GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CHRONICLES 22:14-16
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14 Now, with great pains I have provided for the house of the LORD 100,000 talents of gold, a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weighing (because there is so much of it). I have provided timber and stone as well. Keep adding to these. 15 You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, stone builders, woodworkers, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled workers 16 of gold, of silver, of bronze, and iron. Arise and work! The LORD be with you!”
The amount of money here, which is not David’s wealth but which we might call the value of the Temple Fund, is a stumbling block to many readers and commentators alike. Most Bibles include a table of weights and measures so that comparisons can be made. These are based on passages from the Scriptures themselves and general comparisons. For example, Appendix 3 of the EHV Bible shows that a talent of weight (Hebrew kikkar) is about 75 pounds in our weight, although estimates vary from 50 to 120 pounds. But skeptics show their doubt about David’s totals here: “Why, that’s more than the national debt of all the nations of Europe!” was the cry in the critical commentaries of the nineteenth century. “Only ancient ‘lying’ historians like Herodotus and Ctesias suggest that anyone ever had that much wealth!” (I am paraphrasing their statements). I have no desire to tire the reader (or listener), but a common argument is that the Bible mentions two different standards (using the lighter shekel): the temple or sanctuary shekel, and the different royal shekel. Older commentators like Delitzsch want to claim that “in all probablity… the king’s shekel was only half as heavy as the shekel of the sanctuary” (1-2 Chronicles, p. 946). But passages such as Numbers 3:47 suggest that the temple shekel (about 10 grams) weighed slightly less than the king’s shekel (about 11 grams). What David does not say is whether he “banked” or stockpiled this gold and silver, or whether it was simply the tally of what he had collected so far, using it to pay for other items, either raw materials, manufactured things (such as nails and hardware) or to pay for workmen and supervisors. Certainly all of these people needed to be clothed and fed. A man who quarries stone cannot harvest wheat and grind it at the same time, and we know that “they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones” (1 Kings 5:17). David didn’t want Solomon to let the stockpile of materials sit. “Keep adding to these,” he said (vs. 14).
“Arise,” David commanded the prince. “Arise and work.” This was echoed by Haggai when the second temple was begun (Haggai 2:4), Jesus echoed these words in his parables, as the owner of the vineyard hired men to labor for him: “Go and work in my vineyard” (Matthew 20:4,7). What a task! Build what has never been built before! What advice did David give to his son to accomplish such a massive project? He returned to the blessing he gave, ending his words with the same blessing he began with: “The LORD be with you.” The only way to accomplish any task is to remain faithful to God our Lord. Writing about the time of Haggai and the rebuilding, Luther said, “When the priests and the people were looking at the job of rebuilding the temple, the task clearly appeared impossible. Their frightened minds trembled at the magnitude and difficulty of the job” (LW 18:380). But God strengthens his people with his promise: “I am with you.”
“The LORD is my light and my salvation… the LORD is the stronghold of my life– of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). The devil is a cruel enemy; he never lets up as he tempts and torments God’s people. He throws false teachers and their “reasonable doubts” our way. He shoves bullies into our paths and he tempts those who should be our allies and friends into such wretched sins that we are tempted to think that our opponents are more righteous than our own brothers. But whatever he does, he is never your friend. He is the enemy who sows the seeds of sin and doubt (Matthew 13:39). He is the enemy of everything that is right, and his followers are likewise the enemies of everything that is right; full of all kinds of deceit and trickery (Acts 13:10).
When the devil prowls, he is not in your line of sight, just as the lion does not stalk his prey openly and in front. “When he attacks you here now, he soon rushes there and attacks you at another place. He hurries from one side to the other and employs all kinds of cunning and trickery to make you fall” (Luther).
For this reason we must remember to call on the name of the Lord in our lives; pray to him, praise him and share his word, and give him thanks for every blessing and every opportunity to show love, to maintain peace, to teach his word to ourselves through study and thoughtfulness, and to one another through our words and actions. “Pray,” Jesus said, “and don’t give up” (Luke 18:1). And Paul comforts us when we have those too-common moments of confusion, when the question, “What am I even to pray for?” comes more readily than anything else. The Spirit knows, and the Spirit helps, for Paul says: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26).
So God hears our prayers, and he begins his answer. Sometimes part of his answer is simply to help us to understand the trouble. If we truly see the predicament we are in, we will glorify him all the more for his wonderful solution. The Israelites complained just days after they climbed up from the dry bed of the Red Sea and the Lord had defeated their pursuing enemy with the waters he had piled up to their right and to their left, and what did they complain about? The Lord can’t manage water for us! (This is in Exodus 15:24, just as the music of Moses’ and Miriam’s songs of praise are echoing in the background). Is the Lord’s hand so weak that he can part the Red Sea and kill Pharaoh’s chariot horses and drivers with the waters of the same Sea, but cannot find anything for the people he saved to drink? Is he a god who shows his weakness in the most obvious contrasts on purpose? What a foolish god he is, to save from water and to save with water but to save no water to drink? Is that the opinion his people have of him? The attitude that we should adopt as we pray should be this:
Lord God, Maker of all and sustainer of all,
Sustain my faith and my body, if it is your will.
Do not throw me away like trash or ashes,
Even though that is what my sins deserve.
Look on my faith and bless me for Jesus’ sake.
Look upon my trouble and spare me, save me, steer me truly.
I do not know which way is best, but I know that you know.
Let me follow you alone, and always.
Take my hand, O Lord, and do not let go. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 1 Chronicles 22:14-16 Arise and work