Chapter XVII
1–27 (= 2 Samuel vii. 1–29).
God’s Answer to David’s expressed desire to build a Temple. David’s Thanksgiving.
This passage is a reproduction with some omissions and variations of 2 Samuel vii. The text is generally smoother in Chronicles, and in some cases (e.g. in verse 6) we cannot doubt that the Chronicler has preserved an older and better reading than the present text of Samuel, whilst in other instances the Chronicler has consciously emended his text of Samuel.
¹And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord dwelleth under curtains.
1. in his house] Samuel adds, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies round about. The Chronicler omits these words probably because his next three chapters (xviii.–xx.) are devoted to wars (compare 2 Samuel viii. and x.).
Nathan] The prophet of the court in the reign of David: see e.g. 2 Samuel xii.; 1 Kings i.
the ark of the covenant] So called because it contained the two tables of the covenant, 1 Kings viii. 9.
²And Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee.
2. in thine heart] The heart according to Hebrew thought is the seat of intention and purpose.
³And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:
3. the same night] Genesis xx. 3; 1 Samuel iii. 2, 3; 1 Kings iii. 5; Job iv. 12, 13.
⁵for I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel, unto this day; but have gone¹ from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
¹ Hebrew have been.
5. I brought up Israel] i.e. out of Egypt (so Samuel).
but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another] Samuel but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. The Hebrew text of Chronicles defies translation; that of Samuel is better.
⁶In all places wherein I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedar?
6. the judges] A better reading than the tribes (Samuel).
⁷Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote¹, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be prince² over my people Israel: ⁸and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth.
¹ Or, pasture.
² Or, leader.
7. sheepcote] Better as margin pasture.
⁹And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,
9. I will appoint, etc.] i.e. will establish them in Canaan with complete ascendancy over their enemies.
waste them] Samuel afflict them.
¹⁰and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will¹ subdue all thine enemies. Moreover I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house.
¹ Or, have subdued.
10. build thee an house] Samuel make thee an house, the house meant being a dynasty, and not a building.
¹¹And it shall come to pass, when thy days be fulfilled that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
11. that thou must go to be with] Samuel and thou shalt sleep with, the usual euphemism for “to die.”
¹²He shall build me an house, and I will establish his throne for ever.
12. me an house] Samuel an house for my name.
¹³I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
13. my son] Here Samuel adds, If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men: this the Chronicler omits in order that not even a suggestion of the coming evil days might at this stage rest on David and his line.
from him that was before thee] Samuel from Saul whom I put away before thee. The reading in Chronicles is to be preferred.
¹⁴but I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for ever. ¹⁵According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
14. I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever] Samuel And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee (but read before me). The reading in Samuel is no doubt the original. The change made in Chronicles neatly expresses the Chronicler’s conviction that the kingdom of Israel was not a human but a Divine institution, its true ruler being God Himself.
in mine house] Numbers xii. 7; compare 1 Timothy iii. 15.
¹⁶Then David the king went in, and sat before the Lord; and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?
16. went in] i.e. into the tent which he had pitched for the Ark; xvi. 1.
sat before the Lord] So LXX. and 2 Samuel vii. 18. The Targum rightly paraphrases, “and tarried in prayer before Jehovah.”
¹⁷And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; but thou hast spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God.
17. and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree] In 2 Samuel vii. 19, and this too after the manner of men, or rather and this is the law for men (an exclamation), but the text both in Samuel and Chronicles is certainly corrupt. The Hebrew phrase is not quite the same in the two passages, and there is nothing in Samuel corresponding with the words of high degree, but the text of Chronicles seems to be derived from that of Samuel An emendation “and hast let me see the generations of men for ever,” i.e. the fortunes of my distant descendants, has met with some approval, but no really satisfactory translation or explanation has yet been given of the Hebrew.
¹⁸What can David say yet more unto thee concerning the honour which is done to thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.
18. concerning the honour which is done to thy servant] Again an obscure text. Following Samuel we should probably omit these words.
thou knowest] Approvest, acceptest; compare Psalms i. 6, Psalms ci. 4; Jeremiah i. 5.
¹⁹O Lord, for thy servant’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things. ²⁰O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
19. for thy servant’s sake] 2 Samuel vii. 21, for thy word’s sake, but the LXX. of 2 Samuel agrees with the text of Chronicles.
²¹And¹ what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before thy people, which thou redeemedst out of Egypt? ²²For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, Lord, becamest their God.
¹ Or, And who is like thy people Israel, a nation that is alone in the earth &c.
21. what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel] Better as margin, who is like thy people Israel, a nation that is alone in the earth. Compare Targum a people unique and chosen in the earth.
²³And now, O Lord, let the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established for ever, and do as thou hast spoken.
23. be established] Literally be made Amen (i.e. “sure”).
²⁴And¹ let thy name be established and magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and the house of David thy servant is established before thee.
¹ Or, Yea, let it be established, and let thy name be magnified &c.
24. And let thy name... magnified] Better, as margin, Yea, let it be established, and let thy name be magnified.
even a God to Israel] delete as a dittography.
²⁵For thou, O my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray before thee. ²⁶And now, O Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this good thing unto thy servant:
25. hath... found... to pray] i.e. hath found words and courage to pray.
²⁷and now it hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord, hast blessed, and it is blessed for ever.
27. hast blessed, and it is blessed for ever] 2 Samuel vii. 29, thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it; and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.