you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.
Solomon stands before the altar at the dedication of the temple. He points to the day itself as proof: what God said to David has now happened. So what had God promised David? And was that promise finished on that day, or only started?
What God Declared to David
The promise began with a desire God Himself put in David's heart. David wanted to build the house. God approved the wish, but gave the work to someone else.
Leslie M. GrantSolomon realized that it was God who put the desire to build the temple into David's heart. God approved of David's desire, yet He did not allow him to do it (vv. 15-19). Instead He told David that his son would do the building.
Mouth and Hand
Solomon names God's mouth and God's hand in one breath. One writer explains why the two can never come apart: when God speaks, His own nature commits Him to act.
J. N. DarbyGod has graciously communicated His mind to men, has spoken. His word remains sure, come what will. That belongs to His nature and rests on His power as God. When He speaks, His nature binds Him, so to speak. I cannot believe He is God at all if what He has spoken is not made good. He would not be God. "Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" If He is God, truth to make it good cannot fail, nor power, or He is not God. It would be ignorance, or someone else would have power to hinder Him.
Covenant Held Together With Mercy
Solomon has just called God the One who keeps both covenant and mercy. One commentator notes that the second word rescues the first.
H. L. RossierHe acknowledges that God keeps His covenant — Israel had not kept it — and His mercy (v. 23). Without the latter, to keep His covenant would be the sure condemnation of His people. Still, this mercy itself was according to the covenant of the law. God kept it with those who "walk before Him with all their heart."
Blessing Given, Enjoyment Conditioned
Solomon's thanksgiving sits inside a prayer that soon adds an "if." The blessing had come. Keeping the good of it was another matter.
J. N. DarbyLook at the blessing the king pronounced, which, like almost everything we call blessing, was really thanksgiving. Look at his prayer too. In both we find again the same principles we pointed out at first. The promises made to David are fulfilled as present blessing (vv. 20-24). But the enjoyment of this blessing is granted on condition of obedience (vv. 23-25).
Verse 25 attaches that condition to the very promise Solomon thanks God for. The quote below uses an older translation of that verse. Where it reads "so that," the ESV has "if only."
H. L. Rossier"There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that your children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as you have walked before me." How this "so that" or "if only" condemns us all! It absolutely condemned wise Solomon, and how much more ourselves, a worthless lot. Under a system where we must meet our responsibility to get anything from the Lord, we stand condemned from the start.
The Promise Outliving the Dynasty
"This day" was real, but temporary. The throne Solomon sat on is gone, and writers point past it to where the promise finally lands.
W. W. FeredaySolomon began his prayer by acknowledging that Israel's God has no equal, and is always faithful to His word. God promised David that he would never lack a man to sit on his throne. But He added, "if your children take heed to their ways." On the ground of responsibility all is lost. David's throne has long disappeared; his family also. Even so, David does not lack a man to sit upon his throne... On the Day of Pentecost, Peter told the people in Jerusalem that God's promise to David centres in the One they had crucified (Acts 2:30-31). For now He sits at the right hand of God in heaven, rejected by Israel and by all. But He will yet enter Zion in triumph, welcomed by the heartfelt praises of His people (Psalm 118:26).
Summary
- Spoken. God's promise to David was not a wish granted but a word given. He turned down David's plan and named the son who would build.
- Performed. Mouth and hand belong together in God. When He speaks, His own nature commits Him, so what He says He must do.
- Kept. He keeps covenant and mercy. Take away the mercy, and keeping covenant would only condemn the people it was meant to bless.
- Conditioned. The same promise carries an "if." Commentators note that this one clause condemned the wisest man in Israel. It condemns everyone who stands on their own performance.
- Crowned. David's throne and family have vanished. The promise has not. Writers trace it to the Son of David, now at God's right hand, who will yet sit on that throne.