1 Chronicles 29:1-9  Click here for Bible Verses

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Chronicles 29:1-9.  Let’s go!

1 Chronicles 29:3 (NIV) 
 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple…

On verses 1-9:  After commissioning his son Solomon to build the temple and encouraging his top leaders in chapter 28, here in chapter 29 David addresses the whole assembly of Israelites.  He tells them of the great vision ahead of them to build a temple for the Lord.  He also tells them of the great challenges that are before them as they pursue this vision (v1).  Then David announces that he has already donated a tremendous amount toward this cause from all his own personal resources, which probably consisted of spoils that he had acquired over time as king (v2).  Now David says he is about to make an even greater personal donation (v3-5a).  This greater personal donation – which in the Hebrew means “my most personal treasure” – consisted of 3,000 talents of gold from Ophir (the most coveted gold in the region at that time) as well as 7,000 talents of refined silver.   Then he asks the entire assembly “Who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today?” (v5b), meaning “Who will give of themselves personally toward building the temple?” (In fact, the word “consecrate” in Hebrew literally means to “fill the hand”.)  In response, the leaders of Israel give willingly, freely and wholeheartedly toward the work of the temple (v6-8), collectively giving even more than David did.  This in turn causes all the people to rejoice at willing response of their leaders.  David is also pleased with their response (v9).

From this passage I learn two important lessons:

  1. When David says he is about to make a most personal donation, he uses the word  sĕgullâ, (“treasured possession”), a word that appears seven times in the Old Testament (the New American Commentary Volume 9: 1, 2 Chronicles).  In all these other times that the word sĕgullâ appears in the Old Testament, it’s when God refers to His own people as His most precious and personal treasure. (For example, see Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Psalm 135:4 and Malachi 3:17).  Just as David gave his most personal treasure to build the temple, even more so God gave His own most personal treasure to build His church – not gold and silver which He had aplenty, but His most precious one and only Son Jesus, who is worth more than all the gold in heaven and earth.  It goes to show that the church of God is built on the most personal sacrifices of all who are willing, beginning with God Himself.  All of us have a most personal treasure.  The question is: are we willing to dedicate that treasure to the Lord to serve His purposes and to build His church?  God will always make better use of the treasure we give Him than we could if we hung onto that treasure ourselves.   
  1. David sacrificed and gave much personally toward the building of the temple.  This in turn sparked a huge, wholehearted and willing response from his top officials and leaders, which in turn sparked a joyful response from all the people.  What can we learn from this?  Great leaders lead by example.  When leaders give generously and sacrificially, it can start a domino effect of further generosity and sacrificial giving from others.  Leaders, if you want to see the people you lead living with radical generosity and faith, you need to exemplify these in your own life first.

Heavenly Father, thank You for being the greatest leader who always leads by example.  Thank You for giving up Your most precious treasured possession, so that we Your church could be possible.   May we follow Your lead and give with great generosity and faith toward the building of Your church, and in so doing lead others to respond to You with similar radical generosity and faith.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!