In 2 Samuel 7, God has told David that David will not be the one to build God a temple. But God said quite a bit more than that, didn’t he?
Look at verse 8. God reminds David of David’s improbable rise to the top. From being a lowly shepherd who followed a few sheep to being the ruler leading the whole nation. And how did this happen? Look at verse 9. Because of David’s cunning and intelligence and savvy? No, God did it.
God has been with David the whole time, and it was not an easy road. God mentions enemies. There were a lot of enemies. Goliath, Saul, Philistines, Ammonites, on and on. Did David beat those enemies with his military prowess and strength? No, God cut them off.
Now God says he will keep being there for David. He will make David’s name great. Like the greatest men on earth. That is 100% true. Millennia later, many people around the world know the name of Israel’s great king David. How many US presidents can you name going backwards from Biden? For me it gets difficult in the 1970s. Carter, Ford, Johnson, Nixon…is that the right order? Those presidents were the top leader of the most powerful nation in world history, but we’ve already forgotten them. David, though, we know.
God has much more good news for David. He says in verses 10 and 11 that he will give Israel victory and peace.
He says in verse 11 he will establish David’s house. That is not a reference to a building. He is talking about David’s legacy. Notice how God further explains legacy in verse 12: David’s son will sit on the throne, and God will establish the throne of David’s son. That’s the beginning of a dynasty.
That son is the one who will build the temple. Even if that son is disobedient to the heart of God, David need not worry that God will take the kingdom away, like God took the kingdom away from Saul.
Instead, God uses a very interesting term to describe the dynasty. In fact, God uses the word many times: forever. See the word “forever” in verse 13. Then notice how God uses the word two more times in verse 16. God says, “David, your dynasty will endure forever.”
Imagine what that thought did for David. Forever. David now knows his dynasty is forever. Imagine the emotion of that. David can feel the satisfaction that God has kept his promises up till now, and he will do so forever.
In fact, though it won’t be a part of this sermon series, God is faithful to keep his promise through David’s son Solomon who builds God’s temple, which you can read about in 1st Kings chapters 5—8, including the story of the Ark brought to the temple. David’s name is mentioned repeatedly in those chapters, as Solomon remembers how God kept his promises.
But we must bring all this talk about God’s promises and faithfulness to screeching halt. Why?
On Google Earth, travel across the globe to Jerusalem. You will plainly see that there is no temple in Jerusalem. You can see where it used to be. There is instead the Muslim Dome of the Rock on the temple mount.
What are we supposed to think about that? An Islamic mosque is where the temple used to be. Did God not keep his promise?
Actually, we don’t need to travel that far forward in time to start questioning what we read in 2 Samuel chapter 7, verse 16, when God makes his covenant with David.
That beautiful temple and the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Babylonians approximately 400 years after Solomon would build the temple. God’s promise didn’t seem to be forever. It seemed to only make it 400 years. 400 years is a long time, but it’s not forever, like God said it would be. What happened?
What happened is that the Jews broke their covenant with God. The terms of the covenant between God and Israel were always, “If you obey the covenant, I will bless you; but if you do not obey the terms of the covenant, I will allow you to face cursing.” Things started going poorly during Solomon’s reign. He allowed idolatry in the land. He enslaved people.
After Solomon died, the nation split in two in a bloody civil war. Ten tribes in the north became the nation of Israel, and their kings were wicked. When they refused to repent, even after God repeatedly sent prophets to call the people to repent, God allowed the ten tribes of Israel to be defeated by the Assyrians. The two tribes in the South became the nation of Judah, and they had a series of good and wicked kings, but eventually they gave in to rebellion, and God allowed the Babylonians to defeat them. The people were exiled, and the temple and city were leveled. This was also the time when the Ark of the Covenant was lost.
Was God unfaithful?
No, the people were unfaithful. Actually, God’s faithfulness remained rock solid as he told the exiles that they were be allowed to return to the land after 70 years. That return happened, and through leaders like Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, they rebuilt the temple and the wall around Jerusalem. Eventually the Romans conquered the land, and King Herod the Great, the Roman governor, built a massive temple complex and new temple much bigger than Solomon’s temple. This was the temple that Jesus and the disciples worshiped at.
But what about a king? Once Assyria and Babylon destroyed Israel and Judah, there were no more Davidic kings. It sure seemed that God didn’t keep his promise. Except that God did keep his promise. How so? We find out in the next post.
Photo by Anton Mislawsky on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 