2 Sam 7 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, David had the chance to kill Saul in the cave, but he said, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed” (1 Sam 24:6).
In this lesson, Saul is dead (1 Sam 31:6). The elders of Israel “anointed David king over Israel” (2 Sam 5:3). Now “the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies all around” (2 Sam 7:1). David wants to do something for God. God answers: I am going to do something for you.
1When the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies all around,
2the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but God’s ark dwells within curtains.”
3Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”
4That same night, the LORD’s word came to Nathan, saying,
5“Go and tell my servant David, ‘The LORD says, “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in?
God says that from the day he brought Israel out of Egypt until now, he has moved around in a tent and a tabernacle, and he never asked anyone to build him a house of cedar. (vv. 6–7)
8Now therefore tell my servant David this: ‘The LORD of Armies says, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Israel.
9I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.
God also promises a place for his people Israel, where they can live in peace and not be troubled again. (v. 10)
11and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD tells you that the LORD will make you a house.
12When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men;
15but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.
16Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.”’”
Nathan told David all these words. (v. 17)
18Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD; and he said, “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?
19This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord GOD, but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come; and this among men, Lord GOD!
David goes on to praise God’s greatness and asks God to do what he has promised. (vv. 20–28)
29Now therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, Lord GOD, have spoken it. Let the house of your servant be blessed forever with your blessing.”
To read the whole chapter: 2 Sam 7, 29 verses.
A good-hearted plan. David moves into his cedar house and notices that “God’s ark dwells within curtains” (v. 2). It is a good-hearted thought, and even Nathan says, “Go, do all that is in your heart” (v. 3). But that same night, God’s word comes. Even a good-hearted plan needs to hear what God says.
God did not ask for a house. “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in?” (v. 5). God says that since the exodus he has moved around in a tent and a tabernacle, and he never asked anyone to build him a house of cedar (vv. 6–7). God is not short of a house.
First, what God has done. God does not begin by explaining why not. He begins with what he has already done: “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep” (v. 8), and “I have been with you wherever you went” (v. 9). The youngest son out in the field in Lesson 1 — God has never forgotten him.
Building, turned around. David wants to build God a house. God answers, “the LORD will make you a house” (v. 11). The same word is used both ways. The house for God’s name will be built later by David’s son (v. 13); the house of David, God will build himself. God has taken this over.
A son who will fail. God does not say David’s offspring will be perfect: “If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men” (v. 14). But then: “but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you” (v. 15). This promise does not rest on the son keeping it well. It rests on God not taking it back.
Forever. In just a few verses, ‘forever’ comes three times (vv. 13, 16). This chapter never uses the word ‘covenant.’ But late in life, David looked back on this promise and called it “an everlasting covenant” (2 Sam 23:5). That is why this lesson is called ‘The Covenant’: God starts it, and God guarantees it.
Sitting before the LORD. When David has heard it all, he says nothing more about building. He “went in and sat before the LORD” (v. 18), and his first words are “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house” (v. 18). The rest of his prayer does not ask for anything new. It holds on to what God has already said: “for you, Lord GOD, have spoken it. Let the house of your servant be blessed forever with your blessing” (v. 29).
This promise was not for David’s family alone. God says, “I will appoint a place for my people Israel” (v. 10), so that they would “be moved no more” (v. 10). The king’s house was made sure so that God’s people could live in peace.
From then on, Israel was waiting for the King who would come from David’s house. In the New Testament, people were still saying, “the Christ comes of the offspring of David” (John 7:42).
Maybe there is something you wanted to do for God that was blocked, or turned in another direction. When David was stopped, he did not walk away. He went in, sat before God, and listened to what God would do for him.
This week: Find ten minutes. Ask for nothing. Just sit before God and slowly read 2 Samuel 7:18–29, beginning the way David did: ‘Who am I?’
The angel told Mary about the child she would bear: “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom” (Luke 1:32-33). The ‘forever’ of 2 Samuel 7 is exactly what the angel was speaking of.
Verse 14, “I will be his father, and he will be my son” (v. 14), is quoted in Hebrews of God’s Son: “I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son” (Heb 1:5).
At Pentecost, Peter said that David knew “that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne” (Acts 2:30), and that David “spoke about the resurrection of the Christ” (Acts 2:31).
Verse 13 says David’s son will build a house for God’s name, and Solomon later said this came true in him: “I … have built the house for the name of the LORD” (1 Kgs 8:20). But the King of whom it is said “there will be no end to his Kingdom” (Luke 1:33) — the New Testament says that is Jesus.
Scripture: World English Bible.