Journey with us as we uncover the intricate details of David’s preparation for the house of the Lord. Despite being forbidden from constructing the temple, David ensures Solomon is equipped and encouraged, showcasing unparalleled dedication to God’s work. We explore the organizational feats within the Levite tribe, examine the essence of spiritual and leadership succession, and draw meaningful insights applicable to our own legacies and faith journeys.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are on day 11 of our journey through the book of 1 Chronicles. We’ll cover chapters 22 and 23 today, and we’ll listen to the recordings from Faith Comes by Hearing of these two chapters.
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1 Chronicles 22 Then David said, Here shall be the house of the Lord God, and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.
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David commanded to gather together the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, and he set stone cutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God. David also provided great quantities of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing, and cedar timbers without number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David. For David said,
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Solomon, my son, is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.
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So David provided materials in great quantity before his death. Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel.
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David said to Solomon, My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever. Now, my son, the Lord be with you so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God as he has spoken concerning you. Only may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding that when he gives you charge over Israel, you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not. Do not be dismayed. With great pains I have provided for the house of the Lord 100,000 talents of gold, a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weighing. For there is so much of it. Timber and stone, too, I have provided. To these you must add. You have an abundance of workmen, stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Arise and work. The Lord be with you.
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David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Is not the Lord your God with you?
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And has he not given you peace on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and his people. Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the Lord.
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1 Chronicles 23 When David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son, king over Israel. David assembled all the leaders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. The Levites, 30 years old and upward, were numbered, and the total was 38,000 men. 24,000 of these, David said.
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shall have charge of the work in the house of the Lord. Six thousand shall be officers and judges, four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand shall offer praises to the Lord with the instruments that I have made for praise.
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And David organized them in divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
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The sons of Gershon were Ladon and Shimei. The sons of Ladon, Jehiel the chief, and Zetham and Joel, three. The sons of Shimei, Shalomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladon. And the sons of Shimei, Jahath, Zinah, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. Jahath was the chief, and Ziza the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, therefore they became counted as a single father’s house. The sons of Kohath, Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
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The sons of Amram, Aaron, and Moses. Aaron was set apart to dedicate the most holy things, that he and his sons forever should make offerings before the Lord, and minister to him, and pronounce blessings in his name forever. But the sons of Moses, the man of God, were named among the tribe of Levi.
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The sons of Moses, Gershom and Eliezer. The sons of Gershom, Shebuel the chief. The sons of Eliezer, Rehobiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehobiah were very many. The sons of Izhar, Shalometh the chief. The sons of Hebron, Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jehaziel the third, and Jechamim the fourth. The sons of Uzziel, Micah the chief, and Eshiah the second. The sons of Merari, Malai, and Mushai. the sons of Malai, Eleazar, and Kish. Eleazar died having no sons but only daughters. Their kinsmen, the sons of Kish, married them, the sons of Mushai, Malai, Eder, and Jeremoth.
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Three. These were the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses, the heads of fathers’ houses, as they were listed according to the number of the names of the individuals from twenty years old and upward, who were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
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For David said, The Lord, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. And so the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service.”
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For by the last words of David, the sons of Levi were numbered from twenty years old and upward. For their duty was to assist the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy, and any work for the service of the house of God. Their duty was also to assist with the showbread, the flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baked offering, the offering mixed with oil, and all measures of quantity or size. And they were to stand every morning thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening, and whenever burnt offerings were offered to the Lord on Sabbaths, new moons, and feast days, according to the number required of them, regularly before the Lord.
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thus they were to keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary and to attend the sons of aaron their brothers for the service of the house of the lord today i will forego looking at any journal entries and just discuss the main points of chapters twenty two and twenty three of first chronicles as we remember david was told that he was not to be the one to build the temple of the lord that was going to be one of his sons But David decides he will do everything but build the temple. He will make great preparation. He says in verse 5 of chapter 22, Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent. So David provides materials in great quantity before his death. David goes on to charge Solomon with this task by reminding him of what he heard from the Lord. Let’s look at verse 6. And he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. David said to Solomon, My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest.” i will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies for his name shall be solomon and i will give peace and quiet to israel in his days he shall build a house for my name david goes on to tell solomon in verse fourteen With great pains I have provided for the house of the Lord, one hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weighing. For there is so much of it, timber and stone, too, I have provided. To these you must add. You have an abundance of workmen, stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Arise and work, the Lord be with you. Throughout chapter 22 of 1 Chronicles, we can just hear the passion of David for the house of God. Oh, how he probably longed to build this magnificent house to his God. He not only commissioned Solomon to build the temple for the Lord, he commissions him to be the next king of Israel. Let’s see what kind of advice he gave his son. Let’s look at verse 12. Only may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding that when he gives you charge over Israel, you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. From our experiences through 1 Chronicles with David, he’s probably learned his lesson about knowing the word of the Lord. And he’s telling his son Solomon, know the law of the Lord and follow it. It got David in a little bit of trouble when he didn’t. Solomon, you can avoid that by knowing the word of the Lord. He continues in verse 13. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not. Do not be dismayed. To get a little more support for Solomon, David talks to the leaders around Solomon. Verse 17, and the land is subdued before the lord and his people now set your mind and heart to seek the lord your god arise and build the sanctuary of the lord god and the succession plan continues in chapter twenty three verse one When David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son, king. And one more thing David did before he died to prepare for Solomon’s success is he prepared the workers for this new house of the Lord. We see those listed throughout chapter 23. Our practical application from chapters 22 and 23 of 1 Chronicles may be succession planning. Can you, have you, prepared anyone to take on the responsibilities God has given you so that your life can proceed with some kind of a legacy after you’re gone. It may be a work situation for some that own their own businesses. It may be a family situation for those who want to pass on what God has given them to do through their children. So far, this has not been revealed to me. I hope it’s because I’m still too young. I do pray about it from time to time. especially with the Ezra Project, and will it continue after me? Or what legacy I can leave through my children that will further the kingdom of God? I have some ideas, but I can’t say that I specifically have a succession plan at the moment. But be sensitive to the Lord. Maybe He will begin that planning process in you. and me. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for the great example that David has given. Though you told him he couldn’t build the temple, he did everything but build it. He prepared for it, supplied it, encouraged his son to do it, encouraged the leaders all around him to do it, and provided the workers to maintain the temple once it was built. Praise God for the example of David. May we be examples to others to carry on the work you have given us. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. We love the truth of God’s Word, but finding truth in our world today is much more challenging. In the movie A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson screamed at Tom Cruise, You can’t handle the truth. That’s not our problem today. It’s not that you can’t handle the truth. It’s that you can’t find the truth. If you want to find the truth, I encourage you to watch our video message simply called Truth. You will find it at EzraProject.net. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
