Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
David prepares all the materials for the building of the temple, and hands over to Solomon the plan received from God; and he exhorts him always to worship God devoutly, and admonishes the leaders to help him in the building.
Vulgate Text: 1 Paralipomenon 22:1-19
1. And David said: This is the house of God, and this is the altar for the burnt offering of Israel. 2. And he commanded that all the converts in the land of Israel be gathered together, and from them he appointed stonecutters to cut and polish stones, for the building of the house of God. 3. David also prepared a very great quantity of iron for nails for the doors, and for clamps and joints: and an immeasurable weight of bronze. 4. And the cedar wood could not be estimated, which the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought to David. 5. And David said: Solomon my son is a young boy and delicate; but the house that I wish to be built for the Lord must be such that it will be renowned in all lands: therefore I will prepare what is necessary for him. And for this reason before his death he prepared all the expenses. 6. And he called Solomon his son and commanded him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. 7. And David said to Solomon: My son, it was my desire to build a house for the name of the Lord my God; 8. but the word of the Lord came to me, saying: You have shed much blood, and you have waged very many wars; you cannot build a house for My name, so much blood having been shed before Me; 9. the son who shall be born to you shall be a man of the greatest peace: for I will make him rest from all his enemies round about; and for this reason he shall be called the Peaceful One; and I will give peace and rest to Israel all his days. 10. He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be a son to Me, and I will be a Father to him, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. 11. Now therefore, my son, the Lord be with you, and prosper, and build the house of the Lord your God, as He has spoken concerning you. 12. May the Lord also give you prudence and understanding, that you may be able to govern Israel, and to keep the law of the Lord your God. 13. For then you will prosper, if you keep the commandments and judgments which the Lord commanded Moses to teach Israel: be strong and act manfully, do not fear or be dismayed. 14. Behold, in my poverty I have prepared the expenses for the house of the Lord: a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver: and of bronze and iron there is no weight, for the amount surpasses reckoning: wood and stones I have prepared for all the expenses. 15. You also have very many craftsmen, stonecutters, and masons, and workers in wood, and men most skilled in every art for doing the work. 16. Of gold and silver and bronze and iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and act, and the Lord will be with you. 17. David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son. 18. You see, he said, that the Lord your God is with you, and has given you rest on every side, and has delivered all your enemies into your hands, and the land is subject before the Lord and before His people. 19. Set therefore your hearts and your souls to seek the Lord your God, and arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the vessels consecrated to the Lord, may be brought into the house that is being built for the name of the Lord.
Verse 1: This Is the House of God
1. THIS IS THE HOUSE OF GOD — that is, in this place, namely on the threshing floor of Ornan, which is on Mount Moriah, God commands a temple to be built.
Verse 5: Solomon Is a Young Boy
5. SOLOMON IS A YOUNG BOY — that is, Solomon in comparison to so great and so magnificent a construction as the temple, is like a small boy: for otherwise he was already twenty years old.
Verse 14: A Hundred Thousand Talents of Gold
14. A HUNDRED THOUSAND TALENTS OF GOLD (that is, twelve and a half million pounds of gold, which amount to one billion two hundred million French gold coins; he left the same in silver, namely) A MILLION TALENTS OF SILVER — which likewise amount to one billion two hundred million French gold coins; for in ancient times one pound of gold was worth ten pounds of silver: so in total he left him two billion four hundred million gold coins. See what was said about coins and measures at the end of the Pentateuch. This sum of gold and silver seems immense and almost unbelievable, but nothing is impossible for God, nothing difficult; therefore it was easy for Him to supply all this abundance to David for the construction of so magnificent a temple; hence He Himself, wishing this temple that had been burned by the Chaldeans to be restored through Zerubbabel and the Jews, encourages them, poor as they were, to build, saying: "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine," Haggai 2:9. So St. Francis of Assisi, and the other Francis of Paola, the former the founder of the Friars Minor, the latter of the Minims, both of them poor, commanded by God to build a temple, built it for God, with God promising and providing the funds through the alms of the pious. Much more, if we are called by God to build the mystical temple of perfection in our own soul or in that of our neighbors, let us eagerly carry this out, trusting in His help. For God will be present, and will give strength and courage: "For the earth is the Lord's and its fullness," and as St. Leo says: "He justly insists on the precept who first provides the help."
FOR ALL THE EXPENSES. — The Hebrew and Chaldean have, and above these add more. The Septuagint: and add to these. Vatablus: to which you can add more. Hence Solomon and the people added many gifts to what David had left, to furnish and adorn the building of so magnificent a temple even more magnificently.
Moreover, our Villalpando, at the end of volume II on Ezekiel, in several chapters judges that David collected such great wealth partly from taxes, partly from Ophir, partly from the spoils and tribute of enemies, partly from the annual census of Israel, by which each person paid half a shekel each year to the temple according to the law, Exodus 30:13. Hence even Israelites living outside Judea, dispersed throughout the whole world, sent this head-tax annually to Jerusalem; and since their number was immense, they amassed a vast sum of gold.
Villalpando adds that David and Solomon, in annual income and wealth, surpassed the revenues and riches of the Romans, Chaldeans, Persians, and all kings and monarchs.
You will ask: How then does David in this verse say that he collected these things "in his poverty?" I answer: First, because all these things were small and few in comparison with the dignity and majesty of God. Secondly, "in poverty" means in much labor and affliction. Thirdly and most importantly, because, as follows, all these things belonged to God; therefore they were not David's, because he was poor of himself, and had nothing except what he had received from God.