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This is the house of Yahveh

1 Chronicles 21:18-22:19

1 Chronicles 21:18 So the angel of Yahveh ordered Gad to tell David to go and set up an altar to Yahveh on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
1 Chronicles 21:19 David went up at Gad’s command spoken in the name of Yahveh.
1 Chronicles 21:20 Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel. His four sons, who were with him, hid.
1 Chronicles 21:21 David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.
1 Chronicles 21:22 David told Ornan, “Give me this threshing-floor plot so that I may build an altar to Yahveh. Give it to me for the full price, so the plague on the people may be stopped.”
1 Chronicles 21:23 Ornan said to David, “Take it! My lord the king may do whatever he wants. See, I give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering — I give it all.”
1 Chronicles 21:24 King David answered Ornan, “No, I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for Yahveh what belongs to you or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
1 Chronicles 21:25 So David gave Ornan fifteen pounds of gold for the plot.
1 Chronicles 21:26 He built an altar to Yahveh and offered burnt and fellowship offerings. He called on Yahveh, and he answered him with fire from the sky on the altar of burnt offering.
1 Chronicles 21:27 Then Yahveh spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.
1 Chronicles 21:28 At that time, David offered sacrifices there when he saw that Yahveh answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
1 Chronicles 21:29 The tabernacle of Yahveh, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at the high place in Gibeon,
1 Chronicles 21:30, but David could not go before it to inquire of God because he was terrified of the sword of Yahveh’s angel.
1 Chronicles 22:1 Then David said, “This is the house of Yahveh God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
1 Chronicles 22:2 So David gave orders to gather the resident aliens in the land of Israel, and he appointed stonecutters to cut finished stones for building God’s house.
1 Chronicles 22:3 David supplied a great deal of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the fittings, together with an immeasurable quantity of bronze,
1 Chronicles 22:4 and innumerable cedar logs because the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought many cedar logs to David.
1 Chronicles 22:5 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for Yahveh must be exceedingly great and famous and glorious in all the lands. Therefore, I will make provision for it.” So, David made lavish preparations for it before his death.
1 Chronicles 22:6 He summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for Yahveh God of Israel.
1 Chronicles 22:7 “My son,” David said to Solomon, “It was in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahveh my God,
1 Chronicles 22:8 but the word of Yahveh came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for my name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before me.
1 Chronicles 22:9 But a son will be born to you; he will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign.
1 Chronicles 22:10 He is the one who will build a house for my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
1 Chronicles 22:11 “Now, my son, may Yahveh be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of Yahveh your God, as he said about you.
1 Chronicles 22:12 Above all, may Yahveh give you insight and understanding when he puts you in charge of Israel so that you may keep the law of Yahveh your God.
1 Chronicles 22:13 You will succeed if you carefully follow the statutes and ordinances Yahveh commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or discouraged.
1 Chronicles 22:14 “Notice I have taken great pains to provide for the house of the Lord — 3,775 tons of gold, 37,750 tons of silver, and bronze and iron that can’t be weighed because there is so much of it. I have also provided timber and stone, but you will need to add more to them.
1 Chronicles 22:15 You also have many workers: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and people skilled in every kind of work
1 Chronicles 22:16 in gold, silver, bronze, and iron — beyond number. Now begin the work, and may Yahveh be with you.”
1 Chronicles 22:17 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon:
1 Chronicles 22:18 “Yahveh your God is with you, isn’t he? And hasn’t he given you rest on every side? He has handed the land’s inhabitants over to me, and the land has been subdued before Yahveh and his people.
1 Chronicles 22:19 Now determine in your mind and heart to seek Yahveh your God. Get started building Yahveh God’s sanctuary so that you may bring the ark of Yahveh’s covenant and the holy articles of God to the temple that is to be built for the name of Yahveh.”

This is the house of Yahveh

After David had purchased the threshing floor of Ornon and averted the plague, he builds an altar there and sacrifices to God on the site. Then, he gets the idea that the site could serve as the location of the temple Solomon is to build. So, he declares “This is the house of Yahveh.” Those reading David’s words centuries later would look up and see the results of that declaration. The massive temple and all its associated grounds and buildings would remind generations that it was the LORD who had established Israel, for his purposes.

LORD, may our lives be so dedicated to you, that generations after us people will know that you lived in us.