When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
David asked to build a house for God, and God answered by promising to build a house for David. That promise reaches past the king's own death to a son, a kingdom, and a throne — so who is this son, and how can a promise outlive the man who received it?
God turned down David's offer to build. One writer explains the reason behind that refusal.
So God must always have the first place, and must always be the first mover. It would not fit His glory to let David build Him a house until He had built David a house.
God dates the promise from David's death. That is where a man's story normally ends, and where God says His giving is only starting.
David might rightly feel that the Lord had done much for him. The house of cedar was a great thing for the shepherd of Bethlehem. But what was it compared with the future? What was all that God had done, compared with what He would do?… So we see that such acts of grace did not mark only his own short span of forty years. God spoke of his house too, "for a great while to come," even for ever.
The verse points to a son who will come from David's own body. 1 Chronicles words the same promise differently, and one writer reads the two wordings as pointing in different directions.
In 1 Chronicles 17:11, "I will set up your seed after you, which shall be of your sons," directs our thoughts to Christ, the king according to God's counsels. But 2 Samuel 7:12, "your seed… which shall come from your body," points to Solomon, David's son.
So Solomon is the son in view first. Yet the promise reaches further than Solomon ever did, and commentators look beyond him to someone greater.
Solomon is first in view, but he is only a picture of Him who said while on earth, "something greater than Solomon is here." Christ alone will fulfil this great covenant-promise… He came as the Son of David according to the flesh, yet He is also David's Lord, and He is the One who spoke these words to Nathan. Just before He came, God announced, "the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
What if David's sons turned out badly? The promise takes that into account.
With David, God made another covenant, in part conditional, and in part unconditional. For the sons who came right after him, everything depended on their obedience: whether they kept the throne, and whether God blessed the nation under their rule. If they disobeyed, God would chasten them. But in one way the covenant had no conditions: God would never take His mercy away from David's house for good. One was to come from his body who would, without fail, sit on his throne.
David died, and so did every son who sat on his throne. The promise still stands, and one writer shows where its certainty rests.
The "everlasting covenant" assured David that, through his seed, God would establish his kingdom and throne for ever. We know from Acts 13:34 that the Spirit of God clearly shows Christ to be the promised seed of David. It also shows that the sure mercies of David are secured through Christ risen from the dead. So the grace of God flows out to Jew and Gentile in righteousness. It rests on the firm foundation of the death and resurrection of Christ.
- Reversed — David offered to build God a house. God would not take it until He had first built David one, because His glory asks for that order.
- Given — the promise starts where David ends. It steps over his death and covers his house "for a great while to come," even for ever.
- Extended — the son from David's body is Solomon first. But the promise fits Christ alone, and Solomon is only a picture of Him.
- Guarded — the covenant is part conditional, part unconditional. God could chasten a disobedient son, but He would never take His mercy from David's house.
- Secured — a risen Man holds David's throne, not a dynasty. Christ raised from the dead makes the mercies promised to David sure, and opens that grace to Jew and Gentile alike.
It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
David offers to build God a house of cedar. God answers by promising to build David a house instead — a son who will build the temple, and a throne that lasts forever.
Before David can build anything for God, God settles what He will build for David.
So God must always have the first place, and always be the first mover. It would not fit with His glory to let David build Him a house until He had built David a house.
The reason lies in David's own record. He spent his reign subduing enemies, and that work suits a different picture than a temple.
Solomon would also build a house for God's name (v.13). God had decreed this. David was not to be permitted to build the house because he was a man of war and had shed much blood (1 Chron. 22:8). In this way he had been a type of Christ in subduing all His enemies. The building of the house must not be linked with war and bloodshed. It must be linked with the peace that follows conquest. In that character Solomon was a type of the Lord Jesus.
Two men picture what one Man will be. The handover between them leaves no gap.
First is war and judgment, then peace and rest. These two periods differ in character, and two men are used as types. Two kings set out the Messiah's glory and reign. Yet there is no break in their reign, as when one dies and then the other comes to the throne. Solomon is anointed king before David dies. The throne is not vacant for a moment. In type David and Solomon are one. The Lord is the true David and the true Solomon.
The principle reaches past Solomon's day. God settles His dwelling only where the fighting has ended.
David could not build this house. Peace had to come first, before the Lord could make His lasting dwelling among His people. As long as they wandered in the desert, the Lord joined Himself to them by the tabernacle, sharing their life as pilgrims and travellers. Then came the wars of Canaan under Joshua and the judges; these had not stopped until the reign of David. God cannot dwell in rest where there is war. The first condition for His lasting dwelling with His people in Canaan is that peace be made. It is the same, spiritually, for the Church. When the "good news of peace" is announced, God builds up His house, the holy temple in the Lord. This work continues until the full rest of glory.
Solomon built the temple and reigned. But the word "forever" reaches past him.
Solomon is first in view. But he is only a type of Him who said while on earth, "something greater than Solomon is here." Only in Christ will this great covenant-promise be fulfilled. God announces chastening for his offspring. But the covenant cannot be cancelled, for God's gifts and calling are irrevocable… And when He was about to come — the Son of David according to the flesh, but also David's Lord, the One who spoke these words to Nathan — God announced: "the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32-33). That throne and that kingdom He has not yet received.
Read on and the promise appears to change. This verse promises a throne forever; then comes a word about correction. Commentators see two strands side by side. One rests on God's purpose. The other rests on the king's obedience.
When Christ, as the Son of David, is before the mind of the Spirit, the promise is unconditional. It is the announcement of God's purpose in grace. But when David's children, his immediate descendants, are in view, their continuance on his throne depends on their responsibility — on their keeping God's law and walking according to His commandments.
- God first. David offers to build a house for God; God answers by building a house for David. He is always the first mover, and His glory would not allow the order to be reversed.
- Peace first. The man of war could not build. God does not settle His dwelling where there is still war. That principle holds today, while the good news of peace builds His house.
- Two kings, one Christ. David subdues the enemies. Solomon builds in the rest that follows. The throne is never empty between them. The Lord is both the true David and the true Solomon.
- Solomon first, Christ finally. Solomon is in view, but only as a picture. The word "forever" is fulfilled in Christ alone, whose throne, commentators note, He has not yet taken up.
- Grace outlasts failure. The son may be corrected; the covenant cannot be cancelled. Where God's purpose in grace is in view, the promise carries no conditions at all.