1 Chronicles 17

1Ch 17:1-10.

DAVID

FORBIDDEN TO

BUILD

GOD A

HOUSE.

1. as David sat in his house--The details of this chapter were given

in nearly similar terms

(2Sa 7:1-29).

The date was towards the latter end of David's reign, for it is

expressly said in the former book to have been at the cessation of all

his wars. But as to narrate the preparations for the removal of the ark

and the erection of the temple was the principal object of the

historian, the exact chronology is not followed.

5. I . . . have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to

another--The literal rendering is, "I was walking in a tent and in

a dwelling." The evident intention (as we may see from

1Ch 17:6)

was to lay stress upon the fact that God was a Mithhatlek (a

travelling God) and went from one place to another with His tent

and His entire dwelling (the dwelling included not merely the

tent, but the fore-courts with the altar of burnt offerings, &c.)

[BERTHEAU].

6. spake I a word to any of the judges--In

2Sa 7:7

it is "any of the tribes" of Israel. Both are included. But the judges

"who were commanded to feed the people," form the more suitable

antithesis to David.

Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?--that is, a solid and

magnificent temple.

7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote--a

round tower of rude construction, high walled, but open at the top, in

which sheep are often enclosed at night to protect them from wild

beasts. The meaning is, I elevated you to the throne from a humble

condition solely by an act of divine grace, and not from any antecedent

merits of your own

(see on

1Sa 16:11),

and I enabled you to acquire renown, equal or superior to any other

monarch. Your reign will ever be afterwards regarded as the best and

brightest era in the history of Israel, for it will secure to the

nation a settled inheritance of prosperity and peace, without any of

the oppressions or disorders that afflicted them in early times.

9, 10. at the beginning, and since the time that I commanded

judges--that is, including the whole period from Joshua to Saul.

I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house--This was the

language of Nathan himself, who was specially directed to assure David,

not only of personal blessing and prosperity, but of a continuous line

of royal descendants.

11. I will raise up thy seed--(See on

2Sa 7:12).

13. I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him

that was before thee--My procedure in dealing with him will be

different from My disposal of Saul. Should his misconduct call for

personal chastisement, I shall spare his family. If I see it necessary

to withdraw My favor and help for a time, it will be a corrective

discipline only to reform and restore, not to destroy. (On this passage

some have founded an argument for Solomon's repentance and return to

God).

14. I will settle him in my house--over My people Israel.

and in my kingdom for ever--God here asserts His right of supreme

sovereignty in Israel. David and Solomon, with their successors, were

only the vicegerents whom He nominated, or, in His providence,

permitted.

his throne shall be established for evermore--The posterity of David

inherited the throne in a long succession--but not always. In such a

connection as this, the phrase "for evermore" is employed in a

restricted sense (see on

La 3:31).

We naturally expect the prophet to revert to David before concluding,

after having spoken

(1Ch 17:12)

of the building of Solomon's temple. The promise that his house should

be blessed was intended as a compensation for the disappointment of his

wish to build the temple, and hence this assurance is appropriately

repeated at the conclusion of the prophet's address [BERTHEAU].

15. According to all . . . this vision--The revelation of the divine

will was made to the prophet in a dream.

16. David the king . . . sat before the Lord, and

said--(See on

2Sa 7:18).