David\u2019s ecstatic prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 \u2013 the last words he speaks in Chronicles \u2013 includes this notable verse: \u201cWho am I and who are my people we we should have strength to volunteer offerings like this? For from you comes all, and from your hand we give to you\u201d (v. 14).<\/p>\n
David refers to the vast outpouring of resources for the temple \u2013 thousands of talents of gold, silver, bronze, iron (vv. 6-8). That is the \u201cvoluntary gift\u201d that David celebrates. He certainly commends the people for their generosity, but more fundamentally he acknowledges that their<\/em> generosity is from Yahweh. <\/p>\n The second clause is a dense five-word piece of Hebrew poetry, alternating words that end with the second-person pronomial suffix, \u2013k<\/em>:<\/p>\n A. From you (mimeka<\/em>)<\/p>\n B. the all<\/p>\n A\u2019. and from Your hand (miyyadka<\/em>)<\/p>\n B\u2019. we give<\/p>\n A\u201d. to You (lak<\/em>).<\/p>\n God is on both sides of the exchange. Everything comes from Him, and what Israel gives back is only what has come from Yahweh\u2019s hand. That description doesn\u2019t quite capture it, though. It suggests that God hands things over into our possession, and then we, by some power of our own, return gifts to Him. <\/p>\n David suggests a tighter relationship between God and the return gift. Yahweh is the source of Israel\u2019s generosity, and so even the strength to make a return gift, the impulse to give back to the Giver, comes from the Giver. It\u2019s not merely that the return gift comes from the hand of Yahweh; the return giving<\/em> is also from Him.<\/p>\n Another use of \u201chand\u201d highlights another dimension of Israel\u2019s gift-giving. David calls on the people to make donations to the temple by asking who will \u201cfill his hand this day to Yahweh\u201d (v. 5). \u201cFill the hand\u201d is mallo\u2019oth yado<\/em>, a Mosaic idiom for \u201cordination\u201d of priests. Aaron and his sons were ordained by having their hands consecrated for tabernacle service and filled with food-gifts to offer on the altar of Yahweh. In Chronicles, Israel doesn\u2019t receive anything. They fill their hands by donating gold, silver, and other precious metals. They are consecrated as a priestly people by handing over their goods; they fill their hands by emptying them. This consecration too is an act of God: Yahweh claims them as holy by inspiring them to generosity.<\/p>\n Verse 14 is set within a somewhat larger chiastic structure that stretches from verses 14-16:<\/p>\n A. From<\/em> you all<\/p>\n B. from your hand we give to you<\/p>\n C. We are sojourners, tenants;<\/p>\n C\u2019. our life is shadow, we have no hope.<\/p>\n B\u2019. Abundance from your hand<\/p>\n A\u2019. to<\/em> you all.<\/p>\n From Him and to Him are all things: It has a familiar ring to it. It\u2019s as if nothing ever leaves the hand of God, and yet the things that we receive become genuinely ours, subject always to a double possessive (His<\/em> things, and mine<\/em>). For creatures, there is no possession but double possession.<\/p>\n The Lord encircles the entire process of gift and return gift. He underwrites our exchanges and reciprocity.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David\u2019s ecstatic prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 \u2013 the last words he speaks in Chronicles \u2013 includes this notable verse: \u201cWho am I and who are my people we we should have strength to volunteer offerings like this? For from you comes all, and from your hand we give to you\u201d (v. 14). David refers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-chronicles","category-gift"],"yoast_head":"\n