2 Samuel 7:1

7:1-3 David being at rest in his palace, considered how he might best employ his leisure and prosperity in the service of God. He formed a design to build a temple for the ark. Nathan here did not speak as a prophet, but as a godly man, encouraging David by his private judgment. We ought to do all we can to encourage and promote the good purposes and designs of others, and, as we have opportunity, to forward a good work.

And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house,.... Which Hiram's servants had built for him, having no occasion to go out to war: and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies; both at home and abroad; though this rest and peace did not last long; for the next chapter gives an account of each of the people he was engaged in war with, 2 Samuel 8:1.

(1) Had given him rest. —No intimation is given of how long this may have been after the events narrated in the last chapter; but it is evident that this narrative is placed here, not because it followed chronologically, but because it is closely related in subject, and the historian, after telling of the removal of the ark, wished to record in that connection David’s further purposes in the same direction. It must have been after the successful close of David’s principal foreign wars—“rest round about from all his enemies”—and the future in 2Samuel 7:10 does not necessarily imply that it was before the birth of Solomon; yet it is more likely to have been in a time of quiet prosperity, before the troubles of his latter years.

2 Samuel 7:1-2 . When the king sat in his house — That is, was settled in the house which Hiram’s men had built for him; then he reflected upon the unsettled state of the ark. For, being a pious prince, he spent much of his time in holy meditations and the exercises of devotion; and among other subjects of consideration, thought upon the meanness of God’s habitation in comparison of the splendour of his own. See now, I dwell in a house of cedar — Such as the rich Jews had in the days of Haggai, termed by the Lord ceiled houses; see Haggai 1:4 ; but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains — That is, in a tent or tabernacle, ( 2 Samuel 7:6 ,) composed of several curtains. This, David thought, ought not to be, and therefore resolved to build a stately house for God’s ark.

Ch. 2 Samuel 7:1-29 . The Promise of Perpetual Dominion to the house of David =1 Chronicles 17. Cp. Psalm 89:19-37 1–3. David’s desire to build a house for the Lord 1 . when the king sat in his house ] When the king dwelt in his house , which he had built in the “city of David” (ch. 2 Samuel 5:9 ; 2 Samuel 5:11 ; 1 Chronicles 14:1 ). At what period of his reign David formed this resolution to build a temple cannot be exactly determined. On the one hand the emphatic words “when the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies” (cp. 2 Samuel 7:9 ) seem to point to a time after some at least of the wars recorded in ch. 8. On the other hand it was before the birth of Solomon ( 2 Samuel 7:12 ), and so cannot be placed in the latter years of his reign. The arrangement of the book is not strictly chronological, and this narrative finds a most suitable place here from its close connexion with the subject of the preceding chapter.

Verse 1. - When the king sat in his house. The order is not chronological; for the words, Jehovah had given him rest from all his enemies round about (so the Revised Version, rightly), imply the successful termination, not of all wars necessarily, but certainly of something more than that with the Philistine invaders in the Rephaim valley. A general summary of all David's wars is given in ch. 8, and it was probably after he had subdued the Philistines and Moab, and his throne was now fully established, that in some time of peace, possibly before Hanun forced him into wars which won for him an empire, David sent for Nathan, and told him his full desire. Its position here immediately after the account of the bringing of the ark to Zion has a higher unity than that of chronology. It shows that David had always a larger purpose than the mere placing of the ark in its feint; and, as soon as a period of tranquillity arrived, he confided his thoughts to the prophet. Thus, with only one step taken towards his whole plan, David exercised a wise moderation in leaving the service at Gibeon unmolested. As regards the word "rest," we have to distinguish between the first series of wars, which established David firmly on his throne, and the second series, which gave him widespread dominion. 2 Samuel 7:1

CHAPTER 7 2Sa 7:1-3. Nathan Approves the Purpose of David to Build God A House.David being at rest desires to build God a house; which Nathan at first approves of; afterwards, in obedience to the word of God, forbiddeth him 2 Samuel 7:1-11. He promiseth him benefits and blessings in his seed, Solomon and the Messiah, who should build the house of God, 2 Samuel 7:12-17. David’s prayer and thanksgiving, 2 Samuel 7:18-29. When the king sat in his house, i.e. was settled and warm in the house which Hiram’s men built for him, 2 Samuel 5:11; then he reflected upon the unhandsome and unsettled state of the ark. From all his enemies, Philistines, Moabites, and others; so that they durst not invade his land, as they had formerly done; for though you read of David’s wars with them, 2Sa 8, yet in them David was the aggressor, and entered their lands.

When David was dwelling in his house, i.e., the palace of cedar ( 2 Samuel 5:11 ), and Jehovah had given him rest from all his enemies round about, he said to Nathan the prophet: "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God dwelleth within the curtains." היריעה in the singular is used, In Exodus 26:2 ., to denote the inner covering, composed of a number of lengths of tapestry sewn together, which was spread over the planks of the tabernacle, and made it into a dwelling, whereas the separate pieces of tapestry are called יריעת in the plural; and hence, in the later writers, יריעות alternates sometimes with אהל ( Isaiah 54:2 ), and at other times with אהלים (Sol 1:5; Jeremiah 4:20 ; Jeremiah 49:29 ). Consequently היריעה refers here to the tent-cloth or tent formed of pieces of tapestry. "Within (i.e., surrounded by) the tent-cloth:" in the Chronicles we find "under curtains." From the words "when the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies round about," it is evident that David did not form the resolution to build the temple in the first years of his reign upon Zion, nor immediately after the completion of his palace, but at a later period (see the remarks on 2 Samuel 5:11 , note).

It is true that the giving of rest from all his enemies round about does not definitely presuppose the termination of all the greater wars of David, since it is not affirmed that this rest was a definitive one; but the words cannot possibly be restricted to the two victories over the Philistines ( 2 Samuel 5:17-25 ), as Hengstenberg supposes, inasmuch as, however important the second may have been, their foes were not even permanently quieted by them, to say nothing of their being entirely subdued. Moreover, in the promise mentioned in 2 Samuel 7:9 , God distinctly says, "I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies before thee." These words also show that at that time David had already fought against all the enemies round about, and humbled them. Now, as all David's principal wars are grouped together for the first time in 2 Samuel 8 and 10, there can be no doubt that the history is not arranged in a strictly chronological order. And the expression "after this" in 2 Samuel 8:1 is by no means at variance with this, since this formula does not at all express a strictly chronological sequence. From the words of the prophet, "Go, do all that is in thy heart, for the Lord is with thee," it is very evident that David had expressed the intention to build a splendid palatial temple. The word לך, go (equivalent to "quite right"), is omitted in the Chronicles as superfluous.