Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · The Land & the Throne
When David wanted to build God a house, God promised to build David a house instead: a son, a throne, and a kingdom established forever. Israel's kings failed, but the promise did not expire; it waited for the Son of David in whom it finds its yes and amen.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/why-did-god-promise-david-an-eternal-throne · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
1 Samuel 8:1-9
As you read: Israel asks for a king like the nations have, and God tells Samuel whom they are really rejecting.
1When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
2Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beersheba.
3His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.
4Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah;
5and they said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to Yahweh.
7Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.
8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to you.
9Now therefore listen to their voice: however you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who shall reign over them.”
2 Samuel 7:1-17
As you read: David plans a temple; God flips the request into a dynasty, and swears an offspring whose throne lasts forever.
1When the king lived in his house, and Yahweh had given him rest from all his enemies all around,
2the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains.”
3Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart; for Yahweh is with you.”
4That same night, Yahweh’s word came to Nathan, saying,
5“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Shall you build me a house for me to dwell in?
6For I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have moved around in a tent and in a tabernacle.
7In all places in which I have walked with all the children of Israel, did I say a word to any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”’
8Now therefore you shall tell my servant David this, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, over Israel.
9I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.
10I 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 afflict them any more, as at the first,
11and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house.
12When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;
15but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.
16Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”’”
17According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.
Psalms 89:19-37
As you read: The psalm celebrates the sworn covenant with David, then laments the fallen crown, holding both in tension.
19Then you spoke in vision to your saints, and said, “I have bestowed strength on the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people.
20I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil,
21with whom my hand shall be established. My arm will also strengthen him.
22No enemy will tax him. No wicked man will oppress him.
23I will beat down his adversaries before him, and strike those who hate him.
24But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him. In my name, his horn will be exalted.
25I will set his hand also on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers.
26He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
27I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
28I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more. My covenant will stand firm with him.
29I will also make his seed endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my ordinances;
31if they break my statutes, and don’t keep my commandments;
32then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
33But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
34I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered.
35Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David.
36His seed will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me.
37It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.
Asking for a king was not wrong in itself; God had planned for one. What stung was the motive: a king 'like all the nations.' God told Samuel, 'they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.' Behind every misplaced hope for a human fix lies the older refusal of God's own rule.
“and they said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.””1 Samuel 8:5
“Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.”1 Samuel 8:7
David, settled in his cedar house, proposed building God a house. God answered with wordplay of covenant proportions: He would make David a house, a dynasty, and establish the throne of his offspring forever. Grace habitually answers our initiatives with gifts we never thought to ask for.
“and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house.”2 Samuel 7:11
“Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”’””2 Samuel 7:16
David's sons sinned, split the kingdom, and lost the throne to Babylon, and Psalm 89 cries out over that fallen crown: 'You have renounced the covenant of your servant.' Yet God had sworn, 'I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered.' The gap between oath and reality became the engine of messianic hope: a greater Son must be coming.
““I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant, ‘I will establish your seed forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah.”Psalms 89:3-4
“You have renounced the covenant of your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust.”Psalms 89:39
“I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered.”Psalms 89:34
Matthew opens his Gospel naming Jesus 'the son of David'; the angel tells Mary that 'the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David'; and the crowds shout the title themselves at the triumphal entry. Peter preaches that David foresaw the Christ raised and enthroned. The eternal throne is not a metaphor: it is occupied.
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”Matthew 1:1
“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.””Luke 1:32-33
“Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.”Acts 2:30-31