I once taught a series on Bible Interpretation. It included separate sections on understanding the proper context, word studies, prophecy passages, and historical books of the Bible. I'm going to recycle some of the general principles from those lessons to help understand today's Scripture. Concerning the historical books in the Bible, one general principle of interpretation is to first look at any duplicate accounts of the same events. I Chronicles 17 is a true parallel to today's chapter, but there are only minor differences in the wordings between the two accounts, which I will point out when they appear to be significant.
Another thing to keep in mind when studying the historical books in the Bible is how to derive application lessons from them. Two basic ways are to (1) look at the actions of the human characters in the story for lessons in ethical behavior, good or bad and (2) look at God's actions in order to deduce theological lessons (which will be the emphasis of today's lesson). And we often ignore this second dimension of the historical books.
As Dale Davis says in the introductory comments to his commentary on 2 Samuel:
“I get worried when someone says to me, 'Oh, I just love anything about David.' I understand and yet I cringe. The church seemingly cannot divorce herself from this People magazine approach to biblical narrative. Again and again as we read 2 Samuel we have to shake ourselves and say, 'This is not about David; it is not even about covenant kings; it is about a covenant God who makes covenant promises to a covenant king through whom he will preserve his covenant people.' That must be our perspective.”
Here are some critical opinions regarding this chapter
W. R. Arnold (Andover Theological Seminary): “monkish drivel”
R. H. Pfeiffer (Harvard University): “a mire of unintelligible verbiage,” “consistently wretched style,” “a hopeless confusion that existed in the mind of the author,” “the worst instance of illiterate inanity”
If all that is true, you might wonder why we are bothering to study it at all. But that is not the only opinion.
In rebuttal:
“This is one of the milestones of the Old Testament revelation. The successive stages in the unfolding of God's redemptive purpose are marked by covenants, divine disclosures of God's sovereign forbearance and grace to man.” Lawrence E. Porter, International Bible Commentary, p. 379.
“2 Samuel 7 is rightly regarded as an ideological summit...in the Old Testament as a whole.” Joyce G. Baldwin, 1&2 Samuel, p. 213.
Dale Davis (p. 83) summarizes: “Any reader could drown in the ink that has been spilled over 2 Samuel 7.”
With this division of opinion, I think we need to address this question first: is it a lot of nonsense or one of the most important passages in the OT? And here I think a look at literary structure can help out. I know that I beat this technique to death at times, but it really is a valuable tool in deciding what the divine Author and/or human authors felt were the main points of emphasis.
The first issue to deal with is the cohesiveness of the four books that comprise I-II Samuel, I-II Kings. Our present division between Samuel and Kings and of each of these into two separate books appears to have first arisen in the Septuagint, the early Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, followed by the Latin Vulgate. This distinction between the four books has been called anything from a convenience, an accident of the transmission process, artificial, to “not particularly fortunate.” Therefore we are free, or even encouraged, to consider these four books as a literary unity.
The Structure of Samuel-Kings
IA. Samuel (I Sam. 1-7)
IIA. Saul's Reign (I Sam. 8:1-21:9)
IIIA. David Hides from Saul (I Sam. 21:10-II Sam. 1:27)
IVA. David the King (II Sam. 2-12)
IIIB. David Hides from Absalom (II Sam. 13-20)
IIB. Echoes of Saul's Reign (II Sam. 21-24)
IB. Solomon (I Kings 1-11)
IIC. Minor Kings (I Kings 12:1-16:28)
IIIC. Elijah and Ahab (I Kings 16:29-22:53)
IVB. Elisha Inherits the Mantle (II Kings 1-2)
IIID. Elisha and Ahab's Family (II Kings 3-10)
IID. Minor Kings (II Kings 11-17)
IC. Last Kings (II Kings 18-25)
Notice that in this double interlocking chiasm, the center point of emphasis for the four books falls on Solomon's reign, and the center of that section is actually Solomon's dedication of the temple. Our passage for today falls within another point of emphasis (the center of the first chiasm) which actually prepares for that later event. So if we zero in on that section concerning David we see something else interesting.
IVA. David the King (II Sam. 2-12)
1. David anointed king of Judah (2:1-11)
2. Joab and Abner battle (2:12-32)
3. David’s sons (3:1-5)
4. David uses Abner to get Michal (3:6-21)
5. Joab kills Abner (3:22-39)
6. Saul’s son Mephibosheth introduced (Ch. 4)
7. Various battles (Ch. 5)
8. The Ark (II Sam. 6-7)
7'. Various battles (Ch. 8)
6'. Kindness to Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth (Ch. 9)
5'. Joab defeats Syrians and Ammonites (Ch. 10)
4'. David uses Joab to get Bathsheba (11:1-25)
3'. David’s sons (11:26-12:25)
2'. Joab and Ammonites battle (12:26-29)
1'. David is crowned (12:30-31)
Today's passage describing who is to actually build the temple appears at the very center of that section. Then going down into a third level of organization for Section 8 itself, we get the following:
The Ark (chs. 6-7)
a. The ark carried in (6:1-5)
b. Uzzah killed (6:6-8)
c. Obededom’s house blessed (6:9-11)
a'. The ark carried in (6:12-19)
b'. Michal cursed (6:20-23)
c'. David’s house blessed (ch. 7)
In this type of parallel structure with repeated cycles, the point of emphasis always falls on the conclusion of the cycle, chapter 7: our passage for today.
But even that doesn't exhaust the amount of literary organization because ch. 7 has an internal structure which tells its own story:
The Davidic Covenant (II Sam. 7)
I. David's Plan to Build a Temple (1-3)
I'. God Responds to His Plan (4-7)
II. God's Word to David (8-17)
a. God made David great (8-9)
b. God's people Israel (10-11a)
c. Blessing on David's house (11b-17)
II'. David Responds to God (18-29)
a. God made David great (18-22)
b. God's people Israel (23-24)
c. Blessing on David's house (25-29)
In the introductory passages, David (aided and abetted by Nathan) comes up with his misguided plan regarding the temple without first waiting to find out what God's own plans are. God puts him in his place in verses 4-7. Then the rest of the chapter restores the more appropriate order by beginning with God's plans followed by David's response.
2 Samuel 7:1-3
This whole chapter is organized around a play on the different meanings of the word bayit. This wordplay is hard to catch in most translations since only the NRSV consistently translates it as “house.” The meaning is “house” in these verses, “temple” in 7:5, and “dynasty” in 7:11.
At first glance there appears to be a contradiction between verses 1-2 and another passage of Scripture.
“He (David) swore to the LORD and vowed to the Almighty One of Jacob, “I will not enter my house or get into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” Psalm 132:2-5
So why is David in his own house here before the temple is built? The answer is found in II Samuel 6:17: “They brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it.” It was a dwelling place but not a permanent one.
Nathan basically tells David to go with his instincts and God will be with him.
I see a close parallel with Peter's spontaneous comment after the Transfiguration. He wants to do something so he proposes building three booths. Like David, his heart was in the right place but his proposed action was misguided.
One of the most important principles of Bible interpretation is to be true to the immediate context. Violation of this rule can lead to implying the exact opposite of what was intended. For example, Nathan's comment in verse 3 is often taken as positive advice for us. But we are not at all being encouraged to just go ahead and do what feels right to us and God will follow along behind. That becomes very clear in the rest of the chapter. Here is another quote from Davis: “Our text testifies that the kingdom of God is never safe in in human hands, no matter how godly those hands may be. Yahweh's finest servants are often deficient in properly discerning His will.”
I want to go briefly through the rest of the chapter pointing out a few details as we go, and then go back and deal with some larger issues.
4-7 The ancient and modern Hebrew manuscripts do something very unusual in verse 4; the scribes put a long break between the two halves of this sentence. This occurs several other times in the OT, and two of these occasions provide very close parallels to 2 Samuel 7:4
But that same night........................ the word of the LORD came to Nathan. II Samuel 7:4
As they were sitting at the table.....................the word of the LORD came to the prophet. I Kings 13:20
After seven days.............................the word of the LORD came to me. Ezekiel 3:16
No one has been able to provide an explanation for all of these occurrences. Greenberg feels that a break in the middle of sentence may indicate that supplemental material can be read or inserted at this point dealing with the same subject. (Ezekiel 1-20, p. 83) But in these three cases, the break occurs right before the phrase “the word of the LORD came to (a prophet)” to correct something that the prophet has said or refused to say. Nathan is a true prophet, but he speaks in God's name without first consulting God on the matter. You could even go so far to say that in this case Nathan was actually taking the name of the LORD in vain. In the I Kings example, a false prophet has just finished contradicting a true word of God; and in the last case, Ezekiel has been told by God to speak to the people but he finds himself unable to do what God has commanded. I think that one likely reason for the ancient scribes putting in the break in these verses is to warn the reader to show discernment when someone says he is speaking for God.
7:6 See I Samuel 3:3b: “Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was.” Some explain that the ark may have been located beside the temple and others point out that the word translated “temple” may mean a tabernacle or tent. Psalm 78:60 seems to confirm that idea. “He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mortals.”
7:8-9 Notice the emphasis on God's initiatives, not David's. God uses an interesting title for David in verse 8: “ruler.” This is not the Hebrew word for king that the narrator uses to describe David. It is another subtle way David is put in his proper place by hinting that only God is the actual king of Israel.
7:10-11a Even though verse 1 stated, “The Lord had given him rest from all his enemies,” this verse indicates that not all of the enemies had yet been conquered.
God turns the tables on David and announces that He will establish a house or dynasty for David. Adoption language in v. 14 was also used in Egyptian and Hittite cultures to indicate that any grant to the person became a permanent one.
15-16 “But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”
I just want to highlight two verses in David's response to God.
7:18 A contrast between the start and conclusion is made by using the same Hebrew word for “sit.” We first see David “sitting” in his own house (v. 1) coming up with his plans. At the end David “sits” in God's house (v. 18) and reflects on God's plans instead. David sat before the Lord = before the ark. Usually the posture in prayer was standing. Rabbis later deduced from this verse that only Davidic kings were permitted to sit in the temple court.
7:23 “Is there any other nation whom you have redeemed for yourself from Egypt by driving out other nations and their gods to make way for them?” This underlined clause contains both poles of redemption: redeemed from and redeemed for.
Let's go back now and consider some overall issues regarding this chapter.
Why didn't God want David to build a temple?
There are actually seven reasons stated or implied in the Bible, four in this chapter.
7:5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? The pronouns are emphatic. “David's proposal is presumptuous.” (F. Kyle McCarter, Jr., II Samuel, p. 227)
7:6 Jacques Ellul, The Meaning of the City: God at first shows a reluctance to enter a city which has historically represented man's attempt to become independent of God.
7:7 God says, “I never asked for a temple.” This implies that it is unnecessary and unwanted, just like God's comments regarding the people's desire for a king. However, God adapts to people's needs in both cases. Jesus did the same thing twice. Once was at the wedding at Cana in John 2 when his mother asked him to do something about the low supply of wine, and then in John 7 when his brothers want him to go to the feast to reveal himself. In both cases, Jesus says that his “time has not yet come.” Nevertheless, Jesus goes ahead and does what his family requests in each case, but in his own way. Lesson: God is responsive to our needs but won't be dictated to.
7:12-13 It was more appropriate for Solomon (“peace” = shalom) to build the temple, which symbolizes victory over God's enemies and peace in the land. A future time of rest and a place for worship are concepts coupled together in Deuteronomy 12:9-12. And these themes carry into the NT with Paul's emphasis on the blessing of peace. And the concept of rest is discussed in some detail in the Letter to the Hebrews.
I Kings 5:3-5 The time was not yet right. Israel did not have rest from all her enemies'
I Kings 8:17-19 God had not yet chosen a city for the temple to be built in.
I Chronicles 28:2-3 David was a man of war who had shed blood.
The Davidic Covenant
“Even though the term 'covenant' is seldom used [concerning the Davidic Covenant] there is no escaping its reality, with its emphasis on [1] the divine grace which originated it and [2] the privilege and [3] obligations resting on those who regarded themselves as members of the covenant family.” (J. A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, p. 7)
[1] Biblical covenants are not between two equal partners. David's status as a mere vassal is stressed by the twelve times he is called “servant” and the seven times God is called adonay (Lord) in the chapter; these are the only times the word is used in I-II Samuel.
[2] The privileges are made clear throughout the chapter
[3] but the obligations are only hinted at in verse 14 in which it says that David's offspring will be chastised by God if they sin.
The covenant spelled out in this chapter is only one of a series that are mentioned in the OT. You may see other listings that are a little different from this one, but there is a certain continuity between all of them.
Davidic and Edenic Covenants
There is an echo of Edenic language in 2 Samuel 7:6-7 “I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Whenever I moved about among all the people of Israel...”
Genesis 3:8 “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking (same Hebrew word) in the garden at the time of the evening breeze...”
Davidic and Noahic Covenants
7:19 “torah of mankind” apppears only here in I-II Samuel. It has been interpreted as instruction for mankind (ESV), instruction for the people (NRSV), and charter for mankind (Kaiser, Toward an OT Theology). Universality of promise beyond Israel: like the Noahic Covenant which applied to all mankind).
Genesis 9:9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you [Noah] and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you...”
Davidic and Abrahamic Covenants
7:9 “I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.”
Genesis 12:2 “I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” The similarity suggests that the Davidic kingship is being incorporated into the Abrahamic covenant.
7:10 “And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place...”
Genesis 15:18 “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”
Davidic and Mosaic Covenants The promises in II Samuel 7:9-24 “carefully rehearsed the old affirmations made in the promise and at Sinai and gave them continuing significance in David's administration” (Kaiser, Theology, p. 63):
J. A. Thompson says, “The two covenants are not unrelated.”
“The Davidic Covenant is to be the mechanism or means by which Yahweh fulfills both the Abrahamic and Sinaitic covenants.” (Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Samuel, p. 103)
Are the Promises Conditional or Eternal? Covenants are usually conditional but often the conditions are not spelled out, just understood.
Unconditional
The promise of 7:11 to build David a house (dynasty) is expanded: (1) eternal seed in 12,16, (2) eternal kingdom in 16, and (3) eternal throne in 13,16.
The promise to David is said to be “forever” (8x in this chapter).
David repeats the promise to Solomon later in I Chronicles 28.
It is expanded in Psalm 89:28-37 to state that the dynasty is secure even if individual kings apostasize.
Davis puts it this way: “Death does not annul it. (vv. 12-13)
Sin cannot destroy it (vv. 14-15)
Time will not exhaust it (vv. 16).”
Conditional
2 Samuel 7:14: “When he (the king) commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings.” Kings are not exempt from God's judgment.
I Chronicles 28:9b: “...if you (Solomon) forsake him, he will abandon you forever.”
Psalm 132:12: “If your (David's) sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them, their sons also, forevermore, shall sit on your throne.”
2 Kings 21:8: “I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land that I gave to their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.”
Conclusion: “The promise was indeed secure, and the Davidic line through which the promise was to come was sure; but whether David and his sons were transmitters or also personal participants in these benefits as realized in their times was not secure, only their life of faith and obedience would determine that.” (Walter Kaiser, Jr., Toward an OT Theology, p. 66) The same could be said about the Jewish people as a whole.
The Davidic Covenant stands in a unique place in that it not only looks backwards to previous covenants, but also looks forward to the New Covenant.
Davidic and New Covenant
So who was the ultimate recipient of the promises to David?
There is a hint in the servant language of 2 Samuel 7 that it might be looking ahead ahead to the Suffering Servant who appears in Isaiah's prophecies.
The promise of a son in 12-13 is seen to be Solomon in 14-15. But afterward in the Bible the throne of David, not Solomon, is referred to (Isaiah 9:7; Luke 1:32).
David referred to this “son” as his Lord in Psalm 110:1 (see Matthew 22:43-45).
The prophets used this chapter as a basis of messianic hope: Isaiah 11:1-9; Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8, etc.
“By New Testament times the expression “Son of David” was a synonym for the “Messiah” (Matthew 21:9; Mark 10:47-48). (F. Duane Lindsey, The Servant Songs, p. 29)
Moving on to the NT, the angel Gabriel tells Mary about her son.
2 Samuel 7 Luke 1
7. a great name 32. he will be great
13. the throne of his 32. throne of his father
kingdom David
14. he will be my son 32. Son of the Most High
16. your house and 33. king over the house
your kingdom shall be made sure forever of Jacob forever
Jesus as the King, the Son of David
John 1:49: Nathaniel replied, “Rabbi... you are the king of Israel.”
John 7:42: The people ask, “Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
Luke 18:38-39 A blind man cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Acts 2:30: Peter at Pentacost tells the crowd, “Since he (David) was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne.”
Acts 13:23: Paul says, “Of this man's (David's) posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.”
The Kingdom
Hebrews 1:8a: But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”
Revelation 1:5: ...Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
But we receive some of this promise also since we are members of His kingdom now:
Colossians 1:13: He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.
Titus 2:14: He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. (2 Samuel 7:23)
Jesus as the Son of God
Then there is the adoption language in 2 Samuel 7.
Mark 1:11: And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.
John 1:49: Nathaniel replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!”
Hebrews 1:5: For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”
But because of Jesus' sonship, we can also become God's sons and daughters:
2 Corinthians 6:18: “I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.
Revelation 21:7: “Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” (2 Samuel 7:14)
The Temple
John 2:19-21: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”..But he was speaking of the temple of his body.
Colossians 1:19: For in him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Revelation 21:22: I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
This is another promise that we share in:
2 Corinthians 6:16a: What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and walk among them...” (2 Samuel 7:14)
Hebrews 3:6: Christ...was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope.
In conclusion, the Davidic Covenant is not just important for historical reasons, but because it impacts each one of us today.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments