Chapter Seventeen

1–2. David’s intention to build a temple. 3–15. The revelation to him through the prophet Nathan. 16–27. David’s prayer.

The seventeenth chapter represents, with few exceptions, a literal repetition of the content of 2 Sam 7.

1 Chronicles 17:1. When David lived in his house, David said to the prophet Nathan: Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent. The author of Chronicles omits the expression 2 Sam 7:1: “when the Lord gave him rest from all his enemies on all sides,” in order to remove the contradiction of these words with the subsequent narrative, since David’s bloodiest wars with the surrounding peoples fell in the following period.

1 Chronicles 17:4. Go and say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord: It is not you who shall build me a house to dwell in, In 2 Sam 7:5 the words of the Lord have the form of a question, even of doubt: “Shall you build me a house?” Here they are replaced by an expression of a positive character: “It is not you who shall build me a house to dwell in.”

1 Chronicles 17:6. Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, did I ever speak a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherds of my people, saying: Why have you not built me a house of cedar? The title “judge” is replaced in 2 Sam 7:7 by the title “leader,” “commander.” Judges were the supreme rulers of one or several tribes in the period from the death of Joshua until the reign of Saul. A leader-chief, the commander of each tribe separately, for the entire time of the preservation of the separation of the tribes.

1 Chronicles 17:10. In the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I have subdued all your enemies. And I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house. In 2 Sam 7:11 the verb “I declare” stands in the second person and directly refers to Jehovah: “The Lord declared.”

1 Chronicles 17:11. When your days are fulfilled and you go to your ancestors, then I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own children, and I will establish his kingdom. In a literal translation from the Hebrew: “Since your days are fulfilled for you to go to your ancestors,” the verse gives the impression that the revelation was communicated to David shortly before his death. In the book of Kings 2 Sam 7:12 there is a different expression: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors.” The correct reading is, undoubtedly, on the side of the book of Kings, since the revelation through Nathan was communicated to David at the beginning, not at the end of his reign.

1 Chronicles 17:13. I will be his father, and he will be my son. And I will not remove my steadfast love from him, as I removed it from him who was before you. The author omits the words constituting the second half of the verse 2 Sam 7:14: “If he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human hands,” perhaps in order to emphasize the unceasing mercy of Jehovah toward the house of David and thereby put the latter in a favorable light, or in order to point to the direct relation of the promise about David’s descendant to the Messiah alone: “who was before you,” that is, Saul. He is directly named in 2 Sam 7:15.

1 Chronicles 17:14. I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever. The reading of the book of Chronicles more strongly emphasizes the messianic character of the promise than the diverging reading of 2 Kings. The descendant of David will be “eternal in my house and in my kingdom,” that is, in the theocracy, whose existence did not end in Old Testament times.

1 Chronicles 17:17. But even this seemed too little in your sight, O God; for you have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come. May I be regarded by you, O Lord God, as a man of high standing! The phrase: “and you regard me as a man of great importance, O Lord God,” replaces the unclear expression 2 Sam 7:19: “this is according to the manner of human beings, O Lord God.”

1 Chronicles 17:18. What more can David say to you regarding the honor due to your servant? You know your servant. The second book of Kings, conveying in the parallel place 2 Sam 7:20 the idea that David does not know how to thank the Lord, gives a reading more understandable than the book of Chronicles, which indicates that David does not know what he should desire for his own glory.