1 Crónicas 17:5-15

5 Porque no he habitado en casa alguna desde el día que saqué á los hijos de Israel hasta hoy; antes estuve de tienda en tienda, y de tabernáculo en tabernáculo.

6 En todo cuanto anduve con todo Israel ¿hablé una palabra á alguno de los jueces de Israel, á los cuales mandé que apacentasen mi pueblo, para decirles: Por qué no me edificáis una casa de cedro?

7 Por tanto, ahora dirás á mi siervo David: Así dijo Jehová de los ejércitos: Yo te tomé de la majada, de detrás del ganado, para que fueses príncipe sobre mi pueblo Israel;

8 Y he sido contigo en todo cuanto has andado, y he talado á todos tus enemigos de delante de ti, y hete hecho grande nombre, como el nombre de los grandes que son en la tiera.

9 Asimismo he dispuesto lugar á mi pueblo Israel, y lo he plantado para que habite por sí, y que no sea más conmovido: ni los hijos de iniquidad lo consumirán más, como antes,

10 Y desde el tiempo que puse los jueces sobre mi pueblo Israel; mas humilllaré á todos tus enemigos. Hágote además saber que Jehová te ha de edificar casa.

11 Y será que, cuando tus días fueren cumplidos para irte con tus padres, levantaré tu simiente después de ti, la cual será de tus hijos, y afirmaré su reino.

12 El me edificará casa, y yo confirmaré su trono eternalmente.

13 Yo le seré por padre, y él me será por hijo: y no quitaré de él mi misericordia, como la quité de aquel que fué antes de ti;

14 Mas yo lo confirmaré en mi casa y en mi reino eternalmente; y su trono será firme para siempre.

15 Conforme á todas estas palabras, y conforme á toda esta visión, así habló Nathán á David.

1 Crónicas 17:5-15 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