2 Samuel 7:16

2 Samuel 7:16

Ver. 16. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee,.... That is, both his family and his government should be perpetuated, or he should always have one of his family to sit upon his throne; the accomplishment of which, in the beginning of it, he saw with his eyes in his son Solomon, and with an eye of faith in his greater Son the Messiah, in whom only these words will have their complete fulfilment; and so Abarbinel says this vision or prophecy is explained by some of the days of the Messiah; and this house and kingdom, in 1Ch 17:14; are called by the Lord "my" house, and "my" kingdom:

thy throne shall be established for ever; which is a repetition of the same in other words for the confirmation of it. 2 Samuel 7:17Ver. 17. According to all these words, and according to all this vision,.... All the words of this prophecy, just as they were delivered to Nathan, were exactly expressed by him; he did not vary from them in the least, but with the greatest faithfulness related them:so did Nathan speak unto David; though in the part which related to the history of the house of God, it was contrary to the advice which he had given; but he was not ashamed to retract his sense, when he was made acquainted with the mind of God. 2 Samuel 7:18Ver. 18. Then went King David in,.... Into the tabernacle where the ark was, which he had prepared for it, 2Sa 6:17;and sat before the Lord; before the ark, the symbol of his presence, and prayed, and gave thanks, as follows: from whence it appears that a sitting posture was sometimes used in prayer, of which we have other instances, Ex 17:11. It is said {y} that Pythagoras, and also Numa, ordered that worshippers should sit. So that this act of devotion is not to be limited to any particular posture, though it seems most agreeable either to stand or kneel; and the Jews look upon this to be a peculiar case, and infer from hence that none were allowed to sit in the court but the kings of the house of Judah {z}; and some of them {a} will not allow that to them, since the seraphim above are even said to stand, Isa 6:2; and suppose the meaning of this to be only that David supported himself in the court; and some render the words, "he remained before the Lord" {b}; he continued in meditation, prayer, and thanksgiving, and such like acts of devotion, for a considerable time; so the Targum, in 1Ch 17:16."King David came and continued in prayer before the Lord:''and he said, who [am] I, O Lord God? a creature, a sinful creature, a mean and unworthy one, undeserving of a place in the house of God, and of access unto him, and to receive any favour from him, less than the least of all saints, less than the least of all mercies:and what [is] my house: or family of which he was, the family of Jesse; for though it sprung from a prince in Israel, yet was but low and mean, in comparison of some others, and especially unworthy of the regard of the great God:that thou hast brought me hitherto? to such grandeur and dignity, as to be king over all Israel and Judah, to have all his enemies subdued under him, and to be at peace and rest from them, and established in his kingdom; and which he signifies the Lord alone had brought him to, through many difficulties and tribulations, and which he could never have attained unto by his own wisdom and power, nor by the assistance of his friends; it was all the Lord's doing, and wondrous in his eyes.{y} Vid. D. Herbert. de Cherbury de Relig. Gent. c. 7. p. 65. {z} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 69. 2. Maimon & Bartenor. in Misn. Yoma, c. 7. sect. 1. {a} Midrash in Abarbinel in loc. {b} bvyw "et mansit", Vatablus. 2 Samuel 7:19Ver. 19. And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God,.... This of raising him to the throne, and settling him on it, was but a small thing in comparison of what he promised to do for him and his:but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come; since he had not only spoken of a son that should succeed him in the kingdom, but that he would make him an house, and establish his kingdom; yea, that the throne of his kingdom should be established for ever, that a race of kings should spring from him, and especially the King Messiah, of whose kingdom there would be no end; and so the Targum,"thou hast spoken of the house of thy servant unto the world to come,''a phrase often used by the Jews for the times of the Messiah; see Heb 2:5; and so Abarbinel thinks this clause has respect to Messiah the son of David:and [is] this the manner of man, O Lord God? to bestow their favours on their inferiors, persons of no worth and merit, and is a profuse manner? it is not; and yet to one so much below thee, and so undeserving, hast thou most largely and liberally given such great and unmerited mercies: or is it the manner, or customary to deal thus with men mean and abject, though it may with great personages that make a great figure in the world? it is not: and yet I am regarded by thee as if I was one of the greatest monarchs on earth: this sense agrees with the parallel text in 1Ch 17:17; "and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree"; or, "this is the law", or "doctrine of the man [who is] the Lord God" {c}. This doctrine contained in the promise now made respects the seed of the woman, the promised Shiloh, the illustrious man, Jehovah's fellow, the incarnate God, the Messiah, who is Jehovah our righteousness, the true God and eternal life.{c} So Luther and Osiander; or "this is the delineation of the man who is the Lord", &c. So Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 447. 2 Samuel 7:20Ver. 20. And what can David say more unto thee,.... In a way of self-abasement, or in thankfulness for such wonderful favours, or in prayer for more and other mercies; he wants words, as if he should say, to express his sense of his own nothingness and unworthiness, and to praise the Lord for all his benefits; and so large are the grants and promises made, that there is no room for him to ask for more:for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant; what a sense he has of his own meanness and vileness, what gratitude his heart is filled with, and what his wants and necessities are, which God only can supply, and does abundantly, even more than he is able to ask or think. The Targum is,"and thou hast performed the petition of thy servant, O Lord God.'' 2 Samuel 7:21Ver. 21. For thy word's sake,.... For the sake of the promise he had made to him by Samuel, that he should be king, and his kingdom should be established; or for the sake of the Messiah, that should spring from him; the Memra, as the Targum, the essential Word of God; and so the Septuagint version, "because of thy servant", with which agrees the parallel text in 1Ch 17:19;and according to thine own heart; of his own sovereign good will and pleasure, of his own grace, as the Arabic version, and not according to the merits and deserts of David:hast thou done all these great things; in making him king of Israel, and settling the kingdom in his posterity to the times of the Messiah, who should spring from him:to make thy servant know [them]; as he now did by Nathan the prophet, what he and his should enjoy for time to come; so that it is not only a blessing to have favours designed, purposed, and promised, but to have the knowledge of them, to know the things that are freely given of God. 2 Samuel 7:22Ver. 22. Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God,.... In his name, nature, persons, and perfections, purposes, promises, and works:for [there is] none like thee; for his essence and attributes, for his greatness and goodness, for what he is in himself, for what he is to his people, and has done for them:neither [is there any] God beside thee; there is but one God, the living and true God, the former and maker of all things; all others are but fictitious and factitious gods, see 1Sa 2:2;according to all that we have heard with our ears; concerning what he did in the land of Egypt upon the Egyptians, and in the wilderness, in favour of the Israelites, and in the land of Canaan, by driving out the inhabitants before the people of Israel, and in the times of the judges, in raising them up to deliver his people. 2 Samuel 7:23Ver. 23. And what one nation in the earth [is] like thy people, [even] like Israel,.... For the knowledge and worship of the true God among them, for laws and or given them, and for blessings of goodness bestowed upon them:whom God went to redeem for a people to himself; the words are plural, "whom the gods went to redeem"; the Targum is,"they that were sent from the Lord,''meaning Moses and Aaron, of whom Jarchi interprets them, of the first of which it is said, "I have made thee a god unto Pharaoh", Ex 7:1; but Kimchi and R. Isaiah understand it of the true God, only suppose, as the former, that the plural expression is used for the sake of honour and glory; whereas, no doubt, respect is had to the three divine Persons in the Trinity, who were all concerned in the redemption of Israel, see Isa 63:9, where mention is made of the Lord, and of the Angel of his presence, and of his holy Spirit, as engaged therein:and to make him a name; either to get himself a name, and honour and glory in the world, to show forth his power and might, as well as his mercy and goodness, or to make his people famous, great, and glorious in the earth:and to do for you great things and terrible; as he did in the land of Ham, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, and in the land of Canaan, great things for his people, and terrible ones to their enemies:for thy land; which is either spoken to God, whose was the land of Israel, and which he had chosen to dwell in, and had given to his people; or else to Israel, to whom the grant of this land was made, and who were put into the possession of it:before thy people which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt: that is, the great and terrible things were done in their sight, when they were redeemed from the bondage of Egypt, see Ps 78:12;[from] the nations, and their gods? meaning, that they were redeemed not only from Egypt, but the nations of the Canaanites were driven out before them; nor could their idols save them, but destruction came upon them as upon the gods of the Egyptians: some leave out the supplement "from", and interpret this of the persons redeemed, even of the nations and tribes of Israel, and their great men, their rulers and civil magistrates, sometimes called gods. 2 Samuel 7:24Ver. 24. For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel [to be] a people unto thee for ever,.... So long as they were obedient to him, and observed his laws and statutes, and abode by his worship and ordinances, otherwise he would write a "loammi" on them, as he has, see Ho 1:9;and thou, Lord, art become their God; their covenant God, they having avouched him to be their God, and he having avouched them to be his people, De 26:17. 2 Samuel 7:25Ver. 25. And now, O Lord God,.... From confessions of unworthiness, and of the goodness of God, and a recital of favours conferred on him and the people of Israel, David proceeds to petitions:the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish [it] for ever: he prays for the sure performance of the promise of God respecting himself and his family, and the stability and perpetual continuance of the kingdom in it, and has, no doubt, a special regard to the Messiah, the promised seed that should spring from him:and do as thou hast said: for though God had purposed and promised to do those several things, and would do them, yet it was expected by him, and it was right in David to pray for the performance of them; seeEze 36:37. 2 Samuel 7:26Ver. 26. And let thy name be magnified for ever,.... David desired the performance of the above things not so much for his own sake, and for the sake of his family, as for the glory of God; his great concern was, that God might be magnified, and his greatness displayed, in making him and his family great; and particularly that he might be magnified and glorified in that famous Son of his, the Messiah, as he has been, Joh 13:31; and by all his people in succeeding ages:saying, the Lord of hosts [is] the God over Israel; the Lord of armies above and below, is God over all, and in a special and peculiar manner God over Israel, literal and spiritual, that takes care of them, supplies, protects, and defends them:and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee; as he had promised, 2Sa 7:16. 2 Samuel 7:27Ver. 27. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel,.... As he is called in 2Sa 7:26:hast revealed to thy servant; which he otherwise could not have known:saying, I will build thee an house; see 2Sa 7:11;therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee; found his heart disposed to this service, or found freedom and boldness in him to put up this prayer to God; what encouraged and emboldened him to do it was the gracious promise of God, that he would build up his family, and establish his kingdom; or otherwise he could not have taken such liberty, and used such boldness with God in prayer, as to have requested it of him. 2 Samuel 7:28Ver. 28. And now, O Lord God, thou [art] that God,.... Who is the Lord of hosts, and the God of Israel, that has promised and is able to perform, and is faithful to his promise:and thy words be true; are truly, punctually, and faithfully performed, never fail:and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant; concerning building and establishing his house. David repeats this promise as being greatly affected with it, and fully assured of the performance of it. 2 Samuel 7:29Ver. 29. Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant,.... Not according to the merits of him or his family, but according to the sovereign will and pleasure of God; the Targum is, begin and bless; let the promised blessings begin to descend, that there may be some appearance of the performance of the promise, which may give encouragement that the whole will be fulfilled:that it may continue for ever before thee; under his care and protection:for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken [it]; whose words never fall to the ground, but have a sure accomplishment:and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever; even both with temporal and spiritual blessedness.

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