6 In all places in which I have walked with all Israel, spoke I a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
In all places in which I have walked with all the children of Israel, spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
From following the ewes that have their young, He brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, And Israel, his inheritance. So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
After these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, In the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: And they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep?
He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." He said to him, "If your presence doesn't go with me, don't carry us up from here.
In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel: and Yahweh your God said to you, You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.
Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them. Yet they didn't listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; [but] they didn't do so. When Yahweh raised them up judges, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and vexed them.
for Yahweh your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you; therefore shall your camp be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you.
They set forward from the Mount of Yahweh three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting-place for them. The cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp. It happened, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Yahweh, and let your enemies be scattered; and let those who hate you flee before you. When it rested, he said, Return, Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.
I will set my tent among you: and my soul won't abhor you. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.
Moses wasn't able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh's glory filled the tent. When the cloud was taken up from over the tent, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys; but if the cloud wasn't taken up, then they didn't travel until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tent by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 17
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 17 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 17
1Ch 17:1-10. David Forbidden to Build God a House.
1. as David sat in his house—The details of this chapter were given in nearly similar terms (2Sa 7:1-29). The date was towards the latter end of David's reign, for it is expressly said in the former book to have been at the cessation of all his wars. But as to narrate the preparations for the removal of the ark and the erection of the temple was the principal object of the historian, the exact chronology is not followed.
5. I … have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another—The literal rendering is, "I was walking in a tent and in a dwelling." The evident intention (as we may see from 1Ch 17:6) was to lay stress upon the fact that God was a Mithhatlek (a travelling God) and went from one place to another with His tent and His entire dwelling (the dwelling included not merely the tent, but the fore-courts with the altar of burnt offerings, &c.) [Bertheau].
6. spake I a word to any of the judges—In 2Sa 7:7 it is "any of the tribes" of Israel. Both are included. But the judges "who were commanded to feed the people," form the more suitable antithesis to David.
Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?—that is, a solid and magnificent temple.
7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote—a round tower of rude construction, high walled, but open at the top, in which sheep are often enclosed at night to protect them from wild beasts. The meaning is, I elevated you to the throne from a humble condition solely by an act of divine grace, and not from any antecedent merits of your own (see on 1Sa 16:11), and I enabled you to acquire renown, equal or superior to any other monarch. Your reign will ever be afterwards regarded as the best and brightest era in the history of Israel, for it will secure to the nation a settled inheritance of prosperity and peace, without any of the oppressions or disorders that afflicted them in early times.
9, 10. at the beginning, and since the time that I commanded judges—that is, including the whole period from Joshua to Saul.
I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house—This was the language of Nathan himself, who was specially directed to assure David, not only of personal blessing and prosperity, but of a continuous line of royal descendants.
11. I will raise up thy seed—(See on 2Sa 7:12).
13. I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee—My procedure in dealing with him will be different from My disposal of Saul. Should his misconduct call for personal chastisement, I shall spare his family. If I see it necessary to withdraw My favor and help for a time, it will be a corrective discipline only to reform and restore, not to destroy. (On this passage some have founded an argument for Solomon's repentance and return to God).
14. I will settle him in my house—over My people Israel.
and in my kingdom for ever—God here asserts His right of supreme sovereignty in Israel. David and Solomon, with their successors, were only the vicegerents whom He nominated, or, in His providence, permitted.
his throne shall be established for evermore—The posterity of David inherited the throne in a long succession—but not always. In such a connection as this, the phrase "for evermore" is employed in a restricted sense (see on La 3:31). We naturally expect the prophet to revert to David before concluding, after having spoken (1Ch 17:12) of the building of Solomon's temple. The promise that his house should be blessed was intended as a compensation for the disappointment of his wish to build the temple, and hence this assurance is appropriately repeated at the conclusion of the prophet's address [Bertheau].
15. According to all … this vision—The revelation of the divine will was made to the prophet in a dream.
16. David the king … sat before the Lord, and said—(See on 2Sa 7:18).