Bible Commentaries
1 Chronicles 22

Introduction

The remaining chapters of 1 Chronicles form a connecting link between the books of Samuel and Kings, and supply us with much information not elsewhere given respecting David’s preparations for building the temple, his arrangements of the priests and Levites and the officers of the realm, and his counsels to Solomon and to Israel. They form altogether a concluding chapter to the history of David, and treat of matters of peculiar interest to the writer of Chronicles matters largely ecclesiastical to give special prominence to which was evidently a main object of his writing.

Verse 1

1. Then David said See note on the last verse of the preceding chapter.

Verse 2

2. David commanded to gather together the strangers These strangers were the descendants of the old Canaanitish population of the land, whom the Israelites had not been able to expel. Comp. 1 Kings 9:21, and 2 Chronicles 2:17. Having settled on the site of Jehovah’s house, the king was stimulated to make, in his last days, all possible preparations for the building of the same.

Masons to hew wrought stones Or, stonecutters to cut hewn stones. Compare 1 Kings 5:15; 1 Kings 5:17.

Verse 3

3. Nails for the doors of the gates “That is, for the folding doors of the gates; partly for the pivots on which the folding doors turned, partly to strengthen the boards of which the doors were made.” Keil.

For the joinings For cramps, or iron holders to fasten and hold beams and stones together.

Without weight The bulk and amount was so great as not to be easily weighed. As we sometimes familiarly say, “There was no weighing it.”

Verse 4

4. Cedar trees… Zidonians See note on 1 Kings 15:6.

Verse 5

5. Young and tender A youth of probably less than twenty years. See on 1 Kings 3:7.

Exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory Literally, the house to be builded to Jehovah is to be made great to an exceeding extent, for a name and for an ornament to all the lands. David had a most exalted and worthy conception of the grandeur and importance of the temple to be builded. Not only was it to be a most magnificent structure, but it was to magnify Jehovah’s name and praise among the nations. Thus the monarch of Israel breathed the spirit of later prophecies, which foreshadowed the spiritual glory of the Christian temple, and according to which “the mountain of the Lord’s house should be established in the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills; and all nations flow unto it.” Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1.

Verses 6-16

6-16. David’s charge to Solomon, here recorded, belongs to the same period as that of 1 Kings 2:1-10. One passage supplements the other, and the contrast between them is very noticeable. The writer of Kings was concerned more particularly with the political history of David, and records the aged king’s counsel to his son in reference to dangerous political enemies; the chronicler omits all that, and records only the charge of David respecting the building of the temple.

Verse 7

7. It was in my mind to build See at 1 Chronicles Samuel 1 Chronicles 7:1-17, and 1 Chronicles 17:1-15.

Verse 8

8. The word of the Lord came to me Probably by Nathan, but not at the time referred to in 1 Chronicles 17:3, and 2 Samuel 7:4. At that time Jehovah opened to David’s prophetic eye that Messianic future which ever after was his joy and song; but at another time he sent Nathan again to explain to him the reason, as here given, why he should not build the temple of Jehovah.

Because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight The wars of David were not carried on against God’s will. In many cases they were expressly ordered by Jehovah, and often called the “wars of the Lord.” In order to the establishment of Israel in Canaan wars and bloodshed were unavoidable. Nevertheless, the bloodshed and barbarity of war were not in harmony with the profound symbolism of peace, sabbatic quiet, and thoughtful repose, which were to be embodied in the house of Jehovah. Hence David’s unfitness to build the temple. Comp. 1 Kings 5:3.

Verse 9

9. His name shall be Solomon See note on 2 Samuel 12:24-25.

Verse 14

14. In my trouble I have prepared for the house Margin, in my poverty. So also Septuagint and Vulgate. Bertheau and Keil, by my painful labour; that is, by great toil and effort on my part. The word thus variously rendered generally means affliction, distress; and such is, probably, the sense in which it should here be taken. David means to say that under varied circumstances of trouble, warfare, and distress, he had accumulated the treasures he here enumerates.

A hundred thousand talents of gold About $5,690,000,000.

A thousand thousand talents of silver About

$1,660,000,000. These numbers are incredibly large, and unless the value of the talent in question was vastly less than that at which the Hebrew talent is commonly estimated, the statement of the text is probably extravagant. Bertheau thinks the writer merely meant to designate an extraordinary amount, and made a free use of numbers without any close estimate of the precise amount. Keil, however, thinks the numbers may not be exaggerated; but, reckoning the talent at half the usual standard, (“according to the king’s weight,” 2 Samuel 14:26,) and appealing to the enormous amounts of treasure often accumulated in ancient kingdoms, he concludes that the “shields of gold,” and other similar spoil which David captured in war, (2 Samuel 8:7-11; 1 Chronicles 18:11,) may not have been improperly valued at the figures here used.