The Covenant with David: 2 Samuel 7
Read: 2 Samuel 7:1-16
God’s covenant with David is the final covenant in the Old Testament that adds to the picture that God has been creating of Jesus since Genesis. Every covenant has furthered God’s covenant of grace and revealed more about God’s character, his plan for humanity, and His ultimate Redeemer.
But first, what is happening in 2 Samuel? To get some context, let’s back up slightly to 1 Samuel. Israel had demanded a king who would supplant God as their king. Of course, the purpose of Israel’s king was to represent God to the people, but the people were more focused on looking like everyone else. So God appointed Saul. He ruled over a united Israel and had the honor of being Israel’s first king, but, as so many of the later kings would do, he failed to remain obedient to God.
Thus, God removed the kingship from the line of Saul. Saul’s offspring would not reign over Israel and would, in fact, die with him in battle. Thus, the prophet Samuel set out to appoint the next king of Israel, David. He never tried to overthrow Saul and would wait to become king until after Saul’s death. Israel was divided for the first seven years of his reign, at which point any other contenders were dead and David had conquered Jerusalem. For the remaining 33 years of his reign, David would reign over a fully united Israel. It was also at this point, or at least at some point after settling in Jerusalem, that God made His covenant with David.
In 2 Samuel 7, David had settled into Jerusalem and had rest from his enemies, and he was convinced that he needed to build a “house” (temple) for the ark of God (7:1-2). The prophet Nathan received a word from the LORD that God did not want David to build Him a “house” (temple), but rather, God would build David a “house” (dynasty) (7:7, 11).
This is only one of the promises God made to David in the covenant. As we’ll see, the other promises all make clear connections between the covenants with Abraham and Israel, and ultimately, build the clearest picture yet of the Savior.
For the first promise, God told David, “I will make a great name for you like the greatest on the earth” (2 Sam. 7:9b). I know I have read this chapter before, and I had never made the connection to the covenant with Abraham before. One of God’s promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 is to make Abraham’s name great (12:2). Now, trace this with me for a minute.
Just before Genesis 12 is the account of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. What was the goal of the people building their temple-tower? They wanted to make a name for themselves (11:4b). The next chapter? We then see that God promised to make Abraham a great name (12:2). What was the difference? If I had to make a guess, it would be that God would be doing the exalting and not humans for themselves. In any case, by making Abraham a great name, God would ultimately bring glory to Himself.
We continue to see this idea of making a name great when God tells David that it would be David’s son who would “build a house for [His] name” (2 Sam. 7:13; see also 1 Kings 5:2-5). To build a temple for God would be to acknowledge the greatness of His name. It was quite common in the Ancient Near Eastern cultures to build temples to worship the nation’s deity (or deities in most cases). Thus, David’s desire to build God a temple is not a strange one. God does like turning the tables, though, doesn’t He?
Finally, in the New Testament, where we find Jesus, the Son of God, the exalted King, we read this:
“And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death–even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow–in heaven and on earth and under the earth…” (Phil. 2:7b-10)
God would indeed fulfill His promises to Abraham and David, and the ultimate fulfillment would be in the person of Jesus Christ.
The next promise that God made to David recalled the promise of land in both the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants. God told David, “I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again…I will give you rest from all your enemies” (2 Sam. 7:10a, 11b). After Moses and Israel left Egypt, they sang a song of praise to the Lord. You can find it in its entirety in Exodus 15, but I want to draw your attention to one verse:
“You [the LORD] will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of your possession;
LORD, you have prepared the place for your dwelling;
Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary.
The LORD will reign forever and ever!” (15:17-18)
The imagery and symbolism in this verse drive me crazy. I could probably do a whole post about it, and maybe I will after this series is completed, because it is just that good! For today, I want you to notice that God says He will plant the people on His mountain–a place He has prepared, a sanctuary. If we are noticing a play on words again, we could say that God has given Israel a “house.” He has planted them in the land He has given them. There is a condition with this promise: the people must be obedient to God’s covenant law if they want to remain in the land.
Further, this Exodus verse hints at a few other things. One, God is the giver of all these covenant blessings. Thankfully, they hinge on God’s faithfulness, not Israel’s. So, how can Israel ultimately experience these blessings when they have been unfaithful and rebellious? Well, there must be Someone who can be completely obedient to God’s law. These verses hint at the Messiah, as well. And more, they hint at a messianic king who must be God alone because only God can live and reign forever. Are you seeing why I need another post for this one? There is so much to dig into here. But we must move on.
Let us now revisit the final promise God made to David, the promise of a dynasty (2 Sam. 7:11b-16). God tells David that David’s son will reign after him, and God will establish his kingdom. This son will be the one to build the temple for God (see 1 Kings 6-8). God will be a father to him (and the future descendants) and discipline him when he does wrong. God also promises that he will never remove His faithful love from David's line. Finally, God said, “Your house and your kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.” (2 Sam. 7:16).
We need to notice the word “house” because it is used 15 times in chapter 7. It can mean an actual physical structure like a house (or a palace in David’s case) or a temple. It can also have the figurative meaning of a dynasty or royal lineage. The word in Hebrew is bayit. While I was researching the word, I wrote out a basic description of this play on words in the chapter: David lives in a bayit (palace), but God still dwells in a tent, so David wants to build God a bayit (temple). Instead, God promises to establish a bayit (royal dynasty) for David.
This covenant with David finds partial fulfillment in Solomon and the rest of the kings of Judah, since they all come from the line of David. Despite their failures, God never removed His love, or the kingdom, from David’s line. He disciplines them, yes, because He is a father to them. They broke the covenant law and earned the curse of exile, as promised under the Mosaic covenant. So, Israel is left wondering, how can God’s promises to David possibly be fulfilled?
Join me for the next two posts as we work to answer that very question.
Author’s Note:
Please realize that the resource list is a work in progress, and not all the sources listed are ones that I necessarily used or heavily considered in the development of this series. A variety of schools of thought may be represented. I am not intentionally promoting one theological system over another. I also recognize that there are multiple approaches to studying covenants, and I am not here to promote one over another. My goal is to present a basic understanding of the various covenants and how they progressively reveal God's overarching plan of salvation for humanity.
