1 Chronicles 22

1 Chronicles 22 follows directly from 1 Chronicles 21, which recounts David's census, the resulting plague, and his purchase of Ornan's threshing floor. This chapter begins the account of David's preparations for building the temple, which runs through chapter 29.

Outline

• Verse 1: David declares that this place is to be the house of the LORD God and the site of the altar of burnt offering for Israel.
• Verses 2–5: David gathers the foreigners living in the land of Israel and sets stonemasons to hew stones. He prepares iron and bronze in quantities beyond measure, along with cedar timber brought by the Sidonians and the people of Tyre. Because Solomon is "young and tender," David makes these preparations in advance, before his death.
• Verses 6–10: David charges Solomon with the building. David himself cannot build the house because he has shed much blood. Instead, he relays God's word that his son, "a man of rest," will build it.
• Verses 11–16: David urges Solomon to seek wisdom and to keep the law, exhorting him to "be strong, and of good courage." He tells Solomon that he has prepared a hundred thousand talents of gold, a thousand thousand talents of silver, and workers, and says, "Arise therefore, and be doing."
• Verses 17–19: David commands the princes (the leaders) to help Solomon build the sanctuary and bring into it the ark of the covenant and the holy vessels.

Key Verses

• 1 Chronicles 22:9: "who shall be a man of rest … for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days" — This verse shows the connection between the name Solomon and the Hebrew word shalom, meaning peace.
• 1 Chronicles 22:10: "he shall be my son, and I will be his father" — This verse restates the promise of the Davidic covenant.
• 1 Chronicles 22:13: "be strong, and of good courage; dread not" — This is the same exhortation God gives Joshua in Joshua 1.

People and Places

• David: The king who prepares for the building of the temple but does not build it himself.
• Solomon: David's son, designated as the one who will build the temple.
• Moses: Mentioned as the one through whom the statutes and judgments were given.
• The Sidonians and the people of Tyre: Inhabitants of Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, who supply cedar timber.
• The temple site: Ornan's threshing floor from chapter 21. 2 Chronicles 3:1 identifies this place as Mount Moriah.

Points for Reflection

• 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17 do not specify why David was not permitted to build the temple. 1 Kings 5 attributes it to the wars on every side. The reason that he "shed much blood" is the Chronicler's explanation, and it appears again in 1 Chronicles 28. Some interpret this reason as a moral rebuke, while others read it as a symbolic distinction befitting the temple as a house of peace.
• A hundred thousand talents of gold and a thousand thousand talents of silver are enormous sums. Some take these as literal figures, while others see them as expressions emphasizing the scale of David's preparations.
• The books of Kings do not describe David's extensive preparations in detail. The portrayal of David as the one who prepared for the temple is recognized as a distinctive feature of Chronicles.
• Hebrews 1 quotes the same father-son promise found in verse 10 (2 Samuel 7:14) and applies it to Christ.

In the Korean Church

The account of David's preparations is frequently used as a sermon text on church building projects, dedication services, and building fund offerings. The exhortations "be strong, and of good courage" and "Arise therefore, and be doing" in verses 13 and 16 are often cited in messages for the New Year or for ordination and installation services.