God gives the believer opportunity almost daily to show sincere appreciation for what He has done for us. All good things come from God and throughout the Bible there are incidents where people were presented with an opportunity to praise God and also to return some of the bounty and blessing that came from Him.In 1 CHRONICLES 29:1-13, we have an outstanding example of giving to the Lord and the Lord’s work by a man who truly appreciated what the Lord had done for him. It’s none other then King David. David was gathering material and funds to build the Temple in Jerusalem. David wasn’t to build that temple, his son Solomon was given the privilege.
Prior to this, the Tabernacle, a portable affair constructed during the wilderness journey and carried around all those years had been the center for worship but apparently was no longer in use. Now, God had given David the task of assembling the material to build a magnificent temple. It would be the place of worship for all Israel and the place where one man, the high priest, could make contact with God on behalf of the people once a year.
The Tabernacle and the Temple prefigure Christ and His redemptive work that would come a thousand years later. These structures were the only place man could meet with God, and it's only through the redemptive work of Christ that man can come to God today.
The Tabernacle was temporary, made of cloth and skins and would be replaced by a more permanent and much grander structure made of stone, the Temple. The Law, called the First Covenant, was given by God on Mount Sinai. It was temporary and would be replaced by the much grander and permanent New Covenant that made salvation available to all people through the grace of God.
David gave of his own material sacrificially to build the Temple. Solomon would build it. God made an even greater personal sacrifice, He gave His Son to be the sacrificial Lamb whose sinless blood would purchase those who would become the living stones of His church.
Verse 1 of this chapter says Solomon, who would have the responsibility of building the Temple, was young and tender. Isaiah 53:2, speaks of Christ Who would build the church; “He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:”
God provided the master plan for the Temple but Solomon was responsible for the actual work of building it. God provided the master plan for man’s salvation but His Son, Jesus Christ, was responsible for the actual work of salvation by His death on the cross.
Solomon had many workmen that furthered the work of building the Temple just as Christ has many workmen that have furthered the Gospel down through the ages. Many saints have helped to lead people to Christ to become Living Stones of His church.
David had been king for forty years and was getting old. His days as king were nearing an end. His son, Solomon, would reign in his place and construct the Temple. When we read the account, notice the progression of things. It starts with "giving"-verses 3-8; "joy"-verse 9; "blessing"-verse 10.
Later on in this chapter we see his "prayer"-verses 11-19; and he ends with "worship"-verse 20.
1 Chronicles 29:1. “Furthermore David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great: for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God.”
God had given the palace (Temple) plan to David. It wasn’t just an oral communication, it was also written. David made a model of the building for Solomon, a pattern revealed by God to Moses and later to David (Hebrews 8:5b. “Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” David had also received this pattern from the Spirit in 1 Chronicles 28:12. Let’s go back and read the history of that.
1 Chronicles 28:11-13 and 19: “Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, 12: And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: 13: Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord.”
And, in Verse 19: “All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.”
Since the Temple, like the Tabernacle before it, was to typify Christ, it couldn’t be left to man’s ideas, the architect was God. God made His plan known to His people as far back as the time of Moses, and now David made a model of it to be used in constructing it.
1 Chronicles 29:2, King David continues; “Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance."
David put God first in his life. How blessed each of us would be if we always did the same.
The Spirit of God had revealed the plans and specifications for the temple and its furnishings to David and he shared them with Solomon (1 Chronicles 28:11-12, 19). The construction would be done by human hands but the plan and significance was from God.
David had no notion of making a temple for God to live in. God doesn’t live in a house.
In 1 Kings 8:27, Solomon, in his prayer of dedication of this Temple, very frankly said, "behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" The whole created universe can’t contain God. How could a little house contain Him? The temple was to be a meeting place between God and man and the temple was for the glory and honor of God. Today God doesn’t meet you in a building or dwell in one. He dwells in the individual by the Holy Spirit and the believer is the temple of God.
(1 Corinthians 6:19)1 Chronicles 29:3: "Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper goods, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house,
4: Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal:
5: The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?"David had given generously of his private holdings and he encouraged all the people to contribute to the Temple to the best of their ability. This huge undertaking would require a great amount of work, co-operation, and extraordinary giving. Solomon, because of his youth and inexperience, would need encouragement from the people he would reign over.
After all, this “palace” wasn’t for an earthly king, it was for the Lord God. The people would be actually giving to God.
David was old but he was still the king and he was enthused about planning the Temple, even though he wouldn’t live to see it’s completion or to worship in it. Verse 11 in chapter 28 stated that he had given Solomon a model of it. He had made a lot of preparations such as laying up gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and precious stones.
From his personal possessions he donated three thousand talents of gold from Ophir which was located somewhere either in southern Arabia or northeast Africa and was noted for exceptionally fine gold, and seven thousand talents of silver. The people responded generously and the metal workers and other craftsmen were ready to go to work.
Verses 6-9.Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly, 7: And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. 8: And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite." One trusted man, Jehiel, was put in charge of accounting for all this material. 9: "Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy."
God’s people were rejoicing with a perfect heart and were willingly obeying the Lord. This gave the people and old king real cause to “rejoice with great joy.”
The interesting thing is that you can't actually give God anything because everything you have came from Him in the first place. (Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!) God can only bless us when we open our hearts to Him. It pays to be genuinely and willingly generous with God because He is so generous with us. He gave us the ultimate gift, His Son’s life to give us eternal life.
The leaders gave gold and about 460 tons of bronze and 828 tons of iron. Those metals were rarer and much more valuable in 970 B.C. than they are today.
Godly giving is always inseparable from godly joy. The fact that the people offered willingly and gave from the heart is emphasized here and also in 2 Corinthians 9:7. “Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Now we come to David's blessings to God and his prayer of thanksgiving. Verses 10-13. “Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. 11: Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. 12: Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. 13: Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name."
In verses 10 David blessed the Lord. To "bless" the Lord is to offer grateful praise and thanksgiving to God. David did that in the name of the God of Israel (Jacob) the man who was father of the nation of Israel. God's dealing with Jacob is reflected in His wonderful working with his descendants.
In verse 11 and 12 David recognizes that greatness, power, victory, majesty, sovereignty and ownership of all things are God’s.
In verse 13 he gave thanks to God and praised God’s glorious Name. David wrote many of the Psalms. Click on Psalms 41:13; 103:17; 106:48 to see some of the greatest outbursts of praise and worship found in the Old Testament. David wrote two of these Psalms. Throughout this portion of scripture the joy the people received by giving is mentioned many times and the Lord Jesus Christ stated there is joy in giving. Acts:20:35b: “remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
God is the greatest Giver of all. John 3:16 tells how He so loved His creation, (that’s you and me), that He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for the sins we commit and to redeem us from our sinful heritage we got from our ancestors Adam and Eve.
God accepted the blood sacrifice of His sinless Son as payment for our sins. He wants us to confess our sins and trust Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
Jesus said it gave Him joy to die in our stead. All He wants or will accept is the confession of our sins to God and our trust in the finished work of Christ there on the cross at Calvary. God demonstrated His acceptance of this by resurrecting Jesus from the grave and called Him to be seated beside God the Father in heaven. He makes you the same offer to be with Him in heaven. Will you accept it? If you neglect or reject this offer, God has promised that you will spend eternity in hell with Satan and his demons.