1 Chronicles 29:1-25

26. GIFTS AND THANKSGIVING (1 Chronicles 29:1-25)

TEXT

1 Chronicles 29:1. And David the king said unto all the assembly, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for Jehovah God. 2. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. 3. Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, 4. even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, wherewith to overlay the walls of the houses; 5. of gold for the things of gold, and of silver for the things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. Who then offereth willingly to consecrate himself this day unto Jehovah?

6. Then the princes of the fathers-' houses, and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers over the king's work, offered willingly; 7. and they gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand darics, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and of iron a hundred thousand talents. 8. And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of Jehovah, under the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with a perfect heart they offered willingly to Jehovah: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.
10. Wherefore David blessed Jehovah before all the assembly; and David said, Blessed be thou, O Jehovah, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11. Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. 12. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou rulest over all; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. 13. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. 14. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all the things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. 15. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding. 16. O Jehovah our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee a house for thy holy name cometh of thy hand, and is all thine own. 17. I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, that are present here, offer willingly unto thee. 18. O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee; 19. and give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for which I have made provision.
20. And David said to all the assembly, Now bless Jehovah your God. And all the assembly blessed Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped Jehovah, and the king. 21. And they sacrificed sacrifices unto Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings unto Jehovah, on the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their drink-offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel, 22. and did eat and drink before Jehovah on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him unto Jehovah to be prince, and Zadok to be priest. 23. Then Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. 24. And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David, submitted themselves unto Solomon the king. 25, And Jehovah magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

PARAPHRASE

1 Chronicles 29:1. Then King David turned to the entire assembly and said: My son Solomon, whom God has chosen to be the next king of Israel, is still young and inexperienced, and the work ahead of him is enormous; for the temple he will build is not just another buildingit is for the Lord God himself! 2. Using every resource at my command, I have gathered as much as I could for building itenough gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and great quantities of onyx, other precious stones, costly jewels, and marble. 3. And now, because of my devotion to the Temple of God, I am giving all of my own private treasures to aid in the construction. This is in addition to the building materials I have already collected. 4, 5. These personal contributions consist of $85,000,000 worth of gold from Ophir and $20,000,000 worth used for the articles made of gold and silver and for the artistic decorations. Now then, who will follow my example? Who will give himself and all that he has to the Lord?

6, 7. Then the clan leaders, the heads of the tribes, the army officers, and the administrative officers of the king pledged $145,000,000 in gold; $50,000 in foreign currency; $30,000,000 in silver; 800 tons of bronze; and 4,600 tons of iron. 8. They also contributed great amounts of jewelry, which were deposited at the Temple treasury with Jehiel (a descendant of Gershom). 9. Everyone was excited and happy for this opportunity of service, and King David was moved with deep joy.
10. While still in the presence of the whole assembly, David expressed his praises to the Lord: O Lord God of our father Israel, praise your name forever and ever! 11. Yours is the mighty power and glory and victory and majesty. Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything. 12. Riches and honor come from you alone, and you are the Ruler of all mankind; your hand controls power and might, and it is at your discretion that men are made great and given strength. 13. O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name, 14. but who am I and who are my people that we should be permitted to give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we only give you what is yours already! 15. For we are here for but a moment, strangers in the land as our fathers were before us; our days on earth are like a shadow, gone so soon, without a trace. 16. O Lord our God, all of this material that we have gathered to build a temple for your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! 17. I know, my God, that you test men to see if they are good; for you enjoy good men. I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously.
18. O Lord God of our fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Israel! Make your people always want to obey you, and see to it that their love for you never changes. 19. Give my son Solomon a good heart toward God, so that he will want to obey you in the smallest detail, and will look forward eagerly to finishing the building of your temple, for which I have made all of these preparations.
20. Then David said to all the people, Give praise to the Lord your God! And they did, bowing low before the Lord and the king. 21. The next day they brought a thousand young bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs as burnt offerings to the Lord; they also offered drink offerings and many other sacrifices on behalf of all Israel. 22. Then they feasted and drank before the Lord with great joy. And again they crowned King David's son Solomon as their king. They anointed him before the Lord as their leader, and they anointed Zadok as their priest. 23. So God appointed Solomon to take the throne of his father David; and he prospered greatly, and all Israel obeyed him. 24. The national leaders, the army officers, and his brothers all pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. 25. And the Lord gave him great popularity with all the people of Israel, and he amassed even greater wealth and honor than his father.

COMMENTARY

While David had all of the dignitaries and leaders of Israel gathered before him, he charged them with the work at hand. In 1 Chronicles 29:1-5 the principal question was, who will consecrate himself to Jehovah to build the Temple?[44] David feared what might happen after his death. Solomon was young. As king he could become interested in many things besides Jehovah's house. Solomon and all Israel needed to be impressed with the fact that the palace (the Temple) is not for man, but for Jehovah-God. Once more David summarized the provisions he had made.[45] In addition to the precious metals and expensive wood, all kinds of precious stones had been laid by for use in decorating the Temple. The onyx stone had been used in the ephod of the High Priest. This was a beautiful green stone. There were stones of variegated colors. Some of the precious stones were marble-like or white. Considering the provisions made by David, every kind of precious gem in abundance would be in the stock-pile of goods for the Temple. In addition to all other preparations, David gave a treasure of his own gold and silver. The value of this cannot accurately be estimated. When the name Ophir is associated with gold it describes gold of highest quality. Ophir may have been located in India, but most likely was in the region of Sheba in southwestern Arabia.

[44] Elmslie, W. A. L., The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. III, pp. 438, 439.

[45] Spence, H. D. M., The Pulpit Commentary, I Chronicles, pp. 434, 435.

The manner in which all of the Israelites offered willingly for their work reminds us of the similar situation when Moses called for materials and workmen for the Tabernacle (Exodus 36:2-7). Every person with authority pledged himself and those associated with him to the work. A reference is made in 1 Chronicles 29:7 to the daric which was a Persian coin. There is no evidence of the use of coined money by the Hebrews in David's time. Princes and rulers brought gold, silver, brass, and precious stones to add to the stock-pile of materials. There was great joy in Israel that day.

David took time to speak directly to Jehovah in the presence of the entire assembly. Jehovah was the only existent God and He was Israel's God. He hailed Jehovah as king and confessed Him to be owner of all things. To Jehovah belonged the kingdom, power, and glory. In all of the presentations made by king and people for the Temple, David admitted that they had only returned to Jehovah a part of that which He had given them. The brevity of man's time on earth was contrasted with the eternity of God. Just as a refiner of precious metals burns away the impurities, so Jehovah triest the heart. David specifically addressed the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel. Once, even the imaginations of men's hearts were evil and Jehovah sent the Flood. Now, David prayed that the wonderful spirit moving in Israel would always motivate God's people. Commandments, testimonies, and statutes have to do with the total law of Jehovah. David prayed that Solomon would be blessed with perfect understanding of God's will. The whole congregation shared on this memorable worship experience.

All that remained to be done was the sacrificing of the animals and the enthronement of Solomon. 1 Chronicles 29:21-25 refer to the super-abundance of the burn offerings. A thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs, plus the drink offerings were given in Jehovah's name. The burnt offerings always symbolized the complete devotion of the offerer to his God. The eating and drinking most likely was associated with the peace offerings in which the offerer and his family shared. They were in happy covenant relationship with Jehovah. A previous public statement had been made (1 Chronicles 23:1) about Solomon as king. On this occasion the holy oil was poured on his head. This symbolized his reception of the Holy Spirit. He received the crown and Jehovah's law. Zadok was there as High Priest. Solomon was Jehovah's choice for this high office. The Hebrew people, the leaders and princes (except Adonijah, Joab and Abiathar) all gladly accepted Solomon. The kingly office in Israel was to be magnified as never before.