1Ch 17:1 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter God speaks to David ( ) and David speaks to God ( ). God now speaks to us through His Word and we may speak to Him in prayer in response. This chapter is the heart of the first book of the Chronicles and deals with the continuing importance of the person and the work of David in connection with “the ark of the covenant of the LORD” ( ), the full name of the ark. This chapter is about three houses: 1. the house that David built ( ), 2. the house to be built for God ( ) and 3. the spiritual house of David, the lineage that runs to Christ ( ). David’s life is reaching a new stage here. Earlier he went to his own house to bless it ( ). Now he gets spiritual exercises about God’s house. Exercises about God’s house take place in one’s own house, your own living environment. If there are no such exercises at home, they are not there in God’s house. But he who only has an eye and time for his own house, has no time to care for God’s house ( ). Whosoever is content to remain in the door of his own tent shall not go out to the tent of God ( ). Those who do not know to manage their own household cannot take care of the church of God either ( ). The one cannot be seen apart from the other. When David is at rest in his house, he realizes the incongruity that exists between his own dwelling place and that of the ark. Also for us the question may be: can we have satisfaction in our own prosperity, our own, often luxurious, living environment, while we have no eye for the city as a picture of the church in its daily revelation, where God dwells?

‏ 1 Chronicles 17:1

Introduction

In this chapter God speaks to David (1Chr 17:1-15) and David speaks to God (1Chr 17:16-27). God now speaks to us through His Word and we may speak to Him in prayer in response.

This chapter is the heart of the first book of the Chronicles and deals with the continuing importance of the person and the work of David in connection with “the ark of the covenant of the LORD” (1Chr 17:1), the full name of the ark.

This chapter is about three houses:

1. the house that David built (1Chr 17:1),

2. the house to be built for God (1Chr 17:4 ; 11 ; 12) and

3. the spiritual house of David, the lineage that runs to Christ (1Chr 17:16 ; 23 ; 27).

The Desire of David

David’s life is reaching a new stage here. Earlier he went to his own house to bless it (1Chr 16:43). Now he gets spiritual exercises about God’s house. Exercises about God’s house take place in one’s own house, your own living environment. If there are no such exercises at home, they are not there in God’s house.

But he who only has an eye and time for his own house, has no time to care for God’s house (Hag 1:4). Whosoever is content to remain in the door of his own tent shall not go out to the tent of God (Exo 33:7-10). Those who do not know to manage their own household cannot take care of the church of God either (1Tim 3:5). The one cannot be seen apart from the other.

When David is at rest in his house, he realizes the incongruity that exists between his own dwelling place and that of the ark. Also for us the question may be: can we have satisfaction in our own prosperity, our own, often luxurious, living environment, while we have no eye for the city as a picture of the church in its daily revelation, where God dwells?