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Unlike so many of the kings who would follow him, David went out with a bang, not a whimper.
It is instructive to thumb through the catalog of everything David accomplished before handing the kingdom over to Solomon. Let’s take a whirlwind look.
Orders of people
It takes fully 8 chapters of 1 Chronicles to detail the work David accomplished at the end of his reign. One aspect that stands out prominently is his skill in getting people organized and ready to serve the wellbeing of the nation.
David organized the Levites into divisions of laborers in order to carry out the everyday needs of serving the temple (1 Chron. 23).
He also assigned the priests, musicians, and gatekeepers to their particular roles, and made sure they had the resources they would need in order to carry out their tasks (chapters 22-26).
On a national scale he re-organized the military in order to secure the gains made under his leadership, and he established heads of tribes throughout the land to ensure that justice and order would be observed in each community (chapter 27).
By putting all these people in place, assigning their duties, and providing the resources they needed, David was able to hand the rule of the kingdom over to Solomon before he died, and to ensure the leaders as he had established them would be loyal to the new king.
Temple preparations
All this activity was motivated by David’s determination to build a temple for the Lord. The Lord had given David the plans for the temple, and he had written them down so that he could pass along the vision in tact to Solomon (1 Chron. 28.11-19). The temple was to be conspicuous for its beauty, magnificence, and glory – like no temple the world had ever seen.
And David didn’t content himself merely with drawing up the plans. He also motivated and led the people to give generously, even lavishly, of their personal wealth in order to make the temple what David envisioned. As David explained, he rallied the people to give “one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for it is so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them” (1 Chron. 22.14, 15). David rallied all the leaders he had appointed to follow his example of giving from his personal treasure in preparing for the temple, and we can be sure that those leaders, in turn, motivated the people they served to follow suit (1 Chron. 29.6-9). Indeed, we are told that “the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the LORD…” (1 Chron. 29.9).
David also enlisted workers of every trade from all over the land to join together in the effort to raise this glorious house of worship for the Lord.
By all accounts, David’s last works present an amazing catalog of leadership skills and fruitful endeavor.
So, how was David able to accomplish this? How could he, who had not always known the support of his nation, create such unity, generosity, structure, and energy for his project and legacy?
He did it through visionary leadership, and, as we shall see in this series, he used the worship services of the people of God to cast the vision and enlist the people in a large, common project that would redound to the glory of God even as it also served to undergird their most essential spiritual needs.
David was a visionary leader, and we want to learn from him as much as we can about building the Lord’s temple – His Church – in our own day.
Next steps
What do we mean by “visionary leader”? Would you describe the leaders of your church as “visionary”? Do they think of themselves this way? Ask a few of them.
Additional Resources
Download this week’s study, Visionary Leadership.
Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.
Need vision for a revived church? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, Preparing Your Church for Revival, from our online store.
And men, download our free brief paper, “Men of the Church: A Solemn Warning,” by clicking here.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.