Bible Commentaries

1 Chronicles 29:1-30. Response to Davids Appeal for Offerings: his Thanksgiving and Death.

1 Chronicles 29:1-9. Cf. Exodus 35:4-9; Exodus 35:20-29.

1 Chronicles 29:1. the palace: the Hebrew word occurs only in the later OT books, and is mostly used in reference to a Persian palace; in Nehemiah 2:8, Daniel 8:2 it is used of the Temple as here.

1 Chronicles 29:5. to consecrate himself: lit. "to fill his hand," a technical term for instituting into the priesthood (cf. Exodus 28:41; Exodus 32:29, Leviticus 8:33*), which is used here in a wider sense. On the analogy of the parallel expression in Assyrian the "filling" referred to the office with which the candidate was endowed. From Judges 17:5; Judges 17:12, where the term first occurs, it is evident that the hand was not filled with anything in a literal sense, whatever may have been the case in later days, when the meaning of the term had been forgotten.

1 Chronicles 29:10-19. Much of this prayer and thanksgiving was probably based upon some form of prayer in the Temple Liturgy. The form as well as much of the substance is still reflected in some of the more ancient elements of the Jewish Liturgy.

1 Chronicles 29:22 b. contrast with this the history given in 1 Kings 1; the deliberateness of the Chronicler's omissions is emphasized by his knowledge of the details, there given, betrayed in 1 Chronicles 29:24, "and all the sons likewise of king David submitted themselves unto Solomon the king."

1 Chronicles 29:25. as had not been . . . in Israel: this is probably no more than a conventional phrase, since the Chronicler is not likely to have recognised any kings other than Saul and David before this time, such as Abimelech Judges 9) or Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 2:8 f.)

1 Chronicles 29:26-30. The end of David's reign.

1 Chronicles 29:27. See 1 Kings 2:11 and cf. 2 Samuel 5:4 f

1 Chronicles 29:29. the history of Samuel . . . Gad the seer: the histories (lit. "words" or "acts") of these three are spoken of as distinct sources; that they were so is possible; but they may. on the other hand, be merely sections of the large historical compilations represented by the books of Samuel and Kings, as in the case of the history of Jehu (2 Chronicles 20:34) and of the vision of Isaiah (2 Chronicles 32:32); cf. also 2 Chronicles 33:19.

1 Chronicles 29:30. all the kingdoms of the countries: cf. 2 Chronicles 12:8; 2 Chronicles 17:10; 2 Chronicles 20:29.