Study Desk

David said to Gad, "I am in trouble! I don't want some man to decide my punishment. The Lord is very merciful, so let him decide how to punish me."

So the Lord sent terrible sicknesses to Israel, and 70,000 people died.

God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But when the angel started to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord saw it and felt sorry for all the suffering. So he said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Stop! That is enough!" This happened when the angel of the Lord was standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

Araunah said to David, "Take this threshing floor. You are my lord and king, so do whatever you want. Look, I will also give you cattle for the burnt offering. You can have the wooden threshing tools to burn for the fire on the altar. And I will give the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this to you."

So David gave Araunah about 15 pounds of gold for the place.

David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah, so David offered sacrifices there.

David said, "We should build a very great Temple for the Lord , but my son Solomon is young and does not yet have enough experience to know how to do it well. It should be so great and beautiful that it will be famous among all the nations. So I will prepare what is needed to build it." So before David died he prepared everything needed to build a great Temple.

But the Lord said to me, ‘David, you have fought many wars and you have killed many people. So you cannot build a temple for my name.

He will make you the king of Israel. May the Lord give you wisdom and understanding so that you can lead the people and obey the law of the Lord your God.

"Solomon, I have worked hard making plans for building the Lord 's Temple. I have given 3750 tons of gold and about 37,500 tons of silver. I have given so much bronze and iron that it cannot be weighed. And I have given wood and stone. Solomon, you can add to them.

David became an old man, so he made his son Solomon the new king of Israel.

Jahath was the oldest son and Ziza was the second son. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many children. So Jeush and Beriah were counted like one family.

So the Levites don't need to carry the Holy Tent or any of the things used in its services anymore."

So the Levites did everything that they were supposed to do. They took care of the Holy Tent and the Holy Place. And they helped their relatives, the priests, Aaron's descendants, with the services at the Lord 's Temple.

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did. Nadab and Abihu had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests.

David separated the tribes of Eleazar and Ithamar into two different groups. He did this so that these groups could do the duties of work they were given to do. David did this with the help of Zadok and Ahimelech. Zadok was a descendant of Eleazar, and Ahimelech was a descendant of Ithamar.

Shemaiah was the secretary. He was Nethanel's son. Shemaiah was from the tribe of Levi. Shemaiah wrote the names of those descendants. He wrote their names in front of King David and these leaders: Zadok the priest, Ahimelech, and the leaders from the families of the priests and of the Levites. Ahimelech was Abiathar's son. Each time they threw the lots a man was chosen, and Shemaiah wrote down that man's name. So they divided the work among groups of men from the families of Eleazar and Ithamar.

All these men were Heman's sons. Heman was David's seer. God promised to make Heman strong. So Heman had many sons. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

David decided to count the men in Israel. There were very many people because the Lord had promised to make the Israelites as many as the stars in the sky. So David counted only the men who were 20 years old and older.

I have given gold and silver for all the things made of gold and silver. I have given gold and silver so that skilled men can make all different kinds of things for the Temple. Now, how many of you Israelites are ready to give yourselves to the Lord today?"