“Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Chronicles 22:19 Mean?
"Set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build." David's charge to the leaders combines internal orientation (set your heart and soul) with external action (arise and build). The seeking is internal. The building is external. Both are required. Neither alone is sufficient. You can't build without seeking, and you can't seek without eventually building.
The two commands — "set" and "arise" — address two different problems: the heart that isn't oriented (set it) and the body that isn't moving (arise). The setting is about direction: point your heart toward God. The arising is about action: get up and build. The internal reorientation produces the external construction.
The purpose — "to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house" — means the building serves the bringing. You don't build for building's sake. You build to house the sacred. The construction is the means. The ark's housing is the end.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you set your heart before you started building — or are you building without direction?
- 2.What does 'arise and build' require that 'set your heart and seek' alone doesn't produce?
- 3.What are you building — and does it serve the purpose of housing the sacred?
- 4.What happens when you build without first seeking — or seek without ever building?
Devotional
Set your heart. Seek the LORD. Then: arise and build. The internal orientation precedes the external construction. You don't start building until your heart is aimed at the right thing. And once your heart is aimed, you don't stay sitting.
The two-step commission covers both failures: the unfocused heart (needs setting) and the inactive body (needs arising). Some people have the heart but not the action. Others have the action but not the heart. David demands both: the seeking heart AND the building hands. The contemplative AND the constructive. The devotion AND the doing.
The building serves the bringing: the construction project isn't about impressive architecture. It's about housing the ark and the holy vessels. The building exists so the sacred has a home. The construction is the servant. The presence is the master. If you forget why you're building, the building becomes an idol rather than a dwelling.
David charges the leaders — not just Solomon — with this commission. The building of the Temple is a communal project that requires the entire leadership's heart-setting and arising. One person can't build God's house. The community sets its heart together and arises together.
What are you building — and have you set your heart first? The construction without the seeking produces architecture without presence. The seeking without the construction produces devotion without expression. Both. Together. Set your heart. Then arise and build.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
David here engages the princes of Israel to assist Solomon in the great work he had to do, and every one to lend him a…
and the holy vessels of God Cp. 1Ki 8:4.
CHAPTER 23
Ch. 1Ch 23:1. Solomon made King
The summary statement of the…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture