2 Samuel 7:1-11
And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies; 2 That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. 3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee. 4 And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, 5 Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? 6 Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7 In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar? 8 Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: 9 And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. 10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, 11 And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
Have you had a dream or a desire to do something good that never materialized? What about something that you desired to do for the Lord that a door of opportunity was never opened to you? 2 Samuel 7 records such a time in the life of King David. David walked with God through many ups and downs in his life and the Lord was with him through it all, shaping his character to mold him into the king that the Lord wanted him to be for his people Israel. Throughout the Bible, God reveals His character and redemptive plan in the world through various covenants. The first one specifically mentioned is the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:8-17) where God promised to never destroy the whole earth again with water and recommissioned Noah and his family to multiply and bear His image across the whole earth. The next was the Abrahamic Covenant in which God chose one man and his descendants and promised to bless the whole earth through His seed (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-21; 17:9-19; 22:5-18). The third was the Sinaitic Covenant (or Mosaic Covenant) (Exodus 19:5-8; 24:1-8; 31:12-18) in which God met with Israel at Mount Sinai and gave them His law that revealed how His redeemed people were to live in relationship with Him. The fourth covenant is the Davidic Covenant which we find here. It is where the Lord demonstrates how He would fulfill His original promise of redemption from Genesis 3:15. In response to David’s desire to build a more permanent house for the ark of the covenant (a symbol of God’s presence among His people), the Lord would make a covenant to do something greater through David instead. In the first 11 verses of 2 Samuel 7, we can see demonstrated for us what it is to live in covenant with God. In this passage, we learn three things that this means for us.
First, we learn His ways. After bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem and having a period of rest from fighting the enemies of Israel, David sat in the magnificent palace that he had built with Hiram’s help (2 Samuel 5:11) and considered that the ark of the Lord dwelt in a tent. He called for Nathan, the prophet of the Lord, to tell Nathan about his plan to build the Lord a house and Nathan told him to do what was in his heart because he was certain that David’s desire was to please the Lord. Before we move on, David’s desire is affirmed in Scripture as a good desire. In 1 Kings 8:18, when Solomon carries out David’s original desire of building the Lord a temple according to God’s will, Solomon recounted that the Lord said to David, “thou didst well that it was in thine heart.” However, it was not God’s will for David to be the one to build Him a house. Instead, what the Lord revealed to Nathan the prophet in response to David was two things. The first thing He did was tell David that David would not build Him a house. Simply put…it was not the Lord’s will for David to do it. We find out later that one of the reasons the Lord did not allow David to do it was because he had “shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars” and had “shed much blood upon the earth” (1 Chronicles 22:8). The second reason that Solomon would build it instead of David was that the Lord had a pattern of redemption in Scripture. He would deliver His people, give His people rest from their enemies, and then dwell in the midst of His people. This served in His plan to communicate His “way” of salvation. He delivers, gives rest, and then dwells with His people. What God would do was give rest to His people through David in the years to come (through the wars and bloodshed mentioned above) and then Solomon would be given the task of building the temple so that God would dwell in the midst of His people in Jerusalem after giving them rest. God had delivered Israel from the wicked leadership of the houses of Eli and Saul and established David as the king through whom he would give His people victory and rest over their enemies. Then God would dwell in a more permanent house through Solomon’s work in building the temple. The second thing that God did in this passage was he reminded Nathan and David that throughout all of the years that He had walked with the children of Israel from Egypt, through the wilderness, into the promised land, and in the promised land, that He had not asked for nor needed a house. To think that God needs anything from us is foolishness. He is totally sufficient for all things within Himself. He desires to use us and calls us to obedience, but He is not dependent upon us. It is quite the opposite. God’s dealings with David here teach us a simple truth about walking with the Lord in covenant relationship and that is that, every step of the way, the Lord teaches us who He is and how He works. That is what He did for David here. By learning His ways, we rightly apply His Word and walk in His will for our lives. Otherwise, we operate on misguided (but perhaps well-intended) desires or feelings. We must learn His ways.
Next, we remember His goodness. In verses 8-9, the Lord had Nathan remind David of His goodness in the life of David. God not allowing David to follow through on his desire was not in contradiction to His goodness in David’s life. God was not punishing David by withholding this from him. The Lord pointed back to His goodness in David’s life, taking him from the sheepfold tending sheep to shepherd His people as their king. God reminded David of how He was with David through all that He did and everywhere he went. Even the times where David was misguided, self-willed, and disobedient, the Lord faithfully walked with him and corrected him. God had brought David from being a humble, teenage shepherd boy to a faithful king over His people. One guiding principle in our lives as we walk in covenant with God is that when God tells us no or we encounter difficulty in our lives, we should never think that those things come from a lack of goodness toward us on the part of God. His promise is that He works “all things together for good” (Romans 8:28), but that good purpose is not giving us our way in life. Instead, that good is conforming us into “the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). He will never fail in that work (Philippians 1:6) and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35-39). In covenant with God, the determining factor of what we do is not how we feel or what we want, but God’s Word and God’s will. In covenant with God, the determiner of success is not “good” circumstances, us getting what we want, or us doing what we want, but God’s ongoing goodness in our lives to preserve us and make us like Christ through everything. Don’t doubt God’s goodness. Remember it.
Lastly, we must believe His Word. Verses 8-11 give to us another pattern of Scripture. This pattern is seen in the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12:1-3 in which God called Abraham from his home and family, promised to make his name great (meaning to use him for God’s great purposes), and used him as a part of bringing to pass His redemptive plan through Christ in the world. God does the same thing with David in those verses. Verses 8-9 remind us of how the Lord took David from his home, family, and tending sheep to make his name great as the exalted king of His people Israel. Verses 10-11 then reveal how the Lord would use David as a part of His redemptive work in the world. To both, the promise was the same. It would be through a descendant. God revealed in verse 10 that His desire was to one day have His people dwell in a land with Him in their midst where they would be given rest from evil and their enemies. That is God’s ongoing redemptive work. He takes all who trust in Him, walks with us through life, conforms us into the image of His Son, and one day He will dwell with us forever in total victory over sin and Satan. God would bring about a picture of that “rest” in David’s reign, but God promised to do something even greater in David’s life. How would David’s name be made truly great? It would be the same way the Lord made Abraham’s great. He would give him a descendant. This would be the descendant (“seed”) that He had promised would one day come and finally crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). The last part of verse 11 is remarkable. In response to David’s desire to build the Lord a house (building), God would instead make David a “house.” That “house” would be descendants that would never cease to sit on the throne in Israel until One descendant would come that would be the very dwelling place of God. God’s promise to build David a house would be fulfilled in Christ, who was God being made flesh and dwelling (tabernacling) among us (John 1:14). God didn’t give David a work to do, but a promise to believe. While we are called to serve and obey the Lord, walking with Him in covenant is not about the good we do for God, but about believing and trusting His promises (His Word) about the good that He intends to do in and through us. Salvation is not our work. It is His.
Are you walking in covenant with God? Walking with the Lord in such a relationship calls us to learn His ways, remember His goodness, and believe His promises. As you walk with the Lord and learn from His Word, do you learn to allow His patterns and ways dictate your actions or do you let your own feelings or desire control you and guide you? As you go through life and encounter various circumstances, do you remember His goodness and allow it to be a reminder of His presence with you and determine how you see your life? As you seek to serve Him, do you do so to prove yourself or earn something or do you do so because you trust in His promises that have been made? This is what it means to live in covenant with God.