Michael Wilcock
1. THE ACCESSION OF SOLOMON. 1 Chronicles 28 & 29
THE author of the books of Chronicles took what might well appear the dry facts of history and did his best, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to make them come alive to his readership. His work consisted of turning history into preaching. One of the key words for the understanding of the books of Chronicles is the word 'principles'.
These two books are not just history. They are a sermon, and at the centre of the sermon stands David the king. The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles lead up to him. The rest of that book is all about him. The first nine chapters of 2 Chronicles describe the reign of his son and successor, Solomon. The rest of 2 Chronicles describes the consequences and the continuing line of David upon the throne in Jerusalem, not simply while that throne continued there but beyond to the exile and what came after.
We ask ourselves what is the nature of this message? Is it simply an attempt to recreate the past in a spirit of nostalgia? I don't think that it is that. Nor do I think that it is merely to depict this great figure of the past as an example for the present, as if you took the David of Chronicles as a real living man of God and tried to pattern your own service for God on that model. This may be true in many cases in the Old Testament, but it is not the approach of this chronicler. Nor does it seem to me that he treats David as a kind of apocalyptic character, comforting us with the thought that although things are not now as they were then, one day David will return in all his glory, so we can make this our expectation and hope. This is often the theme of the Old Testament, but I do not think that this was the purpose of the chronicler's message.
No, this was rather a message for the times. He lived and wrote in what Zechariah called "a day of small things" when so much of what he was going to write about belonged to the remote past and might have seemed to have little to do with the affairs of the present. Some things continued, it is true, but other things were very different. There was still a people of Israel, but it had been greatly reduced and was now only a tribe or two. There was still a holy city, with a temple of sorts in it, but honestly those who had seen the first temple grieved that this one was not a patch on it. There was still a house of David in existence, but it was there by the courtesy of the kings of Persia, and the sons of David were no longer called kings.
There may have been enough continuity for people to admit some sort of tenuous link between the past and their own day, but the changes were [90/91] enormous. 'The circumstances are so different now,' they would have said, 'so we rather doubt whether we can learn anything from those dusty old tales of David and his kingdom.' In other words, the original readers of the books of the Chronicles were, in many respects, in the same position as we are in today. We are perfectly conscious of the continuity between Bible times and our own times; we know that they are part of the same history, but it may seem remote and somewhat irrelevant. We understand in theory that God is the same God, that His house is still in existence, but it seems so far away that it may appear to have little or nothing to do with us.
It is to those days "of small things", that the chronicler wrote his message. He described the glories of King David for an age when there was no more a king, to press the question of what we can learn from them and what spiritual principles we can draw from sacred history to be applied to modern day life. I think that one of the key words for understanding the books of the Chronicles is the word 'principles', and another key word would be the word 'continuity'. We are to understand what still holds good when many things are so different.
Our study of abiding principles from the life of Solomon must begin in 1 Chronicles 28 which describes his accession to the throne. In a sense he is something of a cipher in these two chapters, since the main figure is King David. He was the one who set up the whole affair of his son's accession to kingly power, and the passage is of great interest to us because it pinpoints the transfer of power. The writer takes us to the very point where David was to stand down, directing our thoughts to what continued right into Solomon's day. By the same token, the chronicler asked his readers what it was that had continued into their day, the 5th century or whenever it was, and invites us to extend the same thing and, as we read these chapters, to ask ourselves what it is that continues into our day.
1. The Lord is to be Recognised. 28:1-8
David called the responsible men and the seasoned warriors in order to crown his son Solomon and announced that after he himself had gone from the scene, the Lord would still be there to be recognised. The section tells us that he was very concerned about the Temple, but found that it was not to be his job but was to be built by Solomon. Some commentators would say that the Temple was the real continuity throughout the Chronicles. In the building of the Temple and its worship, they find the connecting thread of the narrative. In a sense that may be true, but I want you to notice that before David set about giving Solomon the plan for this great work of the building of the Temple, he had much to say about the Lord Himself. Behind the visible things stands the God of Israel.
The Lord is a God who disposes (v.3). David had it in his heart to build a house of rest for the Ark of the covenant, but God vetoed this. Man proposes, but God disposes, and when He does so it is always because He has something even better in mind. The Lord is a God who elects (v.4). "The Lord, the God of Israel, chose me," said David. He chose Judah out of all the tribes of Israel, He chose David's father's house out of all the houses of Judah, He chose David out of all his father's sons, and then He chose Solomon to be David's successor.
We notice that when David said that God had chosen Solomon, the chronicler ignores all the palace intrigues that surrounded that choice (1 Kings 1) as well as the unsavoury story that preceded the birth of Solomon (2 Samuel 12). This was not because he did not know or believe what had happened but to stress the sovereignty of God. His readers knew all about those stories, for they had all read the books of Samuel and Kings, but the Holy Spirit wishes to remind them that behind everything else there is a God who elects those whom He wishes to serve Him, and that it was His choice which made Solomon king. David stated that the Lord had given him many sons, but insisted that out of them it was the Lord who chose Solomon (1 Chronicles 28:5). In this same verse we note that, although it was to be the throne of David, it is called "the throne of the kingdom of the Lord".
For all David's own greatness, he was perfectly willing to acknowledge that there was One far greater than he. Behind all the human failures and intrigues, behind all the doings of men, behind the greatness of David and the wealth of Solomon, stands the majestic Lord of all. David himself confessed: "Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me" (Psalm 139:5). He knew that the Lord had been before him and would continue after him. When he died, Solomon would have the throne, but after Solomon had died, the Lord would still be on His throne. When all the line of David seemed to [91/92] have run away into the sand, the Lord would still be there. When Israel had been conquered by the Romans, the Lord would remain, for His throne is an abiding principle. Even in the day of small things, the Lord must always be recognised.
2. His Plan is to be Followed. 28:9-21
Solomon was to serve the Lord with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, knowing that the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and fault, so that the plans of men are brought face to face with the plan of God. (v.11). While it was David who gave Solomon the detailed plan of the Temple that was to be built, we take this as an example of the fact that God has a plan for every aspect of the life of His servants.
I want you to notice the detail into which he went. There was the plan for the buildings (vv.11-12), the plan for the service of the Temple (v.13), the plan for every little metal vessel that was to be used in that service (vv.11-17) and, to crown all, the plan for the altar and the Ark (v.18) which was right at the centre of the worship of God. God's plan is the one into which all our plans have to be brought.
In embryo the plan was given to David, though he was debarred from fulfilling it, so it was still there when Solomon came to the throne. Solomon received the plan and followed it in great detail. When it was stated that the Lord understands all the imaginations of the thoughts (v.9), we ask ourselves whose plans and thoughts are they that the Lord understands. Was it the thoughts and plans of Solomon, than whom there was none greater in Old Testament history in the matter of wisdom? There was no wiser, cleverer, more learned, more erudite man than he, yet the Lord insisted that Solomon's plans had to be brought into line with His. It was as though He said: 'I have a plan for your life, Solomon, and your happiness and the welfare of your people consist in following My plan.'
David had it first, but even after David had died, the plan was still there to be followed, and even after Solomon had gone, the plan would still be there to be followed. To follow the plan of God is no slavish obedience; it is the recipe for success. It is not misery; it is joyful confidence. When we read David's exhortation to Solomon: "Be strong and of good courage, and do it; fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord God, even my God, is with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee" (v.20) we remember that these are similar words to those in Deuteronomy 31:6-7 and also in Joshua 1:6-9. Again they can be found in Hebrews 13:5, and in every case they concern those who are called to follow out the plan of God. It is on the basis of obedience to His divine plan that the Lord promises His presence, promises freedom from fear and dismay and encourages men to be strong. The promises apply to us as we adhere to God's plan.
3. The Challenge is to be Answered. 29:1-9
For us too there is a challenge to be answered. It came from David to the whole assembly when he said, "Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God." The implication was that it required their best. David himself answered the challenge by stating how he had provided for the house of God so far as he was able. "Gold for the things of gold, silver for the things of silver ..." and so on. What was more, he had a treasure of his own, and he proposed to prove his devotion to the house of his God by giving that also. "Now," he said, "I have answered the challenge; what about you?" (v.5).
The following verses report that the leaders all responded. They gave a tremendous amount (v.7). The currency quoted, darics, was not known in David's day, in fact not until some hundreds of years later. In this way, however, the chronicler updated the facts of David's time into what was current in his day, as if putting it in the terms of his readers so that they would appreciate that the challenge was still there to be answered. There was still a house of God and there was still a plan to be fulfilled; he put the old story into more modern terms to inspire Israelites of his own day to think in a topical way. Indeed, as we read the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, we see that from time to time God's people were so slow to respond to the challenge that they needed to be roused to action. They had to be told that if they were really wholehearted in their service to God, this meant that in very practical terms they must show it by the contributions which they were prepared to give.
The challenge is still put to us. Much has changed, we live in a very different world either from the kingdom of David and Solomon or from the day of small things of which the chronicler [92/93] wrote, but the principles continue and it is as though David still said to us: "Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the Lord?" (v.5). The literal translation of the words 'to consecrate' is to fill one's hands. Who will come to the Lord with his hands full and say, 'Lord it is all Yours'? Behind the action of the hands was the attitude of the heart; the important point is that the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, with a ready heart (v.9).
3. The Joy is Still to be Expressed. 29:10-19
The offerings were very numerous, the sacrifices abundant, and they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness. "All things come of Thee and of Thine own have we given Thee" (v.14). These are the very words which we use today in our worship of the same great and glorious Lord. David spoke in a day which was so different and the chronicler stressed his words in another day which was different, but they are just as appropriate in our day for the principles are the same and, although we express it in different ways, our joy is still the same.
"O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thy holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own" (v.16). But it was not just the gold and silver that came from the Lord but "all that is in heaven and in the earth" (v.11). David could look right back to the days of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel (v.18) and was so happy to know that the God who gave them grounds for joy in their day was still filling His people's hearts with joy in the Tenth Century B.C. and prayed that His people might ever find their joy in God, so that when he was dead and Solomon's kingdom had crumbled into dust, the same joy would still be expressed. A joy in the hearts of the people of God, which they cannot keep to themselves but must express in whatever form is appropriate to their culture and age, should characterise them in every moment of time.
4. The King is Still to be Enthroned. 29:22-30
All these continuing principles come to a climax in the truth that when all the days of David and of the chronicler have become remote history, when the Lord is recognised, His plan followed, the challenge answered and the joy expressed, there is still the King to be enthroned. If we compare these two chapters with the corresponding passages in 1 Kings we find an enormous number of differences, not the least of which was what actually happened when David handed over the kingdom to Solomon. It is a sorry tale of sordid intrigue and palace conspiracies, with David a weak, ineffectual and bed-ridden old man.
The chronicler knew that story and knew that his readers knew it too, but he was not concerned to repeat what other historians had written but only to lift out of that story the one thing which was central to his message, namely that kingship continued in Israel. From verse 26 and on we are told that the kingship continued in all its glory so that David the son of Jesse reigned for forty years and died in a good old age, full of days and riches and honour, and then Solomon his son reigned in his stead. The chronicler was not manipulating history but simply selecting what suited his own purpose of bringing out the continuity of the kingship.
David went, but there was still a king to be enthroned -- "Thine is the kingdom, O Lord" (v.11). The kingdom never failed even when David died and when Solomon died and when his successors perished. When Zerubbabel, now only a prince, came back from captivity and after him the line seemed to die out altogether, the divine kingdom continued. That is why the chronicler, even in his day of small things, even when there was no king, stressed the glory of the kingdom.
Psalm 72 which is headed "A Psalm of Solomon" speaks of eternal verities and not just pious platitudes when its verses tell of the eternal and universal dominion of the king of Israel. God's righteousness is to be given to the Royal Son (v.1), who will continue as long as the sun endures and as long as the moon, throughout all generations (v.5). He will have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River unto the ends of the earth (v.8). He will live ... and men shall pray for him continually (v.15). Blessings will be invoked for him all the day. His name will endure for ever, as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him; and all nations shall call him happy (v.17). This is not merely oriental flattery but the veriest eternal truth. The king is still here to be enthroned amid His people so that through all those discouraging days in which the chronicler lived and wrote, even when there [93/94] was no throne left in Jerusalem, he could still affirm that the throne is the Lord's.
Let us take to heart the lesson. Even when Israel was downtrodden and depressed, the Lord still reigned. Even when the kingdom of David and Solomon had just become an old tale in the old book of the Chronicles, the King, the true Son of David, is still here to be enthroned. We rejoice in Him and hope to find that Solomon has yet many more lessons to tell us of His greatness and glory. God is still on the throne!
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