Verse 4
“ That YHWH may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, “If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there will not fail for you (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.”
And what David had in mind was that by Solomon walking in the way that he had described YHWH would establish the word that he had spoken concerning David and his house. The quotation cited here is not found in 2 Samuel 7:0, but the gist of it certainly is (consider 2 Samuel 7:12-16). It reflects the promise of the everlasting kingship. It may in fact well be that 2 Samuel 7:0 was but a summary of the prophecy actually given and that these words were a part of the fuller prophecy conveyed to David, and remembered by him, but not recorded in writing by the annalist (note the emphatic ‘said He’). ‘Take heed to yourselves’ is found in Exodus 19:12; Exodus 34:12 and Deuteronomy 4:9; Deuteronomy 4:23; Deuteronomy 11:16; etc. ‘With all their heart and with all their soul’ reflects Deuteronomy 6:5. For ‘walking in truth’ see Psalms 86:11 which is a Davidic Psalm.
On the other hand these words may simply be David’s own interpretation of what God had said, for we may note that what God had said about the everlasting kingship was unconditional, whereas here it is expressed conditionally. There are, of course, always two sides to every promise of God. On the one side is the certainty that what God has determined to bring about will be accomplished whatever man may do. But on the other is the recognition of our responsibility, made even greater by His grace, to cooperate fully in obtaining the fulfilment of His promises.
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