DAVID’S LAST INSTRUCTIONS AND DEATH

(1 Chronicles 28, 29).

David charges Solomon before the National Assembly to build the Temple (1Chronicles 28:1-10), and delivers to him the plans and materials of the building and its furniture (1Chronicles 28:11-21).

The princes of the tribes.—See the list of them in 1Chronicles 27:16-22.

Captains of the companies.—Rather, princes of the courses, who served the king: viz., those enumerated in 1Chronicles 27:1-15.

Stewards.—See 1Chronicles 27:25-31. Both “captains” and “stewards” are sārîm in the Hebrew.

Possession (miqnèh).—A word generally used, like the Greek κτῆμα (κτῆνος), of possessions in cattle—live stock.

And of his sons.—Perhaps considered as his heirs, or rather, from the old tribal view of property, as sharing the royal domains with him.

With the officers.—Heb., sarîsîm, eunuchs. The word appears to be used in a generalised sense, and to denote simply courtiers or palace officials. (Comp. Genesis 37:36; 1Samuel 8:15; 1Kings 22:9; Jeremiah 38:7; Jeremiah 41:16.)

The mighty men.—“The heroes” (ha-gibbórîm) or “warriors” of 1Chronicles 11:31-47; 1Chronicles 11:12. But the LXX. and Vulg. interpret men of rank and wealth, magnates (τοὺς δυνάστας, Luke 1:52).

And with all the valiant men.—Literally, and every mighty man (“gibbôr”) of valour, a phrase meant to include all other persons of importance. It is noticeable that in this meeting of the estates of the realm all the dignitaries of 1 Chronicles 27 are present (contrast 1Chronicles 15:25; 1Chronicles 23:2; 1Chronicles 13:1), except the priests and Levites. (But comp. 1Chronicles 28:21.)

Hear me.—Calling attention, as in Genesis 23:11-15.

My brethren, and my people.—Comp. 1Samuel 30:23; 2Samuel 19:12. The words do not so much imply condescension as an acknowledgment of what every one of David’s hearers felt to be true—viz., that all Israel were kin, and David the head of the family.

As for me, I had in mine heart to build.—See 1Chronicles 22:7-8 and the Notes there. 1Chronicles 28:2-7 of this chapter are in substance, and partly in expression, identical with 1Chronicles 22:7-10 (David’s private charge to Solomon).

An house of rest—i.e., a permanent abode instead of a sacred tent, which gave the idea of wandering from place to place, like the nomads of the desert. (Comp. Psalm 132:8.)

The footstool of our God.—The so-called mercy-seat, the golden kappôreth suspended over the Ark, on which were the cherubim—the throne of Deity (Psalm 99:1).

And had made ready.—Rather, and I made ready, by amassing stores of material (1Chronicles 22:2-4; 1Chronicles 22:14-16).

For he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler.—Better, For Judah it was that he chose for prince (nāgîd), and in the house of Judah, my father’s house. (Comp. 1Chronicles 5:2 and Notes.)

And among the sons of my father he liked me.—The expression is scarcely adequate. The verb in the Hebrew is rāçāh, which answers to the Hellenistic εύδοκεῖν, “to be satisfied, well pleased with.” Translate, therefore, “It was I in whom He took pleasure.”(Comp. Proverbs 3:12.) David uses of himself the very phrase which the Divine voice spoke from heaven at the baptism of the Son of David, the true King of Israel and of mankind (Matthew 3:17).

He hath chosen.—Heb., then he chose, the construction being changed after the parenthesis.

Solomon my son.—The son who has the best right to the name. (Comp. 1Chronicles 22:10.)

The throne of the kingdom of the Lord.—This expression is unique in the Old Testament. (Comp. 1Chronicles 29:23; 1Chronicles 17:14.) It brings out into strong relief the idea that the Israelite monarchy was only a vicegerency; not David nor Solomon, but Jehovah being the true and only King. (Comp. Gideon’s reply to the offer of the crown, Judges 8:23; 1Samuel 8:7; 1Samuel 12:12.)

I have chosen him. . . . his father.—Literally, I have chosen him for myself as a son, and I—I will become to him a father.

If he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments.—The same condition is attached to the same promise in 1Kings 9:4-5. (Comp. also 1Kings 3:14, where the promise is length of days.)

As at this day.—As we are doing in our present work. The same words occur in the same sense at the end of Solomon’s Prayer (1Kings 8:61).

Seek—i.e., do not neglect; resort to them always as the rule of right living (same word as 1Chronicles 13:3; 1Chronicles 15:13).

That ye may possess this (Heb. the) good land.—Another reminiscence of Deuteronomy (1Chronicles 4:1; 1Chronicles 4:21).

And leave it for an inheritance.—Leviticus 25:46.

Know thou.—Regard thou, have care for (Psalm 1:6).

The God of thy father might mean the God of Israel (comp. 1Chronicles 29:10). But 1Chronicles 28:20, where David speaks of “my God,” suggests the simpler meaning, God of David, here. (Comp. Psalm 18:2; Psalm 18:6; Psalm 18:22; also Genesis 31:29; Genesis 31:42.)

With a perfect heart.—The word shālēm means whole, sound, unimpaired; the Latin integer. Hence, what is urged is an undivided allegiance, such as is enjoined by the Decalogue. (Comp. 1Chronicles 29:9; 1Chronicles 29:19; 1Kings 8:61.)

A willing mind.—For service is not real unless it be voluntary, and so glad as well as free.

For the Lord searcheth all hearts.—Search, i.e., seek (1Chronicles 28:8 and below). For the thought, comp. Psalm 139:1-4; Psalm 139:23; 1Samuel 16:7; Psalm 94:9; Acts 1:24; Hebrews 4:13. The Searcher of hearts will at once see through an insincere and half-hearted obedience.

And understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.—And every fashioning (yēçer, εἶδος, Bild) or cast of thoughts he discerneth (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21).

If thou seek him.—Deuteronomy 4:29. Seeking Jehovah in earnest always results in finding (Isaiah 55:6). Yet the Divine grace is not restricted even by this condition (Isaiah 65:1).

If thou forsake him.—Deliberately and of set purpose, as choosing to live by other laws than His.

He will cast thee off.—A strong word (hizniah), meaning strictly, to reject as noisome or foul-smelling. (Comp. Hosea 8:3; Hosea 8:5.) The verbal form hiphil is peculiar to Chronicles. (See 2Chronicles 11:14; 2Chronicles 29:19.)

David now, in presence of the Assembly, hands over to his son the plans of the Sanctuary and its vessels, remarking, as he does so, that the whole is of Divine origin (1Chronicles 28:19).

The pattern.—Heb., tahnîth, the word used in Exodus 25:9 of the model, plan, or design of the Tabernacle.

The porch.—See 1Kings 6:3. The Syriac has prûstidê: i.e., παραστάδες, colonnade, portico.

The houses thereof.—Its—i.e., the Temple’s—chambers. Throughout this verse the word thereof refers to the house mentioned in 1Chronicles 28:10. The two principal rooms of the Temple, the “holy place” and the “Holy of holies,” or, as we might say, the nave and the chancel, are called its “houses” (bāttîm).

The treasuries (ganzakkim), occurring here only. It appears to be a loan word from the Persian (ghanj, treasure, treasury; comp. the Latin and Greek gaza, treasure. In old Persian ka was a noun-ending; comp. bandaka, servant). With the singular, ganzak, comp. Persian Ghanjak (the classical Gazaca), the capital of Atropatene, which was a treasure-city. (Comp. also the word ginzê; Esther 3:9; Esther 4:7; Ezra 7:20, and ginzayyā, Ezra 5:17; Ezra 6:1, meaning treasures.) Gesenius (Thesaur., p. 296) assumes that the root G N Z has passed from Semitic into Persian, and not vice versâ. This may be true, as the root exists in the principal Semitic tongues, and yet it may be that ganzak in Hebrew is a modern loan word. The “treasuries” or store-rooms of the Temple were probably in the side-building of three storeys (1Kings 6:5).

The upper chambers (‘alîyôth).—Only here and in 2Chronicles 3:9. They were probably over the Holy of holies, the ceiling of which was twenty cubits from the floor, whereas the roof of the whole building was thirty cubits from the ground. A space of ten cubits high by twenty wide and twenty long was thus available for the upper chambers.

The inner parlours.—The fore-court, or vestibule, and the holy place, or nave, in contrast with “the place of the mercy-seat,” or chamber of the Kappôreth: i.e., the Holy of holies, the inmost shrine of the whole bolding.

Of the courts.—For the courts.

The chambers.—The cells (lĕshākhôth). (Comp. 1Chronicles 23:28.)

The treasuries.—For the treasures (1Chronicles 26:20, and Notes).

For all the work of the service.—Such as cooking the flesh which fell to the priests from the sacrifices, and baking the shewbread. “The vessels of service,” that is, the utensils used by the Levites in the work just specified, would naturally be kept in the cells.

The Syriac version paraphrases 1Chronicles 28:11-13 as follows:—“And David gave to Solomon his son the likeness of the porch, and the measure of the house and of the colonnade (kĕsôstĕrôn = ξυστός), and of the upper chambers; and of the inner cloisters (’estĕwê=στοαι), and of the outer cloisters, and of the upper and of the lower (storeys); and of the treasury (bêth gazzā), and of the house of service of the Lord’s house, and of the kitchens, and of the house of the water-carriers (or cupbearers), and of the house of lampmen.” The last words are interesting, as explaining the nature of “the work of the service” (1Chronicles 28:13).

For the tables of shewbread.—Only one table of shewbread is spoken of in the Law. (See Exodus 25:23-30, and comp. 1Kings 7:48.) The chronicler was well aware of this, as appears from 2Chronicles 29:18; and as he states elsewhere that Solomon made ten golden tables, and put them five on the right and five on the left in the holy place (2Chronicles 4:8), those tables may be intended here. It may even be the case that the term “shewbread” (hamma‘arèketh) is a gloss which has displaced the word “gold” (hazzāhāb), and that the original text was “for the tables of gold.” (Comp. “for the tables of silver,” at the end of the verse.) The table of shewbread would then be included among the golden tables. (But comp. 1Chronicles 6:57; 2Chronicles 28:16.)

For the tables of silver.—The silver tables are not again spoken of in the Old Testament. The rabbis assert that they stood in the court of the Temple, and that the prepared flesh of the sacrificial victims was laid upon them.

The golden basons.—Tankards, or lidded pitchers (kĕphôrîm): a word only found here and in Ezra 1:10; Ezra 8:27 (among the sacred vessels restored by Cyrus).

By weight.—By the (required) weight. The altar of incense stood within the Holiest (the Dĕbîr, or Adytum; Exodus 40:5).

And gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims, that spread out their wings.—Rather, and for the model of the chariot, that is, the cherubim (he assigned) gold; to wit, for beings out-spreading (their wings) and overshadowing the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah. The two cherubs lying on the (kappôreth) above the Ark are here called “the chariot,” with obvious reference to such passages as Psalm 18:11, where it is said of God, “He charioted on a cherub.” (Comp. also Psalm 99:1.) The rest of the verse describes the purpose of the symbolical cherubic figures, in terms borrowed from Exodus 25:20. (Comp. also Ezekiel’s vision, called by the Jews “The Chariot,” Ezekiel 1)

Be strong and of good courage.—So 1Chronicles 22:13. “And do” is added here, because the time for action is imminent.

Fear not . . . forsake thee.—From Deuteronomy 31:6; Deuteronomy 31:8. (See also Joshua 1:5-6.)

My God.—Recalling, in a single word, all his own wonderful experience of the Divine Helper.

Fail.—Drop, let go, and so dismiss, desert.

Until.—The word implies nothing about the time beyond the expressed limit. (Comp. εws, Matthew 1:25.)

And there shall be with thee for all manner of workmanship.—Rather, And with thee in every kind of work will be every volunteer with skill, for every kind of service: that is to say, skilled craftsmen have volunteered for the work (1Chronicles 22:15), and will support thy endeavours. The word rendered “volunteer” (nādîb) strictly means one who offers free-will offerings. (Comp. Exodus 35:5; Exodus 35:22; and the verb Judges 5:1, hithnaddēb.) The phrase “volunteer with wisdom,” or artistic skill, is not found elsewhere.

Also the princes and all the people.—Spoken, perhaps, with another gesture. The whole assembly would subserve the wishes of Solomon.

Wholly at thy commandment.—Literally, For all thy words: i.e., orders (Vulg., praecepta), or matters, business (1Chronicles 26:32).