The Davidic Covenant - 2 Samuel 7:1-17

                           

Israel’s at rest. David’s a man of action, so as he sits in his palace, he realizes, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” The ark’s back in Jerusalem after being captured years ago by the Philistines, but they gave it back after God showed them his power. David arranged for the return of the ark and now it sits in a tent. David doesn’t believe it’s right that the ark sits in a tent instead of having a proper home. Nations were judged by the power of their gods and the grandeur of their temples, so David wants God to be honoured. The prophet Nathan also thinks this is a great idea, but God has different ideas.

The Lord comes to the prophet Nathan. When Nathan tells David to go ahead with building a house for God, he never thought to seek the Lord’s leading first. Nathan falls into the trap of thinking that if it sounds like a great idea, then God must also think it’s a great idea. It’s not that David’s idea is a bad idea, it’s that it doesn’t align with what God’s doing, or where God is leading. This is why we’re given the gift of prayer, and today the gift of Scripture, gifted wise people in our congregations, and the ability to gather together to seek God’s leading. David and Nathan forgot all this.

The Lord tells Nathan to go to David and give him God’s plans; which are different than David and Nathan’s plans. The Lord tells them, “Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” The Lord reminds David that he’s never had a house, he’s always been a God on the move with his people wherever they found themselves.

When the Lord says, “a house to dwell in,” he uses the word tabernacle. The tabernacle was the meeting place for God and his people, which is why John in the opening of his gospel writes about Jesus, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In Greek, John says, “The Word tabernacled among us,” echoing back to Israel’s time in the wilderness, and to this conversation. It doesn’t matter where we find ourselves, God’s there with us.

Since Pentecost, the Spirit makes our hearts its home, picking up on the idea of the tabernacle and God being with us wherever we are. Jesus gets at the same thing in his conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Through the Holy Spirit, God’s always with us and we can worship him everywhere.

The Lord’s not against a temple. That’s not what the Lord’s getting at here. A physical place that reflects God’s presence is a blessing, not only to God, but also to the people, giving us a place to gather together to worship that reflects who God is. God gives detailed plans for both the tabernacle and the temple; both places of great beauty and wonder, places of craftsmanship. The layout of the buildings leads them closer to God, reminding us that God comes towards us first. The Lord reminds David of what he’s done; raising him up, being with him always, and now giving him peace.

We read in 1 Chronicles 22:7–10 that the Lord shared more with David about why he’s not the one to build the temple, “‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.”

This helps us understand what the Lord says next, “I will provide a place for my people, a home, and rest from enemies.” Then comes a personal promise to David, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.” The word that God uses for “house” is bayit and it has three meanings in Hebrew.  It can mean “house,” “temple” or even “dynasty.”  David wants to build a house that is a temple for the Lord.  But God turns it around and promises to build a “house” that’s a dynasty for David.  As one scholar writes, “God rejects “temple,” but promises “dynasty.”

David’s children will succeed him. The Lord promises to establish David’s son’s kingdom and it will be this son who will build the house for the Lord’s Name; for the Lord’s reputation and fame. The Lord is also clear about the future. David’s line isn’t always going to be faithful; they’re going to sin. The Lord says straight out, “When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands.” This punishment is not about vengeance, it’s about guidance back into a right relationship with God.

Like a parent disciplining their children, it’s to help our children realize where they’ve gone wrong, but also to help them change. Change looks like realizing your wrong, confessing you’ve sinned, asking for forgiveness and reconciliation, and to continue to grow in your relationship with God and the body of Jesus. The beauty is that we don’t have to fear not being forgiven, “But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” This isn’t permission to do whatever you want, counting on Jesus forgiving you no matter what. Paul writes in Romans 6, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

This is a call to recognize Jesus’ commitment to us, and to respond to Jesus through obedience; that’s what covenant looks like. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We see Jesus’ love in the cross, in his willingness to take on himself our sin and punishment in order to make us right with God our Father, and it calls for our love in return.

Walter Brueggemann writes, “David, David’s son, and David’s line can never lose Yahweh’s loyalty.” God’s work in David’s life and through his descendants reveals a shift from God’s presence with the people to God’s presence with the people through the line of David. The coming Messiah will be a king just like his father, David. Brueggemann writes, “David is given no credit and assigned no merit in this recital. David’s pre-eminence and power are all Yahweh’s doing. David is the creation of Yahweh’s powerful, relentless graciousness.”

This covenant is about presence and commitment, something that flows through all the covenants; it’s the promise of a kingdom and king rooted in relationship with God. We’re part of God’s people, grafted in as adopted children. God’s at work in our lives, present through the Holy Spirit in us. Jesus is on the throne; he’s been given all authority in heaven and on earth; he’s King of kings. We’re called to submit ourselves to Jesus our king, to live his way as he taught and modelled. We’ll sin, but we live in hope, knowing that through Jesus, God’s love is never removed from us. We may face punishment for our sin, we’ll certainly experience the consequences of our sin, but we never have to fear the we’ll ever be outside of God’s love.