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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Chronicles 22:6 - 22:6
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Solomon commissioned to build the temple. - 1Ch 22:6. Before his death (1Ch 22:5) David called his son Solomon, in order to commit to him the building of the temple, and to press it strongly upon him, 1Ch 22:7-10. With this design, he informs him that it had been his intention to build a temple to the Lord, but the Lord had not permitted him to carry out this resolve, but had committed it to his son. The Keri בְּנִי (1Ch 22:7) is, notwithstanding the general worthlessness of the corrections in the Keri, probably to be preferred here to the Keth. בְּנֹו, for בְּנֹו might have easily arisen by the copyist's eye having wandered to בְּנֹו לִשְׁלֹמֹה, 1Ch 22:6. David's addressing him as בְּנִי is very fitting, nay, even necessary, and not contrary to the following אֲנִי. לְבָבִי עִם, it was with my heart, i.e., I had intended, occurs indeed very often in the Chronicle, e.g., 1Ch 28:2; 2Ch 1:11; 2Ch 6:7., 1Ch 9:1; 1Ch 24:4; 1Ch 29:10, but is also found in other books where the sense demands it, e.g., Jos 14:7; 1Ki 8:17., 1Ch 10:2. In עָלַי וַיְהִי, There came to me the word of Jahve (1Ch 22:8), it is implied that the divine word was given to him as a command. The reason which David gives why the Lord did not allow him to build the temple is not stated in 1 Chron 17 (2 Sam 7), to which David here refers; instead of the reason, only the promise is there communicated, that the Lord would first build him a house, and enduringly establish his throne. This promise does not exclude the reason stated here and in 1Ch 28:3, but rather implies it. As the temple was only to be built when God had enduringly established the throne of David, David could not execute this work, for he still had to conduct wars - wars, too, of the Lord - for the establishment of his kingdom, as Solomon also states it in his embassy to Hiram. Wars and bloodshed, however, are unavoidable and necessary in this earth for the establishment of the kingdom of God in opposition to its enemies, but are not consonant with its nature, as it was to receive a visible embodiment and expression in the temple. For the kingdom of God is in its essence a kingdom of peace; and battle, or war, or struggle, are only means for the restoration of peace, the reconciliation of mankind with God after the conquest of sin and all that is hostile to God in this world. See on 2Sa 7:11. David, therefore, the man of war, is not to build the temple, but (1Ch 22:9.) his son; and to him the Lord will give peace from all his enemies, so that he shall be מְנוּחָה אִישׁ, a man of rest, and shall rightly bear the name Shelomo (Solomon), i.e., Friederich (rich in peace, Eng. Frederick), for God would give to Israel in his days, i.e., in his reign, peace and rest (שֶׁקֶט). The participle נֹולָד after הִנֵּה has the signification of the future, shall be born; cf. 1Ki 13:2. מְנוּחָה אִישׁ, not a man who procures peace (Jer 51:59), but one who enjoys peace, as the following לֹו וַהֲנִיחֹותִי shows. As to the name שְׁלֹמֹה, see on 2Sa 12:24. Into 1Ch 22:10 David compresses the promise contained in 1Ch 17:12 and 1Ch 17:13.