2 Samuel 7:15

7:4-17 Blessings are promised to the family and posterity of David. These promises relate to Solomon, David's immediate successor, and the royal line of Judah. But they also relate to Christ, who is often called David and the Son of David. To him God gave all power in heaven and earth, with authority to execute judgment. He was to build the gospel temple, a house for God's name; the spiritual temple of true believers, to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. The establishing of his house, his throne, and his kingdom for ever, can be applied to no other than to Christ and his kingdom: David's house and kingdom long since came to an end. The committing iniquity cannot be applied to the Messiah himself, but to his spiritual seed; true believers have infirmities, for which they must expect to be corrected, though they are not cast off.

But my mercy shall not depart away from him,.... Which is not to be understood of special mercy and grace, though it is true of these with respect to Solomon, and so to all the adopted children of God, see Psalm 89:32 ; but then this here designs such mercy as may be taken away from another, and as it was from Saul, as it follows: as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee; and therefore must be understood of his mercy and kindness, in giving him a kingdom, and setting him on the throne; this should not be taken away from him, as it was from Saul, whom God rejected from being king; not him personally, but his posterity; but so the Lord would not do, nor did he, to Solomon, in whose posterity the kingdom of Judah continued to the Babylonish captivity.

2 Samuel 7:15-16 . My mercy shall not depart from him — Or, my kindness, as the Hebrew word חסדי , chasdi, rather means. That is, the kingdom which I have mercifully and kindly promised to thee and thine. As I took it from Saul — In regard of his posterity, for the kingdom was continued to Saul himself during his life. Thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee — Thine eyes, in some sort, beholding it; for he lived to see his wise son Solomon actually placed on the throne with reputation and general applause, which was in itself a good presage of the continuance of the kingdom in his family; and, when considered in connection with God’s infallible promises made to him and his descendants, must have given him assurance thereof. David, however, had his eyes and thoughts on the Messiah, Psalm 110:1 ; whose day he saw by faith, as Abraham had done; whom he knew God would raise up of the fruit of his loins to sit on his throne, Acts 2:30 , and the eternity of whose kingdom might well be said to be before him. Thy throne shall be established for ever — The kingdom shall be continued for a long time, even for many ages, in thy family, and in the Messiah, who is to be thy seed, to all eternity. Thus the angel, applying this promise to Jesus, says to Mary, The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of HIS FATHER DAVID. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob FOR EVER, and of HIS KINGDOM there shall be NO END.

15 . shall not depart , &c.] Lit, shall not be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I took away from before thee. The three verbs belong to the same root. But there is perhaps some error in the text. 1 Chronicles 17:13 reads, “my mercy will I not take away from him, as I took it away from him who was before thee;” and the Sept. here has, “My mercy will I not take away from him, as I took it away from them that I took away from before me.”

Verses 15, 16. - Before thee. This does not refer to time, but means "in thy presence," or "before thy face," that is, "as thou hast thyself been witness." There is a strong contrast between the fate of Saul's house and this eternal endurance promised to that of David. The lineage of Saul might have made a new start in Jonathan, and even when he died at Gilboa, he left a son behind him. Still, no one ever locked upon Mephibosheth as having any title to the throne; and though Shimei ( 2 Samuel 16:5 ) may have conceived the hope that, if David were overthrown, the kingdom might return to Saul's family, yet, as a matter of fact, among the many vicissitudes of the ten tribes, the attempt never was made to search for a descendant of Saul to be Israel's king. Saul's was a royalty for one generation; David's throne was to be established forever. Not because David was sinless. His character is sullied by crimes of the darkest hue. But he never sank into a mere tyrant, such as Saul was towards David and towards the priests at Nob. Nor did David ever become an irreligious man ( 1 Samuel 22:18, 19 ; 1 Samuel 28:15 ), though there is in him a strange and painful mixture of great good and great evil. The salt that preserves his character is his genuine sincerity and earnestness both towards God and man; and these qualities make him not unworthy of the high place he holds among God s people.

My mercy shall not depart ... - Hence, Isaiah's saying, the sure mercies of David Isaiah 55:3 , i. e. unfailing, lasting mercies: mercies which are like streams of water that never dry up Isaiah 33:16 ; Jeremiah 15:18 . This is explained in 2 Samuel 7:16 , where the word established is the same word as is rendered sure in Isaiah. Before thee - Before Me is probably the true reading in 2 Samuel 7:15-16 (if the rest of the text be sound), according to the analogy of Jeremiah 35:19; 1 Samuel 2:30, 1 Samuel 2:35; and many other places; whereas the idea contained in the reading, before thee, is unparalleled. But the reading in 1 Chronicles 17:13 is quite different: "As I took it from him that was before thee," meaning Saul, which gives a very good sense, and suggests that the text here may have been corrupted.

13. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever—This declaration referred, in its primary application, to Solomon, and to the temporal kingdom of David's family. But in a larger and sublimer sense, it was meant of David's Son of another nature (Heb 1:8). [See on [270]1Ch 17:14.]

"I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me; so that if he go astray, I shall chastise him with rods of men, and with strokes of the children of men (i.e., not 'with moderate punishment, such as parents are accustomed to inflict,' as Clericus explains it, but with such punishments as are inflicted upon all men who go astray, and from which even the seed of David is not to be excepted). But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I caused it to depart from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for ever." It is very obvious, from all the separate details of this promise, that it related primarily to Solomon, and had a certain fulfilment in him and his reign. On the death of David, his son Solomon ascended the throne, and God defended his kingdom against the machinations of Adonijah ( 1 Kings 2:12 ); so that Solomon was able to say, "The Lord hath fulfilled His word that He spoke; for I have risen up in the stead of my father David," etc. ( 1 Kings 8:20 ). Solomon built the temple, as the Lord said to David ( 1 Kings 6:1 ; 1 Kings 8:15 .). But in his old age Solomon sinned against the Lord by falling into idolatry; and as a punishment for this, after his death his kingdom was rent from his son, not indeed entirely, as one portion was still preserved to the family for David's sake ( 1 Kings 11:9 .).