22-1 Chronicles 17 – 2 Chronicles 9

1 Chronicles 17 – 2 Chronicles 9 May 23, 2009

We will begin our study this week in the Book of 1 Chronicles 17. Last week we looked at the history of Israel from a different viewpoint then our previous studies in the Books of Samuel and Kings. As we talked about last week these two Books of Chronicles, along with Ezra and Nehemiah were written to encourage the Israelites that had returned to Jerusalem from their captivity in Babylon. We will continue this week in Chapter 17. After King David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem he had become convicted about God’s dwelling place. He was living in a fine palace, and the Lord was in a tent. David wanted to build a house for God to dwell in with His people. God did not allow David to build His temple because he was a man of war and had shed too much blood in the land. The Lord did tell David that he would have a son who would sit on his throne and build the temple. David then prayed a prayer of thanksgiving before the Lord and thanked Him for His blessing on his life. Chapter 18 then tells us that the kingdom of David was strengthened through victorious battles with his enemies. The text says that some of the spoils of King David’s wars provided the metals used in the construction of the temple by his son Solomon. The people he defeated also became the forced labor Solomon used in his building projects. Chapter 19 recounts the story of David’s fight with the sons of Ammon. The king of Ammon died and his son took over the throne in his place. David had been treated kindly by the former king and wished to show the same kindness to his son. David’s reputation as a man of war preceded him, and the new king of Ammon was given bad advice about Israel’s message of condolence on the loss of his father. The Ammonites captured David’s messengers and humiliated them. After David found out, the king of Ammon hired mercenaries from the people of Aram to protect them against David and his mighty army. The Lord was with David and his army defeated the Ammonites even with their help from Aram. After their defeat the people of Aram would no longer side with the Ammonites or help them. Chapter 20 continued the story of David’s wars and told how Joab and his men destroyed the land of Ammon. The end of the chapter lists the defeat of three more of the giants in the land of the Philistines. These men were descended from the giants of Gath and were related to Goliath who David slew as a young man. Chapter 21 covers the account of David’s unauthorized census of the people of Israel. The text here in 1 Chronicles 21:1 reveals that David was moved by Satan to number the people. This sin caused the death of seventy thousand men in Israel. David’s repentance caused the Lord to lift his hand from the destruction of Jerusalem, and also caused David to purchase the future site of God’s temple from Ornan the Jebusite. His threshing floor was located on Mount Moriah where Abraham offered his son Isaac to the Lord back in the Book of Genesis 22:1-19. Even though David was not permitted to build the temple, it did not stop him from gathering up the supplies needed for the project. David brought together all the things needed to build a magnificent structure. He charged his son Solomon with the task and also told the leaders of Israel to follow his son. He commanded them in Chapter 22:18-19 “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people.“Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord.” In Chapter 23 David has become old and has made Solomon king over Israel. The text then goes through what appears to be more genealogies. The purpose of these lists was that David had to reassign the Levites. When the temple was finished the tabernacle would no longer be needed. The duties that pertained to the tabernacle also would no longer be needed. The temple was a building and could not be carried from place to place; also the furniture would no longer need to be moved. The duties of the different families of the Levites needed to change to reflect what was to come. David assigned the Levites to be musicians, gatekeepers, keepers of the treasure of the Lord, and caretakers for the temple along with the priesthood. At this time David also established the duties of other groups of people in Israel. David then told the people about the temple that was to be built and told Solomon where to build it. David again encouraged Solomon with these words in Chapter 28:20-21 “Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.“Now behold, there are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God, and every willing man of any skill will be with you in all the work for all kinds of service. The officials also and all the people will be entirely at your command.” David then took up an offering from the people to support the temple project. The people gave willingly and a great abundance of wealth was accumulated for the building. Solomon was again proclaimed king and the death of King David was recorded at the end of the chapter. This now ends the Book of 1 Chronicles. We will now continue our study with the Book of 2 Chronicles and the reign of Solomon. The Book of 2 Chronicles opens with Solomon speaking to Israel from the high place in Gibeon. This was where the tabernacle was located. The Ark of the Covenant had been carried by his father earlier to Jerusalem and placed in a tent he had pitched in the city of David. The tabernacle with the altar and all its furnishings except the Ark was left in Gibeon. This was where the people worshipped the Lord at that time. It was the night after Solomon spoke to Israel when the Lord came to him and asked him what He could give him. Solomon did not ask the Lord for wealth, power, or a long life. Solomon greatly pleased the Lord and asked only for wisdom so that he could rule Israel properly. The Lord granted Solomon’s request and also gave him the wealth and power he did not ask for. After this Solomon left Gibeon and reigned over Israel from Jerusalem like his father David. The end of the chapter talks about King Solomon’s wealth. The new thing here is that the horses of Solomon were mentioned. The verses that cover the horses are in Chapter 1:16-17 “Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s traders procured them from Kue for a price.They imported chariots from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver apiece and horses for 150 apiece, and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.” Moses had warned Israel’s future king in the Book of Deuteronomy 17:16 “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.” This verse specifically forbids the king from acquiring horses from Egypt. Chapters 2 through 7 give us the account of the construction and dedication of Solomon’s Temple. In Chapter 2 Solomon decided to start building the temple his father told him to build along with a royal palace for himself. Solomon sent messengers to his father’s friend, the king of Tyre, for the choicest timbers and stones to use in the construction of the temple. He also asked Huram for a skilled craftsman to work with the craftsmen he had from Judah and Jerusalem. Huram agreed to help and sent Solomon what he asked for. Solomon then took a census of the aliens living in the land of Israel and divided them up to do the work of preparing and transporting the stones and timbers for his projects. Solomon began construction of the House of God on Mount Moriah at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite his father had purchased. Chapter 3 describes the dimensions of the temple and how it was constructed. The splendor of the building must have exceeded anything man had built before this time. Even the pillars that framed the entrance to the building were given names. Chapter 4 then describes the furnishings of the temple and their dimensions. These pieces also were very ornate and much more intricate than the pieces prepared for the tabernacle. The text says there were ten lampstands and ten tables for the Bread of Presence instead of the single pieces used in the tabernacle. In Chapter 5 Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant into the newly completed temple from the tent his father had pitched for it in the city of David. The Levites carried the Ark into the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim that Solomon had put there. Chapter 5:6 states that there were so many sheep and oxen sacrificed during the dedication celebration they were impossible to number. After the Ark had been placed in the temple the Glory of the Lord filled the place and the presence of God was with His people. We will now go to Chapter 6 where Solomon dedicates the new temple. He first said, then turned toward the people the words recorded in Chapter 6:1-2 “Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. “I have built You a lofty house, And a place for Your dwelling forever.” After this Solomon spoke a prayer of dedication to the Lord and recounted some of His law to the people. Here is the ending of Solomon’s prayer as recorded in Chapter 6:40-42 “Now, O my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
“Now therefore arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good.“O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; remember Your loving-kindness to Your servant David.” In Chapter 7 it is recorded that after Solomon finished his prayer, a fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. The Shekinah Glory of the Lord then filled the temple. The people, when they saw the fire, bowed down with their faces on the pavement and worshipped the Lord. They all said in unison “Truly He is good, truly His loving-kindness is everlasting.” The sacrifices during the seven day feast were now listed at twenty two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. The text says in Chapter 7:10 “Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, rejoicing and happy of heart because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to His people Israel.” The end of the chapter is a warning and promise given to Solomon by the Lord after the feast. These prophetic words would have a great impact on Israel in the years to come. God’s words were recorded in Chapter 7:12-22 “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.“Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.“For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.“As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.“As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’“And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’” Chapter 8 lists some of the activities and accomplishments of King Solomon. We will finish up this week with Chapter 9 which covers the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon and also a listing of his wealth and power. The text says in verse 4 that the Queen of Sheba was left breathless by the wisdom of Solomon and the splendor of his kingdom. The end of the chapter records King Solomon’s death. His sins with foreign women that were told in the Book of 1 Kings 11 that caused his downfall were not recorded here in 2 Chronicles. This ends our study for this week. Next week we will continue in the Book of 2 Chronicles.