'Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house
for the Lord God of Israel. 7. And David said to Solomon, My son, as
for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord
my God: 8. But 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. 9. Behold, 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 Solomon, and I will give peace and
quietness unto Israel in his days. 10. He 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. 11. Now, my
son, the Lord be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of
the Lord thy God as He hath said of thee. 12. Only the Lord give thee
wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that
thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God, 13. Then shalt thou
prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments
which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of
good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed. 14. Now, behold, in my
trouble 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. 15. Moreover, there
are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and
timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work. 16. Of
the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number.
Arise, therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee.'--1 CHRON.
xxii. 6-16.
This passage falls into three parts. In verses 6-10 the old king tells
of the divine prohibition which checked his longing to build the
Temple; in verses 11-13 he encourages his more fortunate successor,
and points him to the only source of strength for his happy task; in
verses 14-16 he enumerates the preparations which he had made, the
possession of which laid stringent obligations on Solomon.
I. There is a tone of wistfulness in David's voice as he tells how his
heart's desire had been prohibited. The account is substantially the
same as we have in 2 Samuel vii. 4-16, but it adds as the reason for
the prohibition David's warlike career. We may note the earnestness
and the motive of the king's desire to build the Temple. 'It was in my
heart'; that implies earnest longing and fixed purpose. He had brooded
over the wish till it filled his mind, and was consolidated into a
settled resolve. Many a musing, solitary moment had fed the fire
before it burned its way out in the words addressed to Nathan. So
should our whole souls be occupied with our parts in God's service,
and so should our desires be strongly set towards carrying out what in
solitary meditation we have felt borne in on us as our duty.
The moving spring of David's design is beautifully suggested in the
simple words 'unto the name of the Lord my God.' David's religion was
eminently a personal bond between him and God. We may almost say that
he was the first to give utterance to that cry of the devout heart,
'My God,' and to translate the generalities of the name 'the God of
Israel' into the individual appropriation expressed by the former
designation. It occurs in many of the psalms attributed to him, and
may fairly be regarded as a characteristic of his ardent and
individualising devotion. The sense of a close, personal relation to
God naturally prompted the impulse to build His house. We must claim
our own portion in the universal blessings shrined in His name before
we are moved to deeds of loving sacrifice. We must feel that Christ
'loved me, and gave Himself for me,' before we are melted into
answering surrender.
The reason for the frustrating of David's desire, as here given, is
his career as a warrior king. Not only was it incongruous that hands
which had been reddened with blood should rear the Temple, but the
fact that his reign had been largely occupied with fighting for the
existence of the kingdom showed that the time for engaging in such a
work, which would task the national resources, had not yet come. We
may draw two valuable lessons from the prohibition. One is that it
indicates the true character of the kingdom of God as a kingdom of
peace, which is to be furthered, not by force, but in peace and
gentleness. The other is that various epochs and men have different
kinds of duties in relation to Christ's cause, some being called on to
fight, and others to build, and that the one set of tasks may be as
sacred and as necessary for the rearing of the Temple as the other.
Militant epochs are not usually times for building. The men who have
to do destructive work are not usually blessed with the opportunity or
the power to carry out constructive work. Controversy has its sphere,
but it is mostly preliminary to true 'edification.' In the broadest
view all the activity of the Church on earth is militant, and we have
to wait for the coming of the true 'Prince of peace' to build up the
true Temple in the land of peace, whence all foes have been cast out
for ever. To serve God in God's way, and to give up our cherished
plans, is not easy; but David sets us an example of simple-hearted,
cheerful acquiescence in a Providence that thwarted darling designs.
There is often much self-will in what looks like enthusiastic
perseverance in some form of service.
II. The charge to Solomon breathes no envy of his privilege, but
earnest desire that he may be worthy of the honour which falls to him.
Petitions and exhortations are closely blended in it, and, though the
work which Solomon is called to do is of an external sort, the
qualifications laid down for it are spiritual and moral. However
'secular' our work in connection with God's service may be, it will
not be rightly done unless the highest motives are brought to bear on
it, and it is performed as worship. The basis of all successful work
is God's presence with us, so David prays for that to be granted to
Solomon as the beginning of all his fitness for his task.
Next, David recalls to his son God's promise concerning him, that it
may hearten him to undertake and to carry on the great work. A
conviction that our service is appointed for us by God is essential
for vigorous and successful Christian work. We must have, in some way
or other, heard Him 'speak concerning us,' if we are to fling
ourselves with energy into it.
The petitions in verse 12 seem to stretch beyond the necessities of
the case, in so far as building the Temple is concerned. Wisdom and
understanding, and a clear consciousness of the duty enjoined on him
by God in reference to Israel, were surely more than that work
required. But the qualifications for God's service, however the manner
of service may be concerned with 'the outward business of the house of
God,' are always these which David asked for Solomon. The highest
result of true 'wisdom and understanding' given by God is keeping
God's law; and keeping it is the one condition on which we shall
obtain and retain that presence of God with us which David prayed for
Solomon, and without which they labour in vain that build. A life
conformed to God's will is the absolutely indispensable condition of
all prosperity in direct Christian effort. The noblest exercise of our
wisdom and understanding is to obey every word that we hear proceeding
out of the mouth of God.
III. There is something very pathetic in the old king's enumeration of
the treasures which, by the economies of a lifetime, he had amassed.
The amount stated is enormous, and probably there is some clerical
error in the numbers specified. Be that as it may, the sum was very
large. It represented many an act of self-denial, many a resolute
shearing off of superfluities and what might seem necessaries. It was
the visible token of long years of fixed attention to one object. And
that devotion was all the more noble because the result of it was
never to be seen by the man who exercised it.
Therein David is but a very conspicuous example of a law which runs
through all our work for God. None of us are privileged to perform
completed tasks. 'One soweth and another reapeth.' We have to be
content to do partial work, and to leave its completion to our
successors. There is but one Builder of whom it can be said that His
hands 'have laid the foundation of this house; His hands shall also
finish it.' He who is the 'Alpha and Omega,' and He alone, begins and
completes the work in which He has neither sharers nor predecessors
nor successors. The rest of us do our little bit of the great work
which lasts on through the ages, and, having inherited unfinished
tasks, transmit them to those who come after us. It is privilege
enough for any Christian to lay foundations on which coming days may
build. We are like the workers on some great cathedral, which was
begun long before the present generation of masons were born, and will
not be finished until long after they have dropped trowel and mallet
from their dead hands. Enough for us if we can lay one course of
stones in that great structure. The greater our aims, the less share
has each man in their attainment. But the division of labour is the
multiplication of joy, and all who have shared in the toil will be
united in the final triumph. It would be poor work that was capable of
being begun and perfected in a lifetime. The labourer that dug and
levelled the track and the engineer that drives the locomotive over it
are partners. Solomon could not have built the Temple unless, through
long, apparently idle, years, David had been patiently gathering
together the wealth which he bequeathed. So, if our work is but
preparatory for that of those who come after, let us not think it of
slight importance, and let us be sure that all who have had any
portion in the toil shall share in the victory, that 'he that soweth
and he that reapeth may rejoice together.'