Daily Morning Watch

January 17, 2023

Solomon begins the great task of his life, though he shows immediately that he knows God can’t live in any building. He sends to the king of Tyre for artisans and for lumber, and you’ll notice in verse 12 that this “pagan” king recognizes the power of God. Solomon bargains for what he will pay. But at the end, he begins to go astray. He counts all resident aliens and forces them to work whether they want to or not. How much more of a blessing might this project have been to the people if he had invited all to work as God led their hearts, the way Moses did?

January 15, 2023

David lists all the things he has collected for building the temple. Even though he was disappointed not to get to build it himself, as a father, it must have been almost better to set things up for his son to do it. He proclaimed a day of praise and worship, and of offerings and feasting. At the end of the chapter, it looks as though David goes ahead and sets Solomon on the throne before he dies. David’s and Solomon’s statistics are given, and thus ends the first book of the Chronicler.

January 14, 2023

David and his team completed all the behind-the-scenes work and got everything organized. He even made a plan of the temple, following and enlarging on the original plan given to Moses. Then David made a public ceremony out of turning it all over to Solomon, even though he wasn’t king yet. David’s speeches, at verses 2-10 and 19-21, are some of the most beautiful in the Bible. You can take them to heart even though you are not a king’s son. Write down your favorite verse or verses and keep them with you.

January 13, 2023

David was getting old, and he had learned a lot (mostly the hard way!) He saw that having things organized, from the army commanders right down to who took care of donkeys, camels, and land, would make life a lot better. As you read, which of these jobs do you think you would be most suited for? Does your church, your school, your family organize things this carefully? If not, how can you help?

January 12, 2023

In chapter 23:5, we saw that besides the 4,000 musicians there were also 4,000 gatekeepers. This chapter shows how they were divided—according to verses 17 and 18, it seems there would be around 22 gatekeepers on duty at any one time. Their posts were also chosen by lot. If you read carefully, you will find interesting little tidbits scattered here and there, such as in verse 14, which says one of the gatekeepers was “a counselor with insight.” How many can you find, and which are your favorite?

January 10, 2023

Here are more faithful records of the details about how the services were set up and how the people were chosen for each ministry. It seems that once a person or a family was set apart for a certain ministry (which was led by the Holy Spirit) they made the decision about whose turn was next simply by drawing straws, or casting lots in some way. That’s a good way to make a choice if the result doesn’t matter one way or another. Then, knowing how important it is to keep good records, scribes wrote all these things down so there would be no confusion later.

January 9, 2023

This chapter contains very interesting material about how David set up the tabernacle services. You can read names of many of the musicians, and you’ll notice there were 4,000 of them! Now, these didn’t all work at once; both priests and Levites took turns serving at the temple. But still, 4,000 people just for praising God with music. How many do you think there are in your local conference? Also, verse 5 says David made the instruments! We can assume he didn’t make thousands of them, or even hundreds, so perhaps it means he designed them.

January 8, 2023

The version of events in the Chronicles is shorter and quicker than the one in Kings. David has come already to his older years. Solomon is a young man and David has chosen him as next king. So, David collects stone, nails, and all kinds of supplies for the temple which Solomon will build. In this chapter, he gives fatherly advice and counsel to his son. Is there anything in this advice that you can adapt and use in your own life?

January 7, 2023

David’s pride was beginning to grow. It was God who had given him his kingdom, but he wanted to know how many soldiers he had. Joab recognized the danger, but David wouldn’t listen. What happened next showed him something that is true for all of us, but especially for people in leadership positions: our choices cause good or ill not just to ourselves, but to those who look up to and trust us. David never made this same mistake again.