¹³Then shalt thou prosper, if thou observe to do the statutes and the judgements which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; fear not, neither be dismayed.
13. be strong, and of good courage] Compare Joshua i. 9.
¹⁴Now, behold, in my affliction[¹] I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.
[¹] Or, low estate.
14. in my affliction] LXX. κατὰ τὴν πτωχείαν μου, and so margin in my low estate. The exact meaning of the phrase is not quite certain. Does it refer to the comparative slenderness of David’s resources (in my poverty), or to the difficulties of the wars and rebellions which marked his reign, or does it cover both ideas? Render perhaps in my straitened circumstances. Some translate by my strenuous labour (compare xxix. 2), but there is insufficient evidence for rendering the Hebrew word by labour.
an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver] This sum is incredibly large. In 1 Kings x. 14 it is told in illustration of the riches of Solomon—a wealthier king than David—that he received in one year 666 talents of gold, but even at this rate David would have amassed only 26,640 talents in forty years, and further the sum assigned to Solomon as his yearly revenue is fantastically large, see note 2 Chronicles ix. 13. The passage illustrates the exaggeration which is so characteristic of midrashic style; compare xxix. 4, and the note on 2 Chronicles xvii. 14.
¹⁵Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men that are cunning in any manner of work; ¹⁶of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number; arise and be doing, and the Lord be with thee. ¹⁷David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,
15, 16. any manner of work; of the gold ... there is no number] Render in every work of gold ... without number; i.e. the two verses are to be read in close connection.
¹⁸Is not the Lord your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath delivered the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people.
18. the inhabitants of the land] Compare xi. 4, the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. The remnant of the earlier inhabitants of Canaan is meant.