Give Willingly to the LORD for all comes from the LORD (v1-20)

The temple of the Lord is built with gold, silver, bronze, iron and various precious stones (v2). In NT, we are God’s temple: [Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?] (1 Cor 3:16). Are you building your life with gold, silver and costly stones or with wood, hay and straw  (1 Cor 3:12)? The truth of our life as follower of Christ will be reveal on the Judgement Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10).

[who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD?] (v5). A lot of people are willing to receive Christ because their sins will be forgiven. But how many believers are willing to consecrate himself to the LORD?

v6-9: King David’s set an great example to give his personal treasures to the building of the temple (v3), the leaders also give willingly to the Lord (v6). [Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver] (2 Cor 9:7). Giving as followers of Christ is not a rule, but is an outward response of our love for Christ and the people that He loves.

David’s prayer expressed the spirit of joyful giving beautifully: [All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever] (v17-18).

King David acknowledged and proclaimed that everything comes from God (v14). When we give, we are giving what comes from God back to Him! It is like a child give a portion of his allowance back to his father. Our heavenly Father is a father of abundance, after all, the owns the whole world! He does not need anything from us, but our willing heart and expression in giving back to Him pleases Him (v16). When my son wanted to share a toy that I bought for him with me, I am pleased and filled with joy, not because of the toy, but because of my son’s heart for me.

[my God, that you test the heart and are please with integrity]. God test our heart, He knows exactly what we think and where our heart is. Do not give (money or time or service) with the motive of letting other people think we love God like the Pharisees did (Matt 6).

The Legacy of David (v26-30)

[He ruled over Israel forty years…He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor. His son Solomon succeeded him as king] (v27).

At every funeral, our count the legacy of the deceased. So ;et’s count David’s legacy:

1. He united the nation of Israel
2. He gave the people peace in their land
3. He extended the borders of the kingdom
4. He provided much of the wealth that was used to build the temple
5. He instructed his son Solomon and the leaders to build the temple
6. He purchased the site on the the temple would be built
7. God gave David the plans for the temple
8. He wrote many psalms for the Levites to sing as they worshiped God, for us to read and sing
9. He organized the temple ministry and taught the people that the worship of God was the number one priority for them
10. He made two two major sins in his life: 1)adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, 2) the census of Israel. We learned from his mistakes

David lives an abundance life, because he was after God’s heart, and God blessed him. All of us will one day leave this world, what kind of legacy we want to leave behind? Is your life heading toward this direction? If not, it is still not too late to change, the Lord is asking: [Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD] (v5)?

Plans for Building the Temple

v1: David called all his leaders into Jerusalem for the announcement of building the temple.

v2: It is interested that David called the leaders his brothers and his people. By calling the leaders who serve under him brothers, he put himself on the same level as them, even though he is the king. This is a reminder to the leaders in today’s church, God may have called you to be pastor or elder, but you are still at the same level at the rest of the church, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and there is only one head in the church, the Lord Jesus.

v3: The tabernacle was the resting place of God on earth, now David had a strong desire in his heart to build a magnificent temple as the resting place of God. Today’s, God’s resting place is the Church of Jesus Christ. It is not a cathedral, but is the people who profess Jesus as Lord.

v3: David did not hide the fact that God did not built him to actually build the temple, because he was a warrior and have shed blood.

v4-8: David is preparing the people to support his son Soloman as his successor, as the 3rd King of Israel, who will carry out the responsibility to build the temple.

v7-8: David reminded his son Soloman and his people that they need to follow all the commands of God, so that God will establish the Kingdom of Israel and the Land of Israel forever. However history told us that at the later stage of King Soloman life, he married married gentiles wife and worship their idols. The Jews also followed their king to worship idols. As a result, the kingdom of Israel fell apart and the land of Israel fell into the hands of the foreign kingdoms.

v7-8: As the Church of Christ, we are called to follow our Lord Jesus and worship no idols.

v9: [serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.] God knows our heart and the motives behind our thoughts and actions. Are you serving the Lord will the right motive? Are we serving the Lord for our own glory, or for the glory of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

v11-19: Just like how God gave details instructions of the tabernacle, all the articles in the tabernacle, and service of the priests and levies in the court and the tabernacle, God had done it the second time with King David through His Spirit (v12). God has revealed to King David regarding the plans of the temple buildings (v12), the service of the priests and the Levites (v13), and the instructions of the articles within and around the temple (v14-18).

v19: David had wrote down these revelations from God so that his son Soloman would know exactly how the temple would look like. Just like God had asked Moses to [make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you] (Ex 25:9), God is asking King Soloman to build the temple exactly like the pattern He had revealed to King David.

v19: The building of the church of Christ is the same as the building of the tabernacle and the temple. We ought not to build His church based on our own understanding and worldly methods, but with the revelations from God, according to the patterns which He has revealed to us in the scriptures.

v20-21: The father was encouraging the son on the building of this magnificent temple for God. King David encouraged Soloman [be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you]. The encouragement was almost the same as the encouragement from Moses to Joshua (Deut 31:7-8). Today’s many fathers spent too many time criticizing their children, instead, fathers need to encouragement their children to be strong and courageous. We need to encourage our children to be strong and courageous, do not afraid or get discourage when faced with challenges in life, because the Lord Jesus will never forsake them.

Gatekeepers and Treasurers

This chapter list the names of the gatekeepers, their duties was already described in chapter 9, verse 17-27. Although they had many duties, their chef duty is the guard the treasuries of the temple (9:26). It was a very important work, because all the treasures in Israel was stored in the storehouse in the temple. These treasures included the plunder taken in battle, and treasures dedicates by Israelites for the temple (v26-28).

The treasurers were assigned to take care of the treasuries. Working together with the gatekeepers, they keep the treasuries.

What are the treasures in the church today? I can think of many things but I like to focus on perhaps the most importance one: the teachings of Christ, the truth. A church needs gatekeepers to protect the truth. The enemies always is looking for gaps in the church to attack (2 Tim 4:4) the teaching of Christ, the job of the gatekeepers is to know the word of God well, and to guard the truth.

Serving the LORD with music

This chapter is about the musicians who served in the house of God.

We notice the following characteristics in the music ministry:

1. The musical ministry was led by three men, instead of just one man: Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun (v1)
2. Multiple kind of musical instruments were used: harps, lyres and cymbals (v1)
3. The leaders were prophesying through music. Prophesy means foretelling and forth telling. The musicians were proclaiming to truth of God through their musics (v1)
4. They used music to give thanks and to praise the LORD (v3)
5. Heman, one of the three leaders was also the king’s seer. A seer is someone who has strong senses of the will of the God. (v5)
6. The musicians were under supervision of their fathers, whom were under supervision of the king (v6).
7. All of them were trained and skilled in the music for the LORD.

Music was not part of the original worship in the tabernacle as commanded by the LORD through Moses (Ex 23 – 40). Although Moses himself was a musician, he wrote Plasm 90, and he lead the Israelites in a song to praise the LORD after the LORD has led them across the red sea (Ex 15).

David established the musical worship in the house of God, and since then the Jews and Christians have been worshipping God using musics.

How can we apply what we learn in this chapter in today’s church?

The worship of God through music is a significant part of Christians worship. Although we have leaders who led the singing,  it is extremely important that these leaders need to be Godly men, who are under the supervision of the King, our Lord Jesus.

Our songs need to be proclaiming truth, that means lyrics should have the depth and breadth of the truth revealed in scriptures regarding who the Lord Jesus is and what He did for us.

The musicians should be gifted in their skills. They should be trained so that the music would help the saints in worshipping the LORD.

David Numbers the Fighting Men

How to Explain Discrepancies

Chapter 21 is a repeat of the original record in 2 Samuel 24. There are few discrepancies in these two records on the numbers mentioned in this event, the following are the explanations of the discrepancies:

1. David was incited by God or Satan?
   1. 2 Sam 24: [..the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He incited David against them…]
   2. 1 Chro 21: [Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel]
   3. Both are true, God permitted Satan to tempt David in order to accomplish the purposes He had in mind. This is the only one of the four times Satan is named specifically at work in OT (Gen 3, Job 1-2, Zech 3)
2. Men who could handle a sword:
   1. 2 Sam 24: 800k in Israel and 500k in Judah, total of 1.3 M
   2. 1 Chro 21: 1.1 M in Israel and 470k in Judah
   3. 2 Sam 24:9 says the 800k men were able-bodied men who could handle a sword. The additional  300k men in 1 Chronicle was possible men that are less experienced in battle but could still handle a sword, in another word, the reserved army. 30k less men in Judah was due to Benjamin was not counted in the 1 Chro number (v6)
3. How much David paid for the threshing floor?
   1. 2 Sam 24: 50 shekels (v24)
   2. 1 Chro 21: 600 shekels (v25)
   3. Maybe David initially paid 50 shekels for the oxen for sacrifices and the wooden yokes for fuel, but later he bought the whole land with 600 shekels.
4. Seven or three years of famine?
   1. 2 Sam 24  Seven years
   2. 1 Chro 21: three years
   3. It was possibly a copy error on 2 Sam 24 on the Hebrew Bible. Septuagint says three years, which match 1 Chronicle 21.

Why Did God punish Israel?

God allows census (Ex 30:11-16), He had asked Israel to carry out censor twice while in the wilderness (Num 1, Number 26). However David’s motive of the censor was not to glorify God, but to glorify himself. David’s desire to count his the men in Israel because:

1. he wanted to show off the number of his army
2. he started to depend on the size of his army as the reason to win wars, instead of depend on the power of God

David was the one who sinned against God, but why did God punish the Israelites, which killed 70,000 men but spare David’s life?

Why David choose three days of plague?

These three punishments are part of God’s covenant with Israel (Deut 28:21,22,25,27,28). [if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you…] (Deut 28:15).

Because David rather fall into the hands of the LORD then into the hands of men, for His mercy is very great. David knew the Lord will be more merciful than his enemies. 70,000 men died as a result of the plague, the dead counts would be must greater if Israel was under the attacks of the enemies for three months.

Plague could not have came from men, so it is a more direct punishment from the hands of God compares to falling into the swords of the enemies.

In famine, the people could put their hope on the ones who have access to preserved food supply. So comparing a famine with a plague, a plague is a more direct punishment from the hands of God.

The Significant of the Threshing Floor of Araunah

The threshing floor was the place where Abraham offered Isaac as sacrifice to the LORD.

It is also the place where the temple of the LORD was built upon.

David may have told Soloman to built the template in the threshing floor because it was where God heard his prayers and answered him with fire from heaven on the altar (v26).

Victory Over Ammonites and Philistines

Battle with Ammonites was originally recorded in 2 Sam 11:1, and the battle with the Philistines was originally recorded in 2 Sam 21:15-22.

v1: Rabbah is the main city for the Ammonites, it is present day Amman in Jordan.

v1: [David remained in Jerusalem…] Joab went to war against Ammonites, but David stays in Jerusalem. It was at that time that David committed adultery and mulder (2 Sam 11)

v1: This is one of the main different between Chronicles and Samuel. Chronicles omitted David’s sins, and consequences of his sins, which is the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam 13).

v3: [Iron picks]. The Israel already knew how to make tools with iron.

The Battle Against the Ammonites and Arameans

This chapter was originally written in 2 Sam 10. The one discrepancy is in 2 Sam 10:18, David killed 700 Arameans charioteers, but in 1 Cho 19:18, David killed 7000 charioteers. Most bible students think there was a copy error in 2 Sam 10:18.

v2: It is possible that because Nahash, the King of the Ammonites was the enemy of Saul (1 Sam 11), he became friend and had showed kindness to David.

By any standard, 32,000 chariots (v7) was a big number, it was a big battle, 40,000 food soldiers were killed by Israel led by David (v18).

God was being faithful and was fulfilling His promise to David (1 Chro 17:8).

Joab as David’s chief commander, did a marvelous job in this battle, with the help of his brother Abishai (v11).

Joab said: [“Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in His sight.”] Joab had great faith in the Lord. He knew his job was to lead the army of Israel is trusting the Lord.

The LORD gave David victory everywhere he went

The key verse of chapter 18 is verse 6, it is repeated again in verse 13.

God is a faithful God, in this chapter, he is fulfilling His promise to David in chapter 17:8 [I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men of the earth].

David recognized the victories he had were from the Lord. His heart continue to seek the Lord, this can be seen by David’s action to use collect bronze, silver and gold for the building of God’s temple (v8,11).

We, like David, are in battles as well. Our battles are not physical, but spiritual. Our enemies are Satan, the World, and our old self. The only way to win these battles is to follow our Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus had already won the war on the cross. When we deny ourselves and carry our cross to follow our Lord, His victory became ours.

God’s Promise to David (v1-15)

The content of chapter 17 is a repeat of 2 Samuel 7.

God called David His servant twice (v4,7). When God someone to be His servant, He is going to be with him whenever he goes (v8). Although David is the King of Israel, but he is a servant of the King of Kings!

This promise of God to David is a messianic promise. The promise is partially fulfilled in Soloman (v12), when Soloman built the temple for the Lord. However, Soloman’s throne did not go forever, he is only a shadow of our Lord Jesus, who is a descendent from King David from both of his earthly parents, for Joseph and Mary are both descendent of King David.

The Lord Jesus is building the house of God, the church. The throne and the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus is established by God forever (v12, 14).

David’s Prayer (v16-27)

v16: [Who am I, O LORD GOD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?] This is a prayer that all God’s people can relate to. We are all made with dust, and God saved us. When I looked back in my life, and looked at how far the Lord has brought me at this moment in my life, I want to pray the same thing: “Who am I, O LORD GOD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?!

David spoke of the promises of God when he prayed. “Let the promise You have made concerning Your servant and his house be established forever. Do as you promised.” God has made many promises throughout the bible to His people. When we discovered these promises, we can pray these promises back to God, to receive and claim by faith that God has promised, and God will fulfill His promises so that His name will be glorified!