1 Chronicles 22:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is, first, the place chosen for the temple building, 1 Chronicles 22:1. David said, by God’s direction and as a clear statement of his own mind, “This is the house of the Lord God.” If a temple is to be built for God, it is fitting that he choose the ground himself, since all the earth belongs to him. He chose this very place, land that belonged to a Jebusite. It may even have been the only plot near Jerusalem that fit this purpose. That gives a hopeful sign of the gospel temple being set up among the Gentiles (Acts 15:16, 17).

The ground was a threshing floor. In the same way, the church of the living God is his floor, his threshing place, and the grain on that floor (Isaiah 21:10). Christ has his winnowing fork in his hand, ready to clear his floor completely. This place is to be the house because it is also the altar. The temple was built for the sake of the altar. There were altars long before there were temples.

Second, we see the preparation made for that building. David was not allowed to build it, but he did everything he could to help. He prepared abundantly before his death, 1 Chronicles 22:5. This shows that as he grew older and weaker, and could see death drawing near, he worked harder near the end. What our hands can do for God, for our own souls, and for our generation, we should do with all our strength before we die, because after death there is no more planning or working.

David was moved to prepare in this way for two reasons. First, Solomon was young and inexperienced, and he would not likely throw himself into the work with strong energy at once. If he had to begin by gathering materials, he might lose much time at the start, especially since youth often puts things off. But if everything was already prepared, the hardest part would be done, and that would encourage him as he began his reign. Older, more experienced people should think about the young and give them all the help they can, so God’s work will be as easy for them as possible.

Second, the house had to be very magnificent, grand, strong, and beautiful, with everything in it of the best kind. That was fitting, because it was meant for the honor of the great God, the Lord of the whole earth, and it was also a picture of Christ, in whom all fullness lives and in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and grace. People were still being taught through what they could see. The grandeur of the temple would fill worshipers with holy awe and respect for God. It would also draw strangers to come and see it, and through that, they would come to know the true God. David said ahead of time that this would happen, because of the temple at Jerusalem, kings would bring gifts to God (Psalm 68:29).

David’s preparation was large and generous. Later we read more about it, but here cedar, stone, iron, and bronze are named, 1 Chronicles 22:2-4. He got cedar from the Tyrians and Sidonians. As the psalm says, “The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift” (Psalm 45:12). He also gathered workers, the foreigners living in Israel. Some think he used them because they were often more skilled and inventive in manual work than the Israelites. More likely, he did it because he would not put free-born Israelites to work in tasks that seemed low and servile. They had been freed from making bricks in Egypt, and they should not go back to cutting stone. These foreigners were converts to the Jewish faith, but though they were not slaves, they still did not have the same standing as Israelites.