Sunday Sermonette: All the gold on the planet

Ch. 29 is the last of 1 Chronicles, although as we know in the Tanakh it ' s one book. The division in two was made by medieval Christian monks. It ' s a logical break point however, with the death of David. The Chronicler also provides references at the end: The Book of Samuel the Seer, The Book of Nathan the Seer, and The Book of Gad the Seer. It makes sense to conclude that the first is the Book of Samuel that we know from the Deuteronomistic history, since the Chronicler has lifted from it a few times. On the other hand, although the book is named for Samuel, he actually dies about 1/3 of the way through so he can ' t be the author. (We know that the real author(s) lived some 300 years after the purported events of Samuel, in the time of King Josiah.) The books of Nathan and Gad have been lost. One of them may have been the source for this chapter. Solomon was already made king in Ch. 22, so here they make him king a second time. I ' m not sure what that means. Again, this completely skips over the more complicated story in Samuel in which the succession is contested, and Solomon was not David ' s first choice of heir.The amounts of gold and silver contributed to the Temple are utterly ridiculous. (See the footnotes.)29 Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for theLord God.2 With all my resources I have prov...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs