1 Chronicles 29
David dies, Solomon reigns
David’s pitch for Temple donations
1David told the crowd in Jerusalem, “God honored my son Solomon by choosing him to build the Temple. But here’s the problem. He’s young and inexperienced. And he’s got a massive job ahead of him. He’s not building a home for a mortal. He’s building this for the LORD God.2So, I have done what I could to help him. He needs to make things from gold, silver, bronze, iron, and wood. And he’ll need plenty of precious stones: onyx, turquoise, and a lot of different gemstones along with marble. So I’ve given it to him. I created a stockpile of all those building supplies.
3In addition to that, I have some gold stashed away for myself. Silver, too. And I’m so committed to God that I’m donating it to the Temple. 4I’m contributing to paneling the walls with gold and silver. And I’m donating 112 tons [1] of gold from Ophir [2] and 263 tons of refined silver. 5My gold and silver will also go to artisans creating whatever gold and silver objects are needed for the Temple. Now, who will join me by showing their devotion to the LORD?”
David takes an offering for the Temple
6Leaders in Israel followed David’s example. They gave voluntary donations. Israelites who brought donations included tribal leaders, clan leaders of extended families, and military commanders of battalions of 1,000 soldiers each, and of companies of 100 soldiers each.7Total donations collected:
- Almost 190 tons [3] of gold
- 375 tons of silver
- 675 tons of bronze
- 3,750 tons of iron.
9Everyone—including King David—celebrated. The people gave generously and willingly, out of devotion to God. The unity and generosity left everyone feeling happy about what they had just seen.
David’s song of thanks to God
10David stood in front of the Jerusalem crowd and offered God a poem of praise:“What a great God you are, my LORD,
God of our ancestors,
And God of Israel forever.
For your power, victory, glory, and majesty.
You are an awesome God.
Everything in heaven and earth comes from you.
This is your kingdom.
Of all that is great, you are the greatest.
12Prosperity and honor are your gifts to us,
For all that is good comes from you.
You own the power and give it away.
Strength and success in life come from you.
13Now, I speak for everyone here when I say
Thank you. You deserve this praise.
14Why should we feel so good about this offering?
Are we worthy of the honor
For giving you what was already yours?
Everything we have comes from you.
15We are strangers to this world,
Immigrants and travelers just passing through.
Time flies like a fleeting shadow.
There’s no hope we’ll stay here long.
16LORD our God, accept all we’ve given
For the work of building your house.
It came from you
And we give it to you.
17God, you want people to live honorably.
So, out of honor for you, I donated to the Temple.
I’ve seen your people do the same
And then celebrate because of it.
18God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
God of all our ancestors,
Tune the lives of our people to generosity.
Tune the hearts of our people to you.
19Give my son Solomon a focused mind
And a determination to obey your laws
By doing whatever you’re saying,
And carrying through with building the Temple.”
Solomon takes the throne
20David turned to the crowd and said, “I praised God. Now it’s your turn.” And they did. They bowed low to honor God and to show their respect for the king.21The next day was party day. They celebrated with burnt offerings [4] and other sacrifices. They sacrificed 1,000 bulls, 1,000 male sheep, and 1,000 lambs. 22They ate and drank and enjoyed the company of each other in the presence of the LORD. Then they reanointed David’s son, Solomon, king of Israel. Zadok the lead priest performed the ceremony.
23Solomon sat on his father’s throne as the next king of Israel. Tribal leaders obeyed him, and the nation prospered. 24Everyone in positions of power pledged their allegiance to Solomon: tribal leaders, soldiers, and King David’s other sons. [5]
25The LORD treated Solomon kindly, showering him with honor and majesty and popularity among the people of Israel. God blessed him like no king before him. [6]
King David dies
26David, Jesse’s son, was the king of Israel. 27He reigned for 40 years, seven of them in Hebron, and the remaining 33 in Jerusalem. 28He lived a long life, blessed with honor and prosperity. His son Solomon succeeded him as the next king.29Three prophets preserved David’s story, from start to finish: Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. [7] 30They preserved stories about him—some good and some not so flattering. And they wrote about what took place in Israel and elsewhere during his time as king of Israel.
Footnotes
In ancient Hebrew weight, David donated 3,000 talents of gold and 7,000 talents of silver. A “talent” is 34 kilograms or 75 pounds. David’s staggering donation as a model for giving to the church’s next building fund is preachable but not reachable. Except in the rarest of times. In sheer weight, David donated the equivalent to 54 dump trucks. The average dump truck weighs about 7 tons. Yet David absolutely did lay the groundwork for a popular modern style of local church or synagogue fundraising: identify a project, report how much the minister or rabbi is donating, and then invite others to donate, too (see verse 5).
Location of Ophir is unknown. But it was famous for producing the finest gold. A broken piece of pottery found near Tel Aviv and dated to the 700s BC, a couple centuries after kings David and Solomon, confirms that Ophir was a location from which gold was exported. The fragment reads “30 shekels…gold of Ophir for Beth-Horon.” Scholars have speculated that the gold was somewhere in Arabia or Africa or India. That narrows the search from seven continents to three.
In Hebrew measurement and in metric: 5,000 talents/170 metric tons of gold; 10,000 talents/340 tons of silver; 18,000 talents/620 tons of bronze; 100,000 talents/3,400 tons of iron. In a parade of pure gold, silver, bronze and iron dump trucks at 7 tons per truck, this is what the parade would include: 27 golden trucks, 54 silver trucks, 94 bronze trucks, and 536 iron trucks. Bumper-to-bumper, the parade of 711 trucks, each about 17 feet long (5 meters) would stretch 2.2 miles (3,555 meters). That’s a fine donation to a building fund.
Burnt offerings involved sacrifices to atone for sinful behavior. The entire animal was burned on an altar. See Leviticus 1.
Any son of Solomon could make a case that he should be king. The oldest, Adonijah, seems to have been prepping to do just that when he asked for permission to marry one of the late King David’s most beautiful wives (1 Kings 2:17). Solomon answered the query by ordering his brother executed.
There were only three kings before Solomon: Saul, his son Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 2:9), and then David.
It’s unclear how the three prophets from David’s time preserved his story. They may have become sources for some of the stories in 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings. Stories about all three prophets appear in these books. And there may be other writings the prophets contributed to that have been lost to history.
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