1 Chronicles 28:2

2 Then King David rose to his feet and said: "Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for building.

1 Chronicles 28:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 28:2

Then David the king stood up upon his feet
Rose from the bed or couch on which he lay, as Kimchi thinks, being somewhat recovered of his paralytic disorder, and being willing to exert himself on this occasion; or he rose up from the seat or throne, on which he before sat, in honour to this august assembly before him, and that he might be the more easily heard; for which reason we are told F18 it was a custom with the ancients even for kings to stand up when they had a number of people about them they spoke to; and if anyone sat it was reckoned a new and strange thing; so Agamemnon, when wounded, did not speak sitting, until he had made an excuse for it:

and said, hear me, my brethren, and my people;
having something of moment and importance to say unto them, and which required their diligent attention; and though they were his subjects, he calls them his brethren, being of the same nation and religion, and to show his modesty and humility; in which he was a type of Christ, the King of kings, see ( Hebrews 2:11 )

as for me, I had it in my heart to build an house of rest for the ark
of the covenant of the Lord;
where it might abide, and not be removed from place to place; the same he had told Solomon, ( 1 Chronicles 22:7 )

and for the footstool of our God;
or "even for it", for the ark is meant, which is so called, ( Psalms 99:5 ) ( Psalms 132:7 Psalms 132:8 ) for as the Lord sat between the cherubim over the mercy seat, the lid of the ark, it was, speaking after the manner of men, a footstool to him:

and had made ready for the building;
prepared materials for it; see ( 1 Chronicles 22:4 1 Chronicles 22:14-16 ) ( 29:2-5 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Eustathius in Homer. Iliald. 1. p. 46. Vid, Iliad. 19. ver. 77, 79.

1 Chronicles 28:2 In-Context

1 David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of the thousands, the commanders of the hundreds, the stewards of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty warriors, and all the warriors.
2 Then King David rose to his feet and said: "Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for building.
3 But God said to me, "You shall not build a house for my name, for you are a warrior and have shed blood.'
4 Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my ancestral house to be king over Israel forever; for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father's house, and among my father's sons he took delight in making me king over all Israel.
5 And of all my sons, for the Lord has given me many, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.