Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Chronicles 17:11 - 17:27
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
David Accepts God's Promises With Thankfulness
v. 10. Furthermore I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house. (Cf with the entire passage 2Sa_7:12-29, and note that the peculiarity of prophecy to combine thoughts near at hand with those afar off is very marked in this paragraph. )
v. 11. And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, to await the great resurrection of the dead, that I will raise up thy Seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish His kingdom. The nearest reference is probably that concerning Solomon, but the Messianic idea comes out more strongly as the announcement progresses.
v. 12. He shall build Me an house, and I will establish His throne forever. The thought clearly looks forward to the house of the Church, the kingdom of the Messiah, and not only to the building of the Temple.
v. 13. I will be His Father, and He shall be My Son. And I will not take My mercy away from Him as I took it away from him that was before thee, Saul having been rejected on account of his disobedience;
v. 14. but I will settle Him in Mine house and in My kingdom forever; and His throne shall be established forevermore, not only through the nearest line of David's posterity, but, in the person of his greatest Son, to all eternity.
v. 15. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
v. 16. And David the king came and sat before the Lord, in the Tabernacle erected by him, over against the ark, and said, realizing that the Lord's promise went far beyond a mere promise of establishing a dynasty, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto? Cf 2Sa_7:18-29.
v. 17. And yet this, all the temporal blessings which had been given to him from his early youth, was a small thing in Thine eyes, O God; for Thou hast also spoken of Thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God. The exact text may here be rendered: "Thou hast let me see what Thou hast determined concerning a man who out of the height is Jehovah God. " It was the greatness of this honor which caused such unusual expressions of humility on the part of David, the fact that his house was to be the bearer of the Messianic blessing.
v. 18. What can David speak more to Thee for the honor of Thy servant? For Thou knowest Thy servant. God knew that David in himself was utterly unworthy of the honor bestowed upon him, but He vouchsafed it out of pure grace.
v. 19. O Lord, for Thy servant's sake and according to Thine own heart hast Thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. The entire matter, therefore, redounded to the glory of God alone.
v. 20. O Lord, there is none like Thee, neither is there any God beside Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. To this conclusion and confession David was driven by the consideration of God's unparalleled mercy.
v. 21. And what one nation in the earth is like Thy people Israel, including the spiritual Israel of God's people of all times, whom God went to redeem to be His own people, to make Thee a name of greatness and terribleness, one which would be feared by the enemies, by driving out nations from before Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed out of Egypt? The deliverance from the bondage of Egypt has always been a picture of the greater deliverance and salvation of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
v. 22. For Thy people Israel didst Thou make Thine own people forever; and Thou, Lord, becamest their God, the spiritual Israel, the Church of God, holding this same truth to this day.
v. 23. Therefore, now, Lord, let the thing that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant and concerning his house, the wonderful Messianic promise, be established forever, and do as Thou hast said.
v. 24. Let it even be established that Thy name may be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel; and let the house of David; Thy servant, be established before Thee.
v. 25. For Thou, O my God, hast told Thy servant, literally, "opened the ears of Thy servant," that Thou wilt build him an house, the fact that chiefly a spiritual temple is meant again standing out here; therefore Thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before Thee.
v. 26. And now, Lord, Thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto Thy servant;
v. 27. now, therefore, let it please Thee to bless the house of Thy servant that it may be before Thee forever; for Thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever. Cf Psa_33:9. The temple to which reference is chiefly, if not exclusively, made, is that of the Christian Church, of the communion of saints. The Church is a habitation of God through the Spirit, it is the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The Lord Himself lives and rules in this kingdom throughout eternity, and all His saints, who have here tasted His mercy, will there partake of His glory, world without end.