Leaving a legacy - Living a legacy

1 Chronicles 28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the commanders of the divisions that served the king, and the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds, and the overseers of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, with the officials and the mighty men, even all the valiant men. ² Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it. ³ But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’ ⁴ Yet, the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For He has chosen Judah to be a leader; and in the house of Judah, my father’s house, and among the sons of my father He took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. ⁵ Of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons), He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. ⁶ He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him. ⁷ I will establish his kingdom forever if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as is done now.’ ⁸ So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek after all the commandments of the Lord your God so that you may possess the good land and bequeath it to your sons after you forever.

⁹ “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. ¹⁰ Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be courageous and act.”

¹¹ Then David gave to his son Solomon the plan of the porch of the temple, its buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms and the room for the mercy seat; ¹² and the plan of all that he had in mind, for the courts of the house of the Lord, and for all the surrounding rooms, for the storehouses of the house of God and for the storehouses of the dedicated things; ¹³ also for the divisions of the priests and the Levites and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord and for all the utensils of service in the house of the Lord; ¹⁴ for the golden utensils, the weight of gold for all utensils for every kind of service; for the silver utensils, the weight of silver for all utensils for every kind of service; ¹⁵ and the weight of gold for the golden lampstands and their golden lamps, with the weight of each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for the silver lampstands, with the weight of each lampstand and its lamps according to the use of each lampstand; ¹⁶ and the gold by weight for the tables of showbread, for each table; and silver for the silver tables; ¹⁷ and the forks, the basins, and the pitchers of pure gold; and for the golden bowls with the weight for each bowl; and for the silver bowls with the weight for each bowl; ¹⁸ and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the model of the chariot, even the cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

¹⁹ “All this,” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern.”

²⁰ Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. ²¹ Now behold, there are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God, and every willing man of any skill will be with you in all the work for all kinds of service. The officials also and all the people will be entirely at your command.”

In today’s text David says:  I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it. But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’      David is known as both a great warrior and a worshipper. Even though the battles and the wars he fought were fought on behalf of the Lord, God Himself both sanctioned them and fought for David and the armies of Israel, being a man of bloodshed disqualified David from being the one to build the temple. It was Solomon, David’s son, who God chose to be the one to build the temple. David says:  Of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons), He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts.    It is in some ways ironic that Solomon would be the one who was chosen, chosen not only to build the temple, but God said:   I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him. I will establish his kingdom forever if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as is done now.’     It is ironic that Solomon was chosen by God because he was the son born to David by Bathsheba, the woman with whom David had an adulterous relationship. David was actually responsible for the death of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. Of all the blood David had shed in his lifetime, perhaps the blood of Uriah is what disqualified him from building the temple. Still even in his greatest failure, the heart of David was still toward God.

In 2 Samuel 12:11-14, David was given the consequences of his sin regarding Bathsheba and Uriah. God said:   ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.”    That story continues:  Then the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm!” But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped.        David didn’t blame God for the consequences of his sin. Instead, he repented and he worshipped God. It was out of David’s heart of worship and repentance that Solomon was born. The story in 2 Samuel continues:   Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him.

Solomon, born of the union of David and Bathsheba, was loved by God. He was chosen by God to be His son, to be the one who would build the temple and to be the one whose kingdom would be established forever. Solomon is one of the many examples of God’s heart of redemption and restoration we see in scripture. The genealogy of Jesus is traced through Solomon’s line. The very one who redeems, the very one who reigns and rules forever, whose kingdom is without end came through the line of Solomon. Solomon was indeed born of a relationship which started in sin, but he was born not of the sin of David, but rather of David’s repentance and his heart of worship. In today’s text it says:   David gave to his son Solomon the plan of the porch of the temple, its buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms and the room for the mercy seat…  David gave Solomon both the plans for the construction of the temple and all that he need to build it. David prepared his son Solomon to succeed and to exceed even what he himself had accomplished. That is the legacy David left for Solomon. Few if any of us, as parents, have the resources to give to our children to guarantee their success, as David did. Yet the greatest thing David gave to Solomon was not the legacy of his wealth, it was the legacy of being a worshipper of God. David said: “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever…   “Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”   We too, whether we have much or little, can give our children the greatest legacy there is. We can teach them to be worshippers of God. We can show them by our own example that regardless of the circumstances and the consequences of our lives, God is a God of redemption and restoration. Through lives of worship, we too, can leave our children a legacy of being chosen by God as His sons and daughters.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for the story of redemption and restoration which runs through Your word from Genesis to Revelation. Thank You that through Christ I am redeemed, restored and reconciled to You. Thank You for choosing me as Your child. May the temple I build, my life, be an example to those who come after me, may I live and leave a legacy like David. May I be known as a worshipper of God.   Amen.