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1
Chronicles Chapter Seventeen
1 Chronicles 17
Chapter Contents
David's purposes; God's gracious promises.
This chapter is the same as 2 Samuel 7. See what is there said upon it. It
is very observable that what in Samuel is said to be, "for thy word's
sake," is here said to be, "for thy servant's sake," verse 19. Jesus Christ is both the Word of God, Revelation 19:13, and the Servant of God, Isaiah 42:1; and it is for his sake, upon
account of his mediation, that the promises are made good to all believers; it
is in him, that they are yea and amen. For His sake it is done, for his sake it
is made known; to him we owe all this greatness, from him we are to expect all
these great things. They are the unsearchable riches of Christ, which, if by
faith we see in themselves, and see in the Lord Jesus, we cannot but magnify as
the only true greatness, and speak honourably of them. For this blessedness may
we look amidst the trials of life, and when we feel the hand of death upon us;
and seek it for our children after us.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Chronicles》
1 Chronicles 17
Verse 1
[1] Now
it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the
prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the
LORD remaineth under curtains.
Now —
This whole chapter is explained, 2 Samuel 7:1-29, where the same things are
recorded with little variation.
Verse 10
[10] And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel.
Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD
will build thee an house.
Furthermore, … —
Must he think, that his purpose was in vain, and that he should lose the reward
of it? No: it being God's act that prevented the execution of it, he shall be
as fully recompensed as if it had been done.
Verse 14
[14] But
I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne
shall be established for evermore.
Settle him — In
the temple, this expression agrees but imperfectly with Solomon, or his
successors, but strictly and properly with Christ, to whom alone that promise
also of an everlasting establishment in this kingdom belongs.
Kingdom — In
God's kingdom in a large and general sense. And this, as well as the former
phrase, singularly belongs to the Messiah, who was not only to be the king of
Israel, but also of all nations. This is an intimation of that great mystery
which is more fully revealed in the new testament, namely, that Christ, is the
head, or king of all God's church, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, and of all
nations, and indeed of all creatures, all which is God's kingdom, and by him
given to his son our blessed Lord.
Verse 16
[16] And
David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God,
and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?
Who am I, … — We
have here David's solemn address to God, in answer to his gracious message. How
humbly does he here abase himself, and acknowledge his own unworthiness! How
highly does he advance the name of God, and admire his condescending favour?
With what devout affections does he magnify the God of Israel: with what
assurance build upon the promise! What an example is this of believing, fervent
prayer! The Lord enable us all thus to seek him!
Verse 18
[18] What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou
knowest thy servant.
The honour of thy servant — The honour God puts upon his servants, by taking them into covenant and
communion with himself, is so great, that they need not, they cannot desire to
be more highly honoured.
Verse 19
[19] O
LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done
all this greatness, in making known all these great things.
Servant's sake — In
2 Samuel 7:21, it is, for thy words sake, for
the sake of thy promise made to thy servant.
Verse 24
[24] Let
it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The
LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of
David thy servant be established before thee.
A God — He
is really to his people that which he hath styled himself, their God, having
taken such care of them, and shewed such mercy and truth to them, as fully
answered that title.
Verse 27
[27] Now
therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be
before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for
ever.
Blessed for ever —
David's prayer concludes, as God's promise did, verse 14, with that which is for ever. God's word
looks at things eternal. And so should our desires and hopes.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Chronicles》
17 Chapter 17
Verses 1-10
Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house.
The king’s proposal
I. David’s
proposal.
1. A noble purpose.
2. A generous purpose.
3. A purpose commended by the prophet.
II. God’s
disapproval of David’s proposal.
1. God knows all our purposes.
2. God often hinders the accomplishment of our purposes.
III. Reasons for
God’s disapproval of David’s proposal..
1. It was something entirely new.
2. It was untimely in its beginning.
3. David was not the right man to build. (J. Wolfendale.)
Our inspirations require to be revised
There are extemporaneous inspirations in life which have to be revised,
amended, and in some instances discarded altogether. A judgment is not always
right simply because it is sudden. There have been days upon which we have been
perfectly sure that our duty lay along such and such lines; everything
concurred to prove the providence of the situation; circumstances and
impressions combined to show that a well-defined line of action had been
actually described by the Divine finger. It is precisely where duty appears to
be so plain that vigilance should be most on the alert. (J. Parker, D.
D.)
David forbidden to build the temple
Some men are great only in intentions. If words were deeds, and
dreams realities, they would be the flower and crown of their generation. But
life slips by unutilised. The future of hope never becomes the present of fact.
They are no more than glorious idle dreamers. Not so with David.
I. David’s pious
employment of his leisure. He had long been like a pursued mountain-bird. And
when Saul could pursue him no more, when he had come to the crown of Judah, it
was an assailed crown. But at last there was rest for David. No tent of the
warrior. It is “his house” he is in, his new mansion, his cedar palace. Therein
he “sat.” He has leisure. How does he use it? Seeking some excitement of
pleasure wherein to escape the oppression of self-consecration; the unwelcome
voice of clamorous duty? When he went forth to conflict he said, “The battle is
the Lord’s.” And now he felt, “My leisure is the Lord’s.” So as he sits in his
beautiful mansion, the palace which the Tyrian builders had built, he was
comparing its elegance and splendour with the meanness of the tabernacle in
which he had placed the ark. The comparison pained him. He will build a temple
for the Lord. With such thoughts as these he occupied his leisure. Leisure! It
is the very thing that some seem never to get, and others getting, seek to
escape. With some life is a long, seldom-pausing battle with want. With others,
when the respite comes, they are eager soon, having no mental or spiritual
resources, to get back again into the familiar toil wherein they find the only
life they care to live. Few and brief may be our opportunities of leisure. All
the more reason that they should be for our highest refreshing and renewing by
being dedicated to God. How a man spends his leisure will tell much of the man.
David’s employment of his speaks well for him.
II. God should be
honoured with our substance. David felt God to be worthy of the best. He desired to
build Him a house. The largest liberality would be only poor acknowledgment, a
slight expression of his affection. David had built a palace. He was not wrong
in this. Comely symbols these of kingly power. Let the rich and great dwell in
stately houses. Let the owners of wealth possess what only the wealthy can buy.
As David did more for himself, he desired to do more for Him to whom he owed
his all. That should be the rule of our conduct. Do our riches increase? There
should be a proportionate increase of what we dedicate to God. A matter, this,
little considered by many.
III. Good wishes are
never lost. David told Nathan the prophet his desire to rear a temple for the
Lord. We are not surprised to find that the prophet, with prompt approbation,
encouraged the king to the great undertaking. The work was good, but was David
the man to undertake it? To Nathan at night came a Divine intimation that he
was not. To war’s rough, sad business he was Divinely bidden. But because of
its connection with its inevitable horrors he was bidden back from the pious
enterprise on which his sublime
and earnest ambition was set. What a verdict is thus passed upon war! What
then? Does David’s pious intention count for nothing? It counts for much.
Beside which he had his own important special work to do, to give his people
rest from their foes and consolidate the kingdom of Israel. His good wish had
not been in vain. He was forbidden to build the temple, but God would build him
a family, and the world’s needed glorious Deliverer was to be the “offspring of
David.” A greater honour than he sought came to him. God was pleased with his
pious wish, and fulfilled it in a nobler way. Think not little, then, of good
intentions that are hindered from becoming more than intentions. You may have
desired to do some larger work for God; you may have intended to consecrate
your whole life to some holy ministry--to the ministry of the Gospel in this
land or far hence among the heathen; but you were hindered. In circumstances
God said, “No, not in this way; in some other”; and, perhaps, you look back and
say, “My life is so unlike what I had hoped. I drew the consecrated plan, and
God’s viewless, but undeniable, hand blotted it out. My wish was all in vain.”
No, say not that. The desire was good. It will be fulfilled; if not here, yet
in higher service than otherwise had been yours--in that bright and holy city
beyond death. Cherish large and holy desires. Precious seeds, you may be unable
to sow them in any human heart, in any field of earth; but heaven shall receive
them. There they shall come to richest harvest. You shall find them again--not
baffled and scattered, as here, but in noblest service, in heaven’s eternal
praise. David was not to build the temple. But he knew it was to be built. The
honour was reserved for his son. “He,” said God, “shall build an house for My
name.” If hindered from an undertaking ourselves let us remember that our
prayers and effort may help another to do it. (G. T. Coster.)
Verses 7-11
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote.
God in personal life
I. God elevates
men from the lowest to the highest station in life.
II. God helps men
to do the work for which they are elevated.
1. By His constant presence.
2. By continual victories.
III. God honours men
for faithful performance of the work to which they are elevated.
1. Honoured in reputed life.
2. Honoured in peaceful death. (James Wolfendale.)
From the sheepfold to the throne
David is thus presented to our thought as the type of youths
rising from lowly to lofty positions, and rising by virtue of conditions and
qualities essentially the same. What are these conditions and qualities? To say
that God chose David and put this high honour on him does not at all answer the
question. Why did the Divine choice fall on him? God’s choice of agents and
bestowment of honours are not made capriciously, without ground of personal
merit in the subject. Our task is to study the human elements, to estimate the
subjective factors in this problem of growth and greatness. David was the man
after “God’s own heart,” not absolutely, but because he was the best of his
nation and age for the work he was called to do.
I. There was in
David a substantial ground of personal worth, of susceptibilities and
tendencies upon which to build a life of greatness.
II. His life was
swayed by a great purpose.
III. He had great
courage.
1. Physical.
2. Moral.
IV. He exhibited,
through all these years of preparation and development, great fidelity to trusts
imposed.
V. He had great
faith in God.
VI. All his
estimable qualities were fed and fired by habitual and genuine religious
devotion. (C. H. Payne, D. D.)
The remembrance of our early history should be a stimulus to
gratitude
While many Americans are looking up their remote ancestors to
provide themselves with a crest and coat of arms, a few follow the example of
early English families and adopt some emblem which suggests a noteworthy
incident in their own history. One millionaire, not ashamed of the source of
his wealth, has a derrick engraved on his seal. Another family enriched by the
manufacture of furniture has adopted a tree as a crest. The most interesting of
these modern symbols, perhaps, is found engraved on the plate and books of a
family of Pennsylvania Friends, who would probably be unwilling to call it a
crest. It is a cat carrying a rabbit in its mouth. There is a legend to explain
it. The first of a family to emigrate to this country was the father of eleven
children. He sailed in the same year as Penn, and died on the voyage, leaving
his wife to land alone with her helpless flock. She had a grant of land, but no
money. They took refuge, as did many of the first emigrants to America, in a
cave dug out of the side of a hill. Winter came on. Provisions failed. The
widow saw her children grow pale and weak for want of food. The day arrived at
last when there was not a grain of meal in the barrel. She fell on her knees
and prayed in an agony of supplication. When she arose she smiled, her children
said afterwards, as if she had seen an angel coming with bread. Going out she
saw no angel, but the cat with a freshly killed rabbit in its mouth. The rabbit
made a good meal, of which pussy, we may be sure, had a full share. The family,
which has been a prosperous and influential one, preserves this symbol of their
early history to commemorate their gratitude to God. (Daily Paper.)
Verse 14
But I will settle him in Mine house and in My kingdom for ever.
The everlasting establishment
I. First of all,
let us offer a word or two upon the kingdom. Much is written in Scripture about
kingdoms and empires.
1. That the “house” or the “kingdom” which Jehovah claims as His own
is a kingdom which originated with the Lord. It rose not up in the mind of
mortals first. It grew not up of Nature’s materials. It was not brought forth,
and set up, and established, by the arm of man, or by the conquests of
warriors, as many other kingdoms are. It originated in the wisdom, grace, and
power of the Most High. Moreover, not only does this kingdom originate with
Him, but it is so formed and constituted as to glorify the Lord. “My glory,”
saith Jehovah, “will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven
images.” In the formation and constitution of the kingdom which God calls His
own--“Mine house and My kingdom”--the subjects are a royal seed; of royal
blood; of royal birth; “kings and priests unto God.” My hearer, of what kingdom
art thou? If thou art not of the kingdom of God’s grace, thou art of the
kingdom of darkness, a slave of Satan, and on the highroad to destruction.
2. Yet further observe, the laws are immutable.
3. Then further, I notice the privileges, the high spiritual privileges
of the kingdom. Pardon, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost.
II. I come to the
investiture of the king.
“I will settle him in Mine house and in My kingdom.” Solomon was
settled for a time, and reigned long and peacefully over Israel; but he is not
reigning now. “A greater than Solomon is here.” He is invested with
sovereignty, absolute and universal: “I will settle Him in My kingdom.” He is
invested with sovereignty, absolute and universal. “I have set My King upon My
holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord has said unto Me, Thou
art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the
heathen for Thine inheritance and uttermost parts of the earth for Thy
possession.” Moreover, if we speak of His absolute sovereignty for a moment,
you know it is written expressly, that “none can stay His hand, or say unto
Him, What doest Thou?”
III. This national
establishment; for there is that word in my text--“establish.” There is a great
deal said in Scripture about establishment. Immutable decrees are the basis of
the establishment. Oh! I could bring out some twenty or thirty instances under
my own notice in which all the schemes and powers and efforts of men have
passed by; and God, in a moment and by a word, through some of His sent
servants, has accomplished it all.
IV. The glorious
perpetuity--“I will settle Him in Mine house and in My kingdom for ever; and
His throne shall be established for evermore.” (Joseph Irons.)
Verse 16
Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that Thou hast
brought me hitherto?
The greatness of Divine favours
I. They infinitely
surpass human desert.
II. They fill all
times from remotest past to distant future.
III. They spring
from sovereign mercy.
IV. They are beyond
all human comprehension. (J. P. Lange.)
Verses 17-22
And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O Lord.
A model of devout thanksgiving
I. Over what he
rejoices.
1. Over great blessings received.
2. Over yet greater blessings promised.
II. In what spirit
he regards these favours.
1. As utterly undeserved by himself.
2. As the gift of God’s sovereign grace. (J. P. Lange.)
God’s relation to His people
Consider
I.
The relation God bears to His people.
1. He has chosen them out of the world.
2. He has given Himself to them in a peculiar way.
3. He avows that relation to them before the whole universe.
II. What under that
relation we may expect at his hands.
1. The care of His providence.
3. The communications of His grace.
3. The manifestations of His love.
4. The possession of His glory.
III. What under that
relation He is entitled to expect from us.
1. That we be a people to Him.
2. That we give ourselves to Him. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
Verses 23-27
Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that Thou hast spoken
concerning Thy servant.
True prayer
It is--
I. Grounded on
God’s promise.
II. It regards
God’s honour solely (1 Chronicles 17:24).
III. It ascribes all
to God’s free grace.
IV. It appeals to
God’s faithfulness.
V. It receives the
fulness of God’s blessing. (J. Wolfendale.)
That Thou wilt build him
an house.--
Domestic piety
I. They who have
charge of families should cherish an earnest regard for their welfare.
II. Those who have
the care of families should make it their chief anxiety to impart to them
religious instruction. Seeking their spiritual welfare we shall--
1. Strive to be the means of their conversion to God.
2. This we should do because converted families are scenes of harmony
and love.
3. This only can impart abiding consolation under bereaving
providences.
4. It will be thus we shall provide the means in our religious
households of future usefulness to the Church and the world. (W. G. Barrett.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》