Chapter XXII
¹Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.
1. Then] The word refers back to xxi. 28, At that time.
David said] The king acts in conformity with the law contained in Deuteronomy xii. 5, 6.
This is the house of the Lord, etc.] Hence the necessity for relating the story of David’s sinful action in taking the census. The Chronicler’s desire to show only the idealistic aspect of David’s life has frequently been pointed out. The present section, then, is notable as showing very clearly how even this desire was made to yield to the supreme object of relating the Divinely-guided origin and growth of the Temple and its worship.
2–19.
David’s Preparations for Building the Temple. His charge to Solomon and to the Princes.
It is of course quite probable that preparations for a Temple were begun in David’s time, but the picture given in this chapter must not be taken as historically true, the material being of a general character such as the imagination could readily supply, and the figures mentioned in verse 14 being impossibly exaggerated. The chapter in fact is the outcome of the Chronicler’s zealous but uncritical mind working in the belief that, not Solomon, but the pious David was the “moving spirit in the great enterprise.” As Moses led Israel to Jordan’s brink, so David (he thought) must stop short only at the actual building of the Temple.
²And 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. ³And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight;
2. the strangers] Compare 2 Chronicles ii. 17; viii. 7–9. Hewing of stone was regarded as task-work unfit for free men. This verse is simply an anticipation of the preparations recorded in Solomon’s reign: see 2 Chronicles ii. 1, 17.
wrought stones] All the stone used for the building of the Temple was previously cut to the right size; compare 1 Kings vi. 7.
⁴and cedar trees without number: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David.
4. Zidonians and they of Tyre] Compare 1 Kings v. 1–6 (15–20, Hebrew).
⁵And 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 make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
⁶Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the Lord, the God of Israel.
5. exceeding magnifical] The Temple took seven years in building, and it was richly overlaid with gold, but its proportions were small, viz., about 90 ft. × 45 ft. × 30 ft. These small proportions, are not surprising, for the Temple itself required only to be big enough to hold its furniture. The courts, however, were of large extent, that they might afford room for worshippers at the times of the great feasts.
Note the archaic magnifical = splendid, stately (magnificent). It is found of course in the Authorized Version (1611), and also in the Geneva Bible (1560); compare Starkey, England, ii. i. 176 (1538), “Gudly cytes and townys wyth magnyfycal and gudly housys.”
⁷And David said to Solomon his son¹, As for me, it was in my heart to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God.
¹ According to another reading, My son, as for me &c.
7. said to Solomon his son] So Kethīb; the margin, said to Solomon, My son, follows the Ḳerī.
unto the name] Compare Deuteronomy xii. 5; 2 Samuel vii. 13.
⁸But 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:
8. Thou hast shed blood abundantly] Compare xxviii. 3; in 1 Kings v. 3 Solomon tells Hiram that David wished to build a temple, but was hindered from his design by war.
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 round about: for his name shall be Solomon¹, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days:
¹ That is, Peaceful.
9. I will give him rest] Compare 1 Kings v. 4. The promise here made is of a period of peace sufficiently long for the work of Temple-building. Solomon’s reign was not wholly peaceful; compare 1 Kings xi. 14, 23, 26.
¹⁰he 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. ¹¹Now, my son, the Lord be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken concerning thee. ¹²Only the Lord give thee discretion and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel; that so thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God.
10. for ever] Compare 2 Samuel vii. 13–16.
¹³Then shalt thou prosper, if thou observe to do the statutes and the judgements which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; fear not, neither be dismayed.
13. be strong, and of good courage] Compare Joshua i. 9.
¹⁴Now, behold, in my affliction¹ 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.
¹ Or, low estate.
14. in my affliction] LXX. κατὰ τὴν πτωχείαν μου, and so margin in my low estate. The exact meaning of the phrase is not quite certain. Does it refer to the comparative slenderness of David’s resources (in my poverty), or to the difficulties of the wars and rebellions which marked his reign, or does it cover both ideas? Render perhaps in my straitened circumstances. Some translate by my strenuous labour (compare xxix. 2), but there is insufficient evidence for rendering the Hebrew word by labour.
an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver] This sum is incredibly large. In 1 Kings x. 14 it is told in illustration of the riches of Solomon—a wealthier king than David—that he received in one year 666 talents of gold, but even at this rate David would have amassed only 26,640 talents in forty years, and further the sum assigned to Solomon as his yearly revenue is fantastically large, see note 2 Chronicles ix. 13. The passage illustrates the exaggeration which is so characteristic of midrashic style; compare xxix. 4, and the note on 2 Chronicles xvii. 14.
¹⁵Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men that are cunning in any manner of work; ¹⁶of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number; arise and be doing, and the Lord be with thee. ¹⁷David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,
15, 16. any manner of work; of the gold... there is no number] Render in every work of gold... without number; i.e. the two verses are to be read in close connection.
¹⁸Is not the Lord your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath delivered the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people.
18. the inhabitants of the land] Compare xi. 4, the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. The remnant of the earlier inhabitants of Canaan is meant.
¹⁹Now set your heart and your soul to seek after the Lord your God; 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.
19. and the holy vessels of God] Compare 1 Kings viii. 4.