1-2 Samuel Week Thirty-Four: 2 Samuel 7:1-17

Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, ² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.” ³ Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But in the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. ⁷ Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’

⁸ “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. ¹⁰ I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, ¹¹ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. ¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’” ¹⁷ In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

—2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon Outline

1. Sometimes Spiritual Leaders Can be
2. Sometimes Our Heart is but Our Lives are
3. Sometimes We Can Miss God’s
   1. God Doesn’t Desire a as Much as He Desires a
   2. God Loves Using Broken
   3. God is Still at

References

Weekly Study Guide

You have probably heard me say many times that our God is a promise-making, promise-keeping God. If I had to summarize the purpose of this study, it would most certainly be to unpack what that phrase means. But there is so much substance tucked inside those words, it is only through an in-depth exploration of the covenants God makes in scripture that we begin to even scratch the surface of what a promise-keeping God entails. The covenants are the promises of God. The origin, existence, preservation, and future of the nation of Israel reveal the promise-keeping nature of God better than just about anything else. And we can have confidence in our God and in our salvation only because God keeps His promises.

We have covered a lot of ground in this study so far and made quite a few stops on this journey. It might be time to do a bit of review to make sure we’re on the same page. So—where have we been and how did we get here? In diving into 1^st & 2^nd Samuel, we are exploring a very unique time in the nation of Israel. The nation began with the choosing of Abraham and it grew to be a large family by the time of their sojourn down in Egypt. There, in the land of Goshen, the most fertile soil Egypt had to offer, God protected and nurtured Israel—but put them through the crucible, as well. Through the birth pangs of the Exodus, Israel were born as a nation. God made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai that gave the people instructions as to how to live lives pleasing to Him. But after coming into the land, they quickly forgot about God and about that covenant. As a result, they suffered under a seemingly endless cycle of sin, subjugation, repentance, and restoration throughout the period of the judges. But then the time came for Israel to have a king.

This is where we find ourselves in the story of salvation as we journey through 1^st & 2^nd Samuel. Israel is about to enter a period known as the “United Kingdom”—under the kings Saul, David, and Solomon. Israel will no longer be a loosely connected confederation of tribes; they will be a nation ruled by a king. This is an extremely significant step forward in the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption, and His use of Israel in that plan. But that step forces us to seek to more accurately understand who exactly Israel is and what role they play in redemptive history. Because if we misunderstand who Israel is, we will not only miss out on the message of 1^st & 2^nd Samuel, as well as the big picture of God’s plan of salvation, but we will also not truly understand who we are as a church and the role we are to play in that plan. Thus, we have undertaken a daunting task: to explore and uncover what the Bible says about the nation of Israel. As we do, then we will more properly recognize the significance of what unfolds in 1^st & 2^nd Samuel.

In the course of this exploration, we have grown to understand that Israel is the center of God’s plan. In the church, we oftentimes myopically view the church as the pinnacle of salvation history. But, when we step back and look at the big picture, we more rightly see the Jewishness of nearly all that happens in scripture. The writers and recipients of scripture were Jewish. The culture, language, history, and setting for the vast majority of the Bible was Jewish. And the focus of all that God is doing in saving the world centers on Jesus, a Messiah given to the world through Israel. Both the first and second comings of Messiah are connected and intertwined with the story of Israel. Even the New Covenant, the administrative mechanism under which the Gentile church operates, is Jewish. It was made with the Jews, and will ultimately be fulfilled with the Jews. We must see the primacy of Israel in the plan of God or we will misunderstand that plan altogether.

The method behind this exploration is that we are unpacking context. We are attempting to open up the historical, theological, and cultural context of the stories we read in scripture. When we understand that context, the big picture of the story of salvation comes into focus. And that big picture is comprised of the covenants God has made in scripture. We have made our way through the first five covenants presented in scripture: Edenic, Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, and Mosaic. These are all terms you may never have come across in your Bible study before, but they are simply labels that Christian thinkers have placed on the contracts or agreements God enters into in scripture.

We saw in the Abrahamic Covenant that God made a promise to bless Abraham, his offspring, and ultimately the world through his offspring. That promise points to blessings in this life and ultimately includes salvation. In the Mosaic Covenant, God gave Israel the means by which they would be able to appropriate the blessings promised to Abraham. Those blessings for them were initially realized in the land in terms of prosperity and peace from their enemies, but also would ultimately include an earthly Kingdom with Messiah as their king, and then also, eventually, heaven. Hopefully, we are beginning to see a little more clearly how the Old Testament relates to us as Gentile believers. There is so much confusion about this in the church today. What does that confusion look like?

Some people sadly think the Old Testament is called “old” because it is defunct, and no longer bears any importance for us in the church. While others think we should still be following the rules and regulations of the Mosaic Covenant. There is an entire denomination dedicated to the idea that we should still be observing the Sabbath—something that was created and designed for Israel. They somehow miss the passage in James chapter 2 (and really, the entire book of Galatians) which highlights that if we are guilty of one part of the Law, we are guilty of the entire Law. In other words, if you want to place even one finger under the burden of keeping the Law, then you must keep it entirely. That means observing things like not mixing fabrics in one garment, keeping a completely kosher diet, and observing all the sacrifices (which would be difficult since there is no temple), as well as hundreds of other rules. No, the book of Romans tells us that Christ is the end of the Law. The Law had its purpose. The rules and regulations that are set forth in the Mosaic Law are a revealing of God’s will and God’s heart, but they were designed for a specific people in a specific time. The people of Israel lived in a theocracy, which means they were ruled by God. As such, the very specific rules about how to dress, eat, work, and live were unique to them. These were not just their religious laws, these were their civil laws as well. This was their government. In the book of Galatians, Paul begs Jewish believers to not want to go back to something that was designed to end.

Israel was created to be a single, solitary nation called out from all the other nations—a nation set apart for service to God. But the church is not a nation. We are people called out from many nations. Those old rules don’t apply to Gentiles in how we seek to live our lives in ways that honor God. Yes, we can see from those rules and laws how God feels about things. We can understand that murder is wrong, stealing is wrong, and all the other issues addressed in the Law. But it is not incumbent upon us to follow those laws as they did. We don’t have to concern ourselves with not boiling a baby goat in its mother’s milk, or walking three-fifths of a mile on the Sabbath. All of that was involved with the administration of the covenant blessings for that people in that time.

What those laws do for us is reveal that God had a plan for how He wanted His people to live their lives to honor Him.  And we’re going to see that He has the same kind of structure for us today for how He wants us to live our lives to be pleasing to Him. We will see this revealed in the New Covenant. But we have a couple more covenants to cover before we get there.

What is important to remember from this review is that, whether or not we realize it, we choose the lenses through which we read scripture. If we choose to read scripture through a 21^st century, western, Gentile lens, and pay little attention to the context of how the original recipients of scripture would have heard the message given to them, we are the poorer for it. We are flooded with so much more depth of meaning and richness of understanding when we seek out the proper historical and cultural context. When we discover that the foundation of God’s relationship with mankind is established in literal, legally oriented, and binding contracts—as present in scripture through the covenants—we can’t help but marvel at the beauty of God’s design and grow in our faith and trust in a God who is a promise-making, promise-keeping God.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe your favorite house growing up. What are some of your favorite memories from that house?

2. Although we may not realize it, this is one of the most important passages in scripture. This is where God reveals that it will be through the mechanism of a kingdom that the Messiah will rule and reign. This is where God enters into one of the major covenants in scripture, the Davidic Covenant. What stands out to you in this passage? What are some of the great deeds God has done for David that are listed here? What are the two different ways the term “house” is being used in this passage? Why is this distinction important?

3. Who is in view in the second part of this passage? Who is the descendant God is referring to? Is He referring to more than one descendant? How are these promises partially fulfilled in Solomon? How does this plan of God reveal His sovereignty? What new clarity is given about the overarching plan of God through this covenant? Ultimately, what house and kingdom does God have in mind? To whom is this promise made and when will it find its fulfillment?

4. In what ways can you identify with David’s desire to build a house for God? What do you think David’s motives were in making this offer? What has God done for you? What kind of “house” would you like to build for Him out of gratitude? Why do you think it is so easy to confuse doing good works for God in order to get something from Him, with doing works out of gratitude for what He has done for us?

5. Why do you think Nathan (accidentally) misrepresented God in His initial statement to David? What does this say about the fallibility of men and how we are prone to run ahead of God? How is David also running ahead of God in his plans to build God a temple? Was it God’s plan all along to have a temple in which His people could worship? Why is it so easy to run ahead of God and not trust His timing? What are some ways you have done this in your life? What steps can we take to avoid this?

Going Deeper

1. From what we have discussed in the introductions thus far, how does this covenant with David fit in with the other covenants God made with Israel? How does it relate to the Abrahamic Covenant in particular? What new information are we given in this covenant that had not yet been revealed in salvation history, about how God is bringing that salvation to the world? Why could this not have been revealed until this point in Israel’s history?

2. In the historical context, why was God’s promise of an enduring line and kingdom so significant to David? In this passage, which occurs before Solomon is even born, does God give David the reason He will not allow him to build God’s temple? Read 1 Chronicles 22:6-10. What reason is revealed here? Why do you think God waited until after the episode with Bathsheba, and after Solomon was born and raised, to reveal that David was a man of bloody hands? Was there a particular instance of shedding of blood at the hands of David that was most egregious to God? What was the purpose of the temple (Isa 56:7)?

Transformational Activity

Bible Study

A significant passage and topic like the one we find in 2 Samuel 7 bears further exploration. The throne of David is a topic that nears the top in importance. Take this opportunity to do a word study on the topic of “David’s throne” in scripture. Why is this so important to understand? Who will be sitting on David’s throne all throughout the Kingdom? Why will He be sitting on David’s throne and not God’s throne? Where will this throne be? Begin with Acts 2:29-32, Luke 1:32-33, Isaiah 9:6-7, and Jeremiah 33:17-22.