And David blessed Jehovah in the sight of all the congregation; and David said, Blessed be thou, Jehovah, the God of our father Israel, for ever and ever.
The chapter has just described the people offering willingly and rejoicing. David's blessing comes from a heart moved more by God's glory than by anything that ever happened to him.
So we see how grace draws out grace, and how much deeper David's joy was over God's glory than over anything of his own. We never hear of anything like such an expression of joy over what happened to himself. "Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly." It is the king now, not the priest.
The title David uses is not a general one. Israel was the new name given to Jacob, and the God addressed here is the God who met him and made him promises.
Then (vv. 10-19) David blesses the Lord. He blesses Him as the God who at Bethel had made promises to Jacob, calling him Israel (v. 10). This is the God who had said to him: "I am the Almighty God: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of you; and kings shall come out of your loins" (Gen. 35:11).
David does not bless God out of thin air. He gathered this knowledge over a lifetime, and it spread to everyone listening.
David was a reverential worshipper of the God whom he knew so well. He had proved his God through the varied experiences of life. He wrote his psalms under various trials and pressures. Through them he learned a great deal about the majesty, greatness and loving-kindness of his God... When David had finished blessing God, he urged the congregation to follow his example. They did so willingly. How true the saying, "Example is better than precept."
The same writer applies this to worship today. It is not about imitating one another, but about reverence and sincerity, with no easy phrases that mean nothing.
Blessing God has an effect on the one doing it. As David names what belongs to the Lord, he ends up asking who he is.
"Who am I?" What a question! David was nothing, and God was all and in all. If he had ever entertained the thought that he could offer anything to God, he entertained it no longer. It was all the Lord's, and He, in His grace, had allowed them to offer it all. Man can never make God his debtor, though he is always trying to.
This is the same king who once counted his fighting men out of pride. One writer sets the two scenes side by side:
David, in the presence of all the assembly, blesses the Lord, ascribing all his glory to God. He and the people were only strangers and passing travellers, as all their fathers were... How beautiful and acceptable to God is this low place of humility and thanksgiving — the only right place! How different it is from the boastful human spirit that led him to count Israel (1 Chron. 21)!
David blesses God "forever and ever" — far beyond his own remaining days. The same writer looks past that assembly to a far larger gathering.
This was a feast of the Lord, and it anticipated a greater feast and a greater congregation. Then the Son of David will say, "My praise shall be of You in the great congregation" (Ps. 22:25). Not many people at that time may have been able to rejoice in what it pointed to. Even so, it does point forward to a future feast — one that later rebellion and shame will never overshadow.
- Grace starts it. David's blessing is not manufactured. Grace received draws out grace given back. His joy over God's glory runs deeper than joy over his own success.
- Grace names Him. He blesses the God of Israel our father — the God who met Jacob at Bethel and promised him a nation and kings.
- Grace is learned. David learned this praise through a lifetime of trials and pressures. It did not come from a moment of enthusiasm.
- Grace empties. The more David blesses, the smaller he gets: "Who am I?" — the opposite of the pride that once counted his army.
- Grace spreads. He blesses God in front of the whole assembly, and they follow willingly. One writer sees that gathering as a picture of a greater congregation still to come.
Thine, Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the splendour, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is thine thine, Jehovah, is the kingdom, and thou art exalted as Head above all;
David is at the end of his life, and he has gathered gold, silver, bronze and stone for a temple he will never build. The leaders of Israel gave with him, and now the old king turns from that pile of treasure and blesses God in front of the whole assembly.
This praise is not routine. It comes from a king, and what moves him is not his own success.
So we see how grace draws out grace, and how much deeper David's joy was over God's glory than over anything of his own. We never hear anything like this expression of joy over what happened to him personally. "Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly." It is the king now, not the priest.
David names five things: greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty. He hands every one of them back to God. That is not modesty. It matches the way God works.
It is a moment of great joy and importance for believers. It comes when we see that everything God does aims to secure His own glory. This right belongs to no one else. He is the "Father of glory" — every ray of true glory has its source in Himself. He is the "God of glory" — in His sovereignty He has the undisputed right to administer it.
Everything in heaven and earth is God's. So the huge offering David has just made was never his own. He only hands back what he first received.
Abram paid him tithes. That was the homage a subject owes a king. Tithes mean the person who receives them has a right to the whole. In the same way, God has the right to all that we have. Yet He graciously accepts what we give Him. With a thankful heart King David exclaimed, "For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you" (1 Chron. 29:14). One hundred per cent comes from Him, even if we give Him a tenth.
The verse ends by calling God "head above all." That title gathers up everything the song has just named.
This remarkable song of praise shows what the Spirit of God links with the position of headship. The list is greatness, glory, majesty, riches, might, power and splendour. These things belong to God as Head above all. They show us what God is — supremely and infinitely above everything He has created. But these same things also wonderfully describe what belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ in the headship God has given Him.
The list here says "splendour." Older translations use that word where the ESV has "victory."
Commentators carry that title forward. In the New Testament it belongs to Christ, who holds first place.
He is pre-eminent! He both made and sustains all… An earthly, visible head is much more to man's taste, but Christ is Head of the Church. In Ephesians He is Head over all things to the Church… Headship is a wonderful theme. He is head of every man, head of the nations, cornerstone, head of all rule and authority, head over all things. He is the head. Gladly we say, "and you are exalted as head above all." He is pre-eminent.
David says the kingdom is God's while standing in a kingdom of his own. Faith says it now; the world will say it later.
To Him alone belong the kingdom, and the glory, and the power (Dan. 2:44; 1 Chron. 29:11). For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Faith delights to own this truth. Now and then humbled human pride has even been forced to admit it (Dan. 4:37). Soon it will be the homage of all the kingdoms of this world (Rev. 11:15).
- Grace starts it. David's praise is grace answering grace — his joy over God's glory runs deeper than any joy over his own reign.
- Glory returns. David names greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty only to hand them all back. God alone holds the right to His own glory.
- Giving is returning. Heaven and earth are already His. Every gift is one hundred per cent His before it is ours, and He graciously accepts what we hand back.
- Headship gathers all. "Head above all" gathers the whole list: greatness, glory, majesty, riches, might, power, splendour. The same list describes the headship God has given Christ.
- The world will follow. What faith owns today, the kingdoms of this world will own out loud one day.
and riches and glory are of thee, and thou rulest over everything; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make all great and strong.
Near the end of his life, David stands before the whole assembly. He has prepared great wealth for the temple. Yet he does not point to what he has done. He traces it all back to God.
David's joy here is not in what he has given. One writer shows what God's blessing does to the person who receives it:
Here we see how grace draws out grace, and how much deeper David's joy was over God's glory than over anything of his own. We never hear him speak such joy over anything that happened to himself… "But who am I?" he says. Nothing makes a person so humble, so aware of his own nothingness, as the rich blessing of the LORD.
Each clause hands something back to God: wealth, standing, rule, strength. One writer sets out the chain of reasons David gives, showing why each item belongs where he puts it:
Then he celebrates His greatness, His strength, His glory, His splendour and His majesty. He does so because all things in heaven and on earth are from Him. The kingdom and the exaltation are His, for He is Head above all things. Riches and glory come from Him, for He rules over all things. Power and might are in His hand and He is able to make great and give strength to all.
David is not naming random attributes. He gathers them around one phrase — God exalted as head above all — and a writer points out that the same cluster is later attached to Christ:
This remarkable song of praise shows what the Spirit of God ties to the position of headship — greatness, glory, majesty, riches, might, power and splendour. These things belong to God as Head above all. They show what God is — above everything He has created, beyond all measure. Yet these same things also describe what belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ in the headship God has given Him.
If it is in God's hand "to make great and to give strength," then a strong man is a man carrying borrowed strength. David's own life shows both the danger and the right use of it:
God had gifted David with great physical power and David held nothing back in his service for God. He would not be so foolish as to claim for himself the power to prepare for the temple. He would remember what Moses said: "You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth" (Deuteronomy 8:18). … Power aimed the wrong way can destroy. Power directed by a good purpose can achieve noble things… His purpose guided him in the use of his power.
David learned this praise in hard places. One writer links it to what he had proved of God, and to the effect it had on those listening:
David had proved his God through the varied experiences of life. He wrote his psalms under trials and pressures. Through them he learned a great deal about the majesty, greatness and loving-kindness of his God. His outburst of praise shows how much he had taken in a knowledge of God… When David had finished blessing God he urged the congregation to follow his example, and they willingly did. … In our worship there should be no easy phrases that roll off the tongue but lack sincerity or depth.
- Source — riches and honour come from God, not from us. He rules over everything (Rossier).
- Hand — power and might are in His hand. He makes people great and gives strength to all (Rossier). So every strong person carries borrowed strength.
- Reach — greatness, glory, majesty, riches, might, power and splendour mark God as Head above all. The same list describes what belongs to Christ in the headship God has given Him (An Outline of Sound Words).
- Use — power aimed the wrong way destroys. Power aimed at God's house builds. David refused to credit himself for what he had prepared (Truth & Testimony).
- Return — the richer God's blessing, the smaller the blessed man feels. David's deepest joy was in God's glory, not his own. His example carried the whole congregation with him (Kelly; Truth & Testimony).
And now, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
These words close a prayer David prayed in front of the whole congregation of Israel. The people had just given willingly for the building of God's house — so what is left to say when the gift came from God's hand first?
David's thanks come after the giving, not before it. One writer shows where his joy landed, and what that did to him.
So we see how grace draws out grace, and how much deeper David's joy was over God's glory than over anything of his own. We never hear of anything like such an expression of joy for what happened to himself... "But who am I?" he says. Nothing produces so much humility, such a true sense of nothingness, as the rich blessing of the Lord.
The verses just before this one spell out what that name holds. One writer walks through the list, and finds the same things in Christ.
This remarkable song of praise shows what the Spirit of God links with the position of headship: greatness, glory, majesty, riches, might, power and splendour. These things belong to God as Head above all. They bring before us what God is, supremely and infinitely above everything He has created. But these same things also describe, in a wonderful way, what belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ in the position of headship that God has given to Him.
What the people gave was already God's before they gave it. That makes thanks the only honest response.
When the people offered willingly to build the house, David gave thanks and acknowledged how fitting and right it was: "For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you." Here is the lesson taught in the tithes. But it goes beyond the mere rule there, in willing devotedness.
That does not stop God from taking what we bring. It only settles who gets the credit.
The Lord will graciously take from those who are taught to say, "Of your own have we given you," but eternity will declare God to be the great first Giver.
These words come from a man who had tested God for a lifetime. What he said also moved the congregation.
David had proved his God through the varied experiences of life. He wrote his psalms under many trials and pressures. Through them he learned a great deal about the majesty, greatness and loving-kindness of his God. His outburst of praise to God shows how deeply he had taken in a knowledge of God... When David had finished blessing God, he urged the congregation to follow his example. They did so willingly.
The same writer applies this to us. Worship should have real substance. It should not be phrases that "roll easily off the tongue but lack sincerity or depth."
So what can anyone actually give back to God? One writer answers that, and names the one thing that makes the offering possible.
People would gladly make God a receiver instead of a giver. But this cannot be. "It is more blessed to give than to receive," and God must have the more blessed place... God can accept the smallest gift from a heart that has learned the deep truth in those words, "Of your own have we given you"... Praise is all that we can offer to God. But we can only offer it in the full and clear knowledge that our sins are all put away. And we can only know that by faith in the value of an accomplished atonement.
- Given. Everything David and the people gave for God's house had come from His hand first. Giving a tenth or a fortune changes nothing about who owns it all.
- Named. David praises God's glorious name: greatness, glory, majesty, riches, might, power and splendour. One writer sees the same things belonging to Christ as Head.
- Humbled. God's rich blessing is what drew out David's "who am I?" Grace drew out grace. His joy rested on God's glory, not on his own record.
- Learned. This praise came from a lifetime of proving God under pressure. That is why it had substance, and not just fine phrases.
- Returned. Thanks and praise are what we can bring to God, the first giver of everything. Those who know their sins are put away can offer them freely.
But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer willingly after this manner? for all is of thee, and of that which is from thy hand have we given thee.
David has just gathered a huge store of treasure for the temple. Israel's leaders gave freely alongside him. Then, in his prayer, David hands the whole pile back to God instead of taking any credit.
The verse is not modesty. It is a statement about ownership: God has a claim on everything, and what we hand over was already His. One writer draws this out from the older practice of the tithe.
Tithes mean that the one who receives them has a right to the whole, just as God has a right to all that we have. Yet He graciously accepts what we give Him. King David, with a thankful heart, cried out, "For ALL things come from you, and of your own have we given you" (1 Chron. 29:14). One hundred per cent comes from Him, even if we give Him a tenth.
David's question opens the verse. Once he knew whose the gold was, the thought of putting God in his debt collapsed.
"Who am I?" What a question! David was nothing, and God was all and in all. If he had ever held the thought that he could offer anything to God, he held it no longer. It was all the Lord's, and He, in His grace, had allowed them to offer it all. Man can never make God his debtor, though he is always trying to… God must be the giver, man the receiver. "Who," says the apostle, "has first given to Him?"
The same writer carries this past David's day. Eternity settles who the real Giver is, for a king and for a guilty sinner alike.
The Lord will graciously take from those who are taught to say, "Of your own have we given you." But eternity will declare God to be the great first Giver. What a blessing that it is so! What a blessing for the poor, guilty, broken-hearted sinner to see in God the giver of all — of life, pardon, peace, holiness, everlasting glory!
If everything was already His, does the offering still matter? One writer says it does, because of the heart behind it.
The king and his people are nothing in the presence of God. All that they can willingly offer Him comes from Him, and they only give Him what they have received from His hand… All this abundance they are offering Him comes from Him, and all of it belongs to Him. Yet He takes pleasure in the uprightness of the king's heart, who willingly offers everything, and in the uprightness of the hearts of the people, who do the same.
One writer points to the attitude that ruins a gift: confidence in our own work.
We can only present something to God in the spirit of resting from our own works. Suppose we come trusting in what we have done to obtain the things we bring to Him. That is not acceptable to Him. We must remember that everything belongs to Him first, as David says, "of your own have we given you" (1 Chron. 29:14).
David's hands were full of gold. Ours hold something else.
"You received without paying; give without pay" (ver. 8). What do we have that we did not receive? "Of your own have we given you," said David… God fills our hands now with Christ, and it is Christ whom we bring to God in our worship. Nothing counts with God but Christ.
One writer sets David beside the givers in Macedonia. In each case they gave something before they gave money.
With such words ringing in our ears and in our hearts we will give generously. We owe far more than we will ever be able to give. David said, "Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you" (1 Chron. 29:14). Paul writes about the believers in Macedonia who had sent money to fellow believers in Judea: "they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us" (2 Cor. 8:5)… In all these cases God was uppermost in their minds. They gave themselves and all that they had to Him, in appreciation of His grace to them.
- Source. God has a right to the whole. A hundred per cent comes from His hand, even when we give back a tenth.
- Self. "Who am I?" ends every attempt to make God our debtor. God must be the giver, and man the receiver.
- Surrender. Only a heart at rest from its own works can give. Confidence in what we did spoils the gift.
- Substance. God fills our hands with Christ, and Christ is what we bring back to Him in worship.
- Satisfaction. All of it was already His. Still, He takes pleasure in the upright hearts that give it willingly.
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no hope [of life].
David speaks these words at the close of his reign, in front of the whole assembly of Israel. Why would a king at the high point of his life call himself a stranger with no settled home?
David made this confession when life had gone well for him, not when it had fallen apart:
Let me close with another example from the life of this saint of God (1 Chron. 29:15). It was toward the end of a long and honoured life in which God had used him greatly for the blessing of His people. It was a moment of triumph too, for the dearest object of his heart's desire was about to be accomplished. God had made known to all Israel what would come next. The privilege denied to David would be given to his son, who would build a house for the name of Jehovah. At such a moment he leads the praises of the great congregation and confesses, "For we are strangers before you and sojourners." Was that the right moment to say such a thing? Yes indeed!
This verse is one of the places where hope shows itself. Hope works in two different ways:
Hope enters the heart, so to speak, as a doctor or as a conqueror. It comes to heal in the day of sorrow and disappointment, or to take command in the day of success. You can see this in the saints before the flood, in the fathers in Genesis, in Joseph, in Israel, in Moses, and in David in 1 Chronicles 29:15 — in one form or the other.
The two words describe someone living in a country that is not his own. That position is not limited to David or to his time:
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament saints were and are strangers upon earth. David said, "I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were" (Ps. 39:12). They "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. 11:13). The same is true of the saints now (1 Peter 2:11). Their citizenship is in heaven, and this earth is no longer their home or their rest.
(Hebrews 11:13 reads "strangers and exiles on the earth" in the ESV. The other verses here are quoted from an older translation.)
David is not taking a new position; he is joining the fathers before him. What set those men apart was not that their lives were short. They said so while they still had a choice:
Those who choose to say that they are pilgrims show clearly that they have done with earth. Men are slow to admit that human life is nothing but a changing journey. They only admit it when death forces them to. They are reluctant confessors of a common lot of emptiness. But God's anointed never settled on the earth. They wandered all their days, because they knew that flesh and blood could never enter the place where they had set their hopes.
The closing phrase is not only about the length of life. Nothing a man reaches is safe either. Peter's fall shows it:
He really loved Jesus, but he feared the cross... He boasted of what he would do when he should have had no confidence in himself... Finally, he cursed and swore that he did not know this gracious Master. All this was terrible! Who could suppose that the Peter of Matthew 16:16 is the Peter of Matthew 26? Yet so it is. Man at his best is only like an autumn leaf. "There is none abiding." The highest position, the loudest profession, may all end in following Jesus far off, and in shamefully denying His name.
Something brighter has come to light since David's day:
What a contrast this life of "days" and "vanity" and "shadow" is with life eternal! That life is now given in Christ to the believer, along with the bright hope of being with Him who is its source and fullness... But all was veiled then. Now Christ has brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.
Being a stranger is not the last word for David or for God's people:
Faith refuses to rest in anything short of perfection. When the name of the city is "Jehovah-Shammah," being a stranger will give way to being a citizen. Every promise of blessing will be richly fulfilled — more than fulfilled.
- Stranger — the word means someone living in a country that is not his own. It fits the fathers, David, and believers today, whose citizenship is in heaven.
- Confessed — David says it at the height of his success, not in his ruin. Hope heals in the bad day and takes command in the good one.
- Voluntary — most people admit life is only a changing journey when death forces it out of them. Faith says it early and lives that way.
- Abiding — nothing holds, not even position or reputation. The Peter of Matthew 16 became the Peter who denied his Lord.
- Citizenship — the shadow is not the end. Christ has brought life eternal to light, and the stranger becomes a citizen with every promise more than fulfilled.
Jehovah our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee a house to thy holy name, is of thy hand, and is all thine own.
David piled up gold, silver and precious stone for a temple he would never see, then told the whole assembly that none of it had ever been his. This verse is the high point of his prayer, and it raises a hard question: is anything we hand to God really ours to give?
The giving was real and the offering was huge. But the verse traces the whole pile back one step further than the givers. That changes who the king and his people are as they stand there.
The king and his people are nothing in the presence of God. All they can willingly offer Him comes from Him. They only give Him what they have received from His hand. Before Him they are only strangers and visitors, like all their fathers: they pass on like a shadow and die. And now, all this abundance they are offering Him comes from Him and all belongs to Him. But He takes pleasure in the uprightness of the king's heart, who willingly offers everything, and in the uprightness of the hearts of the people, who do the same.
David opens his prayer by asking who he is. The answer undoes a very old human ambition: the wish to hand God something He did not supply first.
"Who am I?" What a question! David was nothing, and God was all and in all. If he had ever thought that he could offer anything to God, he thought it no longer. It was all the Lord's, and He, in His grace, had allowed them to offer it all. Man can never make God his debtor, though he is always trying to do so.
Saying the store is all God's own does not empty the offering of meaning. God still receives what we bring, though He gave it first.
The Lord will graciously take from those who are taught to say, "Of Your own have we given You." But eternity will declare God to be the great first Giver. Blessed that it should be so! What a blessing for the poor, guilty, broken-hearted sinner to see God as the giver of everything — life, pardon, peace, holiness, everlasting glory! How happy David was, near the end of his up-and-down life, to hide both himself and his offerings behind the rich abundance of divine grace!
David's son Solomon handled the same wealth in the opposite way. One writer sets the two men side by side.
David did collect immense stores of gold and other forms of wealth from his victorious campaigns. But in his case Jehovah, as identified with His temple, was the Centre; everything was gathered to Him… Then, having listed all these things, he gladly confessed, "Of Your own have we given You." This showed that he fully recognised that all belonged to God, and that he was only a steward of everything entrusted to his hand. Solomon was quite on different lines. All that he got he heaped up for his own benefit.
If the whole store is His, what does it mean to set a portion aside for Him? One writer answers from the old practice of giving a tenth.
Tithes mean that the person who receives them has a right to the whole. In the same way God has a right to all that we have, and yet He graciously accepts what we give Him. In his day King David exclaimed, out of a thankful heart, "For ALL things come of You, and of Your own have we given You" (1 Chron. 29:14). One hundred per cent comes from Him, even if we render to Him a tenth.
The same confession tests work done for God, not only money handed over. Darby traces real service back to its source.
It is not service at all if it is merely outward, unless we can say, "Of Your own we have given You." All true service must flow from communion with the source of service. It is no service if we are not drinking in Christ and aware that we are doing His will.
- Source. Every item in the temple store came from God's hand before it reached David's. The offering is a return, not a contribution.
- Place. This puts man in his true place. The king and his people are nothing before God. They pass like a shadow and give back what they received.
- Debt. No one can make God a debtor, though we keep trying. He graciously takes what we bring, but eternity will name Him the great first Giver.
- Stewardship. David held his wealth as a steward, with God's house at the centre. Solomon heaped up the same wealth for himself.
- Service. God takes pleasure in the upright heart that gives willingly. Work that cannot say "of Your own we have given You" is not service at all.
And I know, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart have I willingly offered all these things; and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, offer willingly to thee.
At the end of his life, David has prepared great wealth for building the temple, and he asks God to accept it. Yet at the peak of that giving he looks past the size of the gift to the state of the giver.
David had gathered staggering wealth. He knew that wealth alone settles nothing. One writer notes how his prayer changes direction at this point.
David is speaking to God about building the temple, and asking God to accept all the store he had prepared. He is offering untold wealth. Yet his conscience tells him that is not enough. There must be something else behind it or it will all be in vain. He seems to break off abruptly and says, "I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness" (1 Chron. 29:17). Yes, God judges everything by the state of the heart. There must be moral fitness.
The same test meets us whenever the collection box comes round. C. H. Mackintosh makes it practical.
It is well to think on this every time we are asked to give to the Lord's cause. Remember, as someone puts the box or the basket in my hand, that "Jesus is sitting opposite the treasury." His holy eye rests, not upon the purse, but upon the heart. He weighs not the amount, but the motive. If the heart is right, the amount will be right, according to His judgment.
David does not lean on his own generosity. He has already said that everything given came from God's hand first. H. L. Rossier holds the two thoughts together.
The king and his people are nothing in the presence of God. All that they can willingly offer Him comes from Him, and they only give Him what they have received from His hand. As for themselves, before Him they are only strangers and sojourners like all their fathers; they pass on like a shadow and die. And now, all this abundance they are offering Him comes from Him, and all belongs to Him. Yet He takes pleasure in the uprightness of the king's heart, who is willingly offering all things. He takes pleasure too in the uprightness of the hearts of the people, who are doing the same.
Blessing on this scale did not puff David up. William Kelly points to the effect it had on him.
"But who am I?" he says. Nothing produces so much humility, such a true sense of nothingness, as the rich blessing of the LORD.
David gave freely, and the people gave with joy. G. C. Willis links that joy to giving today.
Then the Scriptures connect our joy with our giving. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Our God is a giving God. Now He gives us the privilege and the joy of giving to Him. Though truly every one of us must say with David of old, "Of your own have we given you" (1 Chron. 29:14). "You are not your own … you were bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). All that we have to offer is really His already. It is His by creation, and His by redemption. Yet He delights to give us the joy of giving it back to Himself.
The verse ends not with David's own offering but with what he saw in the people. William Kelly notes where David's deepest joy lay.
So we see how grace draws out grace, and how much deeper David's joy was over God's glory than over anything of his own. We never hear of anything like such an expression of joy over what happened to himself.
That is why the prayer does not stop at thanksgiving. It asks God to go on holding the people's hearts in that condition.
Lastly, David asks this same God, who had made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob), to keep the hearts of His people and to direct them toward Him. He also asks Him to give Solomon a perfect heart to obey Him.
- Tested. God examines the heart behind the gift. David knew that untold wealth without uprightness counts for nothing.
- Weighed. The eye of Christ rests on the heart, not the purse — and where the heart is right, the amount will be right too.
- Received. Everything offered came from God's hand first, so the giver has nothing to boast of. Rich blessing makes a man humble, not proud.
- Willing. No one forced the gift. God hands His people the joy of giving back to Him what is already His.
- Shared. David's greatest joy was God's glory and the people's free giving. He prayed God would keep their hearts that way.
Jehovah, God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and direct their hearts to thee!
David has just watched the whole nation give willingly toward the house of God. He does not congratulate them. He turns to God and asks Him to guard what has happened inside their hearts. That raises a question: if the people's generosity was real, why does it need God to keep it?
David does not address God in general terms. He names Him by the promises made to the nation's forefathers, and his prayer looks beyond his own lifetime.
Here David again acknowledges God in two ways: by the promises made to the fathers, and by the memorial of God forever — "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers." He seeks what God will accomplish under the new covenant, and he directs the thanksgivings of the whole assembly.
David asks two things at once: that this state of heart would last, and that the people's hearts would point toward God. The same prayer then narrows to Solomon.
Lastly, David asks this same God, who had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), to keep and to direct the hearts of His people toward Him. He asks Him also to give Solomon a perfect heart to obey Him, to do all these things, and to build the temple that David had prepared for.
The giving that prompted this prayer was not the people's own achievement. God had drawn them into the work alongside David, and their readiness came from Him before it came back to Him.
God would also associate the people with David in this willing service of the day of His power... They have nothing to do with the wisdom that arranges and prepares, but God lets them share in the work. He grants them this favour, and their goodwill is acceptable to Him, and it is also the fruit of His grace.
Look at what rich blessing did in David.
So we see how grace draws out grace, and how much deeper David's joy was over God's glory than over anything of his own. We never hear of anything like such an expression of joy for what happened to himself... "But who am I?" he says — for nothing produces so much humility, such a true sense of nothingness, as the rich blessing of the LORD.
David does not tell the people to keep this up by their own effort. He asks God to do it, and his prayer shows where he thought the power lay.
Such is this magnificent prayer. It gives all glory to God alone, to God who by virtue of His counsels has made promises to His elect. It puts man in his true place before God. It expresses an absolute dependence on Him who alone can direct the hearts of His own to please Him.
Rebellion and shame followed in Israel's later history. Yet commentators read this feast as pointing past that failure to a day when God gives the very change David prays for.
This was a feast of the LORD. It looked ahead to a greater feast, and a greater congregation, when the Son of David will say, "My praise shall be of You in the great congregation" (Ps. 22:25). Not many people at the time may have been able to be glad in its prophetic light. Even so, it does point to a future feast, one that later rebellion and shame will never overshadow. For then God will give the people a new heart, He will sprinkle clean water on them, and all shall know the LORD.
David knew the God he was praying to. What he had learned of Him came out as praise, and the congregation followed.
David was a reverential worshipper of the God whom he knew so well. He had proved his God through the varied experiences of life. He wrote his psalms under many trials and pressures. Through them he learned a great deal about the majesty, greatness and loving-kindness of his God... When David had finished blessing God he urged the congregation to follow his example, and they did so willingly.
- Grace starts it. God granted the people their readiness to give. Their goodwill was the fruit of His grace before it was their offering.
- Grace keeps it. The willingness came from God. So David asks God to guard it in their hearts, instead of telling the people to hold on to it themselves.
- Grace humbles. Rich blessing produced "But who am I?" in David — joy in God's glory, not in his own part.
- Grace prays. The prayer puts man in his true place and rests wholly on the One who alone can direct hearts to please Him.
- Grace finishes it. David names God on the promises made to the fathers, and his prayer looks on to the day when God gives a new heart and all know the LORD.
And give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all, and to build the palace, for which I have made provision.
David has just praised God before the whole assembly for giving everything the temple would need. His prayer now ends with his son: he asks God to give Solomon a heart that will keep God's commandments and finish the house David has provided for.
David does not treat his son's obedience as something a father can arrange. He asks God for it. One writer sums up the whole prayer:
Such is this magnificent prayer. It gives all glory to God alone, to God who by virtue of His counsels has made promises to His elect. It puts man in his true place before God. It expresses an absolute dependence on Him who alone can direct the hearts of His own to please Him.
Where the ESV reads "a whole heart," older translations say "a perfect heart." The same phrase describes the soldiers who came to make David king:
These soldiers had a perfect heart (no other object) and a united heart (one will and motive) to make David king over all Israel.
David had already charged Solomon with this face to face, before he prayed for it:
He spoke in the tenderest words to young Solomon. "And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind… Be careful now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it" (1 Chron. 28:1-10).
David asks God for the very thing he had commanded. That is not a contradiction. It is how grace works:
This is grace, and like the ways of the Lord in grace, from the beginning. His answer meets the felt need of the soul. He creates the desire that He may satisfy it. When the heart desires that which is good, we may be sure that His grace is there. As there is nothing spiritually good in the natural heart, the first good desire, and every one after it, must come from God. So a good desire is the fruit of grace and, in a certain sense, the possession of all that is desired. It is like the first instalment of the inheritance.
The word translated "palace" can mean a king's own house. Here it names the temple:
This term stands for several Hebrew words. It may mean castle, fortress, the king's residence, or any large building… The temple built by Solomon is also called "the palace." 1 Chr. 29:1, 19.
David's words "for which I have made provision" point back to all he had gathered for a house he would not build himself. One writer reads this handover from father to son as a picture of Christ:
David, thinking of Solomon's youth, prepares everything necessary for him. Solomon was not yet strong enough to build this house, which was to be great in fame and beauty in every land. In the same way, when the true Solomon takes up His rule, He will find everything that makes up the glory of His kingdom already prepared by the true David — by Him who suffered and was rejected by His people.
David prays and leaves the answer with God. Every parent who prays stands in the same place:
For a long time both the instruction given and the prayers offered seemed fruitless and forgotten. But God can never forget. The child may, and sadly often does, but our God, blessed be His name, never can. The prayer that has been laid in faith on His table can never be covered over. It may often seem so, and our evil hearts of unbelief are too quick to fear that it is so; but faith affirms that it can never be overlooked, or unanswered.
- Ask. David treats his son's obedience as something only God can give. His prayer "expresses an absolute dependence on Him who alone can direct the hearts of His own to please Him."
- Whole. The heart he asks for is one with "no other object" and "one will and motive" — undivided, not just willing.
- Given. David asks for what he had already commanded, because God "creates the desire that He may satisfy it." Every good desire starts with Him.
- Built. The "palace" is the temple, God's own house. The heart David prays for is the heart that finishes work done for God.
- Kept. David prepared everything and left the building to his son. Parents who pray and prepare leave both with God: "the prayer that has been laid in faith on His table can never be covered over."