Preparing Context
Loading the book, timeline, map, and study notes.
Book
World Stage
Structure
Historical Setting
Opening Book
Loading the overview, historical setting, map, timeline, and chapter structure.
Book
World Stage
Structure
Historical Setting
Opening Chapter
Loading the chapter, structure, timeline, and Scripture reader.
Book
World Stage
Structure
Historical Setting
Opening Passage
Loading the passage, surrounding structure, questions, and study notes.
Book
World Stage
Structure
Historical Setting
1 Chronicles 22:14-16
David lists immense quantities of wealth and materials and notes available skilled workers, then concludes with a brief call to begin work.
Meaning in context
David lists immense quantities of wealth and materials and notes available skilled workers, then concludes with a brief call to begin work.
Section 5 of 6
Inventory of Resources and Final Charge
David lists immense quantities of wealth and materials and notes available skilled workers, then concludes with a brief call to begin work.
Movement
Remembering David after exile
Artifact
Genealogies and temple preparation
Biblical Timeline
Exile & Return
1 Chronicles context: 586 BC - 400 BC
Biblical Timeline
Exile & Return
1 Chronicles context
Exile & Return / 586 BC - 400 BC
1 Chronicles context is set in the exile and return, where Babylonian exile, return, rebuilding, and renewed covenant life under Persian rule.
Scripture Text
Thesis
David lists immense quantities of wealth and materials and notes available skilled workers, then concludes with a brief call to begin work.
Verse by Verse
David’s stored resources and Solomon’s expected additions David calls attention to what he has prepared for “the house of Yahweh,” stressing both quantity and variety: gold, silver, and also bronze and iron in such abundance they are not even weighed. He adds that timber and stone are already set aside. Yet he does not treat the stockpile as final; he tells Solomon he may add to it, implying the project will require ongoing provision.
Available workforce and breadth of skill David highlights that Solomon will not be working alone. There is a large supply of workers, including stonecutters and those who work with stone and wood. Beyond those trades, David claims there are skilled people for “every manner of work,” presenting the labor force as both numerous and capable.
Open-ended supply and a direct call to begin David repeats that the metals are beyond counting, reinforcing the idea of overwhelming provision. Then he gives the short, urgent command: get up and do the work. He seals the charge with a wish-prayer: “and Yahweh be with you,” tying Solomon’s action to ongoing divine help.
Literary Context
These verses sit inside David’s final preparations and instructions for the temple project, where David, near the end of his reign, transfers responsibility to Solomon while emphasizing that the building is a royal and national priority. Just before this, David explains why he will not build and why Solomon will, then commands leaders to support Solomon (earlier in the chapter). Here, the speech narrows to practical readiness: materials, labor, and momentum. The closing line functions like a handoff: David has laid groundwork; Solomon must now act.
Historical Context
Within the story world of Chronicles, the scene assumes a settled kingdom able to accumulate tribute, craft expertise, and building supplies for a central sanctuary in Jerusalem. The numbers and scale present the project as exceptionally large and well-resourced, fitting royal building patterns in the ancient Near East where temples required metals, stone, timber, skilled labor, and administrative organization. For Chronicles’ later audience under Persian rule, such a portrait of David’s planning and provision would highlight orderly leadership and communal participation in temple-centered life, even if their own resources were far smaller.
Theological Significance
David presents the temple as a settled priority and treats Solomon’s task as the next step in a handoff. The text explicitly emphasizes abundance: huge amounts of precious metals, large stores of building materials, and many skilled workers already “with” Solomon. David’s speech also holds together human preparation (“I have prepared”) and dependence on God (“and Yahweh be with you”).
Questions
Keep Studying
A second clear theme is continuity. David’s work is not portrayed as competing with Solomon’s work but enabling it. David expects Solomon to continue supplying what is needed and to begin construction without delay.
Some readers take the listed quantities as straightforward totals. Others think the numbers are meant to convey overwhelming scale rather than serve as an exact inventory, especially since the passage also says some materials were “without weight” and “there is no number.”
A smaller question concerns “in my affliction.” Some understand it as David’s personal hardships (wars, pressures of rule, suffering), while others connect it more narrowly to the burdensome effort and cost of gathering supplies.
The passage mixes counted amounts (gold and silver) with language that refuses measurement (“without weight,” “no number”), which can sound like exact accounting and rhetorical emphasis at the same time. Also, “affliction” is not explained in this paragraph, so interpreters look to David’s broader story or to the immediate context of intensive preparation.
The passage contributes a picture of temple-building as a national, organized project: (1) major resources are assembled in advance, (2) skilled labor is already in place, (3) the next leader is expected to add what remains, and (4) the work is framed as proceeding under Yahweh’s support. Explicitly, David claims he prepared these supplies during hardship, that bronze/iron were not weighed, that timber/stone were prepared, that Solomon may add more, and that many skilled workers are available. The theological inference many draw is that faithful leadership involves both practical provision and recognized dependence on God, but that inference goes beyond what the text directly states.
gold (laz·zā·hāḇ)