In 1 Chr 16.1-43 David offers korbanot when the Ark was brought into the city. He appointed the proper people to minister before the Ark, but also before the Mishkan in Gibeon. In 1 Chr 16.7-36 we have a song of David that was taught to Asaph and his family, who were musicians and psalmists. This song was intended to be sung when the Ark was brought to Jerusalem.
In the Rosh Ha Shanah Machzor (prayer book) by Mesorah Publications, p. 224, it says that “during the last 43 years before Solomon inaugurated the Temple, the first fifteen verses (v 8-22) were sung in the Tabernacle every day during the morning Tamid offering service, and the last fourteen verses (v 23-36) were sung during the afternoon Tamid service.”
The song “calls upon Israel to maintain its faith in God and its confidence that he will bring it salvation from exile and persecution. The first fifteen verses refer to the miracles of past salvations and how our patriarchs had complete faith in God, even though they had nothing to go by but his covenant and oath. The second group of fourteen verses begins with ‘Sing to Yehovah, everyone on earth.’ It refers to the song of gratitude that everyone will sing in Messianic times. Thus, this section parallels the theme of the morning Shema blessings in which we emphasize the redemption of the past, while the second section parallels the evening Shema blessings in which we stress the redemption of the future.” The Mishkan and the Altar of Burnt Offering remained in Gibeon until the place for the Altar was determined. All burnt offerings to Yehovah were offered morning and evening as prescribed in the Torah (v 39-40).
1 Chr 17.1-27 is the same as 2 Sam 7.1-29 and it contains the story of how David intended to build a Temple to Yehovah. However, he was not to be the one to build it, but God was going to build a “house” for David. He would establish a permanent, secure Israel for David, and because David was a shepherd and he was concerned for the welfare of his people, Yehovah eased his mind in this.
David was a man of war and God wanted a man of peace (Shlomo/Solomon means peace) to build it. He did not tell David this at the time, but later (1 Chr 22.8-10). David accepted Yehovah’s reason, and it would have wounded David to tell everything at this time. David’s “house” would rule Israel forever, and they did rule for over 400 years, but that is not what the Lord had in mind here. Those kings ended with the exile. Isa 11.1-2 says that a shoot out of the stem of Jesse would rule forever. Messiah would come when all seemed lost, and come from the supposed “dead” line of David to rule. This alludes to the resurrection of Yeshua who came back to life from the dead “line” of David to rule forever (Jer 23.5-6; Isa 9.6-7; Luke 1.31-33).
There are scriptures that allude to David possibly being God’s chosen prince over Israel in the Atid Lavo (Hos 3.5; Ezek 37.24-25, 34.23-24; Jer 30.9). However, these verses could also be referring to the Messiah who is also called a prince (Acts 3.15). The term for prince is “Nasi” in Hebrew and it can be a civil ruler or a biological descendant of David. He may be fully human, have descendants (Ezek 46.16) and own a tribal lot of land. On the other hand, this is also a term for the Messiah (Ezek 44.3).
David went into the tent that was prepared for the Ark (1 Chr 15.1, 16.1) and sat before the Lord and prayed (17.16). As we can see, sitting was a posture used in prayer. David was humble in his thanks and praise to God. He asks that the promise be fulfilled as spoken.
1 Chr 18.1-17 tells us about David’s kingdom being strengthened. 2 Sam 8 deals with this also, so we have already discussed what happens here. The key thing to understand in this chapter is verse 14. David reigned over Israel and he administered justice and righteousness for all his people. This can only come through the Torah.
Joab, David’s nephew (1 Chr 2.16) and Abishai’s brother, commanded the professional army. Yehoshaphat was the recorder (clerk historian) and Zadok was the High Priest, and Abimelech was the “Sagan” (Deputy High Priest). Shavsha (“joyful”) was secretary (chief of staff). Benaiah was over the Cherethites and Pelethites, and these were Philistines who were royal bodyguards. Again we see non-Jews involved in the administration of David, just as non-Jews will be involved in the administration of the kingdom under Yeshua.
1 Chr 9.1-19 tells us about an incident with the Ammonites. This chapter is identical to 2 Sam 10. David sent ambassadors to attend the funeral of Nachash (serpent), the king of the Ammonites. But these ambassadors were suspected as being spies because they did not shave off their beards or cut their hair in mourning (as others did) because the Torah did not permit such practices (Lev 19.27-28, 21.4-5; Deut 14.1). So the Ammonites cut their beards to humiliate them and this was an insult to an ambassador. When David found out he was furious. He told them to wait in Jericho until their beards grew back out. He cared for their dignity and honor, and David prepared for war.
The Ammonites knew they had done wrong and hired the Syrians to help them, and David sent Joab and the professional army. The best warriors of Israel were lined up against the hired Syrians, the regular army under Abishai was lined up against the Ammonites. Israel had to fight on two fronts. Joab says something very interesting that we can use in our spiritual battles here. He says, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help. Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may Yehovah do what is good in his sight.” Do all we can do in our warfare, the rest is up to Yehovah.
When the hired Syrians saw they had to fight the Givorim (mighty men) of David, who had a reputation as fierce and deadly warriors, they fled as fast as they could run because they were hirelings and had no heart for a tough fight. When the Ammonites saw that, they fled also. As a result, the Ammonites were defeated. But the Syrians regathered themselves and went out to fight David. But they fled again and David killed the men of 700 chariots and 40,000 cavalry, and Shobach their commander (2 Sam 10.18). The Syrians then made peace with Israel.
1 Chr 20.1-8 tells us about Joab going out to fight Rabbah of Ammon and laying siege to it in the spring, and David remained at Jerusalem. David has been criticized for staying behind but that is because these critics know very little about warfare. Kings did not go out to fight during a siege of a city if they could help it. A siege could take a very long time and a king could not afford to be away from the capital city for too long. There was a lot of state business to attend to. When the city was ready to fall, then the king would come for the fall and the actual taking of the city. David did nothing out of the ordinary here. Joab defeats Rabbah and David came to put the finishing touches on the siege (20.2). This chapter also tells us about Israeli victories over Philistine giants. These giants seem to be related to Goliath (20.8).
1 Chr 21.1-30 is a very interesting chapter, and we have gone into detail on this in 2 Sam 24. However, we can pick up some additional information here. It going to deal with how Yehovah provided the place of the Altar of the coming Temple, and how it was revealed. This was the final step in this process of locating the Temple site. David knew the city and he knew what mountain within the city, and now the site of the Altar will be revealed through a sin of David.
David counted Israel without using the half shekel being counted as well. The threshing floor of Ornan (1 Chr 21.15) is the same as the threshing floor of Araunah (2 Sam 24.16). The exact site of this Altar was known before by some. Abraham (Gen 22.14), Jacob (Gen 28.10-19) and Noah may have built their altars there (Targum Yonaton on Gen 8.20). It is believed that Adam sacrificed there at creation and may have been created there according to Jewish tradition. Hilkot Beit Ha Bechirah 2.1-2 says it was a time honored oral tradition. The site is alluded to in the Torah because non-Jews would have hindered the site from being discovered and as a result obliterated the Temple Mount. It has happened before.
The twelve tribes agreed on the division of the land. If the true site was known at that time they would have challenged it like they did with the priesthood of Aaron and the leadership of Moses. There was a plague that broke out because of what David did and an angel stood between David and the Altar of Burnt offering at the Mishkan in Gibeon (1 Chr 21.29-30). If the Temple site was where Ernest Martin and Bob Cornuke say it was in their books (Gihon Spring), the angel would not have been between David and the Mishkan. Gibeon is north and Gihon (where they say the Temple was) was southeast of David’s palace.
In 2 Sam 24.24 David purchases the floor, oxen and instruments from Araunah/Ornan for fifty shekels. Here in 1 Chr 21.25 David buys the ground on which the Temple would stand, with its courts, for 600 shekels. This was Ornan’s farm and surroundings.
1 Chr 22.1-19 tells us that David has now found the place for the sanctuary and the Altar (v 1). The command to build a temple was an obligation when Israel was at peace, when they had a king and the place of the Altar was revealed. David gives orders in verse 2 to gather the “Ger T’shav” (foreigners) who were artisans to work on the stones for the sanctuary. The Israelites were farmers, herdsmen and shepherds, not stone cutters, so their expertise was needed. This alludes to how the non-Jews will be concerned with building the spiritual house of God, too.
In “Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Second Samuel-Part 5 and 6” we did a review of how David came to the place for the Temple and the Altar from the book “The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology-Vol II” p. 63-68. That process is how he could say “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the Altar of Burnt Offering for Israel” in 1 Chr 22.1. We highly recommend that you go back to that teaching to pick up information on how David came to this realization
In 1 Chr 22.3-5 we learn that David prepared large quantities of iron to make nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps. Large amounts of cedar logs were brought by the Sidonians and the Tyrians to David. David couldn’t build the house of God but David made preparations for it before he died so that Solomon had the materials.
1 Chr 22.6-19 tells us about David’s call to build the Temple and that this call came from God. David will receive the plans for the Temple and its services directly from God, as we shall soon see. However, David was not the man to build it. He was a warrior and the Temple was going to be a place of peace. This is not saying that David’s wars were wrong. The Temple could only be built after the wars were over, not in the middle of them. David had more work to do.
The Messiah will build the Messianic Kingdom Temple, seen in the book of Ezekiel, after the wars of the Birth-pains. Yeshua is the “Prince (King) of Peace” (Isa 9.6) and it will not be built by power or force, but by God’s Spirit. The Temple will be a place where the Edenic vision of peace and rest can be seen. If lifting up an iron tool against a stone was unfit for the Altar, how much more so was a king who had shed human blood unfit to build the Temple.
That’s why David’s son Shlomo (Solomon) was charged with the job. His very name is related to the Hebrew word for peace (Shalom). So, as we have seen, David did prepare for the building of the Temple by gathering gold, silver, bronze and iron. He also gathered timber and stone. There were woodsmen and stone cutters with the skill who were ready to do the job.
To call this Temple “Solomon’s Temple” is not totally accurate. David was given the plans in 1 Chr 28.11-19 and he prepared the materials. David won the peace to make it all possible and he found and purchased the site to build on. He also organized the administration of the Temple involving the priests, Levites, servants, singers and musicians, etc.
But nobody calls it “David’s Temple.” All the credit went to to Solomon. This teaches us that sometimes we prepare the way for others. They may get all the credit but you did what God told you to do. He prepared and called you and you may not be as successful as the next guy, but we are preparing the way for one greater than “Solomon” to come along (Matt 12.42; Luke 11.31).
David commanded the leaders in Israel to help Solomon. He told them to “set your heart and your soul to seek Yehovah your God.” This is in the context of work, not prayer (v 19). Seeking is obedience and not necessarily a search (1 Chr 28.9).
We will pick up in 1 Chr 23.1-32 in Part 4.
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