“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
David is at the end of his life, standing before the assembled leaders of Israel, handing the temple project to his son. His charge starts not with plans but with a person, and it ties together three things: God's purpose for Solomon, Solomon's own responsibility, and a God who reads him through and through.
A Father's Last Words to His Son
One writer boils David's advice to his son down to a few plain rules:
Truth & TestimonyIn simple language: obey God's Word. God judges motives as well as acts. Be brave for God. God's righteous government accompanies sin. Depend upon God for His lasting support in His work. These were wise, solemn and encouraging words from a father to a son. Did Solomon pay any attention to his father? Yes, he did.
Knowing God for Yourself
David points his son to a God his father already knew. But a borrowed faith carries its own danger, as one writer shows in the children of Christians:
H. L. RossierTheir parents' faith guides their first steps, which is right and approved by God… Their conscience has never wrestled with man's sinful state and his natural distance from God. They believe what they have always believed… Knowledge and real piety do not make up for the lack of a direct relationship of the soul with the Lord. The Christian must seek this before all else. Thousands of godly souls stay in a state of childhood. They lean first on their parents, then on their spiritual leaders, instead of on God and the Word.
A Whole, Undivided Heart
The ESV says "a whole heart"; older translations read "a perfect heart." Neither means flawless. One writer explains the phrase where it describes the men who came to make David king:
William KellyThat is, it was not a divided heart. It was set upon God's purpose.
Solomon faced an enormous task, but David names the heart before the work. The same order holds now:
C. H. MackintoshThis is the secret spring of all true service. If Christ has not the love of your heart, He does not want the labour of your hands. He does not say, "Son, give Me your money, your time, your talents, your energies, your pen, your tongue, your head." None of these are any use to Him, and none of them satisfy Him. What He says to you is, "My son, give Me your heart."
The God Who Searches Hearts
David gives a reason: God reads the heart. But He does not always search it for the same purpose:
The Christian's FriendLong ago, under the law, people always saw God as the Searcher of the heart, the One who tests the thoughts of men. He searched in order to reward each man according to his work (see 1 Chron. 28:9). But the apostle reveals God as the Searcher of the heart with another aim… He is not searching the heart to reward the works, or even to refine it as gold is refined. In His search of the heart He finds the exercises of the spirit… His search does not end in finding evil, but good.
Only God can do this. That is why Jesus answering unspoken thoughts mattered so much:
The Bible TreasuryNo one but God could see into the secret workings of man's spirit, as Solomon admitted in his prayer (1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chron. 28:9). By answering the thoughts of the Pharisees, the Lord proved to them who He is. Who else could "hear them thinking"?
The Little Word "If"
Twice in David's charge everything turns on one small word:
H. L. RossierBut in this passage we find a telling little word: "If." Chronicles uses it here for the first time about the kingship or the people: "If he stays firm in doing My commandments and My ordinances, as he does today." "If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever" (vv. 7, 9).
Being chosen never cancels being answerable:
H. L. RossierHere we see Solomon in his perfection as the king of God's purpose. Even so, he is responsible, and his kingdom will not stand firm unless he measures up to that responsibility… Solomon himself failed completely in this, but Chronicles does not mention it, because it deals with God's purposes fulfilled in Christ.
Seeking and Finding
The promise to those who seek is held out to the young:
VariousMay every young reader learn a lesson from Josiah's good example and seek the Lord in their youth… The Lord says to each one, "Seek my face." If you answer from the heart, "Your face, Lord, will I seek," He will be found by you.
Summary
- Know — your father's God must become the God you know yourself. Second-hand faith leaves a soul in permanent childhood, leaning on parents and leaders instead of on God and His Word.
- Heart — a whole heart is an undivided heart. If Christ does not have the love of your heart, He does not want the labour of your hands.
- Searched — God reads motives, not just acts. Only God can do that, so Christ answering men's unspoken thoughts proved who He is.
- If — the first "if" in Chronicles about the kingship lands here. God's purpose does not remove Solomon's responsibility; his throne stands firm only as he meets it.
- Found — seek Him and He is found; forsake Him and He casts you off. Writers press this promise on the young, with Josiah as the example.