excitement must be associated with constant labour. Apt to fall into a state of apathy and formalism. Nothing can overcome indolence, temptation, and neglect but holy love, heavenly excitement, and burning zeal. The Church must awake to a lively, intense concern, to adopt, carry out every plan, and become a diligent, faithful, and working Church. Listen to the call, and remember the promise of God. Answer every foe with Nehemiah: The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch. 22:12. The qualifications needed. The source from whence they come. The design for which they are given. Keep the law of the Lord thy God.
1. Gods will is a law. Not an opinion, creed, or counsel. Something laid down, revealed, with authority and publicity.
2. This law should be kept. That thou mayest keep the law. Not given for mere study, information, or speculation, but for practice in life.
3. Obedience to this law is wisdom. It secures physical health, length of days and long life. It improves the powers of mind, and enlarges the sphere of usefulness. It is a crown of glory, and the highest possible good, the summum bonum to men. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding.
1Ch. 22:19. Seeking after God. I. The occasion on which this injunction was given. II. The injunction itself.
1. The great object of our life.
2. In what way we are to prosecute it. And now
(1) Avail yourselves of the opportunities afforded for public usefulness;
(2) Begin with a surrender of your whole souls to God [C. Simeon, M.A]. The Important Search. I. The object searched. The Lord your God. An object supremely great and glorious, the perfection of all beings, the fountain of life and glory. Seek his favour, grace, and presence. II. The method of search. Naturally without God, yet our duty and privilege to seek, find, and serve him.
1. Earnestly. Heart and soul engaged. No fits and starts, not half-heartedness.
2. Resolutely. Set your heart. Nothing accomplished without fixed purpose. God the sublimest object on which we can fix our hearts. He is merciful and loveworthy. Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye search for me with all your heart.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 22
1Ch. 22:1-5; 1Ch. 22:14-16. David prepared. Let those things, says an author, which are obviously most important and necessary be done first, and the less urgent afterwards. Let not a man begin business by building and expensively furnishing a fine house. Let the land be first cultivated. Let your business, whatever its nature, be faithfully and diligently minded and well-established, as far as human industry can effect, or human foresight calculate. Be content, in the meantime, with inferior accommodation. A man should have property well realised and secured before he enters on schemes of expensive building. He must not, with sanguine infatuation, appropriate the very first proceeds of his trade to the erection of a palace to live in.
When we mean to build,
We first survey the plot; then draw the model;
And when we see the figure of the house,
Then must we rate the cost of the erection;
Which, if we find outweighs ability,
What do we then but draw anew the model
In fewer offices, or at least desist
To build at all? &c. [Shakespeare].
1Ch. 22:6-10. A son. If we would mend the world we should mend ourselves, and teach our children to be not what we are, but what they should be [W. Penn].
1Ch. 22:12-13. Prosper. Mans wisdom consists in observing Gods unalterable appointments and suiting himself to them [Scott]. Then the way of Gods precepts leads to the enjoyment of his promises. Thou meetest him that worketh righteousness.
1Ch. 22:18. Be doing. A pious Scotch lady, Mrs. Duncan, remarked, I feel that my heart is apt to grow to weeds, it needs the safeguard of steady employment. Doing nothing is doing ill. Life accordingly is a delight, just in the degree that it is consecrated to action, or the conscious, volitional exercise of our noblest capabilities. Action and enjoyment are contingent upon each other; when we are unfit for work we are always incapable of pleasure; work is the wooing by which happiness is won [L. Grindon].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
14. DAVIDS PROVISIONS FOR THE TEMPLE
(Chapter 22)
TEXT
1Ch. 22:1. Then David said, This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.
2. And David commanded to gather together the sojourners that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. 3. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight; 4. and cedar-trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar-trees in abundance to David. 5. And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for Jehovah must be exceeding magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
6. Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for Jehovah, the God of Israel. 7. And David said to Solomon his son, As for me, it was in my heart to build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God. 8. But the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. 9. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. 10. He shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. 11. Now, my son, Jehovah be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of Jehovah thy God, as he hath spoken concerning thee. 12. Only Jehovah give thee discretion and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel; that so thou mayest keep the law of Jehovah thy God. 13. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou observe to do the statues and the ordinances which Jehovah charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; fear not, neither be dismayed. 14. Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto. 15. Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men that are skilful in every manner of work: 16. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and Jehovah be with thee.
17. David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, 18.Is not Jehovah your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? For he hath delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and before his people. 19. Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Jehovah your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Jehovah.
PARAPHRASE
1Ch. 22:1. Then David said, Right here at Ornans threshing-floor is the place where Ill build the Temple of the Lord and construct the altar for Israels burnt offering!
2. David now drafted all the resident aliens in Israel to prepare blocks of squared stone for the Temple. 3. They also manufactured iron into the great quantity of nails needed for the doors in the gates and for the clamps; and they smelted so much bronze that it was too much to weigh. 4. The men of Tyre and Sidon brought great rafts of cedar logs to David. 5. Solomon my son is young and tender, David said, and the Temple of the Lord must be a marvelous structure, famous and glorious throughout the world; so I will begin the preparations for it now. So David collected the construction materials before his death.
6. He now commanded his son Solomon to build a temple for the Lord God of Israel. 7. I wanted to build it myself, David told him, 8. but the Lord said not to do it. You have killed too many men in great wars, he told me. You have reddened the ground before me with blood: so you are not to build my Temple. 9. But I will give you a son, he told me, who will be a man of peace, for I will give him peace with his enemies in the surrounding lands. His name shall be Solomon (meaning Peaceful), and I will give peace and quietness to Israel during his reign. 10. He shall build my temple, and he shall be as my own son and I will be his father; and I will cause his sons and his descendants to reign over every generation of Israel. 11. So now, my son, may the Lord be with you and prosper you as you do what he told you to do and build the Temple of the Lord. 12. And may the Lord give you the good judgment to follow all his laws when he makes you king of Israel. 13. For if you carefully obey the rules and regulations which he gave to Israel through Moses, you will prosper. Be strong and courageous, fearless and enthusiastic! 14. By hard work I have collected $3,000,000,000 worth of gold bullion, $2,000,000 worth of silver, and so much iron and bronze that I havent even weighed it; I have also gathered timber and stone for the walls. This is at least a beginning, something with which to start. 15. And you have many skilled stonemasons and carpenters and craftsmen of every kind. 16. They are expert gold and silver smiths and bronze and iron workers. So get to work, and may the Lord be with you! 17. Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to assist his son in this project. 18. The Lord your God is with you, he declared. He has given you peace with the surrounding nations, for I have conquered them in the name of the Lord and for his people. 19. Now try with every fiber of your being to obey the Lord your God, and you will soon be bringing the Ark and the other holy articles of worship into the Temple of the Lord!
COMMENTARY
Chapter twenty-two describes plans made for the Temple. This was a primary concern for David in the latter years of his reign. The expanding kingdom of Israel brought many foreigners to Jerusalem. Some of these became proselytes or converts to Israels religion. Others of them simply brought their skills as master workmen and found ready employment under David and Solomon. This provided an interesting preview of the inclusion of the Gentiles in Gods kingdom. Men skilled in building with stone and marble, men who were master craftsmen in using copper, and others who were skilled workmen with wood came to Davids assistance. Great marble slabs were prepared for the Temple. Some of these measured twelve by fifteen feet and weighed as much as five tons. These stones were quarried in Phoenicia not far from the great Lebanon forests. Some marble was quarried in the Jordan valley. All of the great stones were hewn to specific dimensions where they were quarried so that no sound of hammers was heard at the building site of the Temple. The Phoenicians from Tyre and Sidon were master craftsmen in wood. They were expert builders of ships and houses. The great cedar logs and marble slabs were floated down the Mediterranean on wood rafts. David knew that Solomon was to build the Temple. Solomon would need much assistance if the House was to approach the magnificence which David envisioned. So David prepared abundantly before his death. To prepare for the Temple became Davids chief concern.
In verses six through sixteen David spoke directly to Solomon emphasizing his successors responsibility with regard to the construction of the Temple. Solomons specific charge was to build a house for Jehovah. David once again recalled his purpose to build the Temple and Jehovahs forbidding him to do so. Because of the peculiar responsibilities which were Davids he had been a man of war. The blood of many persons was upon his hands. Before Solomon was born, David had known what his sons name and character would be. The name, Solomon, means peaceful. He would be a man of rest. In quietness and confidence he would do his work as king. Not only was Solomon the son of David, he was also the son of God. As Jehovah had revealed in II Samuel, chapter 7, Solomon would be the first successor of David in the establishment of the Davidic kingship. So David charged Solomon with solemn responsibility and prayed for Jehovahs richest blessings to attend his son. Discretion is that ability to make the right choices. Understanding is more than mere intelligence. It involves comprehension, sympathy, sensitivity to Gods revelation and mans needs. To keep the law involved careful study of Jehovahs revealed will and courage to be a real spiritual leader. Solomon would receive the crown in one hand. Into his other hand the scrolls of the Law would be placed on his coronation day. As Moses had led Gods people out of Egypt to the Plains of Moab, Solomon is to lead in strength and without fear or dismay. David reminded his son, Solomon, that he had prepared a great stockpile of materials for the construction of the Temple. When constructed, the materials used in the building of the Temple were so lavish that their value could not be estimated.[40] One hundred thousand talents of gold at thirty thousand dollars a talent would amount to three hundred million dollars. One million talents of silver at two thousand dollars a talent would amount to two million dollars. It is best to say that the building would be of inestimable value. Not only did Solomon have all of the goods at his disposal, he also had unlimited resources in the skilled artisans and men who would do the menial tasks. David had done everything humanly possible to assure the grand success of this project. His charge was equal to the solemnity of the occasion, Arise and be doing and Jehovah be with thee. David charged the princes to assist Solomon. The wars had been fought, enemies had either surrendered or had been annihilated. To the princes David said, Arise and build the sanctuary of Jehovah God. Prepare a permanent place for the ark.[41]
[40] Elmslie, W. A. L., The Interpreters Bible, Vol. III, p. 419
[41] Clarke, Adam, A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. II, p. 620
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXII.
(1) Then.And.
This is the house.Better, This is a house of Jehovah, the (true) God, and this (is) an altar of burnt offering for Israel. The verse resumes the narrative suspended at 1Ch. 21:28. The place of the apparition is called a house of God, as in Gen. 28:17. Obviously, we have here the goal of the entire narrative of the census, and the pestilence, which the chronicler would probably have omitted, as he has omitted that of the famine (2 Samuel 21), were it not for the fact that it shows how the site of the Temple was determined.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Then David said See note on the last verse of the preceding chapter.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 22:1 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
1Ch 22:1
1Ch 22:5 And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
1Ch 22:5
Comments – Young people are characterized as impressionable, pliable, easily convinced to follow a cause. They are looking for a purpose in life.
1Ch 22:9 Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.
1Ch 22:9
God to Joseph:
Mat 1:23, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel , which being interpreted is, God with us.”
God to Mary:
Luk 1:13, “But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.”
God to Zacharias:
Luk 1:31, “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS .”
1Ch 22:9 Comments – We see here that God had previously spoken to King David about a son being born to him and his name would be called “Solomon.”
The birth and naming of Solomon took place in 2Sa 12:24-25.
2Sa 12:24-25, “And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.”
God revealed to King David that Solomon was to succeed him on the throne.
1Ch 28:5-6, “And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.”
1Ch 22:10 He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.
1Ch 22:10
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
David Numbers the People The Lord had given the nation of Israel the procedures for numbering the population in the book of Exodus (Exo 30:11-16). Each man was to offer half a shekel unto the Lord in order to make an atonement for his soul so that a plague does not break out among them. In this way, the Lord would recognize each person counted. Since David does not perform this census properly, he caused a plague to break forth among the people.
Exo 30:11-16, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Preparations for the Building of the Temple – Comments – In 1 Chronicles 22-29, we see King David making preparations to build the Temple. He spent a great amount of effort in gathering materials and organizing the people to serve in the Temple service. He gathered the materials and workmen (chapter 22). He divided the Levites for temple service (chapter 23). He divided the priests (chapter 24). He organized musicians (chapter 25), gatekeepers and treasurers (chapter 26). He organized the military and tribal leaders (chapter 27). He then gave Solomon instructions on building the Temple (chapter 28). Finally, he takes an offering from the people, prays and blesses God, and anoints Solomon as king (chapter 29).
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Material and Money Gathered by David
v. 1. Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, v. 2. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel, v. 3. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the joinings, v. 4. also cedar-trees in abundance; for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar-wood to David, v. 5. And David said, Solomon, my son, is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
From the commencement of this chapter to the close of the First Book of the Chronicles we again travel alone, and, with the exception of parallel passages of a merely ordinary character, have no longer the assistance of comparing different descriptions of the same stretches of history. The present chapter relates David’s interested and zealous preparations for the building of the temple (1Ch 22:1-5); his exhortations and solemn charge to his son and successor (1Ch 22:6-16); and afterwards his injunctions to the “princes of Israel” (1Ch 22:17-19) to help Solomon.
1Ch 22:1
This verse evidently belongs to the close of the last’ chapter, and should have had its place there. It indicates a deep sense of relief that now visited David’s mind. We can imagine how he had pondered often and long the “place where” of the “exceeding magnificent” house which it was in his heart to build for the Lord. The place was now found, and the more unexpected and “dreadful” (Gen 28:17) the method by which it was arrived at, the more convincing and satisfactory, at all events in some points of view. The extraordinary and impressive designating of this spot was in itself a signal for an active commencement of the work, and made at the same time such commencement practicable. Solomon and many others would afterwards often think, often speak, of the “threshing-finer of Ornan the Jebusite” as the place “which was shown to David his father,” and which “David had prepared” (2Ch 3:1). Here, then, he builds “the altar of burnt offering,” as, on the neighbouring “hill of Zion,” he had reared the “tabernacle for the ark.“
1Ch 22:2
The strangers. These are plainly called in the Septuagint “proselytes” ( ). They were, of course, foreign workmen, who came in pursuit of their trade. The injunctions as to “strangers,” and with regard to showing them kindness, are very numerous, beginning with Exo 12:19, Exo 12:48, Exo 12:49; Exo 22:21 (20); Exo 23:9; Le Exo 19:10, 33, 34; Exo 15:14-16; Deu 10:18, Deu 10:19; Jos 8:33-35. It was not David’s object merely to gain cheap or compulsory work (2Ch 2:17, 2Ch 2:18), but to obtain a skill, which immigrants from certain places would possess, in excess of that of his own people (2Ch 2:7, 2Ch 2:8, 2Ch 2:13,2Ch 2:14), especially considering the absorption of Israel in the pursuit of war, which had so largely impeded their study and practice of these the arts of peace.
1Ch 22:3
Iron the joinings; and brass. The very first Bible mention of metals (Gen 4:22) places these two together. Whence Solomon got his “abundance” of the latter we have read in 1Ch 18:8; for the “abundance’ of the former he would not necessarily go further than his own land. Although the expression, “the land whose stones are iron” (Deu 8:9), is possibly enough a poetical figure where it stands, yet some of the force of the figure may have sprung from its nearness to fact. The abundant use of iron in a great variety of tools, implements, weapons, and the knowledge of it in bar and sheet, might be illustrated from a large number of quotations from Scripture (Deu 19:5; Deu 27:5; 2Sa 12:31; 2Ki 6:5; Isa 10:34; Amo 1:3; and many others). The “joinings” were the clamps and plates of various size and shape, which held strongly together, whether beams of wood or blocks of stone.
1Ch 22:4
The Zidonians and they of Tyre (see 1Ki 5:6, 1Ki 5:9, 1Ki 5:13-18; 2Ch 2:16-18). The interesting passages in Homer, Herodotus, and Strabo, which speak of Zidon, etc; are in entire accord with what is here said, and are well worth perusal; e.g. ‘Iliad,’ 6:289-295, “And she descended to the vaulted chamber, where were the garments all embroidered, the works of women of Sidon, whom the godlike Alexander himself brought from Sidon when he crossed the wide sea, by the way that he brought Helen of noble lineage;” ‘Iliad,’ 23. 743, 744, “And this vessel was of unsurpassed fame for beauty over all the land, for the men of Sidon, cunning artificers, had skilfully wrought it, and Phoenicians had brought it over the dark sea;” ‘Odyssey,’ 4:615-618, “And it was all silver, but the borders were mingled with gold. It was the work of Hephaestus. The illustrious Phademus, King of the Sidonians, gave it me when his palace sheltered me on my return thither;” ‘Odyssey,’ 15:424, “I boast to come from Sidon, famed for its skill in the working of brass.” Similar references may be found in Herodotus (7:44, 96) and Strabo (1Ch 16:2, 23. See also ‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ under 1Ki 5:6).
1Ch 22:5
Solomon is young and tender. It is impossible to fix the exact age of Solomon as marked by these words. In a “fragment” of Eupolemus he is put down at twelve years of age. Josephus (‘Ant. Jud.,’ 1Ch 8:7, 8) as vaguely supposes he was fourteen at the time that he took the throne. He was the second son of Bathsheba, and can scarcely have exceeded the last-men-tioned age by mere than three or four years. This same language, “young and tender,” is repeated in 1Ch 29:1. The reign of Solomon lasted forty years (1Ki 11:42; 2Ch 9:30). He is called old (1Ki 11:4) when his strange wives “turned away his heart after other gods.” We are not told his age at the time of his death. There are, in fact, no sufficient data for fixing to the year, or indeed within the liberal margin of several years, the age now designated as young and tender.
1Ch 22:7
For my son, the Chethiv shows “his son,” the Keri substituting “my.”
1Ch 22:8
Because thou hast shed much blood. This is repeated very distinctly below (1Ch 28:3), and appears there again as acknowledged by the lip of David himself. It seems remarkable that no previous statement of this objection, nor even allusion to it, is found. Further, there seems no very opportune place for it in either our 1Ch 17:1-15 or in 2Sa 7:1-17. Yet, if it seem impossible to resist the impression that it must have found expression on the occasion referred to in those two passages, we may fit it in best between 2Sa 7:10 and 2Sa 7:11 of the former reference, and between 2Sa 7:11 and 2Sa 7:12 of the latter. So far, however, as our Hebrew text goes, this is the first place in which the statement is made.
1Ch 22:9
Shall be born. This is not the necessary translation of the verb. The form does not express here future time. Solomon was already born when the word of the Lord came to David. On the other hand, we may suppose special emphasis to belong to the clause, His name shall be Solomon. The name designates the man of peace, and the clause is an announcement, probably intended to throw further into the shade the alternative name Jedidiah, which also had been divinely given (2Sa 12:24, 2Sa 12:25).
1Ch 22:10
The substance of this verse is found also in Nathan’s language (1Ch 17:12, 1Ch 17:13; 2Sa 7:13, 2Sa 7:14).
1Ch 22:12
The father’s prayer for the son, and in his hearing, will have often recurred to the memory of Solomon, and may have been the germ of the son’s own prayer, which “pleased the Lord” (1Ki 3:5-14; 2Ch 1:7-12).
1Ch 22:13
The references to olden time, and the pointed reference to Moses, must be regarded as emphatic. In 1Ch 28:20 we find the additional words, “and do it,” inserted after the animated and intensely earnest exhortation, Be strong, and of good courage. This inspiriting summons was no new one. It was probably already hallowed in the name of religious language, and would be often quoted (Deu 4:1; Deu 31:5-8; Jos 1:5-9).
1Ch 22:14
Now, behold, in my trouble. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Luther’s translation adopt here our marginal reading, “poverty.” Keil, Bertheau, and others translate, with much greater probability, “by severe effort,” which translation may be fortified, not only by such references as Gen 31:43 and Psa 132:1 (where the same root is found in Pual infinitive), but by the expression evidently answering to the present one in 1Ch 29:2 (), “with all my strength.” Moreover, David could not with correctness speak of poverty as characterizing his condition during the time that he had been collecting for the object of his heart’s desire. And scarcely with any greater correctness could he speak of the necessary anxieties and responsibilities of his royal office as at all specially marking this period. A hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver. Our sense of dissatisfaction in being able neither heartily to accept nor conclusively to reject this statement of the quantities of gold and silver prepared by David, may be lessened in some degree by the statement found in 1Ch 29:16, that “of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number.” Milman, in his ‘History of the Jews’, says upon the general subject of this verse, “But enormous as this wealth (i.e. that of Solomon) appears, the statement of his expenditure on the temple, and of his annual revenue, so passes all credibility, that any attempt at forming a calculation, on the uncertain data we possess, may at once be abandoned as a hopeless task. No better proof can be given of the uncertainty of our authorities, of our imperfect knowledge of the Hebrew weights of money, and, above all, of our total ignorance of the relative value which the precious metals bore to the commodities of life, than the estimate made by Dr. Prideaux of the treasures left by David, amounting to eight hundred millions, nearly the capital of our national debt.” It must be noted, however, that Milman himself proceeds, when speaking of “the sources of the vast wealth which Solomon undoubtedly possessed,” to bring very enormous sums (whether somewhat less or even somewhat more than the above estimate of Dr. Prideaux) more within the range of the possible, to our imagination. He justly remarks, for instance, that it is to be remembered that “the treasures of David were accumulated rather by conquest than traffic, that some of the nations he subdued, particularly the Edomites, were very wealthy. All the tribes seem to have worn a great deal of gold and silver, both in their ornaments and in their armour; their idols were often of gold; and the treasuries of their temples, perhaps, contained considerable wealth. But during the reign of Solomon, almost the whole commerce of the world passed into his territories.” After substantiating by details these and similar positions, he sums up, “It was from these various sources of wealth that the precious metals and all other valuable commodities were in such abundance that, in the figurative language of the sacred historian, ‘silver was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores.‘” Since the date of Milman’s words just quoted, however, investigation of ancient weights and measures, and of those of Scripture, has made some advance, yet not sufficient to enable us to arrive at any certainty as to those of our present passage. Assuming that the text of our present verse is not corrupt, and that the figures which it gives are correct, the weight and the value of the gold and silver mentioned are very great, whatever the talent in question. This assumption, however, cannot be relied upon, and it seems scarcely legitimate to interpret the talent as any than the Hebrew talent, considering the silence observed as regards any other. It need not be said here that the exchanges of money value were estimated in these times by so much weight of gold or silver. Further, “the shekel of the sanctuary” (Exo 30:13; Le Exo 27:3), possibly the same with “the shekel after the king’s weight” (2Sa 16:1-23 :26), and which was kept in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the templewas presumably the standard. The gold talent was double the weight of the silver talent. It weighed 1,320,000 grains, instead of 660,000. The silver talent contained 50 manehs, of 60 shekels each; but the gold talent contained 100 manehs, of 100 shekels each. The modern money equivalents of these weights are very uncertain. Both the silver and the gold talent have been very variously calculated in this relation. Some of the best authorities put the silver talent at 342 3s. 9d; and the gold at 5475. This would make the money value described by this verse nearly nine hundred millions of our money. Other estimates are considerably in excess of this sum, and but few fall below it. Vast as the sum is, we may be helped in some degree to accept it by the statement of Pliny, who (‘Nat. Hist.,’ 32:15) tells us that Cyrus, in his subjugation of Asia, took half as many talents of silver as are here mentioned, and thirty-four thousand pounds of gold (see articles in Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary,’ on “Money,” and on” Weights and Measures”). Among the most valuable works on these subjects are De Saulcy’s ‘Numismatique Judaique,’ and F. Madden’s ‘Jewish Coinage.’
1Ch 22:15
So too 1Ch 28:21; 2Ch 2:7, 2Ch 2:17, 2Ch 2:18; as well as 2Ch 2:2-4 of the present chapter.
1Ch 22:16
Arise and be doing. The first and last words of Ezr 10:4 are found here, and note may be made of the similarity of the expression.
1Ch 22:17-19
These verses contain David’s command, accompanied by urgent argument, to the princes of Israel, to render their hearty assistance.
1Ch 22:17
All the princes; i.e. those who held positions of authority as commanders, leaders, elders, heads of tribes, and chiefs of the fathers (1Ch 27:22; 1Ch 23:2; 1Ch 28:1).
1Ch 22:18
The whole of this verse should have been suggestive of memories thrilling with interest. What David says here is equivalent to the declaration of the perfect fulfilment of the promises of nine hundred years ago. By faith of those very promises how many generations had lived! What journeyings, suspense, punishment, and struggle, the intervening centuries had witnessed! And now at last it is given to the lip of the aged David to pronounce the termination of a nation’s prolonged conflict, its entrance into peace, and the fulfilment of the most impassioned wishes, ima-ginings, end prayers of the patriarchs, of Moses, and of a long line of the faithful. It was well for David that he could not foresee and did not know how near the culminating of a nation’s glory and prosperity might be to its woeful fall and prolonged decay. The analogy that obtains in this respect between the history of an individual and of a nation is as remarkable as it should be instructive and turned to the uses of warning.
1Ch 22:19
To bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God. To settle these in a fixed home had now been of a long time the consuming desire of David’s heart (so 1Ch 15:1; 2Ch 5:2-4). Into the house that is to be built. The preposition instead of , before “the house,” is to be noticed here (1Ch 25:26; Neh 10:35). Also the Niphal participle, , here translated “that is to be built,” is to be noticed. The meaning of David would be better met probably thus: “Arise, build the sanctuary to bring the ark into the house (then) builded to the Name of the Lord.”
HOMILETICS
1Ch 22:8.–Religious enthusiasm in old age-a model soliloquy.
This soliloquy exhibits the settled thought of years past. The house that is to be builded for the Lord, remaining still to old age, the imperial thought of David’s heart. And we may notice that
I. THE PURPOSE THAT IS HALLOWED IN OWNING FOR ITS CHIEF OBJECT THE WELFARE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IS ONE THAT DOES THRIVE WELL EVEN TO OLD AGE. Other designs, projects, and purposes are, it is tree, often seen to flourish to old age as matter of fact. But in innumerable instances how much better it had been if their fascination had been long before resisted, and their tyrannous demand on the force that so plainly threatens to ebb had been long since denied them! They unduly consume strength of mind and body. They inappropriately occupy the strength of the heart. They have really nothing in common with the momentous future that is so imminent. They often contrast painfully and repulsively with it. Far otherwise was it now with David’s purpose, and with such as are in any analogy with it. In his faithful heart a holy purpose had been cherished. It still stands fast, and harmonizes well with agewith the thoughts appropriate to age, with the experience and correcter judgments of age, and with its near prospects.
II. THE PURPOSE THAT IS HALLOWED IN HAVING FOR ITS DISTINCT OBJECT THE WELFARE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD OFFERS AMPLE ROOM FOR THE EXERCISE OF A NOBLE AMBITION. “The house must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries.”
1. An exalting force in bureau character finds exercise and abundant scope at a time when it might otherwise be on the decay, or, if not on the decay, able to find no really worthy object.
2. It finds exercise not merely healthful to the person who exhibits it, but of widespread usefulness. Beside personal aspiration after heaven, its beatific visions, its perfect holiness, there is distinctly an ambition which shall become a dying bedthe ambition to leave with the world what will be a continuing and growing blessing to it, and a lasting witness for God and his truth. In no way, other things being equal, is blessing so surely given as when directly given in connection with spiritual work, and with that grandest enterprise, the Church of God. Where all other grandeur of earth must fade therefore, and the eye has become passionless to all other, its brightest colours, the Church of God, as well material as spiritual, has been known to enter a successful competition with whatever else occupied a dying hour.
III. PURPOSES HALLOWED THROUGH THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE CHURCH OF GOD WILL NOT TOLERATE THE RISK OF THEIR GREAT OBJECTS BEING PREJUDICED BY ANY CAUSES AVOIDABLE. Even though natural relationship might have tempted the risk, and Divine designation might have been pressed into some warrant of it, David does not for a moment yield to it. He does promptly and with guarded zealous forethought, acknowledge to the danger, and do the best to provide against it. Religious principle ought to overcome hereditary instincts, and the ties of nature ought not to override those of diviner origin. “Whoso loveth father or mother more than me,” said Jesus, “is not worthy of me.” David was doubtless very proud of his son, very tender of him; but he was justly prouder of the work of his God, and justly tenderer of it and its secured welfare. Genuine holy purposes seem to own to a native circumspection. They seem to possess a secret safeguard within themselves. Of these it is not true, and it is not said, that the children of nature are in their generation wiser than they. The forethought, then, that works so largely in human life, and is so fruitful of various good, shows to great advantage in such conduct as that of David at this crisis. There are, indeed, senses in which it may be said almost to belong to nature to consider and to act for following generations. For so “the husbandman plants many a tree, no berry of which he can reckon on living to behold.” But it is the work of something more than nature, higher than nature, when holy purposes waken vigour, fire, enthusiasm, and zealous labour in old age. And strikingly are such purposes distinguished from those “good intentions” which have won for themselves a proverbial and a bad character.
1Ch 22:8.–The stain of blood.
We distinctly read here, as also in the stricter parallel of this place (1Ch 28:3), that it was because David had “shed blood abundantly,” had “shed much blood on the earth” in the sight of God, had “made great wars,” that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Thou shalt not build an house to my Name.” After the death of David we find Solomonso far as we may go by his languageseeming to put a somewhat different shade of interpretation on the matter. He does not, indeed, say anything different from the truth, or necessarily inconsistent with it; but perhaps moved by a son’s filial dutifulness, he purposes to omit those aspects which were the more painful aspects, and grievous to a son’s lip to enlarge upon. He says (1Ki 5:3), “Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the Name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.” This version is also quite consistent with the indications of our compiler (1Ch 17:1), and with those of 2Sa 7:1. With one fuller, however, and more plain-spoken, from the honest lip of the father himself to his son, not of the son to the outer world, we have here to do. And we are taught
I. THAT AS SURELY AS JUDGMENT IS GOD‘S STRANGE WORK, SO SURELY WOULD HE THAT THAT WORST JUDGMENT, WAR, AND THE SHEDDING OF FELLOW–MAN‘S BLOOD SHOULD BE THE STRANGE WORK OF HIS PEOPLE. If there be times when these be necessary, yet are they intrinsically “strange work,” and are emphatically by the Divine will to be so regarded. The man who has been but the bare instrument of this kind of thing among his fellow-men on earth, shall not be the man whose hands shall be honoured to rear the temple of God, the Church of love and peace, and of the perfecter brotherhood of humanity.
II. THAT THE PREVAILING BENT OR HABIT, OR MERE OCCUPATION OF OUR PREVIOUS LIFE, WILL NOT UNFREQUENTLY AT SOME CRITICAL MOMENT, AND ONE WHICH WE MAY IMAGINE TO BE OF SUPREME IMPORT, DECIDE THE LOT THAT SHALL FALL TO US, OR BE FORFEITED FOR EVER. Sin may be forgiven, the tyranny of evil habit may be broken, the usurper of the heart’s throne may be dethroned, circumstance may have been almost revolutionized; but in hard fact, the things that have been cannot be made as though they had not been, nor shall we be counted as though they had not been. Some stains are very stubborn things. And they are not superstitiously but legitimately regarded such. The stain of blood is notoriously of this description. Two such contrasts as Cain and David attest it. Contrasts violent as the savage sacrifices of heathendom through unnumbered ages and those of revelation illustrate it. But the tremendous demonstration itself may be held to come from the mark, the sprinkling, the efficacy of that blood of which they once cried out, let it “be on us and on our children.” On these both the dreadful stain of it, and the infinite virtue of it, have been from time to time, and still are, and shall be. Yet how many important and solemn illustrations of the same principle there are which shall fall very far short of those that bloodshed offers, David’s habit in this sort, nevertheless, our typical warning all the while! The element of doubtfulness in your profession, your business, your tactics, your line of well-known conduct awhile, may prove to lie just in this, the irresistible suspicion which they shall inevitably engender in the better part of human nature, in its higher instinctsin a word, in the humaner portion of humanity. That suspicion need be voted no freak of caprice, of superstition, of mock purity. It is a suspicion of the kind safe to incur itself. And it may be distinctly noted that it is incurred:
1. By the unwelcome, unsavoury nature of the actual deeds asked or involved. Though haply it be necessary that these be done, yet in good men’s minds there shall be a veiled revulsion from the touch of the hand that is the minister of them.
2. By the quality of character, which they are plainly calculated to beget or to foster. One that may betoken disparagement of thought, of feeling, of human inalienable rights, which should be held ever sacred.
3. By their resolute owning to the endowment of an unavoidable tenacity of life. They have a name to live, though not an enviable name. They will make their name to be heard when their doer would heartily wish they had never lived at all. They insist on reappearing, and brighten out to vision at times the most inopportune.
III. THAT HE WHO NOW REFUSES THE NOBLER SERVICE OF DAVID, THOUGH ACCEPTING THE PURPOSE OF HIS HEART, IS HE SOME OF WHOSE MIGHTIEST TITLES SOUND OF BATTLE AND VICTORY. The force of the lessons suggested to us by this passage certainly suffer no loss when we note an inconsistency which justifies itself in the very speaking of it. Vengeance, retribution, ultimate punishment, human blood, human life, lie all specially within the one supreme jurisdiction. And though doubtless God devolves the execution of these into the hands of others, the right of them he does not devolve. For David, for kings, for statesmen, for every man, the danger is that he encroach a hair’s breadth upon such a right. Now the Lord of hosts, the God of armies, the mighty Man of war, the Captain, the Avenger, the glorious Victor, is he alone to whom could safely attach the vast trust of human life and destiny, and the prerogative of the unquestioned disposition of them. It is he who, those titles of his own notwithstanding, pronounces the word that David shall not be the honoured builder of the temple, that olden type of the Church. Not because the object was not a good one, not because the purpose of David’s heart was an impure or mingled one, but because it had fallen so often to David to pour on the ground the life-blood of his fellows which the Church comes to save, therefore was the prohibition peremptory. Nor is any respite of allowance granted to the indisputable fact, that many of David’s wars had been under Divine sanction and by Divine command. Yet is there herein no mystery of Divine sovereignty to be pondered, no inscrutableness of “the things hidden” to be adored. For human feeling, human instinct, reason’s convictions and calmest utterances justify and approve the verdict.
1Ch 22:11-13.-The aged king’s charge to his son and successor.
The language of David to his son here, and shortly afterwards to the princes of the kingdom, indicate well his recognition and lively memory of the fact that stone and wood, gold and iron, will need willing hands, earnest minds, devoted hearts, and that even the best material of doctrine and truth will lie dead without the energy of the will and the living Spirit. The present utterances of David’s lips, though somewhat various, go together to make what may still be correctly called one charge. And this charge is formulated in words of
I. DIRECT ADDRESS AND INCITEMENT. David uses the direct human means, he looks upon his son. He speaks as a father to his son. With these natural aids of human look and voice he appeals to him, and remembers that the memory of them may possess an influence of incalculable helpfulness at some critical moments in time to come. It is not sufficient that we think and pray over God’s work and over others. We must use that word as a weapon, and wield it with all such force, both of kind and of degree, as may be open to us. So to preaching and teaching the best, the purest, and the most prepared of Divine truth, we must add the instrument of appeal. That appeal must be in God’s name, and must consist of his truth, but it must still be our appeal, warm with the love and sympathy of the heart of a fellow-creature, and quivering with the anxious tones of a fellow-creature’s voice. And in carrying out these methods, however undesignedly, David:
1. Announces the opportunity that lies before his son. He will not suffer any risk in the matter, but constrains his son to look at the opportunity, secures his surveying it in something of its proper dimensions. Solomon was very young still; but youth often under-estimates the dimensions of the things that are greatest of all. Just as the vast scenery that the eye looks on for the first time seems to have been over-described and exaggerated, till the truth grows on the eye day after day, and month after month, and that eye becomes educated to estimate magnitude more correctly. David, therefore, fixes attention, at all events, upon the grandeur of the opportunity which has now fallen to the lot of a very young man”Build the house of the Lord thy God.”
2. Emphasizes the value of the suggestions arising from a father‘s experience. David has not concealed from his young son what it had been in himself which had stood in the way of his accomplishing his own desire. It is not always to be expected, nor always wise or right, that a father “make a clean breast of it” to a young son. But David has done this now, and adds advice, and the tones of an earnest deep feeling which failed not to betray itself.
3. Urges the far more potent inducement of the Divine designation. “Build the house of the Lord thy God, as he hath said of thee.“ If somewhat veiled, this is in effect the strong argument enwrapt in St. Paul’s exhortation, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Php 2:12, Php 2:13). What a tremendous force has developed itself from the midst of all the weakness of human powers, when these have heard and surrendered themselves to the Divine call! Nothing so disarms as the consciousness that God and his truth are against you; and nothing fills the heart with such true fire and such abiding, growing determination as the happy contrary.
4. Appeals to the principle of sanctified courage. “Be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.” The strength, the courage, the fearlessness, not such as should have to be shown against any outer foe, but against the foe who must be feared from within: To fear responsibility rather than to dare it, is one thing; to run away from duty, from high endeavour, from difficult enterprise because of responsibility, is another thing, and an ignoble thing. Against temptation of this kind even a man’s natural courage should largely defend him, much more should godly courage.
II. INDIRECT ADDRESS, AS OVERHEARD, FOR INSTANCE, IN THE SUGGESTIONS OF FERVENT PRAYER. Of all malevolent influences, one of the most disastrous is when the impression is produced upon one that he is “prayed against.“ Of all tendering, melting influences, one of the most effective has been observed to be when genuine prayer has been overheard; the person praying unconscious thereof, and the person prayed for convinced of the same. But in this case David wishes his young son to hear and knew his prayer and deepest desires for him. And Solomon hears therein:
1. The prayer that speaks gentle, thoughtful affection. “The Lord be with thee”the unchanging, almighty, unerring Friend. This petition, too familiar to our ear, too little familiar to our thought, knows no limit of time, sets no bound to help, begs constant mercy, constant love.
2. The prayer that suggests the memory of needthe need of “wisdom and understanding.” Amid high position, great power, immense wealth and glory, David will not have his son forget the need of that “wisdom and understanding” which were more precious than rubies, and above all price. Nor will he have him forget that from God alone are these to be derived. And the exceeding importance that David attaches to the possession of these is further indicated by the word “only.” If only these are given by the Giver of all good, if only these are treasured by his son, all else may be trusted to go well.
3. The prayer that honours obedience. Solomon must “keep the Law of the Lord his God;” he must “take heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel.” His principle, his idea, his habitnone of these must look the way of doing his own will, ruling for his own ends or glory. He is but a vicegerent over God’s people, and follows in this respect the greatest exemplars and models of his people from most ancient, most honoured times. God had so “charged” Moses concerning Israel, that Moses had for the most part been obedient and “faithful as a servant;” and David prays that a similarly gracious, condescending, and commanding “charge“ may be vouchsafed to Solomon, and heard and “kept” by Solomon.
4. The prayer that authoritatively pronounces the embryo blessing. “Then shalt thou prosper.” So this charge, both for its matter and for its manner, for its following the precedents of wise human means, and for its imploring the Divine blessing and unhesitatingly avowing the perpetual need of Divine interposition, was well adapted to produce lasting impression on Solomon. What could the loving father and the dying king do more for his people, for his son, for his God?
1Ch 22:19.-The aged king’s parting injunctions to the princes of his kingdom.
There both seems to have been, and on many accounts it is likely that there was, much savouring of the despotic in the position of the kings of Israel, and this even in their best times. It was in part the purposed and just result of their Divine call to the office they were to hold. And the despotic disposition was often as inconspicuous as could be desired, The characteristic evils of the despotic temper did not push themselves into any prominence, did not even make themselves visible, so long as that king divinely designated remembered faithfully to hold himself at the sovereign disposal of the King of kings. But when this was not the case, they developed rapidly and disastrously. It is nevertheless abundantly plain that, when the authority and voice of the good king sounded most absolute, the facts of human life and character were not disregarded. Full account was made of them, and the nature of human society was religiously respected. Hence, at the present time, David calls on the princes of the kingdom, as well as on his own son and successor. He calls on them to close up their ranks round him, and addresses them as though they were truly the responsible props of the throne. He intreats them to co-operate with Solomon as sympathizing fellow-labourers in a grand religious enterprise. Such association of subjects with ruler is necessary to bind together strongly and safely the framework of any community fit to be called sound. Disintegration inevitably sets in with the deceitful interstices often found between class and class, or between ruler and ruled. We may notice here how David
I. SKETCHES THE ELEMENTS OF A NATION‘S OPPORTUNITY. These elements in the present instance are found in:
1. The fact that there is trustworthy ground for being sure that the Lord is on the side of his people. He is with them, and if so, they may feel that they have One with them far greater than all they who are against them. Confidence in a good cause is a great moral help and support. The confidence that comes of knowing that in the last resort one has a strong friend, is often a great strength. But to have God on one’s side is to have both these in one. It is to have all in one. He will not be found with a bad cause. And he brings unerring wisdom, perfect knowledge, and an omnipotent arm into the field. Nor is the consciousness of the presence and favourable regard of the Lord of less significance when not the works of war but those of peace are m question. Thought and works of skill and cunning invention, of beauty and of wisdom, memory and reason, and the highest attempts and successes of imagination, all lie open to his inspiration. “The inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8). And an even special stress is repeatedly laid upon the effects of this condescending presence upon the intelligence and the humble works of man, as, for instance, in the matter of the preparation of the materials used in the construction of the tabernacle of the wilderness (Exo 31:1-6). And this may be called the central element in David’s suggestions as to the opportunity now before his nation.
2. The absence of external causes of anxiety and apprehension. Worldly care is no doubt a part of the necessity, the discipline, the improving education of the present life. But the distraction of it often has hindered the noblest developments of the powers that lie in human nature. These noblest efforts need the “united heart,” the undivided zeal; and if you are to soar aloft, yours must be an unbroken wing. A nation’s life has times without number illustrated all this on a large scale. By severe effort the individual may occasionally triumph over distraction, but the mass are interested in and follow but one thing at a time.
3. The sense of restfulness now the portion of the people. Their own dwelling-place, home, the earthly Canaan, at all events,these are now their portion. And the spontaneous suggestion of them is some grateful earnest tribute forthcoming to their Giver. Home is for rest; rest is for work. Security is not to produce the fruit of sluggishness, but to yield that kind of “quietness and confidence” that shall make into strong, calm, determined purpose.
II. MAKES A STRONG APPEAL TO THE LEADERS or THE NATION TO USE TO THE FULL THE OPPORTUNITY. This appeal is twofold.
1. It asks the enthusiasm, the devotion, the full affection of heart and soul, in the first place. These must be “set to seek the Lord God.” They must not be left to take their hopeful chance, or chance more or less hopeful; they must be charged to rise to their higher selves. “My soul, wait thou only upon God.” Some men of God of old recognized very distinctly how it devolved upon them to take their own heart, to talk, reason with it, urge it, “stir up its good gift,” and lay upon it its solemn responsibility, its high privilege.
2. It asks the honesty of action. Great affections will pine without the bracing effects of exercise and trial and strenuous enterprise. Innumerable great purposes have come to ruin; and the wreckage has been visible enough and mournful enough. But the inner invisible wreck that has come of purposes great and holy, which never saw the light, never dared the breath of criticism, nor the winds of opposition, has been a thousandfold mournful and fatal. So David specifics, if not details, yet the leading divisions of practical duty now. “Arise build the sanctuary.,, bring the ark of the covenant, and the holy vessels into the house,” when” built to the Name of the Lord.”
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
1Ch 22:5.–Preparation for the temple.
A site having been secured for the house of the Lord, the next thing to be done was to make what preparations were possible in view of the great undertaking. David’s forethought and liberality, as described in this passage, are deserving of our admiration. Not permitted to do the work himself, he was allowed to commence and carry forward preparations for the construction of the temple. The considerations which led to this course of action were
I. THE GREATNESS AND GLORY OF THE WORK TO BE EXECUTED. A house for the Lord, the Eternal, whom “the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain,” a house which should be “exceeding magnifical,” obviously needed vast and prolonged and costly preparation. Masonry, metals, cedar-wood, joinery,all were made ready beforehand by the provident generosity of the king. Thus, when the time came to build, it was found that much was already prepared for the workmen’s hands.
II. THE YOUTH AND INEXPERIENCE OF THE PRINCE WHO WAS TO CARRY OUT THE PROJECT. As this was David’s own son, it was natural that a kind consideration of the difficulties of the enterprise committed to him should govern David’s conduct. Great interest gathers round a young monarch, especially if he comes to the throne at a time when great things are expected of him, or when his position is encompassed with difficulties. Solomon was “young and tender,” and it was natural and right that his experienced father should take measures to lighten the burden which Providence designed to fall upon the youthful and inexperienced.
III. HIS OWN INTEREST IN THE WORK. David would fain have undertaken the great enterprise himself. His mind conceived the purpose which his son was appointed to execute. He sacrificed self, and sank his personal ambition in the great project. Reverence and gratitude to the God to whom he owed so much induced him to acquiesce in the appointment of Divine wisdom, and to further the undertaking, if not in his own way, yet in God’s.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION.
1. The construction of the Lord‘s spiritual temple is a work in which it behoves all Christians to take a deep interest. There groweth “an holy temple unto the Lord.” In this temple Christ’s people are not only living stones, they are active builders. They wrong themselves and their Saviour, if they are absorbed in their own petty plans and negligent of this great cause which should excite the attention and sympathy of all.
2. Even though our part in this work be subordinate and unnoticeable, we should not slight the privilege granted us. Our work may be underground work which no one sees, or preparatory work which no one values at its true worth. But if God has assigned it to us, let us count it an honour to work for him.
3. In the service of God we may be fellow-helpers one of another. As David and Solomon wrought in harmony, so should all the builders in the spiritual temple. Sympathy and co-operation distinguish the sanctified activities of the Lord’s servants.
4. Our time for work is short. Death will soon call upon us to lay down the implements of toil. Let us therefore work while it is day, “for the night cometh when no man can work.”T.
1Ch 22:11-13.–Fatherly wishes and prayers.
David was not satisfied to make material preparations for the erection of the temple at Jerusalem. He had something more valuable than metals and stone and timber to give his son, in view of the great work which it should devolve upon him to execute. He gave to Solomon his counsels and his prayers. In these verses David
I. LAYS DOWN THE CONDITIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS OF SUCCESSFUL WORK FOR THE LORD. These are:
1. Intellectual gifts,” wisdom and understanding.” If bodily strength is a gift from the Lord, much more is vigour and versatility of mind. A curse when employed in the service of self and sin, these endowments become a precious and unspeakable blessing when consecrated to the cause of God.
2. A position of influence and authority. Solomon had “charge concerning Israel.” All who by birth, station, position, or office have special influence over others have also special responsibilities. This is true, not only of political, but also of social and educational influence.
3. Reverent regard to God‘s will. Solomon’s strength was in “keeping the Law of the Lord,” in “taking heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel.”
4. A fearless and courageous spirit. This seems natural to some men; but in those naturally self-distrustful courage may be cultivated by an habitual reliance upon the grace and promises of God.
5. Above all, the presence of the Lord. If he be with his servants, his work shall prosper in their hands. Here David also
II. EXPRESSES HIS HEART‘S DESIRE AND PRAYER ON HIS SON‘S BEHALF. We read David’s heart in these utterances. Whilst his judgment as to the conditions of prosperity are Laid down, how devoutly does he desire that success may crown Solomon’s efforts, that the work of the Lord may be accomplished! It was natural to the King of Israel to shape his wishes into prayers; the wishes of so pious a man could be nothing less than prayers. His heart’s desire for his son was thisThe Lord be with thee! give thee all qualifications and all help in his service!
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. Regard and seek all means of usefulness. Especially should the young prize every means of serving their generation according to the will of God. Nothing is to be despised or rejected which can tend to bring about an end so desirable.
2. In the acquisition and employment of all means of usefulness, neglect not those habits of prayer which will tend to make those means abundantly efficacious.T.
1Ch 22:16.–Be doing.
When David had done all that lay in his power, he commended the rest to his son Solomon. The son was not to rest in indolence because the father had wrought with zeal and given with liberality. Nor, because assured of the approval and the help of Heaven, was he to remit diligence and devotion. This David clearly impressed upon him in addressing to Solomon the brief but stirring admonition of the text: “Arise, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee.” The summons may well be addressed to every Christian heart.
I. MAN‘S NATURE IS ACTIVE. We are made, not only to think and to feel, but to do. The contemplative man, if his contemplations have no influence upon his life, is justly despised. “In all labour there is profit.” “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”
II. THE DEMANDS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE ARE FOR ACTION. The world in which we find ourselves corresponds to the nature with which we are endowed. In every position of life there is a loud call for activity. Without exertion and labour no good can be accomplished.
III. THE SUMMONS OF TRUE RELIGION IS TO ACTIVITY. The sloth of men may sometimes misinterpret religion; may endeavour to persuade them that all they need is to believe the truth, and to feel deeply when religious truth is addressed to them. But the Scriptures give no countenance to such errors, but teach us to “show our faith by our works,” and so prove the sincerity of our love.
IV. THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST IS AN EXAMPLE OF ACTIVITY. He both did the will of his Father and taught men to do likewise. This was his meat and drink; of this he never wearied. “He wrought the works of him that sent him while it was day.”
V. THE BLESSING OF GOD MAY BE EXPECTED TO REST UPON SANCTIFIED ACTIVITY. The Holy Spirit of God alike inspires, directs, and prospers the labours of his people.T.
1Ch 22:18.-Best on every side.
David had a word of encouragement, not only for his son, but for the princes of the kingdom. Solomon would need their aid in achieving his great undertaking. The king pointed out to them that the peace and prosperity established by Divine Providence were an indication of his will that, relieved from foreign anxieties, they should devote themselves to the service of Jehovah at home, in their own land, their own capital. “Hath be not given you rest on every side?”
I. OBSERVE THE NATURE OF THE REST HERE SPOKEN OF. It is not rest from labour; that, except for temporary relaxation, is, for the most part, not desirable in this world, where so much has to be done for God and for man. It was rest from their enemies, rest from war, rest from hindrances, disturbances, harassments; from the aboriginal inhabitants of the land, and from the heathen tribes and nations around. It is a blessing for any nation to be at peace.
II. CONSIDER THE MEANS BY WHICH THIS REST WAS SECURED. The reign of David had been, on the whole, one of strife and warfare. Such a condition of things was not desirable on its own account, for its own sake. The end of effort, counsel, even war itself, is the rest of peace.
III. CONSIDER THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH SUCH REST IS INTENDED. Not for sloth, luxury, and self-indulgence; but in order that the work of God may go forward unhindered, and with growing and conspicuous prosperity. It was a noble use to which the peaceful reign of Solomon was putthe erection of the temple unto the Lord. And whenever God in his providence grants a nation rest on every side, it is a probation of national faithfulness, to see whether the precious opportunity will be used aright for the development of national resources, for the advancement of education and social well-being, and for the furtherance of genuine and practical religion.T.
1Ch 22:19.-Arise, and build.
Before the old king died, he wished to see his successor’s work in train and order. Accordingly, both to Solomon and to the princes, David addressed stirring words of admonition. And as what he had most at heart was the erection of the temple, it was natural that he should lay the greatest stress upon this vast and glorious undertaking.
I. Note first, as here described, THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF THE BUILDING. It was “the sanctuary of the Lord God;” it was to be built “to the Name of the Lord.” A Divine dwelling, a habitation for the Most High, a holy place. In all this an emblem of the temple of our Saviour’s body, and of that spiritual house which is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
II. Remark next, THE PURPOSE OF THE BUILDING. It was to contain “the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God.” That is to say, it was not only the locality of God’s manifested presence, but it was the scene of sacrifice and worship and the centre of the nation’s religion. This gave a practical and political significance to the erection of the sanctuary.’
III. Instructive is the account given of THE DISPOSITION AND SPIRIT OF THE BUILDERS. The work was not to be done mechanically, or from a feeling of constraint. They were to “set their heart and their soul to seek the Lord their God.” That is, they were to undertake the work as one distinctively religious, and from a religious motive and with a religious aim.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. Let everything that is God‘s engage your sympathy and interest and zeal. Let each Christian hear the voice from heaven saying to him, “Arise, and build.”
2. Let God‘s work be done in a devout and religious spirit. In serving the Lord seek him, and he will be found of you.T.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
1Ch 22:6-16.–Successful service.
David’s charge to his son Solomon will furnish us with the conditions of all successful work done in the Name of Christ and for the extension of his kingdom. We may remark, preliminarily, that our leisure time cannot be better spent than in Christian work. Solomon was to have time for internal administration. His father had defeated and subdued all the national enemies. In the midst of protracted “peace and quietness” (1Ch 22:9) he would have an ample interval in which to build a house for the Lord. The time which the labour of others, or our own toil, has secured to us we spend most admirably when we give it to the direct service of the Divine Master. The conditions of successful work for him are
I. SECURING DIVINE DIRECTION. “Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding” (1Ch 22:12). David clearly felt, as this “only” indicates, that everything would utterly fail if God did not grant his Divine succour. That failing, everything must prove to be a failure.
II. ENSURING PERSONAL FITNESS. (1Ch 22:7-9.) David was rendered personally unfit for the work by his much fighting. It was not fitting that a man of war should build the temple of the God of love. The two things did not go well together. It was far more becoming that Solomon, the “man of rest,” should execute this work. Our guilty past may have been pardoned, our occupation may not be absolutely wrong, our surroundings may not be censurable, our position may not be blameworthy, and yet there may be something about one of these which makes it unsuitable for us and desirable for some one else to do the work which is required to be done.
III. MAINTAINING PERSONAL INTEGRITY. (1Ch 22:11-13.) “Prosper thou, and build the house that thou mayest keep the Law of the Lord thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed,” etc. God distinctly promised to be Solomon’s Father, and to establish his throne (1Ch 22:10); but this prosperity must depend on loyalty and the keeping of the Law. Without the maintenance of our moral and spiritual integrity we cannot expect to be prospered in any work we do for God.
IV. MAKING ALL DUE PREPARATION. Solomon would have found himself overtasked and unable to do as he did if David had not “in his trouble prepared for the house” (1Ch 22:14-16). The aged king may be said to have laid the foundation of the building by all the pains he took to collect material and make everything ready for his son to begin the work. We never strike a better stroke in the service of God than when we are engaged in the work of preparation. Moses in Horeb, Paul in Arabia, the Master himself in the quiet home in Galilee and the still more quiet resting-place of the mountain-fold and the seaside of after days, we ourselves in the chamber of communion and at the study desk, are “working for God,” for we are doing that which is positively essential to true, abiding issues in the field of Christian labour.
V. ACTING IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REVEALED WILL OF CHRIST, “Build the house of the Lord as he hath said of thee“ (1Ch 22:11).
VI. CHERISHING THE CONFIDENCE WHICH IS CLOSELY ALLIED TO STRENGTH. “Be strong, and of good courage” (1Ch 22:13). There is a confidence which is presumption, and which will be dishonoured; but there is a confidence which is in the truth and in God, and which is a large element of success. Where the diffident are defeated, the assured and courageous win. Let the Christian workman fee! that behind him are Divine promises which “cannot be broken,” and he will advance boldly and strike successfully.
VII. MAKING THE WAY PLAIN FOR OUR SUCCESSORS. (1Ch 22:6-16.) Nothing is more hateful than the spirit of “apres moi le deluge.” No worthy Christian workman will be content unless, like David, as he considers who and what are to come after him, he feels a devout thankfulness that he has made a plain path for his successors, in which they may walk in peace, honour, and usefulness. We may place by itself as a condition of success which is involved in some of the foregoing, but yet which deserves to be mentioned separately, cultivating and exhibiting the spirit of devotion. Thrice in this paternal counsel does David invoke the presence and blessing of Almighty God (nets. 11, 12, 16). It is in the spirit of conscious dependence on God and earnest uplooking to him for his Divine help (Psa 30:10) that the workman of the Lord will render successful service to his Master and mankind.C.
1Ch 22:17-19.-The wisdom of the strong.
We may take the “princes of Israel” as types and representatives of the strong men, the leaders in the kingdom, or Church, or society of which they are members, those who are responsible for the measures which are adopted, for the course which is chosen, for the principles which are professed. Thus regarding them, we may gather from the text
I. THAT IT IS THE WISDOM OF THE STRONG TO GAIN THE FAVOUR OF GOD for themselves and for the community. “Set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God’ (1Ch 22:19); i.e. strenuously and perseveringly endeavour to gain God’s approval, to do his will and win his smile. That is the “beginning of wisdom” and the end of it, in all cases now, with all leaders everywhere. They are to do this by
(1) taking earnest heed to his revelation of himself;
(2) accepting him who is the Manifestation of his mind and will;
(3) fashioning their own lives and directing those of others according to his holy Word.
II. THAT THE WISDOM OF THE STRONG IS IN MAKING THE MOST OF FAVOURABLE OPPORTUNITY. David urged the princes to activity on the ground that the time had come for action. “Is not the Lord your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side?” etc. (1Ch 22:18). Now that the energy of the people needed not to be devoted to the art of war, it was most fitting that it should be given to the building of a house for the Lord. The time of peace is the hour of national industry and progress, when the useful arts and religious institutions should receive particular attention. It is the part of wise and conscientious leaders, in the Church as well as in the state, to watch for the time of opportunity, to make the utmost of the “golden hour,” to strike when the blows will tell. Carefulness or negligence in this matter may make all the difference between success and failure. These are favourable times for
(1) reorganization,
(2) reconciliation,
(3) evangelization.
III. THAT IT IS THE WISDOM OF THE STRONG TO BUILD UP THAT WHICH HOLDS THE MOST SACRED THINGS. “Build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house” (1Ch 22:19). The princes could do nothing better for Israel than build the house in which the ark would abide; for the Lord himself would dwell above the mercy-seat, and so long as Israel worshipped purely in the house they were building they might count on his presence and his favour. Our leaders do well to incite us to build
(1) houses of the Lord in which he himself will dwell, and receive the homage of his people and teach them his truth;
(2) institutionsChurches, societies, familiesin which the holy principles Christ has taught us shall be incorporated;
(3) national character, which shall contain and embody those pure and righteous habits which are found in the lifo of the great Exemplar. These are of more value than all the “holy vessels” which David’s zeal could collect.C.
HOMILIES BY F. WHITFIELD
1Ch 22:1-5, 1Ch 22:14.–David’s preparation for building the temple.
David was now in the last years of his reign, and these were spent in making preparation for the building of the temple. In order to procure the necessary workmen, he commanded to gather together the strangers in the land of Israel or the descendants of the Canaanites whom the Israelites had not destroyed when they took possession of the land, but had reduced to bondage. The number was so considerable that Solomon was able to employ one hundred and fifty thousand of them as labourers and stone-cutters. Of these David “set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.” Solomon was but a tender youthnot yet in his twentieth yearand the work to be executed was so great that David determined to make all the preparation he could himself. The materials prepared were many and costly. Iron, brass, and cedar trees; the two former without weight, for they were so abundant. But of gold there was one hundred thousand talents, and of silver one million talents. As the talent was one thousand shekels, and the shekel according to the Mosaic weight worth about two shillings and sixpence, the silver would thus amount to 375,000,000, and the gold to 450,000,000. This money seems to have been the fruit of the spoils of the wars in which David had been engaged. This enormous sum was at once laid out for the Lord’s house. Thus all the accumulation of David’s life is here consecrated to God. Thus should it be in the life of every true Christian. His money, his talents, his time, his opportunities, are all the Lord’s and are to be consecrated to his service. “Ye are bought with a price.” The Christian is in one sense the poorest man in the world, for all he has belongs to the Lord; yet he is the wealthiest, because God himself is his. We have no right to take a walk without it is the Lord’s will, nor spend a penny unless as he would have us do it. When a man becomes the Lord’s, everything he possessed passes over to him who has bought him. And he is but a steward of all he possesses, and soon to be called to give an account of his stewardship.W.
1Ch 22:6-16.–David’s charge to Solomon.
This was a solemn charge delivered by David in view of his death. The shadow of death makes everything solemn. But while we hear the charge to Solomon, it is impossible not to perceive from David’s words that “a greater than Solomon is here.” The throne of Solomon was not established “for ever'” It is a promise of God which, like many such promises in the Old Testament, look forward to the kingdom of the Messiah, in whom alone they receive their literal and perfect fulfilment. Let us listen to their perfect consummation: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33). Unless we notice the unexhausted promises and prophecies of the Old Testament, we shall read God’s Word to little real profit, and it will be full of difficulties and perplexities. David connects in this charge two things which are inseparablesuccessful building and taking heed to the Law of God. If a man is to build well he must be a man of God. All successful building is inseparable from a heart under the constant influence of Divine truth. “Arise therefore, and be doing,” says David, “and the Lord be with thee.” God can only be with us as our own hearts are abidingly under the power of his Word; and if he be not with us, how can we build? “Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” The secret of all true rising in life, of all progress and attainment, is for the heart to be under the influence and constant guidance of the Word. Life will, in the end, be “life’s labour lost” without this.W.
1Ch 22:17-19.–David’s charge to the princes of Israel.
After charging so solemnly his son, David turned to the princes of Israel, giving them an equally solemn charge to help his son Solomon in his great work. Every line of this charge to the princes is replete with spiritual instruction. The first line is a precious one: “Is not the Lord your God with you?” The presence of God is the Christian’s great power for all work. “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” Moses knew its importance when he said, “If thy presence go not with us, lead us not up thence.” The second line is equally precious: “Hath he not given you rest on every side?” The true Christian has indeed found “rest” in Christ the true David, and for the reason assigned here in David’s third line”for he hath given the inhabitants of the land [the Canaanites] into mine hand.” Every enemy the child of God has is in the hand of Christ. Every sin he has committed, as well as the broken Law, and everything else that shut him out from God, have all been laid on Jesus. Everything that could injure or stand in the Christian’s way, in the present or in the future, is all in the hand of Jesus. “Subdued” is the word written by Christ’s cross on all his sins, on all his foes, on everything against him. Nay more: in all these things “he is more than conqueror through him that loved him.” This being so, to what end is it all? David tells us: “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.” Every affection, every desire, every energy, every aim, everything within us, is to be “set.” And where? Christ-ward. On him who has done such great things for us. And does such grace tend to sloth or indifference? Far otherwise. “Arise therefore.” Get up out of sloth, out of sin, out of earthliness of every kind. Get higher. “Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee.” And how is this rising to show itself? “Build ye the sanctuary.” Let every thought and energy, every heart and every hand, be put to build up the kingdom of Godthe true sanctuary of God in this world. And the last word in this charge is the climaxthe great end to which everything points: “Build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built to the Name of the Lord.” Observe the sanctuary was fur this end”to bring in the ark of the covenant and the holy vessels.” So is it now. That ark is Christ. The “holy vessels” are everything that pertains to that ark. This is the great end of every buildingto bring in Christ and everything that is of Christ. Is the sanctuary the believer’s soul? Then let Christ and everything Christlike be brought in there. Is the “sanctuary” a Churchany of the Churches of Christ or the entire Churchthe body of Christ? Then see that the ark is brought in and its vessels-Christ and everything that will glorify him. The house was “to be built to the Name of the Lord.” This Name is on the Christian, on every Christian Church, on every Christian duty, on every Christian nation, on every Christian work. See that the ark and its vessels are where the name is. See that we have not the name without the ark and its vessels. We may have the name in baptism, in the Holy Communion, in the Church and its ordinances, but the grand question is, “Are the ark and its vessels there?”W.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
1Ch 22:2–Alien help in God’s service.
David was willing to employ those who were not Israelites in the work of building the temple, and this is recorded as an indication of liberality and large-mindedness. By the “strangers” mentioned here we are to understand “aliens,” the non-Israelite population of the land; and we have no ground for assuming that the persons he employed were necessarily proselytes. From 2Ch 2:17 we learn that David took a census of these aliens, with the design of employing them in forced labours, as hewers of wood and stone, bearers of burdens, etc. It does not appear that the Israelites, as a people, have ever displayed mechanical or constructive skill. Their bias has been towards agriculture and trade. It is often somewhat anxiously questioned whether sanctuary bellyaid in church-building, and maintenance of Christian worship and workcan properly be received from worldly persons, who cannot be supposed to give themselves to God through their gifts in support of his service. Wider and nobler views of God’s relations with men, and claims upon the service of all men, would make such questioning impossible. Exclusive feelingscaste sentimentsgrow upon us only too easily; but they are always mischievous; they need to be carefully watched and repressed; and Christians, above all men, should cultivate the most liberal and generous sentiments. It should be their joy in God, that “the God of the whole earth must he be called.” Keeping in mind that the object of this homily is to correct the “narrowness” which is too often the marked feature of pious sentiments, we consider
I. ALL SOULS ARE GOD‘S. “All souls are mine.” George Macdonald well writes, “We are accustomed to say that we are bodies, and have souls, whereas we should rather say that we are souls, and have bodies.” Paul pleads with the Gentile that we are all the “offspring of God.” And our Lord, in his teaching on the mount, revealed God as providing for and overshadowing all, “making his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sending his rain on the just and on the unjust.” All souls are to come under the Divine judgment, and that judgment must be based on Divine dealings with men, and men’s response thereto.
II. ALL LIVES SHOULD BE CONSECRATED TO GOD. By the claims of creation, relation, and providence, God urges upon every man the duty of surrender to him. See the familiar answer to the question, “What is the chief duty of man?” When Paul urges the Romans to “present their bodies a living sacrifice,” he does but express the demand made by the God “in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways.” If this be established as a universal principle, then these two things follow.
1. All man’s service he claims. Whatever a man can do, God has the right to ask him to do for him. Illustrate by the sentiments of earlier times, in regard to a king’s right to claim the service of any member of his kingdom, day or night. God has the infinite right to make such claim; and the godly man fully recognizes it, and says
“Take my body, spirit, soul;
Only thou possess the whole.”
2. All man’s possessions are for God’s use as he may require them. Not merely what a man is he is for God, but what a man has he has for God. David fully recognized this, and in presenting to God the gathered material for the temple, he said, “Of thine own have we given thee.” So when a worldly man gives of his property or time to God’s service, we should feel that he is imperfectly and incompletely doing a part of the duty which rests on every man. Nothing of human service can be alien to God; and nothing should be alien to his people in working for him. We may encourage every man to do something, or give something to God, in the hope that, by-and-by, they may come to love God’s service, and God himself.R.T.
1Ch 22:2-5.-Willingness to do what we may when we are forbidden to do what we would.
For reasons sufficiently defined, God did not allow David to build his temple; and David received the Divine refusal in a right spirit. It might have crushed him, and led him to feel that he could do nothing; but he nobly decided that if he might not actually build, he would gather the materials for building, and make all necessary preparations. Too often, when a man’s particular plans are hindered, he throws up Christian work altogether. We therefore commend the really beautiful example of the pious David. A man should be cheerfully willing to do what he can when he cannot do what he would.
I. THE PLACE FOR MAN‘S WILL IN RELIGIOUS WORK. He ought to purpose, devise, and plan great things, and expect that his enterprise and energy will serve the gracious Divine purpose. Man’s will is not broken down by a true piety; it is rather quickened and renewed, though toned with submission to the Divine will.
II. THE PLACE FOR THE DIVINE WILL IN RELIGIOUS WORK. That will must be regarded as the final court of appeal, and reference must be made to it. The good man’s last word is, “If the Lord will, I shall live, and do this or that.” Illustrate by the expression used in the Acts concerning Paul’s travelling plans, “The Spirit suffered us not.” We recognize the place of the Divine will in personal experience; we should also recognize its place in relation to Christian work. God does not always permit us to do what our hearts desire to do. The blocks in our way are Divine hindrances.
III. THE TRUE SUBMISSION IS ACTIVE OBEDIENCE WITHIN DIVINE LIMITS. Most unworthy is the sullen refusal to do nothing because we cannot have our own way. True humility finds expression in cheerfully doing what God will let us do.
Apply to Church life. God expresses his will often by putting disabilities in our way, but he at the same time opens up other ways for us. If we are willing to do what we may, we shall find it fits in for the outworking of God’s perfect plan.R.T.
1Ch 22:5.–Right ideas concerning God’s earthly sanctuaries.
David’s language in this verse is striking and suggestive, and it expresses a right feeling in relation to God’s worship, and the places in which his worship is offered. He says, “The house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries.” David did not desire a merely grand building, but rather one whose magnificence should be of such a character that it would draw universal attention to Jehovah and magnify his Name. “The temple was to have, as it were, a missionary character and office in proclaiming the Name of the Lord to all nations.” The principles illustrated in this sentiment of David’s may be thus dealt with.
I. THE DUTY OF CONSERVING SPIRITUAL CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. “God is a Spirit: and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” The unity and spirituality of God are foundation and essential truths of religion. How jealously they were regarded is indicated by the strong expressions of the two first commandments. We must as anxiously guard them from doctrines or sentiments that imperil them, as Israel must guard them from idolatrous customs. No earthly thing adequately represents God. No earthly figure or image properly fits him. And no earthly dwelling may be thought of as containing him. The omnipresence of Jehovah is beyond our power of apprehension; yet we may conceive of him as coming under no kind of human limitations. Material figures and forms of thought greatly help us, but none can know the Almighty to perfection. In our day of pronounced atheism, it is the. more incumbent on us to witness fully concerning the immaterial and spiritual nature of God. Men may resist our representations and descriptions of God, and find these stumbling-blocks in the way of their conceiving God himself; and therefore we should ever cherish high, mystical, and spiritual thoughts of the great Source of all being.
II. THOUGH WE MAY NOT REPRESENT GOD HIMSELF, WE MAY REPRESENT THE SPHERE AROUND HIM. Moses and the elders did not represent the being or person of God himself; only the glory of the “sapphire” round about him. Isaiah did not see him who sat on the throne; only the splendour of the throne, and the attitudes of the attendant courtiers. Heaven is so fully described in the New Testament as the sphere where God dwells, in order to relieve us of distress on account of the impossibility of picturing to us God himself. We see the cloud that shrouds him, and the fire that is an emblem of him; and we are taught to see in the vast blue dome of the sky the abode where he dwells. And being thus fittingly impressed, we are encouraged to argue out the questionWhat must he be, whose “robe is the light, whose canopy space”?
III. OUR REPRESENTATIONS SHOULD WORTHILY EXPRESS OUR CONCEPTIONS OF THE DIVINE SURROUNDINGS. This is the ground on which we consecrate architectural genius and artistic skill to the building and the decoration of our sanctuaries. If we may represent the surroundings of God, we must try to represent them worthily. The palace of the great King of kings ought to be “exceeding magnifical.” God’s own representation of his surroundings is sublime creation: the blue, star-studded dome of sky; the many-sounding, vast sea; the everlasting mountains; the harvest-laden plains; the million-flowered earth. Our representationin our temples and churchesshould be the ideal beauty of each age; classic, Gothic, or otherwise, as fits the sentiment of each age. Illustrate what proper moral impressions are produced by our cathedrals, abbeys, and churches towering above the houses of our cities, and made our architectural models. It is a right and true feeling which leads us to build magnificent temples and churches, and to arrange beautiful and artistic services. Yet we must jealously keep the feeling that these are, at best, but suggestions of the “surroundings” of God, and they leave the infinite mystery of God himself wholly unrevealed.R.T.
1Ch 22:7, 1Ch 22:8.-The grounds of Divine refusals.
God would not permit David to build his temple, and he was graciously pleased to signify to him the grounds on which this refusal was made: “Because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.” For illustrations of the bloody character of David’s wars, see 2Sa 8:2, 2Sa 8:5; 2Sa 10:18; 2Sa 12:31; 1Ki 11:16. David’s mission did not appear to consort with David’s wishes. He did not, however, see an unfitness which God recognized. A man must let God tell him what he may do and what he may not; and full willingness thus to receive Divine direction is a high sign of the true submission. No man ever finds it easy to give up his long-cherished wishes.
I. A MAN MAY WILL MORE THAN HE MAY PERFORM. Distinguish carefully between willing, or seriously purposing, and mere wishing. A man’s sentimental wishes mean nothing, and cannot stand in place of right deeds; but a man’s definite plans and purposes may be as true expressions of character and righteousness as actual deeds could be; and so God may say, “Thou didst well that it was in thine heart.” One of the gravest troubles to the earnest man is the impossibility of carrying into effect one-half of what he can purpose and desire to do. The artist has his visions of more and better pictures than he can ever paint. The author plans more and better books than he will ever write. The Christian resolves upon nobler works than he will ever accomplish, and a nobler life than he will ever live. From this common fact an important argument for man’s immortality may be drawn. There must be the larger sphere in which man may find the room which he vainly seeks here.
II. A MAN‘S PROVIDENTIAL PLACE MAY PUT HIM IN LIMITATIONS. David was where God had lint him, and in his wars he had been doing the work which God required him to do; and yet he found his very life-work limited him; and his very faithfulness to God hindered his accomplishment of his own cherished desires. So it often is still. A man’s providential place is one he never would have chosen. A man’s life-work is one that prevents his following out his own wishes. At this men often fret, fancying themselves fit for far higher work than is given to their charge. But the true-hearted man accepts the Divine overruling and the painful limitations, learning to say calmly, “My times are in thine hand,” and thankful that in some sphere he may carry out the Divine purposes of grace.
III. THE DIVINE REFUSAL OF A MAN‘S PERSONAL WISH IS ALWAYS WISELY BASED. God sees influences and consequences which the man himself may fail to discern. God works ever for the larger good of the whole, and his sphere takes in wider considerations than any individual can reach. God’s estimate of what a man is, and is fit for, may well differ from a man’s own estimate of himself. And God’s sensitiveness to what is befitting we may be sure is keener and altogether more refined and subtle than any man’s. Enough that we are sure all God’s decisions are based on the judgments of infinite wisdom, and never on mere eccentricities of feeling.
IV. YET THE PURPOSE WHICH A MAN MAY NOT EXECUTE MAY WIN THE DIVINE ACCEPTANCE. David’s intention was acknowledged graciously, and the next best thing was given him. His son should do what. he might not do; and that son should do it as soon as David had passed away. And even more than this: the preparation work David was himself permitted to arrange, and the plan he might devise; so that, after all, the temple that was ultimately built was more David’s than Solomon’s.
Plead that a man does well who has great things in his heart; but he must be sure that Divine providences and leadingsand nothing elsekeep him for carrying them out and giving them practical effect.R.T.
1Ch 22:9.–The mission of the men of rest.
The anticipative description of Solomon, as the man conceived by God to be fitted for the work of building his temple, is this”He shall be a man of rest.” Very remarkable is the fact which may constantly be observed, that successors in office are usually marked contrasts in character, disposition, and modes of working. This is often observed in clergymen and ministers, and it is very marked in the succession of Solomon to David. The connections between the two we often cannot trace, and it seems as if the one could not possibly carry on to its completion the work of the former. Yet what seem to us to be contrasts may seem to God to be relations, the one becoming an actual preparation for the other. There are times when the work of God in the world needs the men of battlethe Davids and the Wellingtons; and there are other times when God needs the men of restthe Solomons and the Gladstones. It may be well to show what gracious work for the well-being of mankind has always been done in times of peace and by men of peace. And yet such times have their peril, and round again comes the necessity for the rougher ages of conflict and intenser feeling. These points may be dealt with under several headings. Before presenting these, a few sentences from F. W. Robertson’s lecture on Wordsworth may be given, as suggestive of the mission of the men of rest. He says, “I will remark that Wordsworth’s was a life of contemplation, not of action, and therein differed from Arnold’s of Rugby. Arnold is the type of English action; Wordsworth is the type of English thought. If you look at the portraits of the two men, you will distinguish the difference. In one there is concentrativeness, energy, proclaimed; in the eye of the other there is vacancy, dreaminess. The life of Wordsworth was the life of a recluse. In these days it is the fashion to talk of the dignity of work as the one sole aim and end of human life, and foremost in proclaiming this as a great truth we find Thomas Carlyle In opposition to this, I believe that as the vocation of some is naturally work, so the vocation, the Heaven-born vocation of others, is naturally contemplation.”
I. WHAT MAY BE DONE BY “MEN OF REST” IN THE NATIONAL ORDER? Explain the perilous sentiments, painful conditions, and sense of exhaustion left from war-times. Harvests soon wave again where heroes shed their blood, but the moral condition of a nation cannot soon be recovered from the evils of war. New sentiments have to be inculcated, and the arts of peace have to be cultivated. Show how much peace-loving men do in our day towards keeping the nations, in their disputes, from seeking the fearful arbitrament of war. Nations ought to thank God more for her great peace-leaders than for her great war-victors.
II. WHAT MAY BE DONE BY “MEN OF REST” IN THE SOCIAL SPHERES? In war-times social evils are neglected, and suffered to grow rank, as ill weeds do in the untended garden. And the good things of education and artistic culture, and the right development of the family life, are lightly esteemed. The “men of rest” find out the prevailing evils of an age, reveal them in satire, or poetry, or picture, or moral teachings, and devise schemes for national and social reformations. Illustrate from some of the social and educational schemes of the last sixty years of comparative peace since Waterloo. Recall names of men who have done good social work.
III. WHAT MAY BE DONE BY “MEN OF REST” IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD OF THOUGHT AND LIFE? Apply to Christian doctrine. Men have framed doctrinal schemes in times of conflictconflict of opinions and conflict of nationsand the man does an infinite good to Christian thought who, only in small degrees, relieves from Christian doctrine the mischievous war associations, and puts in their place the truer family ones. But we may apply also to Christian worship and Christian life. Mystical and spiritual insight of the fuller truth is given only to the “men of rest.” Solomon’s times remind us that peaceful ages have their own perils, and peaceful men their own temptations.R.T.
1Ch 22:10.–Early signs of the filial relation.
God gathers up into one expressive, suggestive, and satisfying term the relation in which he would stand to Solomon. That term could be no other than Father“And I will be his Father;” “He shall be my son.” The revelation of the Divine fatherhood was the distinctive mission of Christ. The commendation of the filial spirit was the special duty of the apostles. These may be illustrated as introductory to the subject on which we now more particularly dwell; which is, the Old Testament indications of the fatherhood of God and sonship of men. It must be admitted that the term Father as applied to God in the Old Testament is only a figure of speech, designed to bring out and express God’s affectionate interest in his people; and the Lord Jesus Christ, by his own sonship and teaching, brought to light those comprehensive, inspiring, and ennobling views of the Divine fatherhood which we now know and properly regard as characteristically Christian. The figure of God as a Father was an aid to the complete apprehension of God, but it is now the one all-including conception of God, which is at once the foundation of theology and of faith. In this, as in so much else, the Old Testament prepared for the New. In reviewing Old Testament references to God as a Father, we notice
I. THE TEACHING OF THE PATRIARCHAL RELIGION. It has not been sufficiently considered that the first relation in which God placed man to a being outside himself was that of father. Eve was part of Adam’s self. Cain was Adam’s son. The most essential relation of human beings is that of the parent and children. This highest and most necessary relation was the shadow and revelation of the Divine relation. For a long period the patriarchal system kept the fatherhood prominently before the minds of men. The great tribal fatherpatriarchwas the earthly representative of the Divine Being, through whom right ideas concerning God and his relations with men were reached. Note that, in the very first form of fatherhood, rule, authority, governance, were essential elements: the father was virtual king, and much more.
II. THE SON–LIKE ATTITUDE OF TRUE PIETY IN EVERY AGE. The good man is conceived as a son; and the very ideal of goodness is an obedient, affectionate, and submissive son. Illustrate from Isaac’s relation to Abraham, especially in the matter of the required sacrifice. But fully illustrate from the Book of Psalms. The more perfectly the spirit which the psalmist wins and seeks is apprehended, the more clearly it appears that it will go into the one word “sonship.” The submission of reverence and confidence, with the obedience of tenderest affection, are chief features of sincere piety, and as certainly precise features of good sonship. The son-figures, as used in the Old Testament-such as in the textshould be given.
III. THE NEW FORCE PUT INTO THE RELATION BY THE PROPHETS. Giving prominence to the spiritual over the ceremonial and governmental, the prophets cannot be satisfied with a kingly representation of God, or a priestly. They want to present a Divine relation to men which is more than official, other than official; so they use the parental figure, and the terms “father” and “son.” Illustrative instances may be found in Isa 9:6; Isa 63:16; Isa 64:8; Jer 31:9; Ma Jer 1:6; Jer 2:10, etc. God in judgment will certainly be misapprehended unless we see him to be the Father-God in judgment, and are willing to take our illustrative figures from the father, wisely, judiciously, and with a view to the highest good, chastening his child whom he loves. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” In a similar way every relation of God may be taken, and the importance of accepting the last and fullest revelation of God, as Father, may be shown to be necessary to its proper apprehension. We should rise from such preparatory and suggestive figures of speech as this in the text, to the high Christian conception of God as the “Father of Jesus,” the “holy Father,” the “righteous Father.”R.T.
1Ch 22:12, 1Ch 22:13.–Conditions of prosperity.
Solomon was distinctly informed that continuance of prosperity depended entirely on his continuing faithfulness to Jehovah. The “throne of his kingdom was to be established for ever,” but only then should he prosper, if he “took heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel.” God’s positions for his servants, and promises to them, are always dependent on conditions; no Divine promise is ever unqualified. None fail to take into due consideration the character and the conduct of those to whom the promise is made. Illustrate by the great covenant made with Israel; by the assurances given to Joshua (Jos 1:7); and by such prophetic declarations as Isa 1:18, Isa 1:19; Isa 55:1-3, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, etc. There is always an if attached to the Lord’s promise, but it is always virtually the same if“if ye be willing and obedient.” We may say that there are four conditions on which prosperity is dependent.
I. WE MUST WORK FOR GOD. Having this as our supreme aim; and not being, even in any subtle ways, set upon mere self-seeking. Full loyalty to this supreme motive is quite consistent with giving due place to inferior motives. And the daily culture of spiritual life bears directly on this working for God; keeping ourselves ever as in the “great Taskmaster’s eye.”
II. WE MUST WORK IN THE SPIRIT OF FAITH AND DEVOTION. Of faith, as trust, making us lean on Divine strength; and devotion as keeping our souls fully open to Divine influence. Carrying the spirit of prayer into daily work.
III. WE MUST WORK IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW. Both that written in the Book, and that ever freshly written by the Spirit on the “fleshy tables of the heart.”
IV. WE MUST WORK WITH ENERGY AND GOOD WILL. Wisely and skilfully combining the human powers that guarantee success, with the trust in God on which success must ultimately depend. The man who trusts most always works hardest.
On these conditions the true prosperity must come; but it may be such as men will not so name.R.T.
1Ch 22:14-16.–One man’s work for God fits into, and follows on, another man’s.
David was the preparer for Solomon the builder, and it is not for us to say which part of the work was the more important. Both together went to the execution of the Divine purpose. So, in every age, “one soweth and another reapeth,” but the sower ever prepares for the reaper. Every man may cherish the conviction that his work has its place, and, if he faithfully does it, it will be sure to fit, and help towards the realization of the good Divine thought for the race. This may be illustrated in science: the inventions and discoveries of one age prepare the way for the advances made in a later age. Franklin would be as much amazed as any of us with the modern mysteries of telegraph and telephone and electric light, and yet, by his discovery, he distinctly prepared the way for all these developments. The same may be seen in relation to our Lord’s life-mission. It could not have been all that we know it was, if it had been a sudden and unconnected thing. Patriarch, and lawgiver, and psalmist, and poet, and prophet, and Baptist, may fairly and truly say that they took part in the redemption of the world, since each one, in his sphere, helped to prepare the way for Christ.
I. ISOLATE ANY MAN‘S LIFE, AND IT MAY SEEM TO BE A FAILURE. Do this with any of the world’s great men, in Scripture or in history, and nothing can be made of their careers. In their connections only can their meaning and purpose be unfolded. This reveals the reason for the imperfection in our estimate of the life-work of any man who lives and dies among us. His personnel fills our vision. We see him. He is isolated; and we cannot well see how he fits into his place. Men have to die, their stories must become history, before we can cease to isolate them. No man can hope to be fairly judged by his own generation. And no man can efficiently judge his own work. Even our Lord’s life-mission cannot be apprehended if we venture to separate him from his historical associations. Apply these considerations to the distress into which good people sometimes get respecting the value of their work. It seems to be brief, worthless, cut off while incomplete. So we may think when our eyes are fixed. only on it; but the view is incomplete and therefore unworthy. It may well be corrected by a larger vision.
II. CONNECT ANY MAN‘S LIFE WITH THE PAST AND THE FUTURE, AND IT WILL BECOME PLAIN HOW HE FITS INTO THE DIVINE PURPOSE, AND AIDS THE HUMAN PROGRESS. This we may, indeed, be only able to do in part, but we can do it sufficiently to assure our hearts that he who has the perfect vision sees the fittings and relations of each man and each man’s service. We can see some of the ways in which men at once serve their generations, and prepare for the generation that is coming.
1. Some men have to drag and hold back a too hurried and perilous advance. This is the work given of God to the conservative-toned men among us.
2. Some men have to keep up the standards, in morals and opinion. These may be men of battle, who are keen to discern and quick to resist evils; or they may be men of contemplation, who lift up seemingly unattainable ideals.
3. And some men have to advance the standards. These are the men whom we regard as “before their time,” who, at some peril to their own reputation, and much to their own comfort, bring us foreshadowings of the truths which are to be the commonplaces of the next generations.
God always has other men ready to take up our work when we drop it. A beautiful and effective illustration may be drawn from the struggle for the standard at the Battle of Lutzen, where Zwingle fell, as described by D’Aubigne in his ‘History of the Reformation.’R.T.
1Ch 22:19.–Work for god must be done with heart and soul.
“Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.” Scripture uses several terms for the composite being, man, but it may be questioned whether, without undue forcing, we oar form, on a Scripture basis, either a dualistic or tripartite theory of man’s being. We find the term body, as indicating the physical being, set in relations with an external world by its five senses; the term heart, as inclusive of the mind and the affections, set in relations with the world of thought, and the world of fellow human beings; and the term soul, as the equivalent of that spiritual being which is set in relation with God, and has its life only in him. But, though these may be the stricter meanings and uses of these terms, they are often used in Scripture as figures of speech; and a man is said to work with his heart when he likes to do what he is undertaking, and a man is said to do a thing with his soul when he does it with a will, with energy and perseverance. It will afford some effective contrasts to consider conceivable ways of working for God, and the illustrations of each will be at once suggested, so that they will need no more than statement.
I. WORK FOR GOD MAY BE BY ACCIDENT; either of place, or circumstance, or association.
II. WORK FOR GOD MAY BE BY COMPULSION; as may be illustrated in the case of Cyrus, of whom God says, “I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.” God makes even the “wrath of man praise him;” and bad men have, unwillingly, done his sow-reign will.
III. WORK FOR GOD MAY BE DONE THROUGH WORKING FOR SELF; one who seeks only’ his own ends may find that, without credit or blessing to himself, he has really served God.
IV. WORK FOR GOD MAY BE DONE HALF–HEARTEDLY. We may “fear the Lord, and serve other gods.”
V. WORK FOR GOD MAY BE DONE, AND SHOULD BE DONE, WITH CULTURED BODILY POWERS; WITH HEART–JOY IN GOD; and WITH THE INSPIRATION OF THE SOUL‘S DEVOTION. Of such work for God the Lord Jesus Christ presents the highest type; but the example isas a human example, within human reach.R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
1Ch 22:1. David said, This is the house, &c. This shall be the houseThis shall be the altar, Houbigant; who renders the 11th and 12th verses also in the future.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
c. Davids Arrangements for the Building of the Temple; other Spiritual and Temporal Regulations; last Will and Death.Ch. 2229
. Provisions for the Building of the Temple: 1 Chronicles 22
1Ch 22:1 And David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.
2And David commanded to gather the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he appointed masons to hew square stones to build the house of God. 3And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of 4the gates, and for braces; and brass in abundance without weight. And cedar-trees without number; for the Zidonians and Tyrians brought much cedar-wood to David. 5And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house to be builded for the Lord must be highly magnifical for name and glory in all countries: I will now prepare for it: and David prepared abundantly before his death.
6And he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house forthe Lord God of Israel. 7And David said to Solomon, My Song of Solomon , 1 had it in mind to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God. 8But the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thou hast shed much blood, and made great wars; thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies around; for Solomon shall be his name, and I will give peace and rest unto Israel in his days. 10He shall build a house to my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever. 11Now, my son, the Lord be with thee; and prosper 12thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as He hath said of thee. Also the Lord will give thee wisdom and understanding, and ordain thee over Israel, that thou may est keep the law of the Lord thy God. 13Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the Lord commanded Moses concerning Israel: be firm and strong; fear not, nor 14be dismayed. And, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass and of iron without weight; for it is in abundance: and I have prepared timber and stone, and thou shalt add thereto. 15And with thee are workers in abundance, hewers and carvers of stone and of timber, and all skilful men in all work. 16Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron there is no number: arise and do, and the Lord be with thee.
17And David commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son: 18Is not the Lord your God with you? and hath He not given you rest on every side? For He hath given the inhabitants of the land into my hand;2 19and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before His people. Now give your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; and arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord.
EXEGETICAL
1. Connection with the Foregoing Section: 1Ch 22:1.The present chapter, which opens the second half of Davids history referring to the inner side of his government, is, by its introductory verse, closely connected with the foregoing account of the pestilence, and the consequent elevation of the floor of Oman to be the place of sacrifice for the king. The further accounts, relating directly or indirectly to the security of Davids kingdom for his successor, to the end of the book, are thus in a suitable way connected with the last-mentioned important event in the external history of the government of David.This is the house of the Lord God, or: shall be a house of the Lord God. David gives this determination to the former threshing-floor on the same ground that moved Jacob to consecrate his resting-place at Luz to be a Bethel (Gen 28:17), because Jehovah had there revealed to him His saving presence.
2. The Preparation of Materials for the future Temple: 1Ch 22:2-5.And David commanded to gather the strangers that were in the land of Israel, the descendants of the Canaanites subdued in the conquest of the land, who lived as bondmen under his government; comp. 2Ch 8:7-10 and 1Ch 2:16-17, where the number of these bondmen under Solomon is stated to be 150,000, whom he employed as bearers and workmen in building the temple.Masons to hew square stones. Comp. 1 Kings 5:17, 31; also the simple , square stones, 1Ki 6:36; 1Ki 7:9 ff.; Exo 20:25; Isa 9:9.
1Ch 22:3. For the nails for the doors of the gates, and for braces. , properly, for joining things (Sept. ; more correctly Vulg. commissur atque junctur); comp. 2Ch 34:11, where, however, braces of wood are meant.
1Ch 22:4. For the Zidonians and Tyrians (= Phenicians; comp. Ezr 3:7) brought much cedar-wood to David; this at first naturally, as an article of trade for the exports of Palestine, corn, wine, fruit, etc., not yet by a contract of supply for building the temple, such as Solomon afterwards made with Hiram, 1Ki 5:15 if.
1Ch 22:5. Solomon my son is young and tender. So ( , parvulus et delicatus, Vulg.) David names Solomon also, 1Ch 29:1, in one of his last speeches to the people, although, born shortly after the Syrian Ammonite wars (2Sa 12:24), he must have been at this time, shortly before Davids end, above twenty years of age. But even shortly after the beginning of his reign, Solomon calls himself , 1Ki 3:7; comp., for example, also Benjamin, Gen. 43:44; Joshua, Exo 33:11; Rehoboam, 2Ch 13:7, etc.And the house to be builded for the Lord must be highly magnifical (properly, great to make). , properly, upward, above measure great; comp. on 14:2.For name and glory in all countries, that it tend to the glory of the Lord in all countries; comp. 14:17.I will now prepare for it. The meaning of this cheerful offering is somewhat weakened, if, with the Vulg. (prparabo ergo, etc.) and Luther (therefore will I make preparation), we take as a particle of inference.
3. The Charge to Solomon to build the Temple: 1Ch 22:6-16. This charge is obviously to be regarded as given to Solomon shortly before the death of David; see the at the close of 1Ch 22:5. The whole address on to 1Ch 22:16, besides being a legacy of the predecessor to his successor, is therefore to be regarded in some measure as parallel to 1Ki 2:2-9, and as essentially contemporary with the contents of 1 Chronicles 28, 24 of our book. On its perhaps not strictly historical but ideal character, which is common to it with those addresses of David in 1 Chronicles 28, 29, see Introd. 6, No. 6.
1Ch 22:7. On the Keri to be preferred to the Kethib, see Crit. Note.I had it in mind, literally, I, it was in my heart; quite so (with the same emphatic position of before ) also 1Ch 28:2. The phrase: it is or was in my heart, for: I have (had) in mind, appears also in 2Ch 1:11; 2Ch 6:7 f., 9:1, 24:4, 29:10, as in other historical books, Jos 14:7; 1Ki 8:17 f., 10:2.
1Ch 22:8. But the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. What was a historical necessity in the course of Davids government is by this concrete description referred to a definite word of the Lord communicated somewhere and sometime to David, as in 1Ch 28:3 (comp. 1Ki 5:17). It is not necessary to seek a definite place, where such a divine command was at least intimated to him. What Nathan says, 17:4 ff., of Davids wars, concerns only the help which God gave him in these, but does not give prominence to the circumstance that he was by those frequent wars unfitted for building the temple. Comp. also Hengstenb. Gesch. des Reiches Gottes, 3:124.
1Ch 22:9. Behold, a son shall be born to thee. The participle () is here in the sense of the future; comp. 1Ch 22:19 and 1Ki 13:2.Who shall be a man of rest, not a man who makes rest (Jer 51:59; comp. Hitzig on this passage), but, as the sequel shows, a man who enjoys rest, who has the blessings of peace, and therefore rightly bears his name . Comp. the description of the profound peace during the reign of Solomon, 1Ki 5:4 f.On 1Ch 22:10, comp. 1Ch 17:12 f., which prediction of Nathan is briefly repeated in our passage.
1Ch 22:11. The Lord be with thee (comp. 1Ch 22:16; 1Ch 22:18); and prosper thou; comp. 1Ch 22:13; Jos 1:8; and lastly, on , to charge any one, 1Ch 22:8 () and 11:10.
1Ch 22:12. Also the Lord will give thee wisdom and understanding; the same terms are so connected in 2Ch 2:11. The fulfilment of this prophecy, as of the similar one of Nathan (2Sa 7:11), see in 1Ki 3:5 ff.That thou mayest keep the law of the Lord, properly, and to keep the law, etc. Comp., on this continuation of the verb fin. by the infin. with , Ew. 351, c.
1Ch 22:13. If thou takest heed to fulfil (to do) the statutes and judgments. The language here frequently coincides with the prescriptions and promises of Deuteronomy; comp. Deu 4:1; Deu 5:1; Deu 7:4; Deu 7:11; Deu 11:32; and respecting the closing admonition: be firm and strong, Deu 31:6; Deu 31:8; Jos 1:7, etc.
1Ch 22:14. And behold, in my trouble, etc. So is to be taken here (comp. Gen 31:42, and the parallel meaning, Gen 39:2), not in my labour, as the Sept., Vulg., and Luther have misunderstood the phrase. The following Numbers , 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver, are only free from the suspicion of wilful exaggeration by the Chronist or an error of transcription, if we are permitted to introduce a reckoning according to other, that is, smaller units than those customary in the O. T. (comp. Introd. 6, No. 5). If we reckon the talent () of silver at 3000 shekels of silver, according to the usual Mosaic or sacred value of about 2s. 33/8d. each, it would amount to 342, and therefore 1,000,000 such silver talents would make the large sum of 342,000,000; and 100,000 talents of gold, if the gold shekel be sixteen times that of silver, would reach the still higher sum of 547,500,000. The gold and silver thus gathered by David would amount to 889,500,000, a sum incredibly high for the requirements of worship at that time. On the contrary, if we assume, with Keil, that the present shekel is not the sacred (Mosaic) but the civil so-called shekel, after the kings weight, and that these royal shekels were only half as weighty as the others, and so equal in weight and value to the bekah or Mosaic half-shekel (Exo 38:26),an assumption that seems to be corroborated by the comparison of 1Ki 10:17 with 2Ch 9:16; 2Ch 9:3 the sum named is reduced by at least a half. That so large a sum gathered and saved by David is not inconceivable, but has its parallel in other high sums of oriental antiquity, Movers (Die Phnizier, ii. 3, p. 45 ff.) and Keil (p. 182 f. of his Comment.) have rendered probable by examples from the history of Persia and Syria, those exceedingly rich countries adjacent to the kingdom of David; comp. the 34,000 of gold and 500,000 talents of silver which Cyrus seized in the conquest of Athens (Varro, in Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxii. 15), the 40,000 talents of uncoined gold and silver and 9000 talents of coined silver which Alexander seized in Susa alone, the 120,000 talents which the same conqueror acquired in Persepolis; likewise the colossal treasures of Syria, with its numerous great idols of solid gold, its gold shields for the servants of Hadadezer, 2Sa 8:7 ff., its gold pins as ornaments of the boots of the common soldiers of an Antiochus the Great, etc. At all events, it is hasty in Bertheau, who, besides, commits a great error in asserting that 5000 millions of thalers (about 750,000,000) would suffice to pay off the debt of all European states, to deny the credibility of the present high numbers, and suppose that they could be nothing but the first circumlocution of the notion, great, exceedingly great,a circumlocution that may still be heard in the mouth of those who have not reflected on the value and import of the numbers, and therefore deal quite freely with thousands and hundred thousands. Neither the fact that Solomons annual revenue amounted only to 666 talents of gold, nor that the queen of Sheba made him a present of 120 talents of gold (comp. 1Ki 10:10; 1Ki 10:14; 2Ch 9:9), is sufficient to confirm this suspicion of a boastful exaggeration as the ground of the present statements. For, besides the 666 talents in gold expressly mentioned in those passages, Solomon must have had still other revenues considerably higher in their total amount (especially from tolls and tributes of the subject nations); but the value of a single gift in money and precious metals cannot in itself be compared with that of a great treasure amassed during several years. And should not David have actually contemplated the foundation of a temple treasure, of which the surplus remaining after defraying the cost of building should be kept in the sanctuary, and saved for covering the future expenses of it (as Solomon actually did after the building was finished with the money remaining over, 2Ch 5:1; 1Ki 7:51), and therefore have accumulated so vast a sum? Comp. that which is expressly reported to this effect, and see Keils full discussion of all questions and opinions on this matter (pp. 181184).And thou shalt add thereto. That Solomon followed this advice of his father, to add to the building materials, is clear from 2 Chronicles 2, where also the activity of the here (1Ch 22:15, and in 1Ch 22:2) mentioned workers in stone and wood, as well as the skilful men in all work (, to denote the ingenious mastery in the crafts of building and figuring, as in Bezaleel, Exo 31:3), is again mentioned.
1Ch 22:16. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number, properly, for gold, etc. The before the several words serves to make more prominent that which is hitherto enumerated (Ew. 310, a). On the following , arise and do, comp. Ezr 10:4.
4. Invitation to the Princes of Israel to aid in the building of the Temple: 1Ch 22:17-19.Is not the Lord your God with you? The remembrance of Gods former grace toward the people is a ground for the invitation. That the words communicated here and in 1Ch 22:19 are Davids words to the princes, is sufficiently clear even without from the foregoing ; comp. the same immediate introduction of the address in 23:4. He hath given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, the Canaanites, Jebusites, Philistines; comp. 14:10f., Jos 2:24, as on the following: the land is subdued, Jos 18:1, Num 32:22; Num 32:29.
1Ch 22:19. Now give your heart and soul to seek the Lord your God; comp. 2Ch 17:4, Ezr 4:2, where the same construction of with is found, whereas elsewhere it usually has the simple acc. of the object after it (16:12, 21:30, etc.).To bring the ark of the covenant (15:1; 2Ch 5:2). . . into the house, etc. in stands (as in Jos 4:5) for , and is not perhaps nota accusativi (Berth.), as is never constructed with the acc. loci, but with , or with the acc. and local. For the future sense of , comp. on 1Ch 22:9.
Footnotes:
1 , according to the Keri; the Kethib has , unto Solomon his son; but it scarcely deserves the preference, as might easily arise from , 1Ch 22:6.
2So the Masoretic text and a part of the mss. of the Sept. (A2 F X: ). But the Sept. cod. Vat, Vulg., Luther, etc.: into your hands.
3See Mosis Maimon. Constitutiones de siclis,quas illustravit, Jo. Esgers, Lugd. Bat. 1718, p. 19, and comp. the remarks on 2Ch 3:3 concerning the relation of the older (sacred or Mosaic) cubit to the shorter civil cubit of later times. [In the text, English money has been substituted for foreign.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
Though David had it in command, that he should not build the temple of the Lord, yet it was not commanded him that he should make no preparations for it. This chapter represents him busy in the design, and instructing his son, Solomon, who was appointed by the Lord to build it, how to proceed.
1Ch 22:1
There is somewhat very interesting in this account. David, perhaps, had some secret intimation from the Lord, that the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite, was to be the hallowed spot. How strange and mysterious are the ways of the Lord! Was there no spot in all Jerusalem belonging to one of the seed of Israel, but this spot of Araunah must be chosen? Some Commentators have thought (and I see no reason to reject the idea) that it was a beautiful figure to represent the interest the Gentile world should have in the Lord Jesus, which this temple typified. The prophet Amos seems to have had such a thought, and one of the apostles, even James, in his sermon appears to have cherished the idea. I beg the Reader to compare Amo 9:11-12 with Act 15:16-17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Cathedrals Their Use and Abuse
1Ch 22:5
This may be regarded as an utterance not so much prompted by any direct inspiration, as of the instinct of the religious nature that is in man. The most ‘magnificent’ buildings in the world are those that are or have been connected with religion pagodas, mosques, temples, minsters.
I. The first Christians, those of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles of St. Paul with their surrounding difficulties of poverty or persecution, could not do much of a material kind to express their sense of Divine law. ‘Not many noble, not many great, not many rich were called then.’ A time came for greater things, and for a display of the majesty of external ritual to the eyes of the world; and the religious instincts of the heart, having first found satisfaction of their yearnings within, craved also an opportunity of expressing that satisfaction in outward form. The instinct for, from its universality and uniformity it would seem to have been an instinct rather than a mere formal or conscious effort of the moment founded itself upon, or else was accompanied by, many ideas; but one was paramount, and that was the idea of a noble and (so far as human resources could make it) a commensurate worship of Almighty God: that nothing should be wanting to help the worshippers to feel that the service rendered to God is and ought to be the highest of all earthly services.
II. It is a natural, and when kept within bounds, a legitimate desire of the human heart, and when it has been once touched by religious influences to yearn after an elevated, beautiful type of worship. The tendency of a utilitarian age is to lose to a great extent the feeling indeed almost the conception of worship as for instance David conceived it. It is true we have not altogether ‘forsaken the assembling of ourselves together,’ but the motive by which we are influenced is elaborate and gorgeous ritual, or a highly finished musical service, rather than any desire to realize in the truest sense and highest measure the blessedness of communion with God. Anyone who has seen those vast congregations gathered into the nave of Westminster Abbey or beneath the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, must allow that in our cathedrals we have an opportunity, if only we will use it, of exercising that ‘gift of prophecy’ to which St. Paul attributes so potent an influence both on those who believe not and on those who believe. At the same time I entirely feel that we may add to the pomp and external solemnity of religion without thereby proportionately increasing its power. These grand cathedrals teach, moreover or if they do not directly teach, they indirectly remind us of some great moral, I may even call them some great national lesson. We of the nineteenth century are not in all respects better than our fathers, nor wiser. In some respects, it is obvious, we have more light, greater power, wider opportunities, larger capacity; but in many other respects we are but copyists, and copyists at a humble distance, of those who have gone before us. We could hardly build nowadays one of these cathedrals; nor if we could find the money, could not perhaps find the architect to design Westminster Abbey, or Lincoln Minster, or Salisbury spire. We have not got the faith, perhaps we have not got the piety, certainly we have not got the spirit of self-sacrifice.
J. Fraser, University and other Sermons, p. 83.
References. XXII. 5. H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1164. XXII. 7. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Lessons for Daily Life, p. 87.
The House of the Lord
1Ch 22:7-8
One of the great disappointments of David’s life was his desire to build a house unto the Lord, and God forbade the same. Why was it? Because he was a shedder of blood, we are told. Was it because he had made war? I think not. There was a shedding of blood in David’s life which was worse than war. The man after God’s own heart had gone astray in the matter of heart and the passions of life, which led the brave warrior to become a cowardly murderer. This was the sin on David’s soul, and when he wanted to change the sword for the trowel God forbade him. He can still write poetry, he can still have high aspirations, he can still build a noble palace for his kingly dignity, but when the man who has lost purity, and given up simplicity of life for the more complex life of the king-warrior, wants to build a temple to the Lord God in heaven, no, he is not fit. The man after God’s own heart, the poet, the king, the warrior against God’s enemies, he is not fit to build the temple for God. He can only want to, and must stop short. It is very sad; it is very pitiful.
But we find it so in everyday life. What has gone before counts for so much. A man comes to you and wants some appointment. You know him to be now a good fellow, straight of purpose, honest, true, but you know what his past is.
I. It is so in spiritual matters. God sets us a high aim, and we have to prepare for a life that is a continual rising, step above step, to the very heaven of God; and as we rise one step above another there is ever a power beckoning us on higher still; something nobler, something better for you to do. But when the calls come, they come just according to our power to meet them, and our power to meet these calls depends upon the way in which we have responded to other calls. It depends upon the way in which we have lived in the past how we shall be able to live for God in the future. By our past we may fit ourselves for high work; by our past we may not only have missed opportunities, but the power to be and do what in after life our soul longs to be able to do. We know it by experience. We know we may not do what we should like to do now, not merely because there has not been given us the power to do it, but because we did not use the powers we had in the past, and so made ourselves fit for the highest work in the present. You know of it in your prayers; you know it in dealing with other souls. A power within you bids you aid that man or that woman, and you force yourself to say and do what you feel it is your Christian duty to do, and yet you have a feeling it will fail, it is useless, it will not serve the purpose you have in view. And you know it is you yourself who are at fault, that your words won’t ring true, that the very man will find you out. You say, ‘I do not touch the heart and soul of those I come in contact with,’ and you know it is because your heart and soul are not quite, not quite, what, by the grace of God, they might have been.
II. David had lost power, and when he wanted to do that thing which was the consummation of his whole life on earth he was forbidden. All he might do was to gather up the gold, and the iron, and the silver, and the timber, and say to another, ‘Do what I cannot do. I can touch a harp as you never touched it, I can bring peace into the land which in your days will only become starvation, but I cannot gather up my life in this supreme offering to my God, for He forbids me. My righteous indignation against God’s enemies has passed into passion; my love pure and holy once was my love for Jonathan has become impure; my hands that had only touched the hilt of the sword that shed the blood of those who sinned against God have become red with the blood of the innocent whose wife I coveted. I have not conquered self, and now I cannot give to God that which is the fulfilment of my whole heart’s desire.’
What is the lesson? Conquer self, and if you conquer self the calls will come from God and you can respond. Conquer anger, conquer your passions, conquer your lusts, and you may build temples to God made of your own souls and the souls of others you have brought to Christ.
Limitation and Co-operation
1Ch 22:14
Having done his utmost to facilitate the building of the temple, David now commends the great work to the faithfulness and enthusiasm of his son. The text is brief, yet it implies great principles worthy of close consideration by all workers for God and mankind. It has a pathetic side, also an aspect of consolation and encouragement; and it is in the consideration of both that we get a true estimate of the duty of life.
I. The Pathetic Side of our Text. The limitation of the individual. David could not project and accomplish the whole scheme by virtue of his own power and resource. He at once discovered that he must take Solomon into partnership; Solomon forthwith found it necessary to enlist the sympathies of the princes, whilst the princes, in turn, were constrained to appeal to the people. It is surprising how soon we exhaust our personal power and resource, and must look beyond ourselves if cherished purposes are to be brought to pass. Limitations of one sort or another condition us all. We can play only a part, a small part, and play that part only for a little while.
We are subject to constitutional circumscriptions from which is no escape. We work happily and effectively only within the lines prescribed by our special natural endowment. We see this in the greatest men. The mathematician who wished to know what Paradise Lost proved disclosed his own limitation.
We may easily get into a niche for which we were not made, attempt work for which we have no aptitude, undertake tasks in which Nature herself forbids that we should excel. God has declared our narrow, predestined sphere in the lines of our body and brain; and it is most pathetic to see a man struggling to get out of his skin and attempting to be what God did not intend him to be, to do work that was never given to him to do.
We suffer circumstantial circumscriptions. David possessed gifts and cherished aspirations which the trend and pressure of events did not permit him to exercise and satisfy. The sword was thrust into his hand, when he coveted the harp; he was entangled in politics, whilst he burned to sing; and empire-building became his duty, whilst temple-building was his passion. Our body does not furnish utterance for the fullness of the spirit; our present life is not nearly so wide, various, and rich as the soul.
Mutability and mortality complete our restrictions. ‘So David prepared abundantly before his death.’ Life’s little day thrusts into small room pur large and manifold speculations. A celebrated artist painted conspicuously in his studio a death’s head, not out of a morbid temper, but that the fugitiveness of opportunity should be kept in constant remembrance. Whether or not we thus grimly remind ourselves of the fact, infirmity, age, and death quickly mar cherished dreams. ‘We are strangers and pilgrims, as all our fathers were.’
II. The Aspect of Consolation and Encouragement Presented by our Text. ‘And thou mayest add thereto.’ The insignificance of the individual worker is lost sight of in the social law which consolidates and conserves the humblest endeavour. In two particulars the text is instructive and inspiring.
It reminds us of the continuity of human service. David did what was possible to him, and then transmitted his undertaking to his son. A wonderful social law gives coherence, continuity, and permanence to human action. Leo Grindon writes: ‘Nothing so plainly distinguishes between man and brutes as the absolute nothingness of effect in the work of the latter. Unless the coral isles be deemed an exception, of all the past labours of all the animals that ever existed there is not a trace extant.’ These creatures are sagacious, they are intense, they have toiled unweariedly from the beginning of time; but their work is as ephemeral as themselves.
Continuity and conservation prevail in the intellectual world. The glorious things of our literature, science, and art, are legacies of our gifted ancestors which have come to us through a long series of generations who have each added thereto. Other men have laboured, and we have entered into their labours.
In national life the continuity of service conspicuously obtains. ‘One generation shall praise Thy name to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts!’ Our vast empire, with its glory and blessing, is the sum-total of the contributions of a few splendid spirits, but chiefly of millions of obscure patriots who added infinitesimally to its knowledge, righteousness, and happiness.
In the religious sphere the conservation of power and effort is simply absolute. No Church is the creation of a great genius, or the creation of an aristocracy of ability and saintliness; but each Church is the sum-total of millions of minute contributions made by modest men and women altogether unhistoric. It is said that from every leaf of a tree a fine thread strikes, running along the branch, down the stem, into the root; and when the leaf falls, this slender fibre remains,’ giving increasing bulk and strength to the tree year by year. So Christians drop unrecorded into the grave, like leaves into the dust; but each member, departing, adds a vital fibre to the organism, and the accumulation of these minute increments gives increasing strength and splendour to the Church of God which, like a tree of life, hastens to overshadow the nations.
W. L. Watkinson, The Fatal Barter, pp. 258-273.
Reference. XXIII. 13. I. Trevor, Types and the Antitypes, p. 102.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
“Handfuls of Purpose,”
For All Gleaners
“Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel? 1Ch 22:1 .
And yet not a stone of the building was laid! The reference is to the site whereon the temple is to be built. We read, “Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father” ( 2Ch 3:1 ): the literal rendering would be, “which was shewn to David his father,” the place being pointed out by the appearance of angels as the spot on which the temple was to stand. This is the very spirit of prophecy. We find all prophets impatient of time and space, and taking the future into their own hands, and dealing with it as if it were the immediate present. Say they: This is the place, this is the time, this is the means, a handling of time and space only to be understood by those in whom the spirit of prophecy resides. There are prophets, and there are those who understand prophets, and both the classes may be said to live upon the same intellectual plane. Some men are poets, others are only readers and lovers of poetry; yet those who love poetry are in a sense themselves poets, having the poetic instinct but not poetic expression. We are more than we show ourselves to be in words. The vividness of David’s representation is singularly instructive, for David already seemed to see the temple and to be in the temple, and to know all the appointments of that sacred pile. It was the privilege of David to live in the future as if it were present. Is there not a sense in which we can all do this? May we not even now be in heaven as to all our highest desires and truest sympathies? Why speak of heaven as in the future, or in the distance? The apostle did not scruple to say, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” Jesus Christ did not hesitate to declare that whilst he was upon the earth he was in heaven. And the glorious company of the apostles constantly declared that like Moses they endured as seeing the invisible, and their thoughts were intent upon a house not made with hands.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXIII
DEATH OF ABSALOM; PREPARATION FOR SOLOMON’S ACCESSION,
AND THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE
2Sa 18:1-20:26
We should continually bear in mind that in order to interpret the inner life of David, the Davidic psalms must be studied in connection with the history. I never got a true insight into the character of this man, into his religious life, into his staying powers, until I studied the history very carefully in connection with the Psalms. I spent one whole summer studying the history of David in the Psalms.
David stopped at Mahanaim; that is the place where Jacob met the angelic host, as the name signifies. While Absalom was making his muster, David was also mustering a host; while Absalom was godless and prayerless, David was penitent for his sins, humble toward God, and courageous toward men. Absalom appointed as his commander-in-chief a nephew of David, a son of Abigail; David had for his commanders Joab, Joab’s brother Abishai, and the Gittite, Ittai.
One of the most touching things in connection with David’s atay at Mahanaim is the coming together from three different directions of three friends to help: “Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat.” It is noticeable always, however, that a man of strong character will draw to him friends whose friendship cannot be broken. David’s character developed friendship so that people would come to him and stand by him to the very last extremity. Of course there were some traitors. Absalom could draw men to him, but could not hold them.
The battle between the opposing armies took place in what is called the “Wood of Ephraim,” a very considerable forest somewhere near the banks of the Jordan. David’s army was in three divisions. He wanted to lead in person, but they objected and he stayed over the gate of the city, with one concern in his heart, deeper than all others, and that was about the fate of his son, Absalom, he was very much devoted to him, foolishly so, as the charge that he gave to each officer as each division marched through the gate indicates: “For my sake deal gently with Absalom.” Absalom’s army was utterly routed.
I remember preaching a sermon in 1887, when canvassing the state for prohibition, on the text: “Do thyself no harm,” basing my argument upon this thought, that no man can cause a harm that he does to terminate in himself. A man might be somewhat excused for doing harm to himself, if he harms only himself. I illustrated Absalom’s banning himself in two scenes. First, on that battlefield 20,000 men lay dead; a man goes over the field and tries to identify the slain. He turns over a victim whose face is to the ground, and feels in his pockets to see if he can find anything to identify him, and perhaps finds a letter from his wife stained with his heart’s blood. It reads: “When are you coming home? The children every evening sit out on the gatepost and look toward the scene of war until their eyes fill with tears, then come in and say, ‘Mamma, whenever is papa coming home?’ ” Never! There are 20,000 men like him, 20,000 wives like that wife, and 40,000 children like those children, all harmed because Absalom did harm to himself! The other scene of the picture was the old man, the father, at the gate of the city, listening for news of the battle, and when the message is received, colder than lead and sharper than the dagger, it strikes his heart. Stripping off the crown and purple robe, he wraps himself in sackcloth, and puts ashes on his gray head. It breaks his heart. He wrings his hands and sobs: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” In view of the father’s unspeakable grief, it was not right for that young man to harm himself, since the harm did not terminate in him.
That sermon changed more votes than all the speeches that had been made. Power in preaching consists in having an imagination that will enable you to make a scene live before you,
I preached another sermon in Waco that I think I shall never forget. It was an afternoon sermon, when all the churches in the city were united. I took a double text: “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” That was the first part of the text. The other part was, “Absalom, my son, my son, would God that I had died for thee.” I contrasted the sorrow of David over his two children; the separation between him and his baby was temporary; they would soon be together forever, but the separation from Absalom was an eternal separation. He knew his child was lost forever, which accounts for his inconsolable grief. The power of that sermon was in vivid stress of two things: holding one picture up and saying, “Look at that,” and holding up the opposite picture and saying, “Look at that.”
The rebellion perished with the death of Absalom, but David was so utterly overwhelmed with his grief that he did not follow up his victory, and really he became sinful in his grief. It took the heart out of his own people. They became ashamed and sneaked back to town, feeling that their victory was dreadful to their king. Joab, though his heart was as hard as iron, was right in his rebuke; but it was very unfeelingly done, especially as he had been the one, in violation of orders to take the life of Absalom. This is what he said “Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; in that thou lovest them that hate thee, and hatest them that love thee. For thou hast declared this day, that princes and servants are naught unto thee: for this day I perceive, if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants; for I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry a man with thee this night.” That was pretty straight talk, but it was successful, and it waked David up. He was so stunned by his grief that he took no steps to follow up his victory.
The question of his restoration came up with the people this way: “Shall we now take the king back to his throne? Absalom is dead and there is no other king.” And then David made overtures to Judah, his own tribe; he sent to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, saying that the tribe of Judah was his own flesh and blood, and they had said nothing about his coming back. He then made this promise: “As the Lord God liveth I will make Amasa, Absalom’s general, commander-in-chief of my armies.” It would have been all right to dismiss Joab, but it certainly was impolitic to put a rebellious general at the head of his army. We will see directly that it cost Amasa his life.
The men who stood by David and won his victory for him felt like they were strangers here with these people who had been against him and the enemies’ general made their commander. Whenever a strong feeling of resentment exists there will always be somebody to give voice to it, hence the shout of Sheba: “To your tents, O Israel!” You will hear that cry again in the days of Rehoboam, when the same ten tribes say, “To your tents, O Israel! What have we in the son of Jesse?” The tribes were always loosely held together, and it was easy for them to separate and disintegrate. For some reason, not stated, Amasa was very dilatory to take command and subdue Sheba, and David commands Abishai, not Joab, to take command and pursue Sheba until he is caught and destroyed. Joab goes along as a volunteer, and on the way he meets Amasa whom he thus addressed: “Art thou in health, my brother?” And then stabs him under the fifth rib, Just as he had killed Abner; then he usurps command, Abishai giving way to him, and put down the rebellion very speedily. David did not feel strong enough to displace him again, so after that Joab was commander-in-chief, too big a man to be put out!
In going back to Jerusalem there were several touching things: In the first place that cursing man, Shirnei, comes out and makes submission and asks to be forgiven. David forgives him for the present. You will see later how he made provision for bringing him to judgment, but he forgave him for the present. The darkest blot on David, outside of the sin against Uriah, is in this paragraph, the meeting with Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth comes to meet him and David sternly asks why he had not gone out with him when he left Jerusalem. He gently explains that he was crippled and could not walk, and that he ordered his beast to be saddled and his servants went off and left him; that he is now glad to welcome David back, and that it was a falsehood that he ever intended to profit by David’s misfortunes. David then restores to him part of his property and lets that rascal Ziba keep half of it. In all this transaction Mephibosheth comes out in a much more favorable light than David: “Let him take it all forasmuch as my lord, the king, has come in peace unto his own house.” This does not show off David very well. It is customary for everybody in going over this part of the history, to speak with great favor of old Barzillai. Everything he did was pure disintereetedness. David offers compensation, offers to give him a permanent home in Jerusalem. He says this would not be a favor to him, as he is old and blind and cannot taste anything or discriminate. Then David asks him if there is not somebody in his house that he can promote, and the son of old Barzillai is promoted.
We will now consider the preparation David made for the succession to guard against any other rebellion. He wanted the succession established in his lifetime. If you are familiar with English history you know that a nation is in a great stir every time its king gets sick, unless it is clearly established who shall succeed him. The question for succession was a serious one when Queen Elizabeth died, and again at Queen Anne’s death, when the kingdom was transferred to the house of Hanover. Some of the most thrilling pages in history are devoted to these transition periods. David wanted no trouble about the succession; so he assembled the great convocation, consisting of princes, captains of thousands, and hundreds, etc., and caused them to recognize Solomon as his successor, and he was so announced. Every officer in the kingdom was precommitted to Solomon. And yet, notwithstanding this precaution, Adonijah, the third son prominent in history, now the oldest, since Absalom is dead, determined that he should be king. He adopted Absalom’s expedients, prepared chariots and men to run before him. He got Abiathar, one of the priests, and Joab to stand with him and went off to a place called En-rogel and there to be announced as king. David was too old and feeble to do anything, but the prophet Nathan sent the mother of Solomon to him to let him know what was impending. David took steps instantly to have Solomon crowned king, and proclamation made. Adonijah, when he heard that Solomon was king, returned to Jerusalem and begged for mercy, and the rebellion was ended. This led to the displacement of Abiathar as priest, and led to the permanency of the high priest in the line of Zadok, who stood firmly with David.
The crowning act of David’s life, the one most profitable in its lesson to us, was his provision for the erection of the great Temple. All the devoted treasure from Saul’s wars and his own, all the spoils of many nations subdued by him, immense treasures of gold, silver, precious stones, precious metal, and cloth were stored up for this purpose. Then by revelation from God the plans and specifications of the building and its furniture received by him were given to Solomon, accompanied by a solemn charge to build the house. But yet the gathered material was not sufficient for so great an enterprise. So David at this great convocation engineered the most remarkable public collection known to history the most remarkable in its method, its principles, and in the amount raised.
Method. First of all he, himself, out of his own proper fund, made a cash donation never equalled since, not even by Carnegie nor Rockefeller. The princes, and then all subordinate officers) followed the lead of their rulers.
Principles. (1) It was a “prepared” donation. (2) The preparation was “with all his might.” (3) The donation was for God’s house and cause. (4) It was prompted by “affection for God’s cause.” (5) It was purely voluntary. (6) It was preceded by a “willing consecration of himself to God.” (7) It was followed by great joy because a willing and not an extorted offering.
Amount. It staggers credulity to accept the vast total. The total, by any fair method of calculation, goes beyond anything else known to history. No offhand, impulsive collection could have produced such a result. It was a long-purposed, thoroughly prepared contribution flowing from the highest possible motives.
Lesson. Our preachers today should lay it to heart. We need the lesson particularly in times of financial stringency. We see our preachers scared to death without cause and our people demoralized. We need the application intensely. We should know that God is never straightened in himself that today, if we willingly consecrate ourselves to God first of all, like the Philippians who first gave themselves to the Lord, and if we have true affection for God’s cause, and if we purpose great things in our hearts, and prepare a collection, with all our might appealing to the voluntary principle in the loving hearts of God’s people, and ourselves have strong faith in God who is able even to raise the dead, then the stringency of the times will only brace us and call out our courage. But if we are whipped inside, if we feel that we are butting our heads against a stone wall, if we take counsel with our fears and become timid and hesitating moral cowards when we should be heroes, of course we will miserably fail. We will become grasshoppers in the sight of opposing giants, and grasshoppers in our own eight. Hard times, difficult situations, are methods of providence to prepare us. They are touchstones of character, revealing who are weaklings and who are heroes. Go off to thyself; shut out the world. Shut up thyself alone with God, fight the battle to a finish once for all in thine own heart, and then with the sublime audacity of faith, do thy work for the Lord.
QUESTIONS
1. Contrast Absalom and David as to character.
2. Who were chosen as commanders by Absalom and David respectively?
3. What was the touching incident at Mahanaim?
4. Give an account of the battle between David’s army and Absalom’s.
5. How did David show his concern for Absalom?
6. Show in two ways how Absalom in banning himself, harmed others.
7. Contrast David’s sorrow upon the death of his infant with that upon the death of Absalom.
8. How did the rebellion end?
9. Give Joab’s rebuke, and its effect on David.
10. How was David restored as king of the people?
11. What was his mistake, and its result?
12. What were the touching events on David’s return to Jerusalem?
13. What preparation did David make for a successor?
14. Who at once became competitor for the kingship?
15. What was his method?
16. How did this episode end?
17. What was the crowning act of David’s life?
18. How was the provision made?
19. What was the method?
20. What were the principles?
21. What was the amount?
22. What was the lesson, and its application?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1Ch 22:1 Then David said, This [is] the house of the LORD God, and this [is] the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
Ver. 1. This is the house. ] This is that very place foretold by Moses. Deu 12:11
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 Chronicles Chapter 22
Then in 1Ch 22 he opens his lips in the Spirit of God, and says, “This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.” Here he had found the place. Such was the way of God. The numbering of the people was a sin, no doubt, on David’s part; but it was a sin that was now completely lost in the grace of God who had thus shown Himself for the people, and also made Jerusalem to be the evident spot where God would hearken to man upon the earth. And God would bring in that which would stay the judgment, even for the guilty. The temple was to be built there.
David, therefore, orders everything from this to the end of the book, in view of the temple that was to be built, and the son that was to build it. All from this, however, is the preparation for his departure and for this work that was to be done by the son – that could not be left to David – but it is not Solomon that prepares for the house, but David. David and Solomon give us the two grand truths as to Christ – Christ both.. In man it must be separate; in man we see the difference. But still it is beautiful to see that it is not Solomon that arranges all; it is the wisdom of David. And so it will be with Christ. It is not merely that Christ will be the wisdom of God by and-by, or the power of God by-and-by; but Christ is the power of God – is the wisdom of God – Christ viewed as the crucified One, which is precisely the way in which the Apostle Paul speaks of the Lord in contrast with the wisdom of man. David, therefore, arranges everything beforehand for the temple, the house of God.
And it is a remarkable thing – as I may just observe – that the house is always supposed to be one and the same house. Even that striking passage in Haggai (Hag 2:9 ), which is given so confusedly in our common Bibles, preserves the same thought. It is not “the glory of this latter house,” but “the latter glory of this house.” It is viewed as the same house from the beginning to the end. No doubt Assyrians or Babylonians may ravage and destroy; no doubt the Romans may even plough up the very foundations; but it is the same house in God’s mind. So complete do we see the line of God’s purpose. God ignores these dreadful clouds that have gathered over the house from time to time; but when the day comes by-and-by for the glory to dwell in the land, it will be the house of God – so regarded all through. Antichrist even may have been there before, but it is the house of God; and the latter glory of the house shall be greater than the former. The “latter glory” is clearly when the Lord Jesus returns by-and-by. There was a preliminary accomplishment when He came to the house on His first advent; but the full meaning will be when He shakes the heavens and earth which are connected with this glory of the latter house; and this will only be when He comes again.
Well then David prepares all with a view to what was to be built by his son: “And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight; also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David. And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for Jehovah must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death. Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for Jehovah God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of Jehovah my God: But the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto My name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in My sight. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build an house for My name; and he shall be My son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.” You see the purpose of God. So he explains that this was the reason why, as he was not to build, he nevertheless was permitted to prepare. David would sow; Solomon was to reap. The details of this arrangement are given us in the next chapter to the end.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
This is the house of the LORD God. The place where grace had been manifested was the place where alone true worship could be offered. This it is that makes “the house of God”. labourers David had prepared in 2Sa 12:31. Compare 1Sa 8:2. 1Ki 5:13; 1Ki 9:15, 1Ki 9:22; and see Deu 29:11. Jos 9:27. The word “tribute” (Jdg 1:28) means forced labour. Compare 2Sa 20:24. 1Ki 9:21.
masons. See above note.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 22
Now as we get into chapter twenty-two,
He then called for Solomon his son ( 1Ch 22:6 ),
He had gathered together the men of Israel and he called Solomon his son.
and he charged him to build a house for the LORD God of Israel. And David said to Solomon [verse seven], My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house unto the name of the LORD my God: But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and you’ve made great wars: and thou shall not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all of the enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. And he shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever. Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the LORD thy God, as he hath said of thee. Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the LORD your God. Then shalt thou prosper, if you take heed to fulfil the statutes and the judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, be of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed ( 1Ch 22:6-13 ).
Now David had his admirable points, but David also had his weak points. And David, for the most part, was a poor father. And as the result of the fact that he was a poor father, he had problems with his children. Now Solomon, in observing this and later writing the Proverbs, had many things to say about correcting children. That’s one thing that David was very lax in, that was the correction of his sons.
One of his sons that rebelled against him and it said, “And David never at any time said anything to correct the son.” Never even challenged him. “Why did you do this?” And he never challenged. He just let the kid go. And he ended up rebelling against his dad. So Solomon, in observing David as a poor disciplinarian and seeing the result of David’s laxity in this particular area, speaks about “if you spare the rod, you’ll spoil the child.” “The foolishness of the world is bound up in the heart of the child but the rod of instruction driveth it far from him” ( Pro 22:15 ). A child left to himself will bring a reproach unto his mother. And so Solomon had a lot to say concerning the discipline of children because he saw where David lacked in the discipline. But where David, for the most part, was a poor father in his failure in the disciplining of his sons, yet in this particular case, David shines as he is now instructing his son Solomon in the ways of the Lord.
Now David did not take enough time with his children. But now in his old age as he has got to turn the reins of the government over to his son and this tremendous task of building this temple unto the Lord, he gives to Solomon the best advice that any father could ever pass on to his son, marvelous advice. David encouraged Solomon to seek wisdom and understanding. And I think that it is significant that when Solomon began his reign and God said to Solomon, “What do you want Me to give to you?” No doubt remembering the advice of his father David, “Seek wisdom and understanding,” Solomon said, “Grant unto thy servant that I might have wisdom and understanding that I might be able to rule over this thy great people.”
That’s exactly what David told Solomon to seek. And when Solomon prayed unto the Lord and desired that he might receive the wisdom and understanding, God was pleased with the request of Solomon and said, “Because you did not ask for fame or riches but for wisdom and understanding, I will not only give you what you ask, but I’m going to give you what you didn’t ask for. I’m going to give you great wealth and fame and so forth so that your fame will spread throughout all the world.” So Solomon was no doubt remembering these sagacious words of his father to seek wisdom and understanding. And then David said, “And walk in the statutes and the judgments and the commandments of the Lord in order that you may be prosperous.”
Now in the first Psalm, David links prosperity with the keeping of the law of God. And many places in the Scriptures these things are linked together. When Moses turned over the reins to Joshua, he commanded him to meditate in the law and in the commandments. “And thus shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and thus shalt thou have good success” ( Jos 1:8 ). Now David is again linking a prosperous reign to obedience to the law, the statutes, the judgments, the commandments of God. In other words, the law is God’s rules for a happy, prosperous life.
You see, there are spiritual rules that govern in the universe or spiritual laws even as there are physical laws that govern in the universe in which we live. Now, we are very conscious of the physical laws. You’re all sitting in your chairs instead of floating in the room because there is a law of gravity. And it’s the attraction of masses. And thus we know that the law of gravity exists. Now, just why masses attract we may not know. I don’t know why there is a attraction of masses and a pull of masses according to the size of the mass. I don’t understand Mar 2:1-28 but I know that it’s there. I know that it exists, and I live by the law.
Now I don’t, knowing and understanding the law, I don’t go out and defy the law of gravity because I know that that will bring problems, too. I don’t test to see if the law is still working day by day. Nor do I defy it because I can’t understand how it works. I don’t understand how gravity works. I’m going to jump off this building because I just don’t understand how it works. I don’t see why I have to obey it; why I have to do it if I can’t understand it. If I defy the law, I’m going to suffer. Whether I understand it or not, it’s still going to operate. There is a law of magnetism. There is a law of electricity. And there are certain natural laws that govern our universe and we are aware of them. We learn to use them. We learn to abide by them and respect them.
Now, in the same token there are certain spiritual laws that govern in the spiritual world and in the spiritual universe, and though you still may not understand them, how they operate, yet they do operate, and it’s wise that you learn to live by them. Respect them. And of course, you can use them for great advantage.
Now God has set forth these spiritual laws. There are laws for happiness. There are laws for prosperity. There are laws for many things that do govern our lives and God has set them forth. Now I can’t understand how they work; that doesn’t keep them from working. And many times because we can’t understand, and in fact, we almost defy the law, we say, “Well, that isn’t true in my case. My case is different.” And we sometimes violate the law of God thinking that we have some kind of a special case that the law doesn’t apply to us, or we don’t understand it and so we defy it. And then we wonder why we’re hurting. We wonder why we’re in such sorrow and such misery. We wonder why we’re having so many problems. Well, I’ve defied the laws of God, the spiritual laws of God is set.
Now, how in the world can it be that the more I give, the more I’m going to receive. That doesn’t make sense to me. And yet, that’s what the Bible declares. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; measured out, pressed down, running over, shall men give in your bosom. And whatsoever measure you mete it’s going to be measured to you again” ( Luk 6:38 ). “If you sow abundantly you’re going to reap abundantly; if you sow sparingly you’re going to reap sparingly” ( 2Co 9:6 ). Oh, I’m beginning to understand a little bit now. I have a field out here. And I take five kernels of corn and I go out and plant those five kernels of corn. Chances are, I’ll get four stalks of corn. But I’m not going to get much of a return. But if I take a bushel of corn and out in that field and plant a bushel, the more I sow the more I’m going to reap come harvest time.
Oh yeah, I can understand that. Well, it’s a principle and it works. I don’t know how it works but it does work. The more you give to God the more God returns to you, measured out, pressed down, running over. It’s a spiritual law. I can’t explain how it operates. All I can do is affirm that it does operate; it does work. There are spiritual laws that govern the universe, and many people, because they can’t understand them, fail to use them. And thus lack the benefits. Now, what if you said I am not going to use any electrical appliance until I fully understand the laws of electricity? I want to know why these positive charged currents and so forth can bring power and, you know, the alternating currents and so forth, and I want to know whether or not electricity runs through the wire or around the wire or how it’s transmitted and… Think of all the benefits you would be missing out on if you had to understand completely the law of electricity before you attempted to use it for your benefit.
And yet, there are people that do say that concerning spiritual laws. “Well, I don’t understand how it works.” And thus they don’t use. And thus they don’t advantage from the spiritual laws that God has set. Now basically, the law that God gave was a law of prosperity. A law of happiness. “Blessed or happy is the man who meditates in the law day and night. For he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” ( Psa 1:1-3 ). And so David relates it in the first Psalm, and he relates it here with Solomon. “Now keep the law and the statutes and the judgments of the Lord that you might be prosperous, that your reign might be prosperous over these people. And thou shalt prosper if you take heed to fulfill the commandments, the statutes, the judgments.”
Now “be of good courage; dread not, don’t be dismayed.”
Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; the timbers. Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, the hewers and the workers with stone and timber, all manner of skillful men for every manner of work. Of the gold, and silver, the brass, the iron, there is no measuring of it. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee ( 1Ch 22:14-16 ).
That’s usually the way the work of God is done. “Arise and get going, and the Lord be with thee.”
David also commanded all of the princes of Israel to help Solomon, saying, Is not the LORD your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath given the inhabitants of the land in mine hand; and the land is subdued before the LORD, and before his people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD ( 1Ch 22:17-19 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
1Ch 22:1 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
Now he knew where the temple was to be built; and of a certainty he had discovered that long-predestined site of which God said, Here will I dwell. This was the very hill whereon Abraham offered up his son Isaac; a hill, therefore, most sacred by covenant to the living God. He delighted to remember the believing obedience of his servant Abraham, and there he would have his temple built.
1Ch 22:2. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.
Observe here a very gracious eye to us who are Gentiles. The temple was built on the threshingfloor of a Jebusite; Ornan was not of the seed of Israel, but one of the accursed Jebusites. It was his land that must be bought for the temple; and now David would employ the strangers who lived in the midst of Israel, but were not of the chosen race, to quarry the stones for the house of God. There was a place for Gentiles in the heart of God, and they had a share in the building of his temple.
1Ch 22:4. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight; also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.
Here are the Gentiles again, the Zidonians and the men of Tyre; those that went down to the sea in ships, that had no part nor lot with Israel. They were to bring the cedar wood to David. What an opening of doors of hope there was for poor castaway Gentiles in that fact!
1Ch 22:5. And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceedingly magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it.
This was beautiful and thoughtful on Davids part. It might be too great a strain upon the young man to collect the materials for the temple as well as to build it; therefore David will take his part, and prepare the materials for the house of the Lord. If we cannot do one thing, let us do another; but, somehow, let us help in the building of the Church of God.
The Church today seems but a poor thing; but it is to be exceeding magnifical. The glory of the world is to be the Church of God; and the glory of the Church of God is the Christ of God. Let us do as much as we can to build a spiritual house for our Lords indwelling.
1Ch 22:5-7. So David prepared abundantly before his death. Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the LORD God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God:
And it was well that it was in his mind. God often takes the will for the deed. If you have a large-hearted purpose in your mind, cherish it, and do your best to carry it out: but if for some reason you should never be permitted to carry out your own ideal, it shall be equally acceptable to God, for it was in your heart.
1Ch 22:8. But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.
In very much of that fighting David had been faultless; for he fought the battles of the people of God. Still, there are some things that men are called to do, for which they are not to be condemned; but they disqualify them for higher work. It was so in Davids case; he had been a soldier, and he might help to build the temple by collecting the materials for it, but he must not build it.
1Ch 22:9. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest;
Gods Church is to be a place of rest. Gods temple was built by a man of rest.
1Ch 22:9. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.
Then the house of the Lord would be built; no stain of blood would be upon it. The only blood therein should be that of holy sacrifices, symbolical of the great Sacrifice of Christ.
1Ch 22:10-11. He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever. Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the LORD thy God, as he hath said of thee.
May such a blessing come upon every young man here! May the Lord be with thee, my son! May the Lord prosper thee, and may he make thee a builder of his house in years to come!
1Ch 22:12. Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God.
How much wisdom will be wanted by the young brethren present who hope to be builders of the house of God! When the Lord says to you, Ask what I shall give you, ask for divine wisdom, ask to be taught of him, and ask that you may have grace to do his will in all things.
1Ch 22:13. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfill the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses and concerning Israel: be strong and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.
It is a great thing for a Christian to keep his courage up; and especially for a builder of the Church of God to be always brave, and with a stout heart to do Gods will, come what may.
1Ch 22:14. Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of Gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.
We are unable to tell exactly the amount of precious metal prepared by David; we have to take into account the value of gold and silver in his day; it was probably not so great as it is now. We know this much; it was an enormous sum which David had gathered for the building of the house of God.
1Ch 22:15. Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance.
We must have the workmen; they are more precious than the gold. They cannot be put down at any sum of silver: there are workmen with thee in abundance.
1Ch 22:15. Hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work.
God will find for his Church enough men, and the right sort of men, as long as he has a Church to be built; but he would have us pray him to sent forth labourers. We forget that prayer, and hence we have to lament that there are so few faithful servants of God. Cry to the Lord about the lack of labourers; he can soon supply as many as are needed.
1Ch 22:16. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee.
A very nice text for stirring up idle church-members, who are well content with being spiritually fed, but who are doing nothing for the Lord: Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee!
1Ch 22:17-18. David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Is not the LORD your God with you?
What a good reason for working! What an admirable reason for giving! What an excellent reason for helping with the work! Is not the LORD your God with you?
1Ch 22:18. And hath he not given you rest on every side?
If he gives you rest, you are to take no rest, but to get to his work. He is the best workman for God who enjoys perfect rest. It is always a pity to go out to preach or teach unless you have perfect rest towards God. When your own heart is quiet, and your spirit is still, then you can work for God with good hope of success.
1Ch 22:18. For he hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; and the land is subdued before the LORD, and before his people.
The fighting is over; now go ahead with your building.
1Ch 22:19. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God;
Do not go to build a house for God, and think that is all that is required. You want spiritual communion with God; and you will not do even the common work of sawing and planning and building aright unless you seek God, and are in fellowship with him.
1Ch 22:19. Arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.
May God teach us some lessons by this reading! Amen.
(This exposition consisted of readings from 1Ch 21:25-30; 1 Chronicles 22.)
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
1Ch 22:1
1Ch 22:1
DAVID’S PREPARATION TO BUILD THE TEMPLE
“Then David said, This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.”
Practically all of the rest of First Chronicles is devoted to a discussion of David’s extensive preparations to build the temple. There is no parallel elsewhere for what is given in this chapter, aside from obvious references to the Law of Moses, to Joshua and to Nathan’s prophecy delivered to David in 2 Samuel 7. This verse indicates David’s decision to have the temple built in Jerusalem, on the site purchased from Ornan the Jebusite.
This was that very place called, “one of the mountains of Moriah,” upon which Abraham prepared to offer Isaac as a burnt-offering (Gen 22:22), as confirmed by our Chronicler in 2Ch 3:1. “Today it is occupied by the Dome of the Rock Mosque.”
E.M. Zerr:
1Ch 22:1. David was told that he could not build the house of the Lord. He was permitted, however, to do some preparatory work for it, and this verse is an introduction to that subject. This is the house means, “this is what I propose to do in preparation for the house of the Lord.”
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
In the place where the mercy of God operated in staying the plague resulting from his sin, David chose to build the house of his God. The threshing floor of Oman the Jebusite was chosen as the site of the Temple. The days were rapidly passing, and the end of David’s life was not far off. During these latter days his underlying desire became the supreme matter. In perfect acquiescence with the will of God, he gave up all thought of building, and set himself to preparing everything for another hand to carry out. “So David prepared abundantly before his death.” His charge to his son is very beautiful. He frankly told him how God had refused to permit him to build, and named the reason. He was careful to teach Solomon that his appointment to build was of God, and thereby created a solemn sense of responsibility in the matter. Out of personal experience both of failure and of realization, David told his son that the condition of success in the enterprises of God is observance of the statutes and judgments of the Lord. He expressed his conviction, moreover, that the house of God must be “exceeding magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries.”
This is a picture of a man who through stress and storm had found his way into the quiet calm assurance of his place in the divine economy. The heats and passions of earlier years were under perfect control, and burned to co-operation with the purpose of God, wholly within the limits of the divine will. It is a condition of peace and power.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
1Ch 22:5
I. Consider the motive which set David to work in preparing for the building of the Temple. This motive was thankfulness for a great mercy. It was on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, in a moment of deep thankfulness to God for His mercy in arresting the pestilence, that David resolved upon building the Temple as a thank-offering. “This,” he exclaimed, “is the altar of the Lord God; this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel.”
II. Observe the high estimate David had formed of what he had set himself to do. His feeling was that if anything were to be attempted by him in the service of God, it must be, so far as he could make it, on a splendid scale. If anything is fatal to greatness in human endeavour, in act, in work, in character, it is a stunted estimate of what we have to do. Our only chance lies in forming a high estimate of what we have to be or to do, and in keeping that estimate well before us.
III. But the great distinction of David’s work of preparation for the Temple is its unselfishness. David did not think of the Temple as having to be built either for his own glory or Solomon’s glory, but for the glory of God. If it was to be built for God’s glory, the important thing was that it should be built when and as it could be built; it did not matter much by whom, if only it should be built for God’s glory. To have had a hand in building it, however small, was a privilege and a joy which carried with it its own reward.
IV. The details of David’s contribution to the future Temple are not recorded for nothing in the Bible. They point to a great truth: the preciousness of work unrecognised by man, unrewarded here; they suggest that in this life of shadows labour and the credit for labour do not always go hand in hand. (1) David’s example at the close of his life suggests to all of us the duty of preparing, so far as we may, for the building up of the house of God in the world after we ourselves have gone. (2) David’s example should encourage all those who are tempted to think that life is a failure because they can only prepare for a work which will be completed by some one else. The Divine Son of David never forgets those who have laboured to promote His cause and His kingdom.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1164 (see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 88).
1Ch 22:7-8
A fine and delicate sense of the becoming hindered David from building the Temple. A voice within him had whispered, “No: however right and praiseworthy the idea, you are hardly the man to carry it out. Your hands are too stained with blood.” When the Divine word came, simply interdicting, it awoke in him at once a Divine perception of the reason and reasonableness of it; and the God-taught, God-chastened spirit within him made him see at once why the work of enshrining the ark, the ark of the holy and awful presence, must not be his.
I. Consider the remarkable self-restraint displayed by David. He who had lived much in camps and on the battlefield, whose will was law through the length and breadth of the land-he could stay himself from prosecuting his darling scheme with the thought of incongruity.
II. (1) The self-restraint of David reveals the intense reality which God was to him, as well as the impression which he had of the character of God. How pure and lofty would be his conception of the almighty Ruler when it struck him as altogether inappropriate and inconsistent that a shrine should be built for Him by one who had been engaged, however patriotically and for the interests of his country, in shedding much human blood. (2) The picture indicates that, although a man of war from his youth, David had never been proud of fighting. He had had dreams perhaps in his father’s fields of quite another sort of career for himself, and could see something far more attractive and desirable; it was not his ideal life; but it was what his lot had rendered inevitable for him and incumbent on him; it was what he had to do, and he did it. (3) Then, once more, observe revealed here the remarkable preservation of David’s higher sensibilities. Neither the tumult and strife of years of warfare, nor the elation of successes gained by bow and spear, had prevailed to coarsen him, to render him gross and dull of soul. He emerges from it all, on the contrary, sensitive enough to answer readily to the whispered suggestions of seemliness, to be restrained and turned back upon the threshold of a coveted enterprise by a sense of the becoming. (4) Although precluded from doing what he had purposed and wished to do, he did not, as is the case with many, make that an excuse for doing nothing; did not, therefore, sulkily fold his hands, and decline to see what there was that he might do. (5) Then see how his true thought and noble aim survived him, and survived him to be ultimately realised. The Temple grew and rose at last in all its wonderful splendour, though he was not there to behold it.
S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 251.
References: 1Ch 22:16.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 18. 1Ch 22:19.-Ibid., vol. ix., p. 16. 1Ch 26:27.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 131. 1Ch 28:6.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 333.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
IV. PREPARATIONS FOR THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE
1. The Preparations and Charge to Solomon
CHAPTER 22
1. The material (1Ch 22:1-5)
2. The charge to Solomon (1Ch 22:6-16)
3. The charge to the princes (1Ch 22:17-19)
God had accepted the sacrifice. The judgment had passed. Prayer had been answered and David, therefore, could truthfully say this is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel. The place had therefore been pointed out on which the temple was to be reared. And from now on up to the twenty-eighth verse of chapter 26 all concerns the house which is to be built. The temple is from now on prominently in the foreground and that which the book of Kings does not mention, Davids great interest in making preparations for it, is recorded in these chapters. And so we see David with great energy making vast preparations. It shows again how grace had worked in his heart. All else seems to have been forgotten by him. Only one desire controls the king, to make provision of everything necessary for the construction of the Temple. And the house, according to Davids conception must be exceeding magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. His heart burned with zeal to glorify Jehovah, whose mercy and grace he knew so well and who had kept and prospered him in all his ways. I will therefore now make preparation for it, David said. Then he prepared abundantly before his death. David, making preparation for the temple his son was to put up, is not without a very striking typical meaning. Both David and Solomon are types of our Lord Jesus Christ. David typifies Him in His humiliation and suffering, Solomon in His exaltation and glory. What Christ has done in His grace results in the coming glory. This is foreshadowed in the preparations David made for the house and the glorious reign of his son. If this is kept in mind these historical statements will take on a blessed meaning.
He gathered the strangers (the descendants of the Canaanites) and he set them at work. Stones, iron and timber all were prepared before hand on a large scale. Then he called for Solomon, young and tender in years, and addressed him. First he restated the reason why he had been barred from building the house. Then he recited the promise made to him that his son should have rest and build a house for His name. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. David believed all the Lord had spoken through Nathan, and, believing the promise, he had made all preparations and was telling his son about it.
Then he exhorted him to build the house, to keep the law of the Lord and to take heed. Be strong, and of good courage and dread not nor be dismayed. Once more he speaks of all he had done in preparation of the house of the Lord. Even in the days of trouble and adversity he had prepared for the house and remembered the claims of Jehovah. Immense amounts of gold and silver, the spoils of wars, had been stored up by him. Many millions of dollars in gold and silver were in his possession and devoted for the one object. And Solomon was to add unto it. Then he told him to arise and to be doing. In the same way he commanded the princes of Israel to help his son Solomon.
May this teach us who know the riches of the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, to be as devoted to Him, as zealous to glorify Him, as David was in making these preparations for the building of the temple.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
This is the house: David perhaps had some assurance that this was the place on which God designed that His house should be built; and perhaps it was this that induced him to buy not only the threshing-floor, but probably some adjacent ground also, as Calmet supposes, that there might be sufficient room for such a structure. 1Ch 21:18-28, Gen 28:17, Deu 12:5-7, Deu 12:11, 2Sa 24:18, 2Ch 3:1, 2Ch 6:5, 2Ch 6:6, Psa 78:60, Psa 78:67-69, Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14, Joh 4:20-22
and this is the altar: 2Ki 18:22, 2Ch 32:12
Reciprocal: Gen 46:11 – Levi 2Sa 24:24 – So David 1Ch 3:11 – Ahaziah 2Ch 11:16 – to sacrifice Ezr 2:68 – in his place Zec 9:7 – a Jebusite Mat 25:16 – went Act 13:36 – served
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ch 22:1. Then David said Through the instinct and direction of Gods Spirit, by which as he is said to have had the pattern of the house, porch, altar, &c., (1Ch 28:11-19,) so doubtless he was instructed as to the place where the house should be built. This is the house, &c. This is the place appointed by God for the building of his temple and altar.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 22:14. In my trouble, that is, in my state of weakness and wars, I have prepared a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver. David having been victorious over eight nations, must have collected an immense booty, and made his armies rich. We read of no princes, except Crsus and Sardanapalus, who had any treasure like this. A talent of gold was three thousand shekels. But admitting that the shekel of the sanctuary was twice as heavy as the common shekel, the half of the above sum is very great. Josephus takes off nine tenths of this sum: he makes the gold ten thousand talents, and the silver one hundred thousand, which the critics estimate at sixty eight millions of our money! Josephus seems to be the true reading; the former sum almost exceeds credibility.
REFLECTIONS.
In addition to the former remarks on this subject, it should be noticed here, that David hung upon the promise made by Nathan, and held it fast, as christians should always do. His soul embraced the recent indications of the Lords temple being highly typical of the christian church. David, having convoked the elders of Israel, on the spot where the Lord had required the sacrifice to stay the plague by atonement, expresses the great desire he had to build a house to the name of the Lord, and how he was disallowed, because of his wars; and he seems to add of his own accord, because he had shed much blood. He apprized them that Solomon his son was designated for that honour. Hence this young prince was in his name, which signifies peace, and in his kingdom and work, a striking figure of the kingdom of Christ; for the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives, but to save them; and he will make wars to cease to the ends of the earth.
Hence likewise we see that God, in the economy of providence, delighteth not in war, and the effusion of blood. Judgment is his strange work. And though he had given David many extraordinary marks of approbation in his wars; yet these were solely because milder means had failed in bringing the heathen back by repentance to morality, and by reformation to the simplicity of their covenant of Noah.
We have next the very great piety of David exhibited on a broad scale. He wasted not his treasures in vain parade; he laid them out for God the giver; and as he loved religion in his youth, so to the latest moment of his life he thought nothing too much to do, either for God or for his ministers. The vast preparation of materials is proof how much his heart was in this blessed work: and though the son was preferred to the sire, he took no offence, but proceeded with a grateful heart. What submission, what humility, what zeal, and what a reproach to those christians who, because they cannot be first in a popular work, refuse to act in a secondary way, and even withhold the aids so essential to the design. In many cases they do not even allow their minister food and raiment.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 21:1 to 1Ch 22:1The Numbering of the Hosts; the Punishment (see notes on 2Sa 24:1-25).There are many variations from the corresponding passage in 2 S., and it is uncertain whether the Chronicler used any other source or not.
1Ch 21:1. And Satan stood up: in 2Sa 24:1 the temptation comes from Yahweh; the Chronicler altered this as unfitting in view of the developed doctrine of God which had supervened. In the earlier literature the term Satan means adversary (Num 22:22; Num 22:32); its use here as a proper name is a development due to the influence of Persian demonology on Jewish belief; cf. Job 1:6*, Job 2:2, Zec 3:1 f.
1Ch 21:6. Probably added because, according to Num 1:49, the Levites might not be numbered for military purposes; he mentions Benjamin as not being counted because of Jerusalem, the Holy City, lying on his borders.
1Ch 21:9. God: cf. 1Ch 29:29, 2Ch 29:25.
1Ch 21:15. the threshing-floor of Ornan: this was on the top of Mount Zion where the Temple was built (cf. 1Ch 22:1). In 2Sa 24:16 and elsewhere Ornan occurs in the form Araunah.
1Ch 21:16. Not in 2 Samuel 24.between the heaven and the earth: the Hebrew way of expressing in mid-air. The description of the angel is a development due to the influence of Persian angelology; the earlier Hebrew conception pictured angels as men.
1Ch 21:18. The reference to the angel here and in 1Ch 21:20 is added by the Chronicler for the purpose of enhancing the supernaturalness of the episode; in 2Sa 24:18 ff. there is no mention of the angel.
1Ch 21:23. wheat for the meal-offering: a characteristic addition by the Chronicler (cf. Lev 2:1 ff.).
1Ch 21:25. six hundred shekels of gold: this, too, is characteristic of the Chronicler, who desires to emphasize the value of everything connected with the Temple, even down to its very site. In 2Sa 24:24 the price is fifty shekels of silver, including the oxen.
1Ch 21:26. from heaven by fire: another addition by the Chronicler (cf. Lev 9:24).
1Ch 21:28 to 1Ch 22:1. 1Ch 21:29 f. forms a parenthesis; 1Ch 21:28; 1Ch 22:1 describe the definite choice of Omans threshing-floor as the site of the Temple.
1Ch 21:29. the high place at Gibeon: cf. 1Ch 16:39.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
22:1 Then David said, This [is] the {a} house of the LORD God, and this [is] the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
(a) That is, the place in which he will be worshipped.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The second account of God’s promises to David chs. 22-27
In this group of chapters we have David’s preparations for the fulfillment of those aspects of the covenant that extended beyond his reign. We can see David’s belief that God would fulfill the rest of His promises in the ways he prepared for their fulfillment. He prepared in two ways: by gathering materials for the construction of the temple (ch. 22), and by appointing the officials who would guide Israel after his death (chs. 23-27).
David concerned himself with what God had promised. In this he was a godly example to the restoration Jews, and he is to us. He wanted to see God’s kingdom come, namely, the kingdom that God had promised (cf. Mat 6:10). The focus of the promise was the house for God that Solomon would build. David did all he could to pave the way for its coming into reality (cf. Psa 69:9; Joh 2:17). The postexilic remnant demonstrated little zeal to rebuild the temple or to reestablish God’s kingdom on earth (Hag 1:2). The Book of Chronicles was one instrument God used to stir them up to action (cf. Hag 2:20-23; and Zech.).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Preparations for temple construction ch. 22
This chapter is unique to Chronicles. It records David’s plans to assemble building materials and workers for the construction of the temple. He instructed Solomon carefully in what God had promised so his son would carry out the work as God wanted it done (1Ch 22:5-13). This is the first of three speeches by David that the Chronicler recorded: 1Ch 22:2-19; 1Ch 28:1-21; and 1Ch 29:1-9.
The writer provided another reason God did not permit David to build the temple himself. God wanted a man characterized by peace to build His house (1Ch 22:8). David not only shed blood in obedience to God (1Ch 14:10; 1Ch 19:13), but he had also been guilty of excessive violence (cf. 2Sa 8:2; 2Sa 11:4; 2Sa 11:15). Solomon not only ruled in peaceful times, after David had subdued Israel’s enemies, but his name even relates to the Hebrew word for peace (shalom). "Shalom" does not just mean the absence of war, however. It includes the fullness of Yahweh’s blessing that Israel enjoyed because of David’s reign.
If God’s revelation to David (1Ch 22:8) took place at the same time as the one mentioned in 2Sa 7:2, Solomon’s birth appears to have followed the giving of the Davidic Covenant (cf. 1Ch 22:9). However, it seems probable that God gave the revelation in 1Ch 22:8 to David before Solomon was born (1Ch 22:9). He evidently repeated it after Solomon’s birth when He gave David the covenant (2Sa 7:2). Such a repetition is very probable in view of David’s great desire to build a house for the Lord. This was the passion of his life at the time he became king and from then on.
David also mentioned a qualification on God’s promise: obedience to God’s will (1Ch 22:13). Solomon would only prosper as he submitted obediently to God’s authority. Solomon and all who followed him failed God. Consequently, the original readers of Chronicles anticipated a Son of David who would yet come and complete what Solomon and the other kings of Judah could not. These promises were still unfulfilled in the returned exiles’ day, as they are in ours.
"David is here to Solomon much like Moses was to Joshua. David could do all the preparations for the temple but could not build it, just as Moses could not lead Israel into Canaan." [Note: Thompson, p. 165.]