1Ch 22:6-16 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 6 Solomon - is young and tender - He is as yet without complete knowledge and due experience; and it is necessary that I should make as much preparation for the work as I possibly can; especially as the house is to be exceedingly magnificent.

1 Chronicles 22:6-16

Verse 6

Solomon - is young and tender - He is as yet without complete knowledge and due experience; and it is necessary that I should make as much preparation for the work as I possibly can; especially as the house is to be exceedingly magnificent. Verse 8

Thou hast shed blood abundantly - Heathens, Jews, and Christians, have all agreed that soldiers of any kind should have nothing to do with Divine offices. Shedding of human blood but ill comports with the benevolence of God or the spirit of the Gospel.

Aeneas, overpowered by his enemies, while fighting for his parents, his family, and his country, finding farther resistance hopeless, endeavors to carry off his aged father, his wife, young son, and his household gods; but as he was just come from slaughter, he would not even handle these objects of superstition, but confided them to his father, whom he took on his shoulders, and carried out of the burning of Troy.

Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu, patriosque penates:

Me bello tanto digressum, et caede recenti,

Attrectare nefas; donec me flumine vivo Abluero.

Aen. ii., ver. 717. "Our country gods, our relics, and the bands,

Hold you, my father, in your guiltless hands:

In me 'tis impious holy things to bear,

Red as I am with slaughter, new from war;

Till, in some living stream, I cleanse the guilt

Of dire debate, and blood in battle spilt."

Dryden.

See the note at the end of 2Sam 7:25 (note). Verse 9

His name shall be Solomon - שלמה Shelomoh, from שלם shalam, he was peaceable; and therefore, says the Lord, alluding to the name, I will give Peace, שלום Shalom, in his days. Verse 14

In my trouble I have prepared - Notwithstanding ail the wars in which I have been engaged, all the treacheries with which I have been surrounded, all the domestic troubles with which I have been overwhelmed, I never lost sight of this great object, the building of a house for God, that his worship might be established in the land. I have curtailed my expenses, and have lived in comparative poverty that I might save all I possibly could for this building.

A hundred thousand talents of gold - A talent of gold weighed three thousand shekels, and was worth five thousand and seventy-five pounds, fifteen shillings, and seven pence half-penny. One hundred thousand such talents would therefore amount to five hundred and seven millions, five hundred and seventy-eight thousand, one hundred and twenty-five pounds sterling. These sums are variously computed by several writers.

A thousand thousand talents of silver - A talent of silver weighed three thousand shekels, and was worth three hundred and fifty-three pounds, eleven shillings, and ten pence. A thousand thousand, or a million, of such talents would amount to the immense sum of three hundred and fifty-three millions, five hundred and ninety-one thousand, six hundred and sixty-six pounds, thirteen shillings, and four pence, sterling; both sums amounting to eight hundred and sixty-one millions, one hundred and sixty-nine thousand, seven hundred and ninety-one pounds, thirteen shillings, and four pence.

Thou mayest add thereto - Save as I have saved, out of the revenues of the state, and thou mayest also add something for the erection and splendor of this house. This was a gentle though pointed hint, which was not lost on Solomon.