For the first of these, we must not waive the difficulties that in- terpreters have either found out in it, or cast upon it. The words are taken from 2 Sam. vii. 14, and are part of the answer returned from God unto David by Nathan, upon his resolution to build him a house. The whole oracle is as followeth: Verses 11-16, “The Lorp telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.” (Or as 1 Chron. xvii. 11, “ And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired, that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.”) “ He shall build an house for my name; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” (1 Chron. xvii. 12, “He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.’) “I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chas- ten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.” (1 Chron. xvii. 13, “TJ will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee. i “ And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.” (1 Chron. xvii. 14, “But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for ever- more.”)
This is the whole divine oracle from whence the apostle takes the testimony under consideration; and the difficulty wherewith it is
140 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP I.
attended ariseth from hence, that it is not easy to apprehend how any thing at all in these words should be appropriated unto the Lord Christ, seeing Solomon seems in the whole to be directly and only intended. .And concerning this difficulty there are three opinions among interpreters:—
1. Some cutting that knot, which they suppose could not other- wise be loosed, affirm that Solomon is not at all intended in these words, but that they are a direct and immediate prophecy of Christ, who was to be the son of David, and to build the spiritual house or temple of God. And for the confirmation of this assertion they produce sundry reasons from the oracle itself; as,—
(1.) It is said that God would raise up to David a seed, or son, intimating that he was not as yet born, being foretold to be raised up; whereas Solomon was born at the time of this prophecy.
(2.) It is also affirmed that this son or seed should reign and sit upon the throne of David after his decease, and being gathered unto his fathers; whereas Solomon was made king and sat upon the throne whilst David was yet alive, and not entered into rest with his fathers.
(3.) The throne of this son is to be established for ever, or as the same promise is expressed, Ps. lxxxix., whilst the sun and moon continue ;—the throne of Solomon and his posterity failed within a few generations.
(4.) The title there given unto him who is directly prophesied of shows him, as our apostle intimates, to be preferred above all the angels; and none will say that Solomon was so, who, as he was inferior to them in nature and condition, so by sin he greatly pro- voked the Lord against himself and his posterity.
But yet all these observations, though they want not some ap- pearance and probability of reason, come short of proving evidently what they are produced for, as we may briefly manifest ; for,—
(1.) It doth not appear that Solomon was born at the time of the giving forth of this oracle, if we must suppose that God intimated in it unto David that none of the sons which he then had should succeed him in his kingdom; yea, it is manifest from the story that he was not. Besides, “raising up” doth not denote the birth or nati- vity of the person intended, but his designation or exaltation to his throne and office, as is the usual meaning of that expression in the Scripture; so that Solomon might be intended, though now born, yea, and grown up, if not yet by the providence of God marked and taken out from amongst his brethren to be king, as afterwards he was.
(2.) Although a few days before the death of David, to prevent sedition and division about titles and pretensions to the kingdom, Solomon by his appointment was proclaimed king, or heir to the
VER. 5. EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 14]
crown, yet he was not actually vested with the whole power of the kingdom until after his natural decease. Moreover, also, David being then very weak and feeble, and rendered unable for public administration, the short remainder of his days after the inaugura- tion of Solomon needed no observation in the prophecy.