2 Samuel 7:12-16 (ESV)
“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
One of the plot lines of the Bible is the theme of the kingdom. A kingdom usually is defined by four aspects – a people, in a place, under a king’s rule, governed by certain laws. When it comes to the kingdom that God was establishing, we thus trace the whole idea of God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s king, governed by God’s laws. This is further revealed in the covenants with the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants establishing the first three – the Israelites are God’s people, the promised land of Canaan is God’s place, and the Mosaic laws given by God govern them. The only aspect that is left is the whole idea of a king which is now developed by the Davidic covenant.
Before the Lord made this covenant with David, David had desired to build a temple for God where the ark of the covenant would be housed. Nathan initially told to do all that was in his heart but God appeared to him later with a message to David. In this message, God promised David that he would not be the one to build him a house, his son would, and that He Himself would instead build for David a house. Here, God was making a promise to David that He would establish his kingdom throughout the generations. This meant that there would never lack someone from the lineage of David seated on the throne of Israel. Thus the Bible traces David’s lineage through Solomon and his son Rehoboam who was not like his grandfather David and caused the kingdom to be split into the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Yet because of God’s promise to David, a king from the Davidic dynasty always ruled the Southern kingdom until the time of the deportation into exile.
The exile period and the post-exilic period seemed as though God had forsaken His covenant with David but a greater David was coming as prophesied by the prophets beginning with Moses in the Pentateuch. Jesus would therefore be termed as the son of David and his genealogy would be traced to David. However, Jesus was more than king David who had ruled over Israel and conquered all their enemies. Jesus came to conquer the enemies of sin, Satan, the flesh, and the world and to reign over all the nations. Through Christ, God’s covenant promise to David is fulfilled, “Your throne shall be established forever.”
Reflections
1. David is referred to by God as a man after His own heart. What do you understand by this?
2. In what ways can David’s desire to build God a house influence your own walk with God?
3. How does the kingdom theme apply to the church now? How does this affect your worship of God?
