David Prays in the Assembly

(1 chronicles 29:11-13) 

“Yours o lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty of the splendour for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honour come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name”

1Ch 29:10  Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly and said, Be praised, adored, and thanked, O Lord, the God of Israel our [forefather], forever and ever.

1Ch 29:11  Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and the earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and Yours it is to be exalted as Head over all.

1Ch 29:12  Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hands are power and might; in Your hands it is to make great and to give strength to all.

1Ch 29:13  Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name and those attributes which that name denotes.

David exalts the LORD.

Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”

a. Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly: The generous giving made David rejoice and praise God. It wasn’t for the sake of the wealth itself, but because it demonstrated that the hearts of the people were really interested in God and in His house.

b. Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever: This is the first time in the Bible that God is addressed directly as a Father over His people.

i. Jesus taught His disciples to pray beginning with this phrase, our Father (Mat 6:9-13). Jesus may have had this passage in mind when teaching His disciples about prayer, because there are other similarities between the two passages.

ii. “This verse supplies the conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer: ‘For thine is the kingdom’ (Mat 6:13, KJV).” (Payne)

c. Both riches and honor come from You: David could say this as a man who had a life full of both riches and honor. He knew that those things came from God and not from David Himself.

David said, Blessed, &c. — David was now full of days, and near his end, and it well becomes the aged children of God to have their hearts much enlarged in praise and thanksgiving. The nearer we come to the land of everlasting praise, the more we should speak the language and do the work of that world. Thine is the greatness and the power, &c. — Thus David praises God with holy awe and reverence, acknowledging and adoring, 1st, His infinite perfections; not only that he is great, powerful, and glorious, &c., but that his is the greatness, power, and glory; that he has these perfections in and of himself, and is the centre and fountain of every thing that is excellent and blessed. 2d, His sovereign dominion, that he is the rightful owner and almighty possessor of all. All that is in heaven and in earth is thine — And at thy disposal, by the indisputable right of creation, and as Supreme Ruler and Commander of all. Thine is the kingdom — And all kings are thy subjects; and thou art to be exalted and worshipped as head above all — 3d, His universal influence and agency. All that are rich and honourable among mankind have their riches and honours from God. This acknowledgment David would have the princes to take notice of, and join in, that they might not think they had merited any thing of God by their generosity; for from God they had had their riches and honour, and what they had returned to him was but a small part of what they had received from him. Whoever are great among men, it is God that makes them so; and whatever strength we have, it is God that gives it us. Let no flesh, then, glory in his presence; for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever! Amen. 

THE LAST PRAYER OF DAVID

IN order to do justice to the chronicler’s method of presenting us with a number of very similar illustrations of the same principle, we have in the previous book grouped much of his material under a few leading subjects. There remains the general thread of the history, which is, of course, very much the same in Chronicles as in the book of Kings, and need not be dwelt on at any length. At the same time some brief survey is necessary for the sake of completeness and in order to bring out the different complexion given to the history by the chronicler’s alterations and omissions. Moreover, there are a number of minor points that are most conveniently dealt with in the course of a running exposition.

The special importance attached by the chronicler to David and Solomon has enabled us to treat their reigns at length in discussing his picture of the ideal king; and similarly the reign of Ahaz has served as an illustration of the character and fortunes of the wicked kings. We therefore take up the history at the accession of Rehoboam, and shall simply indicate very briefly the connection of the reign of Ahaz with what precedes and follows. But before passing on to Rehoboam we must consider "The Last Prayer of David," a devotional paragraph peculiar to Chronicles. The detailed exposition of this passage would have been out of proportion in a brief sketch of the chronicler’s account of the character and reign of David, and would have had no special bearing on the subject of the ideal king. On the other hand, the "Prayer" states some of the leading principles which govern the chronicler in his interpretation of the history of Israel; and its exposition forms a suitable introduction to the present division of our subject.

The occasion of this prayer was the great closing scene of David’s life, which we have already described. The prayer is a thanksgiving for the assurance David had received that the accomplishment of the great purpose of his life, the erection of a temple to Jehovah, was virtually secured. He had been permitted to collect the materials for the building, he had received the plans of the Temple from Jehovah, and had placed them in the willing hands of his successor. The princes and the people had caught his own enthusiasm and lavishly supplemented the bountiful provision already made for the future work. Solomon had been accepted as king by popular acclamation. Every possible preparation had been made that could be made, and the aged king poured out his heart in praise to God for His grace and favor.