The last few chapters of 1 Chronicles summarize David's legacy. We are also given a method to estimate the cost of materials used to construct the Temple, as well as, an example prayer to God. Although the chapters are centered on David's rule as king, it is obvious that the main focus is on pricelessness of God.

In the previous chapters, we were given divisions related to the Temple and the service of God, but 1 Chronicles 27 outlines divisions dedicated to serving the nation and the king. We are told about the army, the princes of each tribe, and the overseers of the nations wealth.

In 1 Chronicles 28, David makes a public showing of declaring Solomon heir to throne and giving him detailed instructions on building the Temple. This action was likely for the people, and to ensure there was no confusion or rebellion against the throne. Although we are not told when during David's rule this occurs, it seems likely that it occurs after Absalom's rebellion. In 1 Chronicles 29, Solomon is officially made king. Interestingly it says he was made king for the second time. This furthers the idea that first time was during Absalom's rebellion, which was done in haste, and this time was probably more formal and deliberate.[1]

David presents Solomon with gold and riches for the Temple's construction and encourages him to be strong. Much emphasis is placed on the fact that God will see Solomon through the task. At first I wasn't sure why Solomon would need a pep talk about building a Temple. In my mind this was an easy task compared to Moses, or Joshua, or even David. After deeper thought it started to make sense.

People are often weary of change and the Temple would be a major change for Israel. Once it was constructed, there would be a centralized location for sacrifices to God. With that, people would have to travel to fulfill their duties. This would be an inconvenience, and may have been a contributing factor to the decline of Israel's relationship with God. When Solomon began construction, I imagine there would have been a fair amount of pushback from the people. David didn't want hesitancy form the nation to effect Solomon's ability to complete the task.

The Chronicler's focus on David's legacy is his exact contribution to the Temple. This reiterates how important it was that the Temple be built and how instrumental David was in its construction, despite not being the one to actually build it. David contributes 3,000 talents of gold and 7,000 talents of silver.

This is equivalent to 226,194.28 lbs of gold and 527,786.66 lbs of silver.[2] Today, gold is worth $39,776.87 per kilogram and silver is worth $579.68 per kilogram.[3][4] By doing a little math, we see that David essentially contributed $4,081,106,843.94 worth of gold and $138,775,393.14 worth of silver. That's enough to place the Temple at #4 on the list of today's most expensive buildings of the world.[5]

However, that wasn't all that went into the Temple! The people also donate gold, silver, brass, and iron to the Temple. The most important part about the giving of the people isn't the price associated with it however, it's the fact that they gave willingly. David didn't issue a “donate or die” decree or scare the people into giving; they truly wanted to please God and gave of their own free will. Nonetheless, a considerable amount of wealth is added to the Temple due to this. The people gave 5,000 talents and 10,000 drams of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of brass, and 100,000 talents of iron. A dram is approximately 1 lb,[6] making the amount of gold donated about 386,990.47 lbs, which is worth $6,982,269,470.17. The people donated 753,980.93 lbs of silver, which is worth $198,250,558.25. The average price of brass today is $1.16 per pound;[7] the Israelites donated 1,357,165.67 lbs of brass, which is worth $1,574,312.20. Iron costs $0.02 for .1kg if buying in bulk or $7.20 for .1kg.[8] Since the Israelites donated 7,539,809.37 lbs of iron, I'm going to use the bulk price to estimate its worth at $684,000.00. In total, the people donated $7,182,778,340.62 to the construction of the Temple! If we add the people’s $7.18 billion to David's donation, we can estimate the cost of the temple to be about $11.4 billion dollars! This would rank it at #2 on the list of today's most expensive buildings of the world—and remember, this total doesn't include anything Solomon added.

After pulling together that much wealth, the Israelites decide to offer sacrifices to God in celebration; this includes 1000 bulls, 1000 rams, and 1000 lambs. Reading this makes me understand the passage where God says He hates animal sacrifice (Isaiah 1:11). How sad is it that this many animals had to die to express gratitude and repentance? Although God mandated feasts and outlined sacrifices, you should note that God doesn't command them to sacrifice 3,000 animals at this point. This is something the Israelites did on their own. God didn't desire animals to die, however, their death was necessary to atone for our sins before Jesus' sacrifice. Over time, the Israelites confused this with God delighting in the sacrifice of blood.

When David ends his reign and transfers power to Solomon, he does so by praying to God. This prayer is one of the many examples given of how we should pray to God. David exalts and praises God, then attests to God's mercy. He asks God to help Solomon keep the commandments. Even then, they knew that it is impossible to keep the commandments without God's help.

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