I. DAVID'S PIOUS EMPLOYMENT OF HIS LEISURE. He had long been like a pursued mountain-bird. And when Saul could pursue him no more, when he had come to the crown of Judah, it was an assailed crown. But at last there was rest for David. No tent of the warrior. It is "his house" he is in, his new mansion, his cedar palace. Therein he "sat." He has leisure. How does he use it? Seeking some excitement of pleasure wherein to escape the oppression of self-consecration; the unwelcome voice of clamorous duty? When he went forth to conflict he said, "The battle is the Lord's." And now he felt, "My leisure is the Lord's." So as he sits in his beautiful mansion, the palace which the Tyrian builders had built, he was comparing its elegance and splendour with the meanness of the tabernacle in which he had placed the ark. The comparison pained him. He will build a temple for the Lord. With such thoughts as these he occupied his leisure. Leisure! It is the very thing that some seem never to get, and others getting, seek to escape. With some life is a long, seldom-pausing battle with want. With others, when the respite comes, they are eager soon, having no mental or spiritual resources, to get back again into the familiar toil wherein they find the only life they care to live. Few and brief may be our opportunities of leisure. All the more reason that they should be for our highest refreshing and renewing by being dedicated to God. How a man spends his leisure will tell much of the man. David's employment of his speaks well for him.

II. GOD SHOULD BE HONOURED WITH OUR SUBSTANCE. David felt God to be worthy of the best. He desired to build Him a house. The largest liberality would be only poor acknowledgment, a slight expression of his affection. David had built a palace. He was not wrong in this. Comely symbols these of kingly power. Let the rich and great dwell in stately houses. Let the owners of wealth possess what only the wealthy can buy. As David did more for himself, he desired to do more for Him to whom he owed his all. That should be the rule of our conduct. Do our riches increase? There should be a proportionate increase of what we dedicate to God. A matter, this, little considered by many.

III. GOOD WISHES ARE NEVER LOST. David told Nathan the prophet his desire to rear a temple for the Lord. We are not surprised to find that the prophet, with prompt approbation, encouraged the king to the great undertaking. The work was good, but was David the man to undertake it? To Nathan at night came a Divine intimation that he was not. To war's rough, sad business he was Divinely bidden. But because of its connection with its inevitable horrors he was bidden back from the pious enterprise on which his sublime and earnest ambition was set. What a verdict is thus passed upon war! What then? Does David's pious intention count for nothing? It counts for much. Beside which he had his own important special work to do, to give his people rest from their foes and consolidate the kingdom of Israel. His good wish had not been in vain. He was forbidden to build the temple, but God would build him a family, and the world's needed glorious Deliverer was to be the "offspring of David." A greater honour than he sought came to him. God was pleased with his pious wish, and fulfilled it in a nobler way. Think not little, then, of good intentions that are hindered from becoming more than intentions. You may have desired to do some larger work for God; you may have intended to consecrate your whole life to some holy ministry — to the ministry of the Gospel in this land or far hence among the heathen; but you were hindered. In circumstances God said, "No, not in this way; in some other"; and, perhaps, you look back and say, "My life is so unlike what I had hoped. I drew the consecrated plan, and God's viewless, but undeniable, hand blotted it out. My wish was all in vain." No, say not that. The desire was good. It will be fulfilled; if not here, yet in higher service than otherwise had been yours — in that bright and holy city beyond death. Cherish large and holy desires. Precious seeds, you may be unable to sow them in any human heart, in any field of earth; but heaven shall receive them. There they shall come to richest harvest. You shall find them again — not baffled and scattered, as here, but in noblest service, in heaven's eternal praise. David was not to build the temple. But he knew it was to be built. The honour was reserved for his son. "He," said God, "shall build an house for My name." If hindered from an undertaking ourselves let us remember that our prayers and effort may help another to do it.

(G. T. Coster.)

     5467   promises, divine

1 Chronicles 17:7-14

     5366   king

1 Chronicles 17:9-10

     5339   home

1 Chronicles 17:10-14

     5089   David, significance

The Promise in 2 Samuel, Chap. vii.
The Messianic prophecy, as we have seen, began at a time long anterior to that of David. Even in Genesis, we perceived [Pg 131] it, increasing more and more in distinctness. There is at first only the general promise that the seed of the woman should obtain the victory over the kingdom of the evil one;--then, that the salvation should come through the descendants of Shem;--then, from among them Abraham is marked out,--of his sons, Isaac,--from among his sons, Jacob,--and from among the twelve sons …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Cavils of the Pharisees Concerning Purification, and the Teaching of the Lord Concerning Purity - the Traditions Concerning Hand-Washing' and Vows. '
As we follow the narrative, confirmatory evidence of what had preceded springs up at almost every step. It is quite in accordance with the abrupt departure of Jesus from Capernaum, and its motives, that when, so far from finding rest and privacy at Bethsaida (east of the Jordan), a greater multitude than ever had there gathered around Him, which would fain have proclaimed Him King, He resolved on immediate return to the western shore, with the view of seeking a quieter retreat, even though it were …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Divine Jesus.
Jehovah-Jesus: John 1:1-18. the intimacy of John, John 13:23. 19:26. 20:2. 21:7, 20. "with Jesus," John 18:15.--John writes of Jesus--- when he wrote--getting the range--his literary style--the beginning--the Word--this was Jesus--the tragic tone. God's Spokesman: the Creator was Jehovah--- Jehovah is Jesus--the Spokesman--Old Testament revelations, Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the elders of Israel, Isaiah, Ezekiel,--Whom these saw--various ways of speaking--John's Gospel …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament