Verse 20
DAVID'S ADMONITION FOR SOLOMON
"And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed; for Jehovah God, even my God is with thee; he will not fail thee, or forsake thee, until all the work for the service of the house of Jehovah be finished. And, behold, there are the courses of the priests and the Levites, for all the service of the house of God: and there shall be with thee in all manner of work every willing man that hath skill for any manner of service: also the captains and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment."
The absolute sincerity and total devotion of king David in his love of God and his enthusiasm for building the temple shine in every word of these wonderful sentences. How tragic it is that his son Solomon failed so wretchedly to honor the admonition of this wonderful father.
SPECIAL NOTE ON 1 Chronicles 28:5
"He (God) hath chosen Solomon ... to sit upon the throne of the KINGDOM OF JEHOVAH over Israel" (1 Chronicles 28:5). There is not a more preposterous statement in all the Bible than this one. David truly believed, as did all Israel, that the earthly kingdom that God had given them was the kingdom of heaven.
In a certain sense, of course, the people of Israel were a type of that `kingdom of heaven' which is the Church; but in no sense whatever was the secular, political kingdom of David and Solomon the kingdom of God. The ancient inhabitants of Canaan were not driven out of Palestine, as God commanded; but they were enslaved by Israel. (See the opening chapters of my commentary on Judges.)
"2 Samuel 20:24 indicates that David used forced (slave) labor; that passage does not say who composed the labor gangs";[1] and, although David might not have forced Israelites into his forced labor gangs, the enslaved Canaanites were certainly used; and Solomon quickly extended them to include Israelites also. There is no way that the evil, secular and political kingdom of Israel could have been the kingdom of heaven. Of course, the multitudes who were living off the sweat of other peoples' faces liked doing so; and no doubt many thought it was wonderful. (See further comment on this in our Introduction to 1 Kings 4.)
The political Jewish kingdom was never anything other than what the prophet of God called it - "THE SINFUL KINGDOM" (Amos 9:8).
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