Abstract
The Chronicler changes the statement of 1 Kgs 5.17, according to which David's wars prevented him from building the temple, into an ethical wrong, and emphasizes this aspect by adding David's shedding of blood. Because of this David is disqualified from the building of the temple. The reason for this is that it provides a theological explanation for the fact that not David but Solomon was the temple builder. David's sin opened the way for God's intervention in appointing Solomon as temple builder. The same literary/theological device is used in 1 Chronicles 21, to make God designate the place of the future temple, and in 1 Chronicles 10, where Saul's unfaithfulness and rejection (not in the Chronicler's source) make it possible for God to turn over the kingdom to David.
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