United Commentaries

1Chr.21.1-22.1

This account of the census closely parallels 2 Sam 24:1-25 but has an entirely different focus. The Chronicler’s account provides the context for the dedication of the altar and the preparations for building the Temple (1 Chr 22).

1Chr.21.26-22.1

The census and plague led up to the dedication of Araunah’s threshing floor as the site for the new sanctuary. Typically, offerings would have been made at Gibeon, where the Tabernacle was located (see 16:39; 21:29; 2 Chr 1:3). The halting of the plague at the threshing floor enabled David to make offerings there in accordance with the word he received through Gad the seer (1 Chr 21:18). David then designated the new location for the future Temple of the Lord God.

1Chr.22.2-19

God had promised David that his kingdom would be permanent and that his son would build a temple for the Lord (17:11-12). Now that the site had been chosen (21:18–22:1), David made preparations for building the Temple of God. He gathered the materials (22:2-5), and he charged both Solomon (22:6-16) and the leaders of Israel (22:17-19) with the task of building the Temple after his death.

1Chr.22.5

While Solomon was young and inexperienced (see also 29:1; cp. 1 Kgs 3:7; 2 Chr 13:7), David had the wisdom and skill to make preparations for building the Temple; David also designed the Temple (1 Chr 28:11-12). Later, God provided Solomon with the wisdom he needed to build the Temple and to govern well (see 2 Chr 1:7-12).

1Chr.22.8

God did not allow David to build the Temple because he had shed so much blood (cp. 1 Kgs 5:3-4). David’s wars were not unethical, and God had blessed and supported them. However, David had been tainted with a kind of ceremonial uncleanness from the blood he had shed and the deaths he had caused in battle (see 1 Chr 28:3; cp. Gen 4:10-12; Lev 17:3-4; Deut 21:1-9; Matt 27:24-25). Accordingly, he could not build a holy sanctuary for the Lord.

1Chr.22.9-10

Solomon was a man of peace, free from war and from shedding blood in battle. The Temple was built during his peaceful reign (see 2 Chr 2–7).

The Hebrew deliberately uses two different words to describe conditions during Solomon’s reign: peace (Hebrew shalom, related to Solomon’s name), and quiet (Hebrew menukhah, related to the idea of redemption).