Chapter Seven

David’s intention to build a permanent temple to God. The promises of God to David, uttered through the prophet Nathan. David’s hymn of thanksgiving and praise to God.

2 Samuel 7:2. And the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells in a tent. “See now, I am living in a house of cedar.” See (2 Sam 5:11).

2 Samuel 7:3. And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart; for the Lord is with you. 2 Samuel 7:4. But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: 2 Samuel 7:5. Go and tell my servant David, Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in, To the question of how Nathan, being a prophet, did not know God’s will and told David to build a house of God, Blessed Theodoret answers: “I have already said that the prophets knew not everything, but only insofar as God’s grace revealed to them. Thus Samuel did not know whom to anoint as king in place of Saul (1 Sam 16:1-13); Elisha did not know the sorrow of the Shunnamite woman (2 Kgs 4:27). Similarly, Nathan, having praised the king’s intention, thinking to please God in every way; but the Master God, appearing to him in the night, uttered his true will regarding what had been planned by David” (Blessed Theodoret, Commentary on 2 Samuel, question 21).

2 Samuel 7:6. since I have not dwelt in a house from the time I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle? 2 Samuel 7:7. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word to any of the tribal leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar? 2 Samuel 7:8. Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be a leader over my people Israel; 2 Samuel 7:9. and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 2 Samuel 7:10. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 2 Samuel 7:11. from the time when I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Hitherto the Lord God had not required a permanent temple for himself, because the time for its construction had not yet come. Moreover, why should David, one of the creatures of the Creator of the universe, be concerned with the building of his temple (verse 5)? It is not David to the Lord, but the beneficent Lord to David who will establish his house (verse 11). In (1 Chr 22:6-11) there is also another explanation of why David was not to build the Lord’s temple: the magnificent and enduring temple of the Master of the world was to be built by the chosen king of the world in the midst of God’s chosen people—Solomon (“Solomon” from Hebrew means “Peaceful”).

2 Samuel 7:12. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will make his kingdom firm. 2 Samuel 7:13. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:14. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me; and if he sins, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men; 2 Samuel 7:15. but I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I rejected before you. 2 Samuel 7:16. And your house and your kingdom will be unshakable forever before me, and your throne will stand firm forever. “Speaking thus of Solomon, son of David, the prophet adds a prophecy concerning the Lord Christ, saying: ‘I will be his father, and he shall be my son.’ And that this is spoken of the Lord Christ—witness to this the divine apostle, who said to the Hebrews: ‘For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son; today I have begotten you? And again, I will be his father, and he will be my son?’ (Heb 1:5). And the words following this are least of all fitting for the kings of Israel; but their truth is manifest in the Lord Christ alone. For it is said: ‘And his house shall be faithful, and his kingdom before me forever: and his throne shall be set up forever’ (verse 16, according to the Septuagint translation). Solomon, however, was shorter-lived than other men, did not even reach his father’s old age; and all who descended from him (the kings of Judah) met the common end of all. Therefore we must make one of two choices: either apply this to the Lord Christ, or call the prediction of God almighty false. But the latter is impious and blasphemous. Therefore, it is necessary, though the Jews do not wish it, to accept the former” (Blessed Theodoret, Commentary on 1 Samuel, question 21).

2 Samuel 7:19. And this was yet a small thing in your sight, O Lord my God; but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. This is instruction for mankind, O Lord my God. “This is instruction for mankind,” that is, the universal solicitude of the Lord toward man makes him in the consciousness of man an extraordinarily close being to him.

2 Samuel 7:21. And because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, so that your servant may know it. “Because of your word.” See (1 Sam 16:1-13; 2 Sam 3:17-19).

2 Samuel 7:23. How great you are, O Lord God! For there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Who is like your people, like Israel? Is it a nation on earth whose God came to redeem it as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, doing great and awesome things for it, by driving out before his people nations and their gods? “To redeem it as a people for himself.” See (Exod 19:3-6; Deut 4:7). “And to do great and awesome deeds before your people.” These are the miracles and signs of the Lord that took place before the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt, during the exodus itself, throughout their journey in the wilderness, and in the conquest of the promised land.