BIBLE STUDY FOR TEXAS: David finds God is faithful to keep his promise

December 18, 2000

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January 7 Lesson

David finds God is faithful to keep his promises
___2 Samuel 7:1-17
___¹After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ²he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of the Lord remains in a tent."
___³Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you."
___⁴That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
___⁵"Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? ⁶I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. ⁷Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"'
___⁸"Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: "I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. ⁹I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. ¹⁰And I will provide a place from my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at they beginning ¹¹and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
___"'The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: ¹²When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He is the one who 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. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. ¹⁵But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.'"
___¹⁷Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

___By Dan Gentry Kent
___At one time or another, almost every one of us struggles with the question: Will God be true? Will he be faithful? Can we trust him? Can we count on him to keep his promises?
___We know the answer to those questions. At least, we know the answer with our heads. Sometimes we struggle with them deep in our hearts. The experience of King David should help us at this crucial point.
___2 Samuel 7 is one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. It is perhaps the foundational messianic passage in the Old Testament. The sequel to this passage is in 1 Chronicles 17:1-27, which is closely parallel. The messianic promises so accented by the later prophets and so emphasized in the New Testament build on this early foundation.
___David's bright idea
___The early verses of the chapter tell about David's bright idea to build the Lord a house. He was, of course, thinking about the temple. (There is a considerable play on words in this chapter, in typical Hebrew fashion: "House" sometimes means an actual building, and sometimes it means the line of the king's descendants, "the house of David").
___The chaotic period of the judges reached its end when Samuel became the last judge, adopted a largely prophetic role and anointed Saul as the first king. Saul, of course, was a failure. He insisted on going his own way, and the Lord rejected him. The Lord had selected, in Saul's place, a young shepherd boy from Bethlehem.
___David had to fight to secure the stability of his kingdom. He fought the Philistines. He fought his predecessor, Saul. And sometimes he struggled against the people of the northern tribes.
___Finally, however, the day came when the battle had been won. David was "settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him" (2 Samuel 7:1). The Lord had taken him from the pasture and turned him into a prince (7:8). He had been with David wherever he went and had cut his enemies off from before him. He would make for David a great name (7:9).
___The king spoke to the prophet Nathan about his newfound interest in building a permanent house for the Lord, to house the ark of the covenant, which up to then had been located in the portable tent called the tabernacle (7:2,6).
___Another prophet speaks
___We know about those who are called the classical prophets, the writing prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. Sometimes we overlook other, earlier prophetic voices. One such clarion voice belonged to Nathan.
___Initially, Nathan agreed with David's desire and encouraged him to pursue it (7:3), but that night the Lord spoke, and the prophet changed his mind and his message. He eventually had to tell David that the Lord would not allow him to do the actual temple construction (7:5). He would be allowed to make the plans and the preparations, but his son Solomon would do the actual construction work (7:13).
___Instead, Nathan said, the Lord would build David a house (7:11; notice the play on words). He was talking, of course, about a dynasty, about a line of descendants to sit on David's throne (7:12). This is where the messianic emphasis comes in.
___2 Samuel 7:16 is important: "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever." I personally do not see how that promise could be fulfilled except in Christ. In what other way could the promise be realized that the throne of his kingdom would be established forever (7:13,16)? In what other possible way could the house and kingdom of David be made sure forever (7:16)?
___A prayer response to promises (7:18-29)
___Not surprisingly, David prayed in response to God's sure promise delivered through the Lord's mouthpiece, Nathan. David may have entered the curtain-tent housing the ark of the covenant, and sat back on his heels in a kneeling position.
___A.A. Anderson wrote the volume on 2 Samuel in the Word Biblical Commentary. He pointed out how God-centered this prayer is. It is filled with expressions addressing the Lord (seven times). David called himself the Lord's servant 10 times.
___The term "house" also is mentioned seven times, with at least two different meanings. "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?" (7:18). You are going to do all of these things for me, and carry it so much further into the future than I could ever dream.
___2 Samuel 7:22 begins a hymn-like praise, even a doxology, to the Lord, stressing God's incomparability and supremacy to all other "gods." "There is no one like you," he seems to say. "There is no god besides you" (7:22).
___Notice that Israel's uniqueness was not in herself, but in her God. God was all that Israel had going for her. God redeemed his people and made a name for himself by doing great and awesome things, such as driving out the Canaanites and their gods (7:23), as we saw in the previous lesson.
___All I can ask you to do, David said (7:25), is to do what you have already promised to do. "Thus your name will be magnified forever" (7:26).
___Look at what David said about God's sure promise: "And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever" (7:28-29).
___In one sense of the word, David's prayer was unnecessary. It concerns the continuation of the Davidic dynasty, which had already been promised. Everything that he asked the Lord to do was what the Lord had already promised to do.
___On the other hand, this prayer voices the hopes and fears of the heart of the one praying. It builds on and relies on the Lord's gracious commitment to one who loves him and only wants to do his will.

Character study: Nathan
___Nathan the Prophet:
___ Nathan was David's court chaplain. He was concerned about matters of public worship--whether or not a temple building should be built in Jerusalem, the enthronement of a king and the duration of a dynasty.
___Nathan influenced the construction of the Jerusalem temple. Incidentally, he did not shrink from telling David that what the king hoped to do was contrary to God's will and should not be done.
___Nathan was a court politician as well as a preacher. Nathan played a vital role in the crowning of Solomon. He and Bathsheba backed Solomon's claim to the throne against Solomon's older brother.
___Nathan emphasized the covenant between the Lord and the house of David.
___ Nathan also was the king's conscience. He confronted David with his sin with Bathsheba. "You are the one!" he boldly charged. It is one of the more electrifying moments in the entire Bible and one of the important moments in Old Testament prophecy.
___The most important point about Nathan is this last one, the ethical one. He applied the same moral requirements to King David that were applied to everyone else. In those days, if you were the king, you did not have to live by the rules. Isn't that what David thought? The normal legal guidelines did not apply to him. Today it seems to be entertainment personalities, politicians and athletes who feel that way. And sometimes religious leaders.
___In no other kingdom of the ancient world could a prophet have confronted a monarch in the manner which Nathan did and expected to survive.

For thought and discussion
___ In what sense could God be said to have built David an enduring house (dynasty) in light of the fact the line of his successors ended with the Babylonian exile in 587 B.C.? (See the next lesson.) How then could God's promises be called sure?
___ How do you relate the nature of God's presence in not requiring a temple building (7:5-7) with the fact the building of a temple was permitted?
___ What does David's prayer (7:18-29) say to us about our appropriate response to God's sure promises?
___ David had a plan to do what appeared to be a good thing--something good for God. How can we test our desires, even our good desires, to be sure if they are the will of God or merely our own grand designs? How to do we keep from saying, "God, here's what we are going to do. Now, bless it"?
___ How is what God did in sending his Son related to human history? How is it related to our personal lives?
___ What later, better-known messianic message do you think is meaningful, such as those from the prophet Isaiah?
___ In what way do the following passages build on God's sure promise as expressed in today's lesson--Luke 1:32; Mark 12:36- 37; Acts 2:30; 13:23; Romans 1:2-3; Hebrews 1:8?

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