seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Chronicles 29:10 David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,
“Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 15 We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 16 Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 18 Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. 19 And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”
20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the Lord and the king.
“Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 15 We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 16 Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 18 Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. 19 And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”
20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the Lord and the king.
I got the title and this commentary from biblestudytools.com.
16. all this store that we have prepared--It may be useful to exhibit a tabular view of the treasure laid up and contributions stated by the historian as already made towards the erection of the proposed temple. Omitting the brass and iron, and precious stones, which, though specified partly ( 1 Chronicles 29:7 ), are represented in other portions as "without weight" ( 1 Chronicles 22:3 1 Chronicles 22:14 ), we shall give in this table only the amount of gold and silver. Taking the talent of gold as worth approximately $25,000 and the talent of silver as $1,700, we arrive at the following amounts of contributions:
Sum accumulated and in public treasury ( 1 Chronicles 22:14 ):
Gold $2,500,000,000
Silver 1,700,000,000
Contributed by David personally ( 1 Chronicles 29:4 ):
Gold 82,000,000
Silver 12,000,000
Contributed by assembled rulers ( 1 Chronicles 29:7 ):
Gold 125,000,000
Silver 17,000,000
A grand total of approximately $4,436,000,000.
Though it has been the common practice of Eastern monarchs to hoard vast sums for the accomplishment of any contemplated project, this amount so far exceeds not only every Oriental collection on record, but even the bounds of probability, that it is very generally allowed that either there is a corruption of the text in 1 Chronicles 22:14 , or that the reckoning of the historian was by the Babylonian, which was only a half, or the Syrian, which was only a fifth part, of the Hebrew talent. This would bring the Scripture account more into accordance with the statements of JOSEPHUS, as well as within the range of credibility.
Sum accumulated and in public treasury ( 1 Chronicles 22:14 ):
Gold $2,500,000,000
Silver 1,700,000,000
Contributed by David personally ( 1 Chronicles 29:4 ):
Gold 82,000,000
Silver 12,000,000
Contributed by assembled rulers ( 1 Chronicles 29:7 ):
Gold 125,000,000
Silver 17,000,000
A grand total of approximately $4,436,000,000.
Though it has been the common practice of Eastern monarchs to hoard vast sums for the accomplishment of any contemplated project, this amount so far exceeds not only every Oriental collection on record, but even the bounds of probability, that it is very generally allowed that either there is a corruption of the text in 1 Chronicles 22:14 , or that the reckoning of the historian was by the Babylonian, which was only a half, or the Syrian, which was only a fifth part, of the Hebrew talent. This would bring the Scripture account more into accordance with the statements of JOSEPHUS, as well as within the range of credibility.
Let me say.... David went a long way from being a shepherd in the field to gathering over $4 Billion in materials for a Temple.
Up until this morning... this Temple project seemed to be all David's idea. David asked God to let him build a Temple... but God told him no. So... when David started collecting every single piece along with the construction rosters and the Temple rosters.... I figured he was pushing the "You will not build" statement a little too close. I mean he had all the parts all ready to be assembled.
I truly, until this morning, thought David was thumbing his nose at God. I figured David was doing what David wanted while testing the boundary of collect/build. BUT... the massive quantities of donations is nothing short of miraculous, which indicates God's involvement. Apparently God was ok with letting David build an erector set and Solomon do the actually erection of the Temple.
