2 Samuel 7-8

Introduction

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David’s Error

Let’s get into this with the first few verses here 2 Samuel 7:1-3

2 Samuel 7:1–3 ESV

1 Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” 3 And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

David is living it up! He’s found great success, he’s the King, he’s ruling, getting victories, he’s got himself a palace that was built. He’s hot stuff, and he still loves God! So he’s got that going for him too! But in these first few verses, David faces a temptation that feels so natural for the new position of power, authority, wealth, and influence he has. It says that he was living in his house and that God had given him rest from his enemies, things are going great! So he sets out to do what any self-respecting national king of his time would do: we need to build a temple for our God!

Any pagan ruler would have done just that, leveraging their wealth and power to build a fitting temple for their regional gods and idols. Partly out of veneration and worship, partly out of a desire to stay in that god’s good graces. But YHWH is not just any regional god, He is not like those false gods of the Philistines. As David will come to say by the end of this chapter--2 Samuel 7:22 “22 Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” There is no one like you, Lord. He’s learning that more and more.

You see, David is about to cross a line, there’s a temptation in front of him; this is the temptation: to go from being full of God to full of Himself, a temptation to build something great on his own power and riches, and to begin thinking that he, David, could do God a favor by building Him a house of worship. Now, I will say that this seems to come from a good place, a place of genuine worship and adoration of the Lord. But the long-term effect on David’s heart could be disastrous.

Eugene Peterson, talking about this passage and these events in David’s life said this: “If any of us develop an identity in which God and God’s grace are less important to who we are than our own action and performance, then our ability to represent God’s Kingdom is utterly ruined.” If David moved from “I will become even more undignified than this!” (right, the end of chapter 6) to “I can build house for God.”

This is God’s gracious interruption. David had consulted with Nathan the prophet about his idea to build a place of worship. Nathan doesn’t see anything wrong with this idea. That’s great, do the desire of your heart for the Lord is with you. He says. But then God intervenes.

God’s Gracious interruption

That night the word of YHWH had come to Nathan, tell David this: 2 Samuel 7:5-7

2 Samuel 7:5–7 ESV

5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. 7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’

My servant…David is King but still a servant of God. If he truly has his eyes on greatness, he will serve the Lord.

The Lord has a different plan and in his intervention we see he re-affirms His identity as the God who dwells with and among His people. Tabernacling with them, travelling with them. It’s important for God to relate to and be close to His people. Now, this statement is not some definitive statement on God never dwelling in a permanent temple, for we know that will come. His point is this: David, why do you think I need you to build me a house to dwell in? Do you not know me, have you forgotten the story of your people and their rescue from slavery in Egypt. I brought them out and I have lived with them for generations! And I never asked them to build for me a permanent temple, I have always been distinct. Don’t get ahead of me, God is saying.

It’s God’s gracious intervention that prevents David from going down a road the Lord knows will be bad for Him. There’s a real practical application for us today, to make sure we are not trusting in our own works, our own performance for God, rather than trusting fully in God.

You see, every other religion works this way: you build god a house and god will bless you. But YHWH is different and that’s what we’ll see in this next section:,

God’s Covenant

And God doesn’t just interrupt David’s plan, making David feel lame about his desire to build a temple “that’s a dumb idea!” No, instead, God meets David’s idea with the theological high point of all of certainly all of 1 and 2 Samuel, but this is one of the theological high points of all of the Old Testament! God meets David with such an extraordinary measure of grace that David can hardly comprehend, we see that later in the chapter. But this moment, this is what’s come to be known as the Davidic Covenant, God’s promise to David regarding the house and line of David. I’m just going to read this whole section.

2 Samuel 7:8–17 ESV

8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” 17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

These ten verses are filled with the promises of God. First, there is an affirmation of God’s faithfulness to David already: I took you from the pasture, and I have been with you wherever you went and cut off your enemies. And then the promises begin, 2 Samuel 7:9

2 Samuel 7:9 ESV

And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

I will make for you a great name. That should immediately bring to mind the promise God made to Abraham in what we call the Abrahamic Covenant. Genesis 12:2 “2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” We see that God’s covenant with David stands in continuity with that of Abraham. The parallels don’t stop there. Look at this, 2 Samuel 7:10 “10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,” So God now promises LAND for this nation, that’s already been fulfilled, they’re in promised land but it’s a direct connection to that which came before. Again, look at Genesis 12:2-3

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

To Abraham, I will make your name great, you will be a great nation, you will have land and I will curse those who curse you. That idea is here in 2 Samuel, to David this land is a place of security, where violent people will not afflict them. And Abraham is also promised an offspring, so key to the Abraham story. But God makes that promise here, specifically to raise up his offspring after you and this is where the Davidic Covenant expands beyond the bounds of the Abrahamic covenant: that offspring will be raised up and God will establish him on the throne of David and this Kingdom will be established forever.

2 Samuel 7:11–12 ESV

11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

The LORD will make you a house. That’s the promise to David. Remember, we started chapter 7 with David wanting to build YHWH a house and he was interrupted. You see, YHWH is already reaching out to David with grace and this is why He is so unlike the false gods of the other nations. YHWH says: “You don’t build me a house, I will build you a house.” God is talking, obviously, about a literal house, but instead about a dynasty, a genealogical line and a Kingdom that will persist. God’s promise here is without conditions, it’s unconditional, in that it is totally dependent on the faithfulness of God and not on the future faithfulness of David or his descendants. This is very good news!

And God forsees this and makes it clear that nothing will stop the fulfillment of his promises. What are the enemies of God’s promises?

First, we see that Death will not stop God’s promises: 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. David will die, but this death does not stop the covenant from being fulfilled. David’s offspring will be raised up and this Kingdom will continue.

The second enemy? Sin. Sin will not stop the covenant from being fulfilled. 2 Samuel 7:13-15

2 Samuel 7:13–15 ESV

13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

Talking about that offspring, God promises to establish this throne forever, and God recognizes that David’s son will sin—commit iniquity—God will discipline him BUT the Lord’s steadfast love will not depart. It will not be like what happened to Saul, for he and his house was rejected by God. Now, though there will be consequence for sin, but the covenant and it’s attachment to the line of David that will continue. And I want to say here that this is an unconditional covenant, however that does not mean there is a guarantee of a perfect, continuous line of rulers on the throne who all come in David’s line. Within one generation, Solomon will sin, the Kingdom will be split a part. Future generations will see exile and decimation of Israel and of Judah.

We cannot look at the rest of the Old Testament and say: see, sin really ruined God’s covenant promises. The covenant promises that though iniquity will arise, God will maintain David’s line and this Kingdom forever. God will raise up an offspring who will redeem. And I think this is important for us, that our sin does have consequences but we can also rest in knowing our salvation is secure in Christ Jesus forever.

Finally, the last enemy of God’s promise is TIME itself. Though history will continue on, though the nations rage, ages come and go. God’s promise to David will stand. 2 Samuel 7:16 “16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ””

It’s easy to look at the rest of the OT, even the world today, and say how can this be? How could this promise stand? The prophets wondered the same thing, but God gave them a word when all was hopeless and the people were in exile.

Isaiah 9:6–7 “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Of course, we know who this passage is pointing us toward—that’s where the Davidic Covenant finds it’s perfect fulfillment: in Christ Jesus. If we’re worried about death defeating God’s covenant, this savior defeated death itself. Sin? No, he lived a perfect life and reigns with righteousness unlike any king that had ever come before. Time? Jesus’ Kingdom is here to stay, though it starts small, it will reign forever, that’s what we see in Revelation.

Now, I want to end on this last thing—for those careful observers, there is one element of the Abrahamic covenant that isn’t explicitly reflected here in 2 Samuel 7, but that I think is maybe implied. It’s this, God promised that Abraham would be a great nation and that nation would be a blessing to all the nations and families of the world. That’s not mentioned here, it seems very centered on David’s Kingdom in this geographic region Judea and Israel. But that’s never God’s only intention. God has His eye on a Kingdom that is expansive and beyond Israel. From the earliest days in the Exodus—God was clear, the nations will look on you and marvel, Deuteronomy 4—to later in Isaiah when he sees the nations coming under the rule of God and His anointed one, all the way to Revelation when every tribe, tongue, and nation will bow down before the lamb of God, the one who came in the line of David and who is now seated on a throne at the right hand of God.

God’s covenant with David, one of the mountaintop peaks of scripture, looking back at what came before, looking ahead, all the way to the very end of the story of scripture. This is where it’s all headed and we can trust, like David, in this promise fully.

OK. in your tables. Discuss what’s in your workbook, but if you want, you can also read the rest of chapter 7, David’s prayer of Thanksgiving for the covenant and talk about that. Chapter 8 is also cool, David has more military victories!