"Out of the eater comes forth meat."
It was upon occasion of the terrible judgment inflicted on Israel for the sin of David that God gave intimation of the setting up of another altar, and of the place where he would have the temple to be built, upon which David was excited with great vigour to make preparation for that great work, wherein, though he had long since designed it, it should seem, he had, of late, grown remiss, till awakened by the alarm of that judgment. The tokens of God's favour he received after those of his displeasure,
I. Directed him to the place, #1Ch 22:1.
II. Encouraged and quickened him to the work.
1. He set himself to prepare for the building, #1Ch 22:2-5.
2. He instructed Solomon, and gave him a charge concerning this work, #1Ch 22:6-16.
3. He commanded the princes to assist him in it, #1Ch 22:17-19. There is a great deal of difference between the frame of David's spirit in the beginning of the former chapter and in the beginning of this. There, in the pride of his heart, he was numbering the people; here, in his humility, preparing for the service of God. There corruption was uppermost (but the well of living water in the soul, though it may be muddied, will work itself clear again); grace here has recovered the upper hand. (MH)
In this chapter, we see David preparing for his son, so his son could carry on the work of the Lord where David would have to leave it off by death. Today, we prepare for our own welfare, with very little, if any, concern for that the work of the Lord carry on after we are gone.
Vv. 1-5, David prepared abundantly for his son to be able to serve the Lord. We, today, prepare for ourselves rather than for our children.
What have we done to make it easier for our children to serve God? Is the "Christian" generation of today leaving good conditions for the children to serve God? From my own experience, I must say no! They have withdrawn from social issues, and have turned society over to the pagans, permitting the pagans to rule over Christians with rigor.
Vv. 6-16, David's great concern was that his son who took his place would serve God as he was unable to do—that is, build the temple.
V. 7, David's desire was to do a great work for the Lord, but he was unable to do it, so he prepared abundantly for his son to do it. We also need to prepare for our children to do the work of the Lord that we are unable to do.
V. 8, David shed needless blood, 2 Samuel 8:2.
Vv. 9, 10, Solomon would build the house without blood. The dispensationalists believe that Christ will build the new house of the Lord literally with the blood of His enemies, with the threat of the sword. See my study in Psalms 45.
V. 12.
1) David prayed for Solomon that Solomon would have wisdom and understanding. Therefore, the wisdom given to Solomon was the Lord's answer to David's prayers.
2) the purpose of the wisdom and understanding David prayed for in his son was so the son would keep the word of God.
Today, the purpose of "wisdom and understanding" is so the person can make a good living. Godly education centers around upstanding God's word and the application of it into thought, life and society.
V. 13, godly prosperity is the result of knowing, understanding and applying God's word to life.
V. 14. There is discussion on how much gold and silver is accounted for here. We do know that there is an astounding amount of both mentioned here. Gill quotes Dr. Prideaux, who says that there is enough silver alone accounted for here to build the whole temple of solid silver.
Now, behold in my trouble... David, by HARD WORK, provided abundantly for the future of God's work. Gill points out that this means that David lived very frugally, so he could lay up money for the building of the house of the Lord. David made himself poor so that the kingdom of God could be built.
The obvious application is that believers today should be far more interested in building the kingdom of God on earth than they are in laying up treasures for themselves here on this earth, or than in having the good life here on this earth.
Implied here is that David was richer through hard work than was Solomon, 2 Chronicles 9:13.
V. 14, Gold, 9,2000,000 lbs troy, Silver, 92,000,000 lbs troy, add this to 29:4.
There was an unbelievable amount of gold and silver involved in this building.
To me, there are two key thoughts in this chapter:
1) David, with all of his might, prepared for his son to continue in the Lord's work that he had been unable to accomplish, vv. 5, 14.
2) The purpose of education is to prepare our children to have Godly wisdom and understanding that they may keep the law of the Lord their God. And then they will prosper as they fulfill the statutes and judgments with which the Lord charged Moses, vv. 11-13.