1 Chronicles 14-16:6
Through David's fault opportunity had been furnished for grace to be manifested. These chapters show us this grace at work in the heart of the king producing that humility and obedience to the Word from which David had wandered in one point.
1 Chron. 14:1-7 corresponds to 2 Sam. 5:10-15. There we see the nations, in the person of Hiram, acknowledging the supremacy of the Lord's anointed and seeking his favor. "And Hiram king of Tire sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build him a house. And David perceived that Jehovah had established him king over Israel, for his kingdom was highly exalted, because of his people Israel" (1 Chron. 14:1-2). God shows His servant David that He is accomplishing His counsels of grace toward him in establishing him as king over the people and in causing the nations to submit to him.
After Hiram's submission we find the victories over the Philistines (1 Chron. 14:8-16; cf. 2 Sam. 5:17-25), followed here in Chronicles by this characteristic remark: "And the fame of David went out into all lands; and Jehovah brought the fear of him upon all the nations" (1 Chron. 14:17). Thus the Lord Himself extended the king's dominion over the nations by victories which were entirely dependent on his obedience to the Word of God (1 Chron. 14:10,14), a lesson which he had learned by the "breach upon Uzza."
The complete list of David's offspring at Jerusalem is given us for the second time in this book (1 Chron. 3:5-8; 14:3-7) (Elpelet and Nogah are not mentioned in 2 Sam. 5:14-16). The purpose of this repetition is to show us that God's counsels concerning the kingship are being carried out at the very moment when the king is finding a place of rest at Zion for the ark of God.
The beginning of chapter 15 (1 Chron. 15:1-13) is quite remarkable: "Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them has Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to serve Him forever" (1 Chron. 15:2). Then, speaking to the Levites: "Ye are the chief fathers of the Levites; hallow yourselves, ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah the God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order" (1 Chron. 15:12-13). These passages are missing in the second book of Samuel, and although Chronicles has, as an exception, recorded David's fault, it is in order to present us with this admirable confession which grace at last produces in him.
The passage from 1 Chron. 15:14-16:6 is much more specific than 2 Sam. 6:12-23. What is most striking is the order instituted by David in the Levitical family concerning the return of the ark. According to God's thought expressed in 1 Sam. 2:35, the priesthood is henceforth dependent upon the kingship. Everything is regulated by David. He himself is "clothed with a robe of byssus, and all the Levites that bore the ark" (1 Chron. 15:27). "David had upon him a linen ephod" (1 Chron. 15:27), as in former times Samuel the prophet (1 Sam. 2:18). He offered "the burnt-offerings and the peace offerings" (1 Chron. 16:2). His identification with the priesthood goes yet further, for like Melchizedek, "he blessed the people in the name of Jehovah" (1 Chron. 16:2). Finally, as the true anointed of Jehovah, he satisfies the poor with bread (1 Chron. 16:3; Psa. 132:15-17). Thus he manifests all the attributes of the Levite, the prophet, the Aaronic priest, and the eternal priest and king with which Christ, the Man according to God's counsels, shall be invested when He appears in His kingdom.
It is David who not only orders the Levites to carry the ark "as Moses had commanded according to the word of Jehovah" (1 Chron. 15:15), but who also appoints singers, musicians, and "doorkeepers for the ark" whose very names are listed. Amid them all the name of Obed-edom, repeated four times (and twice more in 1 Chron. 16:38), shines above all the others. He is doorkeeper for the tabernacle together with the sons of Merari; he is singer, doorkeeper for the ark, and musician. Obed-edom, witness and object of God's grace which had blessed his house and all that belonged to him (1 Chron. 13:14) on account of the presence of the throne of God in his home, receives very special mention in this book of God's counsels in grace.
Note how often the name "God" is substituted in these chapters for the name "Jehovah" used in the corresponding passages in 2 Samuel. Love and grace are related much more to the first of these names than to the second, which speaks rather of His righteousness, His holiness, and His faithfulness to His Word.