GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CHRONICLES 22:6-10
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6 Then he called for Solomon his son and commanded him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon, “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the LORD my God. 8 But this word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. 9 You will see: a son will be born to you who shall be a man of peace. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and rest to Israel in his days. 10 He will build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’
David told Solomon about a message from the Lord directly to him, David, which is not recorded anywhere else in the Bible. If someone thinks that David’s report here contradicts 1 Kings 5:3-4, then it is worth considering these two passages for the sake of certainty. There, Solomon says to the King of Tyre: “Because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet. But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster” (1 Kings 5:3-4). To this we add what the Lord said to David in chapter 17, that God wanted to establish his kingdom by raising up one of David’s sons (1 Chronicles 17:11).
We end up with several reasons which do not contradict one another, but which should be taken all together:
1, If a new temple was to be built, then the Lord wanted the temple built by a man of peace, not a warrior like David (1 Chronicles 22:8). Perhaps this was to lay aside the possibility of giving future worshipers any offense, although this is not really stated in any text.
2, If a new temple was to be built, it should not be built in a time of warfare, but in peacetime, when there would be no enemy to attack or threaten the building and no disaster to remove workers from their work (1 Kings 5:3-4).
3, If a new temple was to be built, the Lord declared that he wanted to establish his kingdom and raise up one of David’s sons as king, who would then build a house for the Lord, “and I will establish his throne forever” (1 Chronicles 17:11-12).
If Solomon chose to share only one of these three with Hiram, King of Tyre, we won’t fault him. Solomon may have thought that there was no reason to share a divine message with a pagan king.
In this verse we have mostly gospel and good works following the gospel. But there is also the repetition of the prophetic words: “He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever” (v. 10). For although this may point to Solomon in the immediate future, it also points to Christ in the more distant future, a thousand years after David’s time, when the Son of God took on flesh as the Son of Man through David’s line. David said to God: “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have spoken of your servant’s house for a long time to come, and have seen me as the path of the Man who ascends, O LORD God!” (1 Chronicles 17:16-17). The coming descendant of David would be the Son of God, and both his natures (God and man) are on David’s lips. This is also the case in the Psalms and the prophets:
Isaiah 9:6: “Unto us a child is born, until us a Son is given.”
Jeremiah 23:5, where the Messiah is the shoot (righteous Branch) of David and the LORD.
Psalm 2:11-12: “Serve the LORD, kiss the Son.”
And this is the constant assertion of the New Testament in every place. “Jesus Christ is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). “Christ is God over all, forever paised!” (Romans 9:5). “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). And at the same time, Christ who is true God is also true man: “As to his human nature, he was a descendant of David” (Romans 1:3). “He too shared in their humanity” (Hebrews 2:14).
If anyone wants to dispute that David speaks of Solomon here and not of Christ, we have to point out that the name “Solomon” is expanded in these verses as the one through whom God would give peace and rest to his people. Micah said: “The Messiah will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God… and his will be their peace” (Micah 5:4-5). And Ezekiel says: “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it will be an everlasting covenant” (Ezekiel 37:26), and only God himself could and does make covenants that are everlasting. So also Isaiah said: “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:7). For it is the Lord who blesses his people with peace (Psalm 29:11).
This is the one who would truly build God’s house. And so the house in question is not merely the temple on the hill made of limestone and cedar, but the true, holy Christian church, the communion or community of saints, gathered together in the name of Jesus Christ around the gospel in word and the gospel in the sacraments. This Jesus is described by the Athanasian Creed this way:
He suffered for our salvation,
descended into hell,
rose the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty,
and from there will come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people will rise with their own bodies
to answer for their personal deeds.
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 22:6-10 The descendant of David