1 Kings 8:16

“ ‘Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there, but I chose David to be over my people Israel.' ”

Then he stressed the words of YHWH, words which are, however, as he cites them, nowhere previously recorded. They are therefore possibly a very free interpretation of 2 Samuel 7:6. But we should note that even there the emphasis was on ‘NOT dwelling in a house, but on living in a tent', and certainly NOT on ‘choosing out a city'. And Solomon basically acknowledged this when he stressed that YHWH's choice initially was not of a city but of a person.

We can gather from Chronicles, if Solomon's words are to be taken literally as they stand and not as a paraphrase, that David had possibly received a later revelation from YHWH once his own insistence had persuaded YHWH to let a Temple be built. Yet even if that is so the continual emphasis was on YHWH's choosing of David to be over His people Israel, and not on the building of a Temple. The Temple comes through as very much David's idea. YHWH was concerned with establishing the house of David, and the promises relating to it of the everlasting kingdom.

The Chronicler adds the words, in the mouth of Solomon, ‘and I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there.' But this would appear to be Solomon's rather hopeful interpretation of what was said to David, when Solomon was seeking to establish his own view on the matter with the people. The writer of Kings gives no indication anywhere that YHWH spoke of choosing Jerusalem. (We must remember that while Solomon's words are an inspired record of what he said, that inspiration does not guarantee that what he said was true, especially when he was citing someone else. His words can only be seen as ‘inspired' when he was speaking in a genuinely prophetic role, e.g. possibly in his prayer).