Solomon Receives Materials and Building Plans

David gathers the leaders together (the ones we have been reading about in the foregoing chapters) to explain the transfer of power and his goals for Solomon. In verse 2, we can imagine an old and frail king, perhaps sometime during the summer months after a cold winter of trying to keep warm (compare 1 Kings 1:1-4), gathering his strength to be able to stand on his feet. David starts by discussing his consuming passion—to build the temple of God—and says that God did not allow him to build it because he was a man of war, his reign being replete with bloodshed. He points out that God Himself chose Solomon as king and the one to build the temple (1 Chronicles 28:5-6). Later Solomon tells Hiram that David was surrounded by too many wars, and that a time of peace would now permit Solomon, a man of peace, to build the temple (1 Kings 5:3-5).

We have seen that David gathered materials for the temple and organized the priesthood. Now he turns those materials and organizational plans over to Solomon, as well as detailed building plans, and explains that God revealed the design to him (1 Chronicles 28:12, 19). Similarly, God had revealed the plans for the tabernacle to Moses (Exodus 25:8-9) to ensure that His earthly dwelling was patterned after the one in heaven (Hebrews 8:5).