John Gill Commentary 1 Chronicles 29

Furthermore, David the king said unto all the congregation, etc. Having finished what he had to say to Solomon, he addressed the congregation again: Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, both to be king, and to build the temple, is yet young and tender (see 1 Chronicles 22:5), and the work is great, both of governing so great a people, and of building so magnificent a temple, especially the latter is meant.

for the palace is not for man, for any mortal king, though ever so great, but for the Lord God. The Targum is, "but for the Word of the Lord God," who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and therefore is to be built as with the greatest exactness, according to the pattern he himself has given, so with the greatest splendour and magnificence.

Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God ,
&c.] According to the utmost of his ability for the building and decorating of it:

the gold
for the things to be made of gold; as the candlesticks, shewbread tables

and the silver for [things] of silver ;
as for basins

and the brass for [things] of brass ;
as the brasen altar, brasen laver,

and iron for [things] of iron ;
for nails, hinges

and wood for [things] of wood ;
for rafters, ceilings, floors

onyx stones ;
the Targum, stones of beryl: and stones to be set; other precious stones to be set in gold and silver:

glistering stones ;
the Targum, emeralds; the word is used for stibium, or black lead, with which women painted their eyes; and so may signify black stones, like black lead; as white marble is after mentioned, perhaps black is here meant, or such stones Solomon paved the ways with leading to Jerusalem ^F25 : but as such stones are not very glistering, there seems to be no reason for such an epithet; unless the stone "phengites" should be meant, which was a clear bright stone, and served for looking glasses. Domitian the Roman emperor, when under suspicion of being murdered by persons he had offended, garnished the porticos of his palace with this stone, which was of such brightness, that by the images formed in it he could see what was behind him ^F26 ;

and so Lucian speaks ^F1 of Astarte having a splendid stone about her, called (lucniv) , which in the night gave much light to the temple, but shone weakly in the day time, and looked like fire:

and of divers colours ;
that is, stones of various colours, as jaspers, amethysts Kimchi interprets it of embroidered clothes, and garments of needlework, and in these precious stones were sometimes inserted:

and all manner of precious stones ;
as pearls, diamonds it is hard to say what all these precious stones were for; Jarchi and Kimchi think they were to decorate the walls overlaid with gold, in which they were set; it is certain they were for garnishing and beautifying the house, see (2 Chronicles 3:6)

and marble stones in abundance ;
for pillars, tables, and pavement, as Jarchi; this was Parian marble, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; the whitest of marble ^F2 , found the island of Paros, and which agrees with the word here used.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Joseph. Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. sect. 4.
• F26: Sueton. Vit. Domitian. c. 14. Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 22. Isidor. Origin. l. 16. c. 4.
• F1: De Dea Syria.
• F2: "----Pario marmore purius." Horat. Carmin. l. 1. ode 19.

Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my
God
Had a good will to it, and was earnestly desirous of having it built, and that in a grand manner:

I have of my own proper good ;
which he had treasured up for his own use:

of gold and silver, [even that] I have given to the house of my God ;
to build or ornament it, or make vessels for it:

over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house ;
for the building of the temple, which is made mention of in the preceding chapter.

Even three thousand talents of gold
Which, according to Scheuchzer ^F3 , amount to 36,660,000 ducats of gold; and, according to Brerewood ^F4 , to 13,500,000 pounds of our money:

of the gold of Ophir ;
which was reckoned the best gold; not Ophir in India, which was not known till Solomon's time, but in Arabia, as Bochart ^F5 has shown; so Eupolemus ^F6 , an Heathen writer, says, that David having built ships at Achan, a city of Arabia, sent miners to Urphe (supposed to be the same with Ophir) in the island of the Red sea,(See Gill on :)

and that he was able to give so great a sum out of his own substance, Dr. Prideaux ^F7 thinks, can only be accounted for by his great returns from this traffic; since these 3000 talents, according to him, amounted to 21,600,000 pounds sterling:

and seven thousand talents of refined silver ;
amounting, according to Scheuchzer ^F8 , to 31,500,000 imperials, or rix dollars; and, according to Brerewood ^F9 , to 2,625,000 pounds of our money:

to overlay the walls of the houses withal ;
the gold was to overlay the walls of the holy and most holy place, the silver to overlay the walls of the chambers built around the temple.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: Physica Sacra, vol. 4. p. 631.
• F4: De Ponder. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 5.
• F5: Phaleg. l. 2. c. 27. col. 140.
• F6: Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 30. p. 447.
• F7: Connection, par. 1. p. 5, 6.
• F8: Ut supra. (Physica Sacra, vol. 4. p. 631.)
• F9: Ut supra. (De Ponder. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 5.)

The gold for things of gold, the silver for things of silver ,
&c.] The one for what was to be overlaid with gold, the other for what was to be overlaid with silver:

and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers ;
what remained was to be made use of in employing artificers in making vessels for the temple that were needful:

and who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the
Lord ;
or fill his hand? ^F11 and give largely and liberally towards building an house for the service and worship, honour and glory, of God; and David, having set so good an example, could with the better grace recommend the good work to his nobles and people, and which had its desired effect, as follows.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: (wdy twalml) "impleat manum suam", V. L. "ut impleat manum suam", Vatablus, Piscator.