Sermon Tone Analysis

1 CHRO 17:16-

1 chr 17:

So God’s revealed words correct and actually harness the impulses of the heart, and the wise believer will bring emotion and revelation together as he comes before God: ‘Thou, my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build a house for him; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray before thee’ (17:25).

17:16 David referred to the insignificance of his own family in contrast to the high position he now held.

More than that, there was an exciting future hope.

17:17–24 Verse 17b has textual problems, and translators give different renderings.

The general drift of the passage seems to be that God has marked out a significant future for David, but there is uncertainty about the exact translation.

In the parallel in 2 Sam 7:19, David proclaims that God’s decree is “instruction for the people” (NRSV), a phrase that may have profound messianic implications.

The text here, however, is unclear.

In any case David expressed thanks that God had honored him (v.

19).

David’s prayer is that the Lord’s promise should be established forever.

The frequent use of “forever” and similar phrases points forward to a future beyond David’s time.

So David prayed that God’s “name” (fame) should be sure and great forever so that “the LORD Almighty, the God over Israel, is Israel’s God.” Thus will the house of David be established forever before God.

17:25–27 The prayer closes with the invocation: “O LORD, you are God!

You have promised these good things to your servant.”

Assurance of the Lord’s continuing blessing comes in the final words, “Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O LORD, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever.”

The continuity of David’s throne also is acknowledged (vv.

23–24).

The reference to the exodus in vv.

21–22 is important.

First, God’s unconditional promises are not to be received casually, as though their advantages were automatic, but with submissive faith and thanksgiving.

Secondly, for the Chronicler, faith is often expressed through prayer, notably in the examples of David (also 29:10–19), Solomon (2 Chr.

1:8–10; 6:14–42), Jehoshaphat (2 Chr.

20:6–12), and Hezekiah (2 Chr.

30:18–20; 32:20, 24).

Prayers are often strategic in Chronicles, especially those which introduce and conclude the temple-building narratives in the reigns of David and Solomon.

Chronicles makes a closer connection between prayer and the building of the temple than Samuel or Kings (1 Chr.

29:10–19 has no parallel),

a. Praise for God’s uniqueness (17:16–22).

Three rhetorical questions, Who am I? (v.

16), ‘What is my house?’

(v.

16, NRSV, RSV, etc.), and Who is like your people Israel?

(v.

21),

God as not only unique but without any rival (v.

20).

and a statement of faith, There is no-one like you, O LORD, and there is no God but you (v.

20),

There is no-one like you, O LORD in the prayers of Asa (2 Chr.

14:11, EVV; v. 10, MT), Jehoshaphat (2 Chr.

20:6) and Jeremiah (Jer.

10:6–7); there is no God but you in both prayer (Ps.

18:32; Isa.

64:4) and divine speech (Isa.

45:5, 21; Hos.

13:4).

and a statement of faith, There is no-one like you, O LORD, and there is no God but you (v.

20),

the Davidic covenant is to be placed on a par with God’s mighty acts of salvation in the exodus (Hos.

13:4) and the return from exile (Isa.

45:5, 21) as major evidence for Yahweh’s incomparability (cf.

v. 24).

The prayer confirms that the new covenant promises are also a continuation of God’s eternal promises for his people in the Mosaic covenant (vv.

21–22; cf.

vv.

7–8).

By echoing the covenant formula, You made your people Israel your very own for ever, and you, O LORD, have become their God (v.

22),

the past is resumed (Exod.

6:7; Lev.

26:12), the judgment of exile forgiven (Hos.

1:8–9; Jer.

31:33), and the future in Christ anticipated (Rom.

9:25–26; Rev. 21:3).

b.

Request for God to confirm his promises (17:23–27).

Two requests emerge in the latter part of the prayer.

The first is that God’s ‘word’ (NRSV, RSV) promise (NIV, GNB) should be established for ever (v.

23).

The Davidic covenant is usually described in this chapter as the word/promise (vv.

3, 23; cf.

v. 6), but it is also called this great thing (v.

19), ‘this good thing’ (v.

26, NRSV, RSV), and what God has revealed (v.

25; cf.

v. 15).

Verse 23 contains a good example of prayer not always changing the circumstances but the attitude of the person who prays—‘Do what you said’

The second request is that God’s name (‘fame’, GNB, REB, NEB) will be magnified for ever (v.

24, NRSV, RSV).

God’s covenant promise is twice seen as evidence of God’s blessing, and this is the real ground of hope that the blessing will not be lost in the future (You have been pleased to bless …, you … have blessed, v. 27