1 Chronicles 17:17-27

17 And this was a small thing in thy eyes, O God; thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast shown me future generations, O LORD God!

18 And what more can David say to thee for honoring thy servant? For thou knowest thy servant.

19 For thy servant's sake, O LORD, and according to thy own heart, thou hast wrought all this greatness, in making known all these great things.

20 There is none like thee, O LORD, and there is no God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

21 What other nation on earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for thyself a name for great and terrible things, in driving out nations before thy people whom thou didst redeem from Egypt?

22 And thou didst make thy people Israel to be thy people for ever; and thou, O LORD, didst become their God.

23 And now, O LORD, let the word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast spoken;

24 and thy name will be established and magnified for ever, saying, 'The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God,' and the house of thy servant David will be established before thee.

25 For thou, my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build a house for him; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray before thee.

26 And now, O LORD, thou art God, and thou hast promised this good thing to thy servant;

27 now therefore may it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for what thou, O LORD, hast blessed is blessed for ever."

1 Chronicles 17:17-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 17

This chapter contains an account of David's intention to build an house for God, which, he signified to Nathan the prophet, who first encouraged him to it; but afterwards was sent by the Lord to him with an order to desist from it, assuring him, at the same time, that his son should build it, and that his own house and kingdom should be established for ever; for which David expressed great thankfulness, the whole of which is related in 2Sa 7:1-29 with some little variation, see the notes there; only one thing has since occurred, which I would just take notice of, that here, 1Ch 17:5 as there also, it is said by the Lord, that he had "not dwelt in an house since the day he brought up Israel out of Egypt"; which seems to suggest that he had dwelt in one before, as has been hinted on 2Sa 7:6 even while the people of Israel were in Egypt, though it is nowhere mentioned by Moses, or any other writer; yet it is not unreasonable to suppose it; for as the ancestors of the Israelites, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when only travellers from place to place, built altars for God wherever they came; so their posterity, it is highly probable, not only did the same, but when they found themselves settled in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, might build places of worship; and when we consider the wealth of Joseph, and his family, and indeed of all Israel, who enjoyed for many years great plenty, prosperity, and liberty, before their servitude, the vast numbers they increased to and the long continuance of them in Egypt, more than two hundred years; it will not seem strange that they should build houses for religious worship, and even one grand and splendid for public service, to which also they might be led by the example of the Egyptians; who, as Herodotus says {i}, were the first that erected altars, images, and temples to the gods, and who in the times of Joseph had one at On, where his father-in-law officiated as priest, Ge 41:45 or rather to this they might be directed by some hints and instructions of their father Jacob before his death, who it is certain had a notion of a Bethel, an house for the public worship of God, Ge 28:17,19,22, 35:1 and I find a learned man {k} of our own nation of this opinion, and which he founds upon this passage; and he supposes the house God dwelt in, in Egypt, was not a tent of goats' hair, as in the wilderness, but a structure of stones or bricks, a firm and stable house, such an one as Abraham built at Damascus when settled there; which continued to the times of Augustus Caesar, as related by Nicholas of Damascus {l}. See 2Sa 7:1-29.

{i} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 4. {k} Dickinson. Physic. vet. & vera, c. 19. sect. 24. {l} Apud. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 1. c. 7. sect. 2. 18823-950102-2024-1Ch17.2