1 Chronicleschapter 22
19 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
but this word of the LORD came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for My Name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before Me.
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 1 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for the builders of a second temple that looked poor beside the first, and it shows them an old king preparing for a house he would never enter. It opens the last part of the book, where David turns from war to preparation. He gathers workers and materials and then speaks privately to Solomon, who is young and has done nothing yet. The first hearers knew what dressed stone, iron clamps and Lebanese cedar meant on a building site. Listen for the reason David gives for why he may not build. Then listen for what his son's name means.
Context
- Who
- Builders of a second temple that looked poor beside the first
- What
- A narrative of David gathering workers and materials for the temple and charging Solomon and the leaders to build it.
- Where
- Jerusalem, at the site named in the chapter before, with cedar brought by sea from Sidon and Tyre.
- When
- The last years of David's reign, about 975 to 970 BC, approximate on any reckoning.
- Why
- To show that the temple was prepared by one generation and built by the next, and to explain why the work fell to Solomon.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to David as an old man preparing a building site, and to Solomon, who is young and inexperienced by his father's own account at verse 5.
Show the rest of the historical context, 7 more paragraphs
The time is the last years of the reign, about 975 to 970 BC, following directly from the purchase of the threshing floor.
The place is Jerusalem and the ground David names at verse 1, with cedar coming in by sea from Sidon and Tyre.
The occasion is the naming of the site in the chapter before, which turns a working farm into a building programme.
A first hearer read the materials list as a construction schedule. Masons cut dressed stone, squared at the quarry so it could be laid without tools on site. Iron was stockpiled for the nails and the clamps that held stonework together, and the timber of Lebanon had no substitute.
He knew where the workforce came from. The resident foreigners in the land were set as stonecutters, which is how labour ran across the region, and the later record is careful to say that Israelites were not made slaves.
He knew the reason David was disqualified, because the chapter states it twice. David had shed much blood on the ground in God's sight, and the house of rest was to be built by a man of rest, which is what the name Solomon means.
The quantities at verse 14 are very large, and scholars read them in more than one way. Some hold that the word rendered talent covered a smaller unit in older records. Others take the figures as the accumulated tribute of a generation of empire, stated in round numbers as royal inscriptions of the age regularly did.
Significance
An old man stockpiling stone and cedar for a building he will not live to enter is the exact posture the first hearers needed. Ezra records that the old men who had seen the first house wept aloud when they saw the foundation of the second.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
David's charge to his son answers that grief. He tells Solomon to be strong and to begin the work, and says the LORD is with him. The work is generational, and one hand prepares what the next will lay.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
1 Chronicles carries no weekly portion and no Haftarah, and no part of it is read in the synagogue service on any Sabbath of the year. In the Hebrew Bible Chronicles stands among the Writings, and the Haftarah is drawn from the Prophets, so the yearly cycle passes this book over entirely. This site's own table of synagogue readings records the same absence. It holds no portion, no Haftarah use and no festival reading for any of the twenty-nine chapters of the book.
Rashi reads the opening verse of this chapter as the founding of a practice rather than as a remark. David names the threshing floor as the house of God and the altar of burnt offering for Israel. Rashi takes that to mean that from then on anyone seeking the LORD with a sacrifice was to offer it on that altar (Rashi on I Chronicles 22:1:1). On his reading the place of worship for the nation is fixed by this verse, before any building stands on it.
How it is read
The corpus carries seven kept notes of Rashi for this chapter in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, under CC-BY, the fewest of any chapter of 16 to 29 except one.
The conscription of the second verse is read as a point of law about who may be made to labour. Rashi takes the strangers David gathers to be converts, and gives the reason for using them, that David "did not wish to make Israelites perform rigorous labor". He then shows the same policy running through Solomon's reign, from the notices in the next book. There the labour gangs are drawn from the peoples remaining in the land, and the children of Israel are kept out of that service (Rashi on I Chronicles 22:2:1). Two short notes follow on the materials. He glosses the nails for the doors of the gateways with the German word for nails. He reads the couplings as the iron pieces that join and strengthen the doors (Rashi on I Chronicles 22:3:1 and 22:3:2). At the fourth verse he identifies the Tyrians as the men of Huram king of Tyre (Rashi on I Chronicles 22:4:1).
The fifth verse draws the one extended argument of the chapter, and it is an argument about a single word. David calls Solomon young and tender, and Rashi shows that the first word alone would prove little. Scripture calls Joshua by it as a servant of Moses. By Rashi's own arithmetic from the length of Joshua's life and reign, Joshua was then forty-two years old. That is why the second word is needed, and Rashi states the conclusion he draws from it, that Solomon was twelve years old when he came to the throne (Rashi on I Chronicles 22:5:1). A second note on the same verse takes the house to be magnified on high as a statement of height. He reads it against the measurement of the porch in Kings as a hundred and twenty cubits (Rashi on I Chronicles 22:5:2).
Metzudat David, Malbim and Radak comment across the charge to Solomon that fills the rest of the chapter, where the corpus carries no kept text of Rashi at all. Their refs are carried with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand here cited and unquoted. Metzudat David comments at I Chronicles 22:1:1, 22:2:1, 22:8:1, 22:9:1, 22:10:1, 22:12:1, 22:13:1, 22:15:1, 22:16:1, 22:18:1 and 22:19:1. Malbim comments at I Chronicles 22:9:1, 22:10:1, 22:11:1 and 22:12:1. Radak comments at I Chronicles 22:8:1 and 22:14:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries thirty-two rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. Twelve of the thirty-two stand on the ninth verse, where the son to come is named a man of rest and his name is given as Solomon. Seven of them are Avot DeRabbi Natan 39:4, Bereshit Rabbah 45:8 and 76:2, Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 1:6:10, Midrash Lekach Tov on Deuteronomy 28:6:1 and on Numbers 6:26:2, and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 33:17:14. The other five are Otzar Midrashim, Pirkei Rabbeinu HaKadosh 1:11, Pesikta Rabbati 42:1, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32:5, Vayikra Rabbah 12:5, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 131:1.
Nine stand on the fourteenth, where David reckons up what he has laid aside for the house, a hundred thousand talents of gold and a thousand thousand talents of silver. They are Devarim Rabbah 2:26, Jerusalem Talmud Bava Metzia 1:4:2, Jerusalem Talmud Gittin 8:3:2 and 8:3:5, Jerusalem Talmud Peah 4:2:3 and 4:2:5, Midrash Tehillim 62:6, Sifrei Devarim 159:4, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 913:4.
Five stand on the first verse, where the house of God is named on the threshing floor: Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 2:9:3 and 2:12:2, Midrash Tehillim 4:2, Pesikta Rabbati 43:1, and Zevachim 62a:3. Three stand on the eighth, the word that David had shed much blood and would not build the house: Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 16:16, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 26:1, and Pesikta Rabbati 2:1. Two stand on the second, the gathering of the strangers and the setting of stonecutters to work: Aggadat Bereshit 38:3 and Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair 1:33. The last is Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 17:17:3 on the thirteenth verse, the charge to keep the statutes and ordinances. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on I Chronicles 22:1:1 to 22:5:2, seven kept notes in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Chronicles 22:1:1 to 22:19:1, eleven refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on I Chronicles 22:9:1, 22:10:1, 22:11:1 and 22:12:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on I Chronicles 22:8:1 and 22:14:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/1-chronicles/22.json, the 32 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; This site's table of synagogue readings, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, which records no portion, no Haftarah use and no festival reading for 1 Chronicles.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
This is the house of the LORD, and David piles up its stores
David names Ornan's floor: “Here shall be the house of the LORD God, as well as the altar of burnt offering for Israel”. Chronicles alone records this naming. The account in 2 Chronicles 3:1 calls the same ground Mount Moriah, the name of Abraham's land in Genesis 22:2.
1 Chronicles 22:1
“This is the house of the Lord God - The double miracle - that of the angelic appearance and that of the fire from heaven - had convinced David that here he had found the destined site of that “house” which it had been told him that his son should build 1Ch 22:10. Hence, this public announcement.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Chronicles 22:1
“If a temple must be built for God, it is fit that it be left to him to choose the ground, for all the earth is his; and this is the ground he makes choice of-ground that pertained to a Jebusite, and perhaps there was not a spot of ground besides, in or about Jerusalem, that did so--a happy presage of the setting up of the gospel temple among the Gentiles.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 22:2-4
gather the foreigners in the land of Israel: David gathers the foreigners in the land to hew stone and sets iron, brass and cedar in abundance before he ever hands Solomon a charge. Kings has no equivalent scene; there the temple's materials appear only after Solomon writes to Hiram in 1 Ki 5.
1 Chronicles 22:2
“The strangers that were in the land - Those who had become proselytes to the Jewish religion, at least so far as to renounce idolatry, and keep what were called the seven Noahic precepts. These were to be employed in the more servile and difficult parts of the work: see on 1Ki 9:21 (note). For the account of building the temple, see 1 Kings 5-9 (note), and the notes there.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 22:2
“David commanded to gather together the strangers--partly the descendants of the old Canaanites (2Ch 8:7-10), from whom was exacted a tribute of bond service, and partly war captives (2Ch 2:7), reserved for the great work he contemplated.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
a large quantity of iron: David stores iron for the nails of the gate doors and their fittings, with more bronze than could be weighed. John Gill says the nails would join the boards of the doors and fasten their hinges. The bronze would make the altar and the laver.
1 Chronicles 22:3
“And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings,.... Great plenty of iron to make nails of for joining the boards together, of which the doors and gates were to be made, and for the fastening of the hinges of them: and brass in abundance without weight; for making the altar of brass, and the laver of brass, and other vessels. Brass was much used by the Heathens in sacred things, as Macrobius (p) observes. (p) Saturnal. l. 5. c. 19.”
more cedar logs than could: Cedar logs arrive from the Sidonians and Tyrians. John Gill says the cedar came from Mount Lebanon and would be cut into boards for the house of the LORD. Gill reads the help of these foreigners as a picture of Gentiles later helping to build the church.
1 Chronicles 22:4
“Also cedar trees in abundance,.... To be sawed into boards and planks for the cieling, wainscotting, and flooring of the temple, and other things: for the Zidonians, and they of Tyre, brought much cedar wood to David; from Mount Lebanon, which was chiefly in their possession; and which they did either of themselves as a free gift and present to him, or at his request, for which he paid them; and this is another thing prefiguring the help of the Gentiles in building up the church of Christ in Gospel times.”
young and inexperienced: Solomon is “young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent”, so the father will do the preparing. Barnes reckons Solomon's age as low as fourteen or fifteen and no higher than twenty-four or twenty-five, a range the text itself leaves open.
1 Chronicles 22:5
“Young and tender - The exact age of Solomon at this time is uncertain; but it cannot have been more than 24 or 25. It may have been as little as 14 or 15. Compare the 1Ki 2:2 note.”
A man of blood may not build; a man of rest will
1 Chronicles 22:6-8
instructed him to build a house: David tells Solomon that “it was in my heart to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God”. Verse 8 states it directly: “You have shed much blood and waged great wars”. Chronicles alone has David repeat the word of the LORD as a settled verdict.
1 Chronicles 22:6
“Then he called for Solomon his son,.... To be brought before him: and charged him to build an house for the Lord God of Israel; which charge was given a little before his death, after he had made great preparations for this work, as appears from 1Ch 22:5.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 22:6
“Then he called for Solomon . . . and charged him--The earnestness and solemnity of this address creates an impression that it was given a little before the old king's decease.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 22:6
“Solomon - is young and tender - He is as yet without complete knowledge and due experience; and it is necessary that I should make as much preparation for the work as I possibly can; especially as the house is to be exceedingly magnificent.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
David calls Solomon his son and tells him he wished to build a house for the LORD's Name. John Gill ties the promise in verse 10 to 2 Samuel 7:13, where the same wish first came before God. Verse 8 gives the LORD's reason for refusing him.
1 Chronicles 22:7
“And David said to Solomon,.... When brought into his presence: my son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God; he was disposed and inclined to it, and was once determined upon it, see 2Sa 7:2.”
The LORD bars David for the blood he shed. John Wesley reads the bar as a sign that the church would be built by Christ the Prince of Peace. Jerome took the blood to mean the murder of Uriah, where others read it as the blood of his wars.
1 Chronicles 22:8
“Because he was a man of blood—the reference is not, as some think, to his wars, but to the murder [of Uriah]—he was not permitted to build a temple of the Lord.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against Jovinianus 1.24patristic
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 22:8
“Shed blood - Not that wars are simply unlawful, but to teach us that the church (whereof the temple was an illustrious type) should be built by Christ, the prince of peace, Isaiah ix, 6, and that it should be gathered and built up, not by might or power but by God's spirit, Zech iv, 6, and by the preaching the Gospel of peace.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Chronicles 22:9-10
a man of rest: The son not yet born is named in advance as “a man of rest”, and God promises “rest from all his enemies on every side”. Solomon and shalom share one Hebrew root. Verse 10 retells the covenant of 2 Samuel 7:13-14, words Hebrews 1:5 quotes of Christ.
1 Chronicles 22:9
“For the names of Solomon, compare 2Sa 12:24 note. The former name prevailed, probably on account of this prophecy, which attached to the name the promise of a blessing.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 22:9
“This [passage quoted, 1 Kings 8:26-27] is also found in the same words in Chronicles. God then promised David he would raise up a king from his body and would be his father, so that the offspring of the seed of David should be called the Son of God and should have his throne in an eternal kingdom.”
Eusebius of Caesarea · written before 339 · Proof of the Gospel 6.12patristic
the one who will build: God names Solomon as the one to build. He promises to be Solomon's Father, and John Gill ties the words to 2 Samuel 7:13 and notes that Hebrews 1:5 applies them to Christ. Gill reads the throne forever as fulfilled in Christ, whose kingdom is everlasting, citing Luke 1:32.
1 Chronicles 22:10
“He shall build an house for my name,.... For the worship of God, and for his honour and glory: and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; see 2Sa 7:13 and which is applied to Christ, Heb 1:5. and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever; that is, for a long time in his posterity; and which will have its fulfilment in Christ, his antitype, in the utmost sense of the expression, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his throne for ever and ever, Luk 1:32.”
1 Chronicles 22:11-13
may the LORD be with you: David charges Solomon, “Be strong and courageous”, the words the LORD gave Joshua in Joshua 1:6-9 for taking a land. David's deathbed words in 1 Kings 2:2-3 also tell Solomon to be strong. Kings then turns to Joab and Shimei, and Chronicles keeps only the temple charge.
1 Chronicles 22:11
“Now, my son, the Lord be with thee, &c. Or "shall be with thee" (r), as some; and if it be as a prayer, it was no doubt a prayer of faith; the Targum is,"may the Word of the Lord be thine help:" and prosper thee; may success attend thee: and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he hath said of thee; foretold he should, and therefore would assist him to do it, which was an encouragement to go about it. (r) יהי "erit", Pagninus, Montanus; "futurus est", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.”
give you insight and understanding: David prays that the LORD will give Solomon insight and understanding to keep the Law when he rules Israel. Matthew Henry thinks Solomon may have had this prayer in mind when he later asked God for a wise and understanding heart. Henry adds that God equips those He calls.
1 Chronicles 22:12
“Whatever charge we have, if we see God giving us the charge and calling us to it, we may hope he will give us wisdom for the discharge of it. Perhaps Solomon had an eye to this prayer of his father for him, in the prayer he offered for himself: Lord, give me a wise and understanding heart.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Be strong and courageous: Success depends on keeping the statutes the LORD gave Moses. John Gill notes that 1 Kings 2:2 gives David the same words near his death, placing this charge late in his life. Matthew Henry warns that building the temple would count for nothing apart from keeping those statutes.
1 Chronicles 22:13
“Then shall thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes,.... See 1Ki 2:2 where the same things are said as here: which shows that this was spoken by David a little before his death.”
1 Chronicles 22:14-16
David sets the sums down: “100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron too great to be weighed”. Workmen stand ready, so Solomon has nothing left to gather before he builds. The charge closes, “Now begin the work, and may the LORD be with you”.
1 Chronicles 22:14
“In my trouble I have prepared - Notwithstanding ail the wars in which I have been engaged, all the treacheries with which I have been surrounded, all the domestic troubles with which I have been overwhelmed, I never lost sight of this great object, the building of a house for God, that his worship might be established in the land. I have curtailed my expenses, and have lived in comparative poverty that I might save all I possibly could for this building.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
You also have many workers: David lists masons, stonecutters and carpenters ready for Solomon, with men skilled in every craft. These join the foreigners set to cut stone in verse 2. Adam Clarke, on verse 18, says Solomon came to the throne with every possible advantage.
Now begin the work: Craftsmen in gold, silver, bronze and iron stand beyond number. David ends his charge by telling Solomon to begin, with a prayer that the LORD be with him. John Gill, on verse 3, names uses for the metal: iron for nails, and bronze for the altar and the laver.
1 Chronicles 22:16
“Hope of God's presence must not slacken our endeavours. Though the Lord be with us, we must rise and be doing, and, if we do this, we have reason to believe he is and will be with us. Work out your salvation, and God will work in you.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The princes charged to help young Solomon
1 Chronicles 22:17-19
ordered all the leaders of Israel: David turns from his son and orders the leaders to help Solomon. The LORD has “granted you rest on every side”. Verse 19 gives the refrain the whole book measures every reign by, “set your heart and soul to seek the LORD your God”.
1 Chronicles 22:17
“David also commanded all the princes of Israel,.... His courtiers and nobles that were about him: to help Solomon his son; by their advice, and with their purses, should he need them, and by overlooking the workmen, directing and encouraging them: saying; as follows.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 22:17
“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. Preparations for the Temple. 1 Then David said, This is the house of the L ORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
granted you rest on every side?: David reminds the leaders that the LORD has given them rest on every side and subdued the land. Adam Clarke notes that David had by then conquered most of the nations around Judea, so Solomon came to the throne with every advantage. Clarke adds that this gold soon grew dim.
1 Chronicles 22:18
“Is not the Lord your God with you? - “Is not the Word of the Lord your God your assistant?” - T. Hath he not given you rest on every side? - David at this time was not only king of Judea, but had also subdued most of the surrounding nations. Thus Solomon came to the Jewish throne with every possible advantage. Had he made a proper use of his state and of his talents, he would have been the greatest as well as the wisest of sovereigns. But alas! how soon did this pure gold become dim!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
set your heart and soul: David charges the leaders to seek the LORD with heart and soul and to begin building the sanctuary. The house will hold the ark and the holy articles. John Gill, on verse 10, says the house was built for the worship of God and for His honor and glory.
How this psalm is built
The form: Chronicles material with no parallel in Kings, a site named, a stockpile listed and two charges given, as chapter classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Solomon and peace, one root twice | Verse 9 promises a son who will be a man of rest, gives him rest from all his enemies, names him Solomon, and grants Israel peace and quiet in his reign. The name and the promise share one Hebrew root, so the sentence says the same thing twice over. The son is named before he is born, and the name is the terms of his reign.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 22:9. | 1 Chronicles 22:9 |
| Be strong and courageous, in Joshua's words | The charge at verses 11 to 16 uses the vocabulary given to Joshua at Joshua 1:6 to 1:9, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged. There the words were for taking a land and here they are for building a house in it. The site's published exposition sets the charge beside David's deathbed words at 1 Kings 2:2 to 2:3, which open the same way and then turn to Joab and Shimei, business this chapter leaves out.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 1 Chronicles 22:13. | 1 Chronicles 22:11, 1 Chronicles 22:12, 1 Chronicles 22:13, 1 Chronicles 22:16 |
| The stockpile, counted out | Verses 14 to 16 list what David laid up, a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, bronze and iron past weighing, timber and stone, and workers of every trade. David calls the cost what it was to him, saying he took great pains to provide it. The list ends on an instruction to begin, so the materials are handed over as a charge rather than as an inheritance.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 1 Chronicles 22:14. | 1 Chronicles 22:14, 1 Chronicles 22:15, 1 Chronicles 22:16 |
| The house named at the opening and at the close | Verse 1 has David say that here shall be the house of the LORD God. Verse 19 ends the chapter with the sanctuary to be built for the Name of the LORD, with the ark and the holy articles brought into it. The chapter that opens by naming a place closes by telling a nation to seek the One it is named for. | 1 Chronicles 22:1, 1 Chronicles 22:19 |
| Set your heart and soul to seek the LORD your God | Verse 19 states the test the rest of the Chronicler's work measures reigns by. The guide's keynote table carries baqash at h1245 as one of the book's six keywords and anchors it at 28:9, where David repeats the charge to Solomon. The same demand is made here of the leaders rather than of the king's son.This site's published book guide, src/components/book/guides/1-chronicles/Book1ChroniclesGuide.tsx, the KEYNOTES row baqash at h1245 and the THEMES row on seeking at 28:9. | 1 Chronicles 22:19 |
Why David was refused
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 8 gives the reason in the LORD's own words, that David has shed much blood and waged great wars and is not to build a house for the Name. Kings gives only the general fact of wars pressing on every side. The site's published exposition marks that Chronicles alone has David repeat the word to his own face as a settled verdict.
John Wesley reads the refusal as typical, since the temple was to be built by the Spirit rather than by might or by blood. Matthew Henry draws the same line toward the one who builds by saving lives rather than taking them. The guide's themes table states the plain version of it, that David models what worship preparation looks like for a generation that may not see the finished house.
The covenant repeated to the son
Verse 10 retells the oracle of chapter 17 in Solomon's hearing. He will build the house for the Name, he will be a son and God will be his Father, and the throne of his kingdom will be established over Israel forever. The sonship clause is the one Hebrews 1:5 applies to Christ.
The dossier reads the chapter as the point where the son promised at 17 is named and explained. Its Christ entry sets the pattern out in one line: a father gathers the materials, buys the site and receives the plan, and a son of peace builds the house and sits on the throne. It carries Hebrews 3:3 to 3:6 as the place where the same pattern is worked to its end, with Christ set over the house as a son rather than in it as a servant.
The shape of an ancient temple account
The dossier's ancient Near Eastern section carries the Gudea Cylinders, Sumerian from Lagash, about 2100 BC. A ruler is given the plan of a temple by his god, gathers materials from distant countries, builds and dedicates the house, with the whole sequence recorded at length. Its verdict calls the parallel real and cites Victor Hurowitz in I Have Built You an Exalted House, JSOT Supplement 115, 1992, for the standard shape of such an account.
The verdict then names what differs at every point that matters. The house holds no image. The plan comes in writing by God's own hand at 28:19. The king who prepares it is refused the building of it. This chapter is where the second and third of those differences begin to show.
The numbers
Verse 14 gives a hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver. The dossier carries the size of this book's figures as one of its six difficulties and quotes this verse in stating it. The first of its three positions is copying damage in the Hebrew numeral notation, held by Keil and Delitzsch in Biblical Commentary on the Books of Chronicles, 1872. The second reads the Hebrew eleph as a unit or a clan, held by John Wenham in Large Numbers in the Old Testament, Tyndale Bulletin 18, 1967. The third is deliberate scale, the ancient way of stating magnitude. This page states no verdict.
The site, and Moriah
Verse 1 fixes the site by the fire David saw rather than by any earlier altar. The later account at 2 Chronicles 3:1 calls the same ground Mount Moriah, and many read that beside Genesis 22:2. The guide carries the identification as one of its three contested points, with the traditional claim and the critical caution set side by side. Its flag says that the traditional claim's own holders would grant it is not an uncontested textual fact. This page states no verdict, and no feature page stands for the temple or for Moriah, tested by file in this lane.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
This site's published book guide; This site's published book sections table, src/lib/bible/book-sections.ts, the entry "1 Chronicles": "history" and This site's published exposition for the chapter, data/commentary/1-chronicles-22-exposition.json, whose module note states that the chapter has no parallel in Kings and that every note carries full expository weight.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Against Jovinianus 1.24; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.