1Ch 29:13-25 | KD | STEP | For this we must thank God, and sing praise to His holy name. By the partic. מודים, from הודה, confess, praise, the praising of God is characterized as an enduring praise, always rising anew.

‏ 1 Chronicles 29:13-25

For this we must thank God, and sing praise to His holy name. By the partic. מודים, from הודה, confess, praise, the praising of God is characterized as an enduring praise, always rising anew. 1Ch 29:14

For man of himself can give nothing: “What am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to show ourselves so liberal?” כּוח עצר כּוח, to hold strength together; both to have power to do anything (here and 2Ch 2:5; 2Ch 22:9), and also to retain strength (2Ch 13:20; Dan 10:8, Dan 10:16; Dan 11:6), only found in Daniel and in the Chronicle. התנדּב, to show oneself willing, especially in giving. כּזאת refers to the contribution to the building of the temple (1Ch 29:3-8). From Thy hand, i.e., that which is received from Thee, have we given. 1Ch 29:15

For we are strangers (as Psa 39:13), i.e., in this connection we have no property, no enduring possession, since God had only given them the usufruct of the land; and as of the land, so also of all the property of man, it is only a gift committed to us by God in usufruct. The truth that our life is a pilgrimage (Heb 11:12-14), is presented to us by the brevity of life. As a shadow, so swiftly passing away, are our days upon the earth (cf. Job 8:9; Psa 90:9., Psa 102:12; Psa 144:4). מקוה ואין, and there is no trust, scil. in the continuance of life (cf. Jer 14:8). 1Ch 29:16

All the riches which we have prepared for the building of the temple come from the hand of God. The Keth. הוּא is neuter, the Keri הוּא corresponds to ההמון. 1Ch 29:17

Before God, who searches the heart and loves uprightness, David can declare that he has willingly given in uprightness of heart, and that the people also have, to his joy, shown equal willingness. כּל־אלּה, all the treasures enumerated (1Ch 29:3-8). The plural הנּמצאוּ refers to עמּך, and the demonstrative ה stands for אשׁר as in 1Ch 26:28. 1Ch 29:18

He prays that God may enable the people ever to retain this frame of heart. זאת is more closely defined by מח ליצר, viz., the frame of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people. “And direct their heart (the people’s heart) to Thee,” cf. 1Sa 7:3. 1Ch 29:19

And to Solomon may God give a whole (undivided) heart, that he may keep all the divine commands and do them, and build the temple. שׁלם לב as in 1Ch 29:9. הכּל לעשׂות, that he may do all, scil. that the commands, testimonies, and statutes require. For הבּירה, see 1Ch 29:1. 1Ch 29:20 Close of the public assembly. - 1Ch 29:20. At the conclusion of the prayer, David calls upon the whole assembly to praise God; which they do, bowing before God and the king, and worshipping. וישׁתּחווּ יקּדוּ, connected as in Exo 4:31; Gen 43:28, etc. 1Ch 29:21

To seal their confession, thus made in word and deed, the assembled dignitaries prepared a great sacrificial feast to the Lord on the following day. They sacrificed to the Lord sacrifices, viz., 1000 bullocks, 1000 rams, and 1000 lambs as burnt-offering, with drink-offerings to correspond, and sacrifices, i.e., thank-offerings (שׁלמים), in multitude for all Israel, i.e., so that all those present could take part in the sacrificial meal prepared from these sacrifices. While זבהים in the first clause is the general designation of the bloody offerings as distinguished from the meat-offerings, in the last clause it is restricted by the contrast with עלות and the שׁלמים, from which joyous sacrificial meals were prepared. 1Ch 29:22

On this day they made Solomon king a second time, anointing him king to the Lord, and Zadok to be priest, i.e., high priest. The שׁנית refers back to 1Ch 23:1, and the first anointing of Solomon narrated in 1Ki 1:32. ליהיה, not: before Jahve, which ל cannot signify, but: “to Jahve,” in accordance with His will expressed in His choice of Solomon (1Ch 28:4). The ל before צדוק is nota accus., as in לשׁלמה. From the last words we learn that Zadok received the high-priesthood with the consent of the estates of the kingdom. 1Ch 29:23-24 Solomon’s accession and David’s death, with a statement as to the length of his reign and the sources of the history. - 1Ch 29:23-25. The remarks on Solomon’s accession and reign contained in these verses are necessary to the complete conclusion of a history of David’s reign, for they show how David’s wishes for his son Solomon, whom Jahve chose to be his successor, were fulfilled. On יהוה על־כּסּא see the commentary on 1Ch 28:5. ויּצלח, he was prosperous, corresponds to the hope expressed by David (1Ch 22:13), which was also fulfilled by the submission of all princes and heroes, and also of all the king’s sons, to King Solomon (1Ch 29:24). There can hardly, however, be in these last words a reference to the frustrating of Adonijah’s attempted usurpation of the throne (cf. 1Ki 1:15.). תּחת יד נתן = to submit. But this meaning is not derived (Rashi) from the custom of taking oaths of fidelity by clasping of hands, for this custom cannot be certainly proved to have existed among the Israelites; still less can it have arisen from the ancient custom mentioned in Gen 24:2, Gen 24:9; Gen 47:29, of laying the hand under the thigh of the person to whom one swore in making promises with oath. The hand, as the instrument of all activity, is here simply a symbol of power. 1Ch 29:25

Jahve made Solomon very great, by giving him the glory of the kingdom, as no king before him had had it. כּל is to be taken along with לא, nullus, and does not presuppose a number of kings before Solomon; it involves only more than one. Before him, Saul, Ishbosheth, and David had been kings, and the kingship of the latter had been covered with glory.