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_.