16:1-3 The ark of God was placed in the tabernacle David had built for it and sacrifices were offered to God. God had given so much; in an aware state of gratitude, David and the people of Israel reciprocated in the only way that the could: offering God the best of themselves and the best of what He had provided.
In comparison to the bounty God produces for us, our own offerings seem meek and meager. But above all things, God values our love. The love we have for Him and for others. Love is an element which cannot be quantified, except by God and the love we emanate, for Him, is enough.
16:4-6 David then blessed the assembly of people and blessed them in the name of the Lord. Under what other name could any one be blessed? God is the only authority and capacity able and abundant enough to claim each child.
David distributed provision to every-one of Israel. The distribution of bread, meat and raisin cake symbolized the plenitude of the kingdom that God had provided. The harvest of the kingdom is of God is dedicated to each one. The distribution of the food symbolizes the plenitude of the provision God is still offering to those who will accept Him.
16:7-13 David's Psalm of Thanksgiving: The next course of action, for David, could only be to thank and honor God. And for the majority of this chapter, that is exactly what he does.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord!Call upon His name;Make known His deeds among the peoples!Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;Talk of all His wondrous works!Glory in His holy name;Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!Seek the Lord and His strength;Seek His face evermore!Remember His marvelous works which He has done,His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,O seed of Israel His servant,You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
David is full-to-bursting with reverence for the Lord. He implores us to express gratitude to Him, to speak to Him and to make Him known across humanity. David's excitement is fueled by the settling of the realization that there is purpose and order exacted by a compassionate God. A God worthy of exuberant, unending praise because of His nature and strength, provision and presence. A God worthy of praise because of the full authority with which He commands justice.
Truly the marvel of God is His commitment to righteousness. We are embedded in a world which tends to curve toward injustice. We are in the midst of a people who are inclined to lean toward self. Yet pervading imperfection is perfection Itself: a God whose energy is channeled powerfully, intelligently, intricately into the restoration of peace.
David makes three declarations: we are fortunate enough to serve such a God, to be claimed as the children of such a God, and to be chosen by such a marvelous God. Meaning that: not only are we claimed by God, but we are also chosen by Him; we are entrusted with our own portion of His purpose. To what greater cause could one be recruited?
16:14-19
He is the Lord our God;His judgments are in all the earth.Remember His covenant forever,The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,The covenant which He made with Abraham,And His oath to Isaac,And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,To Israel for an everlasting covenant,Saying, “To you I will give the land of CanaanAs the allotment of your inheritance,”When you were few in number,Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
David speaks of the history and the future of humanity's covenant with God. We have only a limited scope of the earth and humanity; our awareness here is but a fraction of a fraction of the whole. And yet the whole, is but a fraction of God's awareness. Since Adam, Noah and Abraham until you now your posterity future, He has and will reign. David speaks of the journey because though it has happened, it is not past. The lifeline of God's covenant strings us all together: where we have been and will go as a group and as individuals.
God chose us because He saw our need and had compassion. He chose us because we were broken and He could mend. He chose us because we were few and He had the capacity for many. He chose us because we were homeless and He had a home. He chose us because we were scattered and He had a kingdom. Our acknowledgement of God's choice for us long ago is a reminder of His steadfast commitment to our well-being even when we were not, are not, worthy of being chosen.
Effectively, David tells us: this is not a relationship you want to take for granted; there is nothing in existence more deeply rooted in love.
16:20-22
When they went from one nation to another,And from one kingdom to another people,He permitted no man to do them wrong;Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,And do My prophets no harm.”
God's love is fierce. He has torn down kings and nations who tried to harm us, thwart us, take us away from Him. The children of Israel journeyed through the desert and survived because our God is not a mirage. Similarly do we journey through our own deserts; led and fed and watered, protected on all sides. God has declared to the wicked: do not to touch My anointed. It is a simple command, stated ferociously with the promise of retribution for anyone who breaks it.
Our God is acutely, intensely territorial. His children have the protection of His sharp vigilance. The protection of a God who promises to move mountains on our behalf if we deem them a threat. A God who stands in the fire with us so that we will not burn. We have the protection of a God who prohibits vengeance in order to claim it for Himself. Because when it comes to the destruction of evil, He only trusts the adept power of His thorough hand.
God declares His protection of us because He loves us to be safe; because He loves us to be guiltless, he loves us to be as unlike evil as possible; and because once provoked, wrath is the natural response of a parent provoked by the one endangering their child.
16:23-24
Sing to the Lord, all the earth;Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to dayDeclare His glory among the nations,His wonders among all peoples.
Celebrate and proclaim the Lord day to day. David speaks on the occasion of the ark's arrival to the city but it is important to him that the people (and we) realize that the celebration of God is a continuous thing. God has remained with us generation after generation, surely that is worth celebration day after day.
16:25-27
For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;He is also to be feared above all gods.For all the gods of the peoples are idols,But the Lord made the heavens.Honor and majesty are before Him;Strength and gladness are in His place.
This portion of the psalm was as especially relevant to Israel then as it is to us now. Idol worship, the wedge and cleaver between our relationship with God. The material and shapes of the idols have changed but what they represented have not: vanity, power, greed. The houses of Israel and Judah succumbed to temptation and followed the idols the world revered. Vanity, power and greed the exact opposites of what God has instructed us to value: humility, obedience to His will and selflessness.
During David's reign, the core of Israel was God's honor and majesty, strength and gladness. They were surrounded on all sides by His glory because they surrounded themselves and their lifestyles with Him. At the time Chronicles was written, there was perhaps never a time when Israel and Judah needed to hear this more: to be tempted out of the sphere of God's strength and majesty is to walk into a place of weakness and desolation. God knows the equation of life because He wrote it. David tells us to fear/revere* God above all other gods and idols because they got the equation of life wrong. Their methods never equate to the happiness they advertise.
*Yârê: A primitive root; to fear; morally to revere; causative, to frighten. Our lifestyle decides how we will interpret God's force. If we are in agreement with Him we would naturally revere His ferocity for justice. If we are in opposition to Him, we certainly would have cause to fear it.
16:28-30
Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,Give to the Lord glory and strength.Give to the Lord the glory due His name;Bring an offering, and come before Him.Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!Tremble before Him, all the earth.The world also is firmly established,It shall not be moved.
Give. Give. Give. Bring. Four times David tells us to reciprocate in our relationship with God. 1 Corinthians 3:9 professes that we are fellow workers with God. In Matthew 10:26, Jesus reveals that God has shared everything with us. If God is willing to work with you and is willing to share with you, it is appropriate that we would do the same with Him.
16:31-33
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord,For He is coming to judge the earth.
Above all, David is rejoicing and all creation joins with him in praising God. And specifically: God's return and judgement. Because of Matthew 7:2, we already know how we will be judged: For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Those who wholeheartedly try to live a righteous lifestyle look forward to God's judgement as David does here.
16:34-35
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!For His mercy endures forever.And say, “Save us, O God of our salvation;Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles,To give thanks to Your holy name,To triumph in Your praise.”
God had not yet been connected with the "Gentiles," the people outside of the tribes of Israel. The work of the apostles in the book of Acts changed that. The door to God's kingdom was burst open to any and all who would walk through it. God's ultimate intention to connect with the entirety of humanity began to take shape.
But in David's time, the kingdom of Israel was surrounded by enemies. David's prayer to God was to be saved from what would be a dangerous and desperate situation without Him. And God would continue to defend them, so long as they kept God as their defense. God does not force His authority on us; if we do not choose Him, He allows us to walk away, to walk out of His sphere of protection.
Gratitude. The essence of this psalm. David understood that a heart and lifestyle of gratitude would keep the kingdom of Israel connected with God. If everyday they were aware and appreciative of God's hand in their prosperity, they might not become disconnected from Him. We benefit from employing the same mind-set of gratitude in our lives.
16:36
Blessed be the Lord God of IsraelFrom everlasting to everlasting!
And all the people said, "Amen!" and praised the Lord. Hallelujah, amen.
16:37-43 David established and helped to set up regular worship (every day, every morning and evening); ministry before the ark. Faith was at the forefront of this kingdom perhaps as it has never been since. This was a faith un-corrupted by business or politic; it served the people and maintained their lifestyle of justice, peace and prosperity.
Verse 41 says that they gave thanks to the Lord because His mercy endures forever. Do not love God just because He is God, love God because of who God is: merciful, empathetic, creative, just and kind. The genuine, steadfast, fervent love David had for God, and encouraged all to have, hints at the intimate relationship we too can have with Him.
