The word of the Lord came to me ... - Not by Nathan 1 Chronicles 17:4-15, but on some other occasion 1 Chronicles 28:3. On the bloody character of David's wars, see 2 Samuel 8:2, 2 Samuel 8:5; 2 Samuel 10:18; 2 Samuel 12:31; and 1 Kings 11:16.

Thou hast shed blood abundantly - Heathens, Jews, and Christians, have all agreed that soldiers of any kind should have nothing to do with Divine offices. Shedding of human blood but ill comports with the benevolence of God or the spirit of the Gospel.

Aeneas, overpowered by his enemies, while fighting for his parents, his family, and his country, finding farther resistance hopeless, endeavors to carry off his aged father, his wife, young son, and his household gods; but as he was just come from slaughter, he would not even handle these objects of superstition, but confided them to his father, whom he took on his shoulders, and carried out of the burning of Troy.

Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu, patriosque penates:

Me bello tanto digressum, et caede recenti,

Attrectare nefas; donec me flumine vivo Abluero.

Aen. ii., ver. 717.

"Our country gods, our relics, and the bands,

Hold you, my father, in your guiltless hands:

In me 'tis impious holy things to bear,

Red as I am with slaughter, new from war;

Till, in some living stream, I cleanse the guilt

Of dire debate, and blood in battle spilt."

Dryden.

See the note at the end of 2 Samuel 7:25 (note).

But the word of the Lord came to me,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum, by the mouth of Nathan the prophet:

saying; as follows, which though not expressed in the book of Samuel before referred to, is here recorded by divine inspiration:

thou hast shed blood abundantly; Kimchi thinks this refers to the blood of Uriah, and those gallant men that were slain with him, and to the priests slain by the order of Saul, which David was the occasion of, or accidental cause of, 1 Samuel 22:22 and to many good men among the Gentiles; though it was the intention of the Lord to consume the wicked among them, that they might not prevail over Israel:

and hast made great wars: with the Philistines, Moabites, &c.

thou shall not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight; an intimation this, that the church of God, of which this house was a type, was to be built by Christ, the Prince of peace, and to be supported and maintained not by force of arms, and by spilling of blood, as the religion of Mahomet, but by the preaching of the Gospel of peace.

But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, {d} Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

(d) This declares how greatly God detests the shedding of blood, seeing David for this cause is prevented from building the temple of the Lord, though he enterprised no war, but by God's command and against his enemies.

22:8 Shed blood - Not that wars are simply unlawful, but to teach us that the church (whereof the temple was an illustrious type) should be built by Christ, the prince of peace, Isa 9:6, and that it should be gathered and built up, not by might or power but by God's spirit, Zech 4:6, and by the preaching the Gospel of peace. David therefore was less fit for that service, than one who had not been called to such bloody work. Likewise by setting him aside for this reason, God shewed how precious human life is to him.

22:6-16 David gives Solomon the reason why he should build the temple. Because God named him. Nothing is more powerful to engage us in any service for God, than to know that we are appointed thereto. Because he would have leisure and opportunity to do it. He should have peace and quietness. Where God gives rest, he expects work. Because God had promised to establish his kingdom. God's gracious promises should quicken and strengthen our religious service. David delivered to Solomon an account of the vast preparations he had made for this building; not from pride and vain-glory, but to encourage Solomon to engage cheerfully in the great work. He must not think, by building the temple, to purchase a dispensation to sin; on the contrary, his doing that would not be accepted, if he did not take heed to fulfil the statutes of the Lord. In our spiritual work, as well as in our spiritual warfare, we have need of courage and resolution.