"Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;" Psalm 144:1
"But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth." 1st Chronicles 22:8
How would you reconcile these two verses? It's not a trick question. Here are my thoughts: I believe God decrees all things that come to pass, yet He is not the author of evil. These two truths are somewhat of a mystery yet they are not contradictory. David said God trained his hands for war, yet God told David could not build a house to his name because "he (David) had shed so much blood..." Well... Whaddaya' think?
5 comments:
This is one of those situations where from a human perspective, God may seem inconsistent, but we know His character can be holy, just, loving, jealous--all at the same time.
God ordained that David would rise to be king and conquer many peoples; however, because David had to shed blood in that way, it could not be that David would build his temple. God's temple, His sanctuary is holy--and the blood shed in those wars is not the blood shed as an animal sacrifice (in those times) in the Holy of Holies. In one sense, David's actions, though ordained by God, made him unclean to build the temple that Solomon would later build.
However, the Lamb would come from David's line, and His blood would take away the sins of the world. And in my opinion it comes full circle (in reference to the temple) when the curtain is torn top to bottom, opening the Holy of Holies.
Aweseome Dan! Thanks!
Nice!!
This question is still a powerful consideration of God’s plan. Great answer Dan. It seems that David was ordained to be a warrior for God, but not A priest. God has always chosen and built His own temple. Only God can build a temple, and we now know He will not be contained. His people are His temple.
Man is not capable of understanding gods ways. Dan you explain this very well. This has been a nagging question for questions for years. God chose David as a warrior, not a priest. The temple of God is in the hearts of his people, and will not be contained anywhere God does not want to be.
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