2 Samuel 7:1-11

The facts are:

1 . David, being settled in his kingdom and furnished with a permanent place of abode, is dissatisfied that the ark of the Lord should remain in a frail tent.

2 . He sends for Nathan, and intimates his desire to build a fitting house for the Lord, and receives encouragement from the prophet.

3 . During a vision of the night Nathan is directed to inform David that his desire cannot be realized; that all along it had been God's will to move from place to place in a tent ( 2 Samuel 7:6 ); that it was never his purpose to have any other abode while Israel was unsettled ( 2 Samuel 7:7 ).

4 . He is further to inform David that the dwelling in a tent, and his own call from the sheepcote ( 2 Samuel 7:8 ) to be a leader of Israel, were both parts of one design, and that the success vouchsafed to him ( 2 Samuel 7:9 ) was evidence of this.

5 . Also, David is to know that, in pursuance of the same purpose, God gave his people a land of their own, and planted (these verbs to be taken as perfects, not as converted into futures) them in a permanent abode, free from the embarrassment of such powerful assailants as annoyed them in the time of the judges, and from which they now have rest.

6 . The good desire of David, though not to be now realized, is acknowledged by the assurance that God has further purposed to establish his house in Israel.

Commendable but unseasonable zeal.

Every reader of the narrative at once feels how natural and beautiful it was in David to desire, for the symbol of God's presence among his people, an abode somewhat commensurate with its glory and suggestive of permanence. It was in keeping with all the antecedents of his life, and there was manifested an exquisite spiritual sensibility in mentioning first of all so important a subject as a change in the abode of the ark to the prophet who represented the Divine source of guidance as distinguished from civil authority. What are the elements which render such zeal commendable and at the same time unseasonable?

I. THERE IS A PERSONAL ABSORPTION IN THE INTERESTS OF GOD 'S KINGDOM AMONG MEN . God's kingdom among men was the great fact to be emphasized and illustrated in the life of the chosen race, suggestive of a more developed kingdom in later times. This fact had absorbed the energies of Moses, but was somewhat obscured when the people, weary of the existing form of the theocracy, asked for and obtained king in Saul. From the first David had, in his own life, restored the idea of the Divine kingdom to the distinctness of Mosaic times, and counted himself to have no function in the world apart from seeking to realize it in the national experience. For it he lived and ruled; for it he prayed, and of it he sang. This was the fountainhead of all his zeal, and the key to the communication made to Nathan. Herein also is the secret of all acceptable Christian zeal. We are right in feeling and purpose only in so far as our entire life is one with Christ's. Human life rises to its highest level only when it causes all its strength to flow in with the great stream of spiritual force which one day is to cover the earth. It is not patronage of institutions, study or criticism of Christian forms of thought and action, friendly feeling towards workers in mission fields, but personal identification with the interests of Christ's kingdom as the most vital and precious of all interests. This is a practical illustration of the phrase, "We have the mind of Christ."

II. THERE IS A WHOLESOME FEAR LEST PRIVATE AND SECULAR PROSPERITY SHOULD GENERATE SELFISHNESS . David was blessed with great prosperity in home and in state. In clearer, more reflective moods, he saw that this was connected with the furtherance of the great purpose of God in the world; but amidst the hurry of life and inevitable weaknesses of the moral nature, it was liable to produce a feeling of selfish content with his own condition. The dangers of prosperity are proverbial. His words to Nathan, contrasting his own permanent dwelling with the slender covering of the ark, revealed the thoughts and feelings of a man sensible of a grave spiritual danger, and anxious not to fall into it. It is sometimes, in the course of doing God's work, or what may be called secular work in a Christly spirit, that Providence grants men secular prosperity. Then comes the testing time of the religious life. Many fall under the spell, and undue absorption in temporal personal comfort robs the kingdom of Christ of much thought and energy it otherwise would have received. The pleasures of the "house of cedar" shut out the condition of the spiritual kingdom. But where zeal is sound, watchfulness is maintained, and spiritual growth keeps pace with worldly prosperity, there will be cherished a wholesome dread lest the blessings which come from God should in any measure wean the heart from him and the supreme interests of his kingdom.

III. THERE IS A PERCEPTION OF THE TEMPORARY CHARACTER OF EXISTING RELIGIOUS APPLIANCES . Spiritual instinct led David to feel that the tent was not suited as the abode in perpetuity of the eternal, unchangeable God. There was an incongruity between the nature of the occupant and the frailty and transitoriness of the dwelling place. Apart, then, from the contrast with his own "cedar house," he saw that the arrangement which had received Divine sanction through many generations was not to be considered as perfect and unalterable. This was confirmed by the faith he cherished that the presence of God among his people was in pursuance of the great historic promise made to Abraham ( Genesis 22:17 , Genesis 22:18 ), and preparatory to some further unfolding of the plan which embraced within its scope all the nations of the earth. So far his zeal in seeking a permanent abode for the ark was enlightened. And this is a characteristic of all true zeal. It does not merely proceed from impulse and strong feeling; it has respect to the nature of the kingdom of Christ and the variability of its outward appliances according to the stages of its development. The visible forms and arrangements adapted to one state of society may need revision and change more or less radical to render the deposit of truth more effective in its influence on a different state of society. A mere love of change is not identical with commendable zeal; a bare feeling that simple variation in outward forms will strengthen the power of religion is no sure guide; but a distinction between the permanent truth centring in Christ, and the transitoriness of the setting of that truth, will lead to a desire, when occasion offers, to make such modifications in the circumstantials of religion as may best accord with the nature of the truth on the one side and the development of human society on the either.

IV. THE IMPERFECTION OF THE ZEAL MAY LIE IN THE ERROR AS TO SEASONABLENESS . In this case all seemed right and sound, in accordance with the purest love and devotion, both to David and to Nathan. Subsequent light from God himself showed that here feeling was right and thought also up to a given point, but that the zeal was inappropriate by reason of a defective knowledge of the specific purposes of God. There were reasons in the Divine mind why David, at this juncture, should not build a house for the Lord. Probably his work of consolidation was not sufficiently advanced, and either then or later on he was reminded that a man of peace was alone suited for such work ( 1 Chronicles 22:8 ; 1 Chronicles 28:3 ). The defectiveness of the judgment even of good men is cause of much mistake in altering the institutions and visible agencies of the Church. There are times when neither David nor Nathan may depend on their present feelings and knowledge, but more light must be sought from the Head of the Church. However sound the principle that forms and circumstantials do not possess the permanence belonging to the central truth they cover, still a busy zeal eager to introduce something new as more suited to a later development, even though shown by the most sincere of men, must be regarded with distrust unless Providence, by some means as good to us as was Nathan's vision to David, makes it quite clear that the time has come when the old should give place to the new. Holy desire, even when conjoined with knowledge of a limited experience, may not be fitly realized because God's time is not quite come.

GENERAL LESSONS .

1 . Where there is sincere piety there will be jealousy lest the cause of God should not receive its due consideration.

2 . It will be a mark of prosperous piety amidst prosperous circumstances when men deliberately study how they may more worthily serve God and give him the honour due to his Name.

3 . We should always anticipate that, as time advances, there will be fresh opportunities for manifesting our devotion, even though our specific methods be not wisest.

4 . It is a noble ambition to seek to render the house of God as perfect as human means can make it, and in this often we see contrasts in character ( 2 Samuel 7:1-3 ; cf. Haggai 1:2 , Haggai 1:5 ). A good man's life's work attains completion in so far as he combines, with advancing secular prosperity, regard for the prosperity of religion.

The historic development of God's purpose concerning man.

In 2 Samuel 7:4-11 we have an exposition of the grounds on which God declined to accept David's proposal to build a house for him. The motive was good, and there was a certain perception of propriety in the design, but as its unseasonableness resulted from imperfect knowledge of the Divine will, that will is here made known.

I. GOD HAS A PURPOSE CONCERNING MAN . This is the basis of the declaration to David. It may, indeed, be said that there is a Divine purpose in the existence of every atom and form of force, since each is what it is by the will of God, and is related to all the rest of the universe in a definite way, so as to issue in a progressive order. Every change is thus the working out in the material world of a purpose of the eternal mind. But while this is true of man also considered as an organized creature in the world, it is further true of him that there is a purpose in the eternal mind of which he is the object, and to work out which all other things are means and agents. God has something to effect for man as well as by man. The New Testament informs us that it is spiritual in its nature, and abounding with good to man and glory to God..

II. GOD 'S PURPOSE CONCERNING MAN IS INCORPORATED WITH HUMAN AFFAIRS . It is pointed out to David that the history of his ancestors in Egypt and under the judges, and also his own personal history, have been the vehicle through which this purpose has been gradually working. God's thoughts for man assume concrete forms. They enter as the golden thread into the rough web of human life. Human wills work in their own free way, but another will works with them, and uses them in their free course for the manifestation of itself. Abraham's domestic life, Israel's sojourn in Egypt and the desert, the struggle for existence during the period of the judges, and the raising up and fall of Saul, and the exploits of David, were occasions and forms by which that redemptive purpose revealed itself which later on in Judaea, in Pilate's hall and in the ages of Christendom, became more distinct and yet more one with human interests.

III. IN THE OUTWORKING OF THE PURPOSE TEMPORARY INSTITUTIONS ARE CREATED . The ark and the tabernacle were the creation of the Divine purpose working along the line of human history. They were the product of two things—the purpose and the incidents of Israel's existence. David was right in viewing the tabernacle as essentially temporary; but he is reminded ( 2 Samuel 7:6 ) that it expressed the Divine will for the time because of the human element through which that will was working onwards. A succession of temporary expedients is traceable from the first to the second Adam. One by one they disappeared before the approach of the true Light. Many of the modern expedients of the Church will prove their temporary character in so far as Christ's holy will works its way into the heart of the world, and men, possessing this life, become in the best sense a law to themselves ( 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 ).

IV. THE DIRECT CONTROL OF GOD SECURES TRANSITION FROM STAGE TO STAGE . The words to David were, "I brought up the children of Israel;" "I have walked in a tent;" "I commanded to feed;" "I took thee from the sheepcote;" "I have appointed a place." Thus men were free, and history was formed by the free action of man; but, still, in pursuance of the Divine purpose, an unseen hand so fashioned the sum of human free action that captivity in Egypt yielded to a settled home, and a good shepherd appeared to care for the flock in that settled home. It was this recognition of the actual control of God so as to shape the items of human history and secure a succession of transitions towards a definite goal that distinguished the teaching of the prophets. It is this which gave such assurance to apostles ( Romans 8:22 , Romans 8:28 , Romans 8:31 ). The contending forces of each age are subject to him who by his mighty working can subdue all things unto himself ( Philippians 3:21 ).

V. THE VALUE OF MEANS IN THE WORKING OUT OF THE PURPOSE IS RELATIVE . David's pious dissatisfaction with the tabernacle as an abode for the ark was met by the assurance ( 2 Samuel 7:6 , 2 Samuel 7:7 ) that God was not dissatisfied, but had shown his approval of his servants who were identified with its maintenance. The tabernacle may have been inadequate to the later stage, but it was perfect in its adaptation to the early stage of God's method of working. He never complained of disrespect to his Name; he even honoured his servants who served him with such humble means. This applies to the methods by which, in different ages, revelations came to men—agencies for diffusing and preserving the truth, the condition of the Churches by which his will is still done and the individual efforts of Christians to bring on the final triumph of Christ. Those who will not approve of action and appliances and methods till they meet with what is absolutely perfect, do not know history, or else, knowing it, are unwilling to accept its lessons. In an imperfect world where perfect holiness has to be attained through means inferior, and out of perfect relation to the end in view, we have to estimate each method and agency by its fitness to raise us to a stage above the present, and in which it may be dispensed with for something that will be a stepping stone to a still higher point.

VI. THE WHOLE OF THE SUCCESSIVE STAGES TEND TO THE PERMANENT DWELLING OF GOD WITH MAN ; David was fight in his ambition and faith. To have God permanently among Israel was the perfection of holy desire. All hitherto had pointed in that direction; and though in the visible sense in which David desired it his wishes were not to be granted, yet he was pointed on to the reality of a "house" ( 2 Samuel 7:11 ), which we know involved the raising up of Immanuel. This is the goal of all Old Testament revelations and ancient forms of instruction and discipline. And now that God has been visibly manifest in the flesh, the process is going on by which spiritually the dwelling of God with man in permanent union is to be realized ( 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 ; cf. Ephesians 2:18-22 ).

GENERAL LESSONS .

1 . Life should be conducted on the principle that God is with man and working with and for him.

2 . The comparison of events illustrated by the Bible teaching will enable us to trace out the line of God's Working.

3 . Although occasions may arise, as during periods of Israel's history, when the signs of God's working are obscured ( Isaiah 45:15 ), our faith should rest on the general revelation.

4 . However unable we may be sometimes to see the unity of God's working, Providence will throw light upon it, and by some explicit "I have walked," "I took thee," our confidence will be confirmed.

5 . All our desires and efforts and methods should, in their nature, have reference to the great issue—God's habitation of the Church through the Spirit.

Consolation in disappointment.

Although 2 Samuel 7:11 , 2 Samuel 7:12 of Psalms 132:1-18 , make it clear that the psalm was written after the date of Nathan's visit to David, it is highly probable that the sentiments expressed in Psalms 132:3-5 of that psalm were cherished before the king unbosomed himself to the prophet. In the fallibility characteristic of prophets when not authorized to speak by God, Nathan piously encouraged his king in his cherished wishes, and it is certain that that night David went to rest believing that now, with the concurrence of so good a man, the great ambition of his heart would soon be realized. The authorized revelation of the prophet on the following day must have brought with it a disappointment corresponding in bitterness to the previous elevation of feeling. But the gentle, kindly way in which it is allowed to fall is a beautiful instance of God's tenderness toward his people.

I. GOD RECOGNIZES US AS HIS OWN . There was balm in the words, "tell my servant David." In the beginning of his career David knew that he was called of God, but many a year had passed, and many a sore spiritual conflict with varied success had been endured. It was then refreshing to his spirit to be thus distinctly acknowledged to be the servant of the Most High—one honoured in heaven and identified with the carrying out of God's will on earth. To be owned of God, to have the witness of his Spirit with ours that we are his, to know on good evidence that our life is moving along the lines of his purpose,—what more satisfying and comforting when some cherished desire is denied? Paul's thorn in the flesh and consequent disappointment of holy ambition was even welcome when the Lord sent a message assuring that he was his "servant"—to do some work in the world, though not in the form desired. It is much in life if, amidst many failures of character and frustration of cherished desires, a man is permitted to know that God is not ashamed of him, and still honours him with a place among the great body of coworkers with himself.

II. PROVIDENCE GRADUALLY MAKES CLEAR , IN PART AT LEAST , THE WISDOM OF THE DISAPPOINTMENT . The first note of Nathan's message brought sorrow and even anguish of spirit. Fond hopes of joyous activity in a blessed cause were crushed. The dream of holy hours vanished. Loving toil was rejected. The heart sank. But by degrees, as the message unfolded and the course of Providence in reference to the tabernacle and settlement of Israel were unfolded, and probably reference made to wars yet impending ( Psalms 132:6-10 ; cf. 2 Samuel 8:1-8 ; 1 Kings 5:3 , 1 Kings 5:4 ; 1 Kings 8:19 ), the reasons of the Divine conduct became manifest, and the troubled heart could rest in an unerring wisdom alone. A similar course was taken with the apostles when their Lord soothed their disappointment at his expected departure by partially expounding the reason of his conduct ( John 14:1-4 ). Sometimes Christian workers who have, through sickness, failing opportunities, temporal disasters, and defective holiness of life, been denied the privilege of accomplishing all that was in their heart for Christ, have had to dwell in dense darkness for a while; but gradually events have occurred and light from God's Word has come which have shown how just and even kind it was that, under all the circumstances of the ease, the disappointment came. The day will come when the bitter experiences of life will be so seen in their varied relations to ourselves and others as to give occasion for thankfulness.

III. THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT GOD WILL USE US IN OTHER WAYS . "My servant" meant to David that there was yet noble work to do for God. Human choice of the old form of work is not always best. In the great kingdom that is being established there is scope for many energies in manifold forms; and as the kingdom is one, every worker is honourable and every work essential. To keep the door of the sanctuary, to wash the feet of weary pilgrims, to give a cup of cold water, to feed the hungry, to place a mite in the treasury, and visit the widow and fatherless, are services honoured as truly as erecting a temple and as necessary to the perfection of the kingdom of God on earth. The Apostle Paul could not charm men by unfettered eloquence, but he could bless the universal Church by his example of loving acquiescence in the Lord's will ( 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 ). Even the very ambitions that have not been gratified may be used up by God as means to inspire others with generous aims and lofty aspirations.

IV. GOD REVEALS TO THE SPIRIT A CROWNING BLESSING . It was a repayment of David's loving devotion in his own kind when the prophet was instructed to reveal to him that God would "make him a house." To an Oriental monarch, especially after the sad failure of Saul, there could not have been a more coveted distinction than being blessed with a posterity that should hold his place in the kingdom. The blessing in this case, we know, carried with it also a spiritual significance embodied in the expression applied to Christ, "the Son of David." This cannot be regarded simply as a reward for the design to build a house for the Lord—it was part of a great purpose from the beginning; but it was clearly brought in here as a matter revealed for the soothing of David's spirit in a season of disappointment. In this way the future blessedness of the faithful is revealed in order that they may have abundant consolation. Good men do not live and labour for future rewards, but from love of Christ and passionate sympathy with the purposes of his heart; nevertheless, the pastor, missionary, and parent whose hopes sometimes seem blighted, rejoice to be able to think of an issue of their life which, in spite of all appearances, redounds to the glory of God. "Here am I, and the souls thou hast given me," is to be true of multitudes. God will give a godly seed, "a house" better and more enduring than any we could build for him ( Psalms 126:5 , Psalms 126:6 ; Matthew 19:29 ).