1 Chronicles 29:19

And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) To keep thy commandments . . . thy statutes.—Deuteronomy 6:17.

The palace.—1Chronicles 29:1.

And to do all these things.—And to do the whole; (scil.) of thy commandments, testimonies, and statutes (comp. 1Chronicles 22:13; 1Chronicles 28:7), or, to carry out all my designs.

For the which I have made provision.—Which I have prepared (scil.) to build (1Chronicles 28:2).

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 29:19. And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart — He had charged Solomon to serve God with a perfect heart, and now he prays to God to give him such a heart. He does not pray that God would make him rich, or great, or learned, but, what is infinitely more important, that he would make him sincerely and decidedly godly and righteous, devoted to God and his service, and steady and faithful therein. To keep thy commandments — Which David knew would not, could not, be kept by Solomon or any man, unless his heart was renewed by the grace of God, and made right with him. And to build the palace, &c. — Not only to observe the precepts of thy law in general, and do thy will in other respects, but in particular to accomplish thy design in building thee a temple, that he may perform that service with a single eye. For which I have made provision — By purchasing the place, (chap. 21.,) and providing for the expenses of the work. From this prayer of David, both for Solomon and the people, we may see, that even in those days, when there was so much of ceremony and external pomp in religion, and when the church of God was in its nonage, as the apostle states, (Galatians 4:1-3,) and in bondage under the elements of the world, yet the inward grace of God, or the operation of the Spirit on the human heart, was judged absolutely necessary to enable a man to keep the commandments of God. How much more then is the grace of God necessary to enable a man to walk according to the more pure and spiritual doctrines and precepts of Christianity, to love and embrace its holy promises, and live up to its more divine and heavenly privileges.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:10-19 We cannot form a right idea of the magnificence of the temple, and the buildings around it, about which such quantities of gold and silver were employed. But the unsearchable riches of Christ exceed the splendour of the temple, infinitely more than that surpassed the meanest cottage on earth. Instead of boasting of these large oblations, David gave solemn thanks to the Lord. All they gave for the Lord's temple was his own; if they attempted to keep it, death would soon have removed them from it. They only use they could make of it to their real advantage, was, to consecrate it to the service of Him who gave it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Keep this forever ... - i. e., "Preserve forever this spirit of liberal and spontaneous giving in the hearts of Thy people, and establish their hearts toward Thee."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. all this store that we have prepared—It may be useful to exhibit a tabular view of the treasure laid up and contributions stated by the historian as already made towards the erection of the proposed temple. Omitting the brass and iron, and precious stones, which, though specified partly (1Ch 29:7), are represented in other portions as "without weight" (1Ch 22:3, 14), we shall give in this table only the amount of gold and silver; and taking the talent of gold as worth £5475 (the talent being 125 pounds in weight), the value of the gold will be about 73s. per ounce. The talent of silver is given at £342 3s. 9d., or 4s. 4½d. per ounce. The total amount of the contributions will be:

Sum accumulated, and in public treasury (1Ch 22:14): Gold £547,500,000 Silver 342,187,500 Contributed by David from his private resources [1Ch 29:4]: Gold 16,425,000 Silver 2,395,312 Contributed by the assembled rulers [1Ch 29:7]: Gold 28,000,000 Silver 3,421,875 A grand total of approximately £939,929,687

Though it has been the common practice of Eastern monarchs to hoard vast sums for the accomplishment of any contemplated project, this amount so far exceeds not only every Oriental collection on record, but even the bounds of probability, that it is very generally allowed that either there is a corruption of the text in 1Ch 22:14, or that the reckoning of the historian was by the Babylonian, which was only a half, or the Syrian, which was only a fifth part, of the Hebrew talent. This would bring the Scripture account more into accordance with the statements of Josephus, as well as within the range of credibility.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By purchasing the place, 1 Chronicles 21, and providing for the expenses of the work.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes,.... All the laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, even to observe them cordially and sincerely:

and to do all those things; he had suggested to him particularly:

and to build the palace for the which I have made provision; as before declared.

Geneva Study Bible

And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. a perfect heart] See 1 Chronicles 28:9, note.

the palace] See 1 Chronicles 29:1, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - For the palace, see ver. 1. 1 Chronicles 29:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

And to Solomon may God give a whole (undivided) heart, that he may keep all the divine commands and do them, and build the temple. שׁלם לב as in 1 Chronicles 29:9. הכּל לעשׂות, that he may do all, scil. that the commands, testimonies, and statutes require. For הבּירה, see 1 Chronicles 29:1.