September 10, 2013 – 1 Chronicles 21:14 – 22

David chooses the shortest of the punishments, but doesn’t realize the strength of God. The damage the angel of the Lord can cause in 3 days might be a lot more than a famine for 3 years or enemies for 3 months. David pleads for it to stop, takes responsibility for the census and accepts blame and ask that the punishment be only to him. God does relent from the punishment, but it takes its toll.

Then we move on to David beginning to collect the materials for the Temple. He knows he is not to build the Temple, but wants the Temple to be so incredible that collection of the best materials and best craftsmen should start before he leaves the throne. He also instructs Solomon of the importance of the Temple and that this will be his responsibility because God said David could not and Solomon would. We don’t quite know how old Solomon is when David tells him this, but David says that he is young, so you might imagine a young man or even child being told this and what that might have done to his psyche.