This excellent chapter is the same with
1 Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains. 2 Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee. 3 And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, 4 Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in: 5 For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. 6 Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedars? 7 Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel: 8 And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth. 9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning, 10 And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the Lord will build thee a house. 11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build me a house, and I will stablish his throne for ever. 13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee: 14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore. 15 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
Let us observe here,
I. How desirous and solicitous good people
should be to serve the interests of God's kingdom in the world, to
the utmost of their capacity. David could not be easy in a house of
cedar while the ark was lodged within curtains,
II. How ready God's prophets should be to
encourage every good purpose. Nathan was no sooner aware of David's
good design than he bade him go and do all that was within his
heart (
III. How little God affects external pomp
and splendour in his service. His ark was content with a tabernacle
(
IV. How graciously God accepts his people's
good purposes, yea, though he himself prevents the performance of
them. David must not build this house,
16 And David the king came and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 17 And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God. 18 What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant. 19 O Lord, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. 20 O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 21 And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt? 22 For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, Lord, becamest their God. 23 Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said. 24 Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee. 25 For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him a house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee. 26 And now, Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: 27 Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever.
We have here David's solemn address to God,
in answer to the gracious message he had now received from him. By
faith he receives the promises, embraces them, and is persuaded of
them, as the patriarchs,
I. That which is there expressed by way of
question (Is this the manner of men, O Lord God?) is here an
acknowledgment: "Thou hast regarded me according to the estate
of a man of high degree. Thou hast made me a great man, and
then treated me accordingly." God, by the covenant-relations into
which he admits believers, the titles he gives them, the favours he
bestows on them, and the preparations he has made for them, regards
them according to the estate of men of high degree, though they are
mean and vile. Having himself distinguished them, he treats them as
persons of distinction, according to the quality he has been
pleased to put upon them. Some give these words here another
reading: "Thou hast looked upon me in the form of a man who art
in the highest, the Lord God; or, Thou hast made me to see
according to the form of a man the majesty of the Lord God."
And so it points at the Messiah; for, as Abraham, so David, saw his
day and was glad, saw it by faith, saw it in fashion as a man,
the Word made flesh, and yet saw his glory as that of
the only-begotten of the Father. And this was that which God
spoke concerning his house for a great while to come, the foresight
of which affected him more than any thing. And let it not be
thought strange that David should speak so plainly of the two
natures of Christ who in spirit called him Lord, though he
knew he was to be his Son (
II. After the words What can David say
more unto thee, it is here added, for the honour of they
servant?
III. It is very observable that what in
Samuel is said to be for thy word's sake is here said to be
for thy servant's sake,
IV. In Samuel, the Lord of hosts is said to
be the God over Israel; here he is said to be the God of
Israel, even a God to Israel,
V. The closing words in Samuel are, With
thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.
That is the language of a holy desire. But the closing words here
are the language of a most holy faith: For thou blessest, O
Lord! and it shall be blessed for ever,