Alright, so let's jump into lesson eight here. This is entitled The Davidic Covenant, and we're only going to cover chapter seven through ten. And we're going to spend the vast majority of our time breaking down chapter seven. It is the most important chapter in all of the books of Samuel, and people might even argue in all of the Old Testament.
And you're going to see why as we go through. It's very, very crucial. So what we left off in the last lesson was David being firmly established in his rule in Jerusalem. He made Jerusalem as political capital, and he's now making Jerusalem his religious capital, bringing the Ark of the Covenant with great fanfare and celebration and sacrifices and blessings for other people.
It was a fantastic day for everybody, right? Now we're going to continue on that theme of David still wanting to make Jerusalem his city the center of religious worship for all of Israel. And so the Davidic Covenant is going to be the way in which this desire for worship becomes solidified in God's eyes, and how God wants to do something great for David and through David to Israel and by extension throughout the entire world. So it really is a very, very important chapter.
And actually what I'd like to do is start off this lesson with a great quote here from your Catholic introduction to the Old Testament, which says, the books of Samuel introduce us to the Davidic Covenant, the importance of which can hardly be exaggerated. And it's so true, you can underline that. You cannot exaggerate. You cannot overstate the importance of the Davidic Covenant.
As it is the final covenant described in the Old Testament, and the one that will set up the template for the new and or everlasting covenant of the future king of Israel in the prophetic literature, for example, check out Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, you got the reference there, Jeremiah 33, Ezekiel 34, and 37. The highest glory of the Davidic Covenant is not reached until the building of the temple under Solomon. In quote, so I thought this was a really nice quote to T.S. off.
You know what I said, set us on the right path on the right trajectory for understanding the great importance of what we're going to be talking about in chapter seven. It can hardly hardly be exaggerated. You cannot overstate how important this is, but Solomon also is going to be a big part of it. Very much like how when you study the Mosaic Covenant, and I'm going to get into this in a couple of pages down the line here, about God promises to make of Abraham a great nation.
That's fulfilled with Moses, but also with Joshua. In the same kind of vein you have the fulfillment of the David Covenant being with David as well as with Solomon who builds the temple. All right, well, with that being said here, let's now just dive straight into chapter seven. What we're going to actually do is read the entire chapter in big chunks here, and then we're going to break it down in pages two through three of your notes.
So let's read verses one through three just to start this off. So verse one, when the king had dwelt in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies round about, the king said in the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells in a tent, and Nathan said to the king, go, do all that is in your heart for the Lord is with you. All right, now this is a really beautiful aspiration or an ambition of the man after God's own heart. David loves the Lord, worships the Lord, gives everything he has to the Lord, depends upon the Lord.
We've seen all of this in the previous lessons. From the time that we met David in first Samuel chapter eight onward, we see how much he truly does love God. Then we saw it most recently, like I said with him bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. And so it's no surprise that David realizes, wait a second, I live in this beautiful palace, you know, by ancient New Year's Eastern standards.
I'm sorry, it was really beautiful. I live in this beautiful palace here. I got my rooms. I'm very comfortable.
I'm very stable and permanent, but God is not. God lives in this tent. And so I want to do something beautiful for God, and I want to build him this house or this temple essentially, right? That's a really beautiful thing.
In fact, you know what, I would say that we could learn a lot from this, where we human beings, Westerners or whatever you want to call us. We humans, we live very comfortably, and that's a good thing that's a blessing from God, God does bless us, but we should always be putting our priorities and our emphasis on worship of God. That really should come first. This will be a big lesson, by the way, when you study Ezra and the Amaya and how all the people are coming back from Babylonian captivity.
And a haggai really lays into them and saying, look, you know, you're focusing on your own houses and not rebuilding the house of God, the temple. So we have a lot to learn from that guarantee. That's an important lesson to focus, to put worship first. But this is what David exactly wants to do.
He loves the Lord, wants to worship the Lord. So he's like, you know what, I want to build a temple. And Nathan says, go for it. The Lord is with you.
He's been with you this entire time. You're a good boy. He pats him on that and says, go do it. You know, this is a noble aspiration here.
So a couple of things I want to point out just from these first couple of verses, which is this concept that the Lord had given David rest from all his enemies around about. Now, the word rest is a very important word because it has the sense of peace, you know, where David has fewer wars now, he's going to fight other words for sure throughout the rest of his, his royal career, the rest of his life. Divine Lord has given him rest, he's given him peace. But the word rest has a deeper significance in that is Sabbath rest.
You go all the way back to Genesis chapters one and two, how God creates the world. The apex of all of creation is the seventh day, the day of Sabbath rest, which is a call for mankind to enter into the rest of God and worship him and be his devoted children, right? To see God as our father. And that's what it's all about.
So the point of giving Israel the land was to give them the land to enter into a relationship with God. And to have that permanent of that relationship. Well, that's beginning to happen right now. God is getting David rest in one sense, which is fewer wars, but for the greater sense and that is to deepen the relationship of Israel with God.
All right. And that is the segue for him, desiring the temple. Because what David is probably thinking about here, as he's meditating on the law, hopefully he's doing that on a regular basis. If he loves God, I suspect that he is, he would be coming across Deuteronomy chapter 12.
What we obviously call Deuteronomy 12. He didn't have that there. But Moses foreshadowed, foreshadowed, foretold, a time in which God will allow the people to build a temple for him and offer sacrifices to him. And God would reveal that place at the proper time.
I have the quote here for you in the notes. It's Deuteronomy 12, 10, and 11. And undoubtedly, David has this in mind. And so he's like, okay, now's the time to build the place.
Well, here's what it says. When you go over, when you go over the Jordan and live in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit. And when he gives you rest, and that's the key there, when he gives you rest from all your enemies around about, so that you live in safety, then to the place which the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell there, you will bring all that I command you. You're burn offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering that you present, the offering that you present and all your vote of offerings which you vow to the Lord.
So this is essentially what Moses says. And times are going to go on and God's going to bring you over the Jordan. And at some point he's going to give you rest in one sense, which is from your enemies, but for the greater sense, which is to build the temple to offer up your sacrifices and to have that communion with God. This is the background, I believe, to David's desire.
He wants to take things to the next level, not just bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, but build a permanent house for the Ark. So very, very noble aspiration. That's true to form for our buddy David. So Nathan, which is his primary prophet, he's going to be very important later on.
He also has Gad as a prophet, but we'll talk about him another time. Nathan, just go for it, but that very nice. Let's read on it. What I want to do right now is read the entirety of verses 4 to 17.
I'm going to make some general points, just a couple general points here. We're going to look at David's response, his prayerful, joyful, thankful, grateful response. And then I want to break it all down for you in the notes. So let's read this.
There's so many details. It would behoove you to read this a few times, very slowly, savor it like fine wine, you know, pop on it like a nice cigar, and just really soak it in, because it'll be very helpful as we go through all these major characteristics of the Covenant that God is establishing. Alright, so verse 4. At that same night, but at that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan.
Go tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt to this day. But I've been moving about an attempt for my dwelling. In all the places where I have moved with the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, Israel saying, why have you not built me a house of cedar?
Now therefore, you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went. I have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more.
And violet men shall afflict them no more as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house, and when your days are fulfilled, and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. And he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chase in him with a rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but I will not take my merciful love from him as I took it from Saul, who might put away from before you. And your house, and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
And in accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, David spoke, or excuse me, Nathan spoke to David. Okay, so things have been turned on their head a little bit here. David has this great, notable, beautiful aspiration to build a house for God, a temple. And God effectively says, that's really cute.
I like that a lot. That's good. Two thumbs up. But you're not going to build me a house.
Your son will build me a house. But I'm going to build you a house that is a dynasty. So this little turn of the phrase is really important to have this little note for you, which you can get in a lot of commentaries that the word for house is bite. All right, so you bite can mean a palace, which is true in David's case here.
David's palace, like in verse one, for example, it could refer to the temple, which David's son, Solomon is going to ultimately build. It could refer to a dynasty, like the house of Habsburg or the house of Windsor or whatever house you're talking about in this case, now it's the house of David. And of course, the house they refer to a family unit. So bite means many, many different things here.
And that's what's going on here. God, sorry, David wants to build God by eat. God will in turn build David by eat. All right.
And there's all these other secondary meanings here. So this divine oath to build David's house's dynasty is a huge, huge deal. Here's a quick little quote for you. It says the covenant with David was the charter of the David dynasty, which would rule longer than any other dynasty we know of in the ancient Near East.
Just pause there for a second. That is incredible to think of. You think of all the dynasties of an ancient Near East, and I don't know if you're a student of ancient culture or not, but I mean, you think of the Persians and the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Greeks and the Romans and the Romans. They have a lot of history behind them, but David's dynasty lasts longer than all of them.
That's really, really significant from a purely historical point of view. And the reason why that happens is of course, because we have a theological or a religious worldview. All right. Then the quote goes on quickly and says this covenant was a pure grant bestowed on David as a reward and God alone swore the oath.
Now, what this is communicating to us is that it's a pure grant. It's a pure gift. David is doing nothing on his side of the things. So covenant oaths can be bilateral or unilateral.
If you think back to the Mosaic Covenant, Israel is there at Mount Sinai and they swear their side of the bargain that they're going to obey all the words and ordinances of God. And God swears that Israel is going to be a special possession and they both swear and you got the sacrifices and boom, there you have it. Now they are entered into this covenant. Okay, but some covenants are unilateral.
And this is the case with Abraham back in Genesis where God out of his said out of his mercy, out of his steadfast love, he swears a unilateral covenant saying, I'm going to bless you in such and such a way. So there's nothing here that binds David. There's nothing here that David swears. It's all on God's side.
Because he is granting David this incredible gift. It's what every king would ever want. We all want our own possessions, all the things that we work hard for to go down to our next generation and not be taken by the government through stupid taxes or you know, he usurped in any way. How much more a king?
The king wants his dynasty to continue on as long as possible. And now God is saying to David, it's going to last forever. So this is a big, big deal here and it's all on the side of God wishing to bestow upon David this great gift. But not just for David because it's going to be the covenant is going to be a blessing for all of Israel and by extension to all the other nations as I'm going to share with you in a little bit here.
All right, so it's a beautiful covenant that sung high praises in the Psalms. We don't have the time to go through it. I wish we did. But you should definitely check out Psalm 2, especially Psalm 89, 132.
And there's little snippets here and there throughout the whole Psalter. But the Davidic dynasty and the covenant that secures it is wonderfully praised throughout the rest of scripture here. And we're going to see why as we go through the various characteristics. Okay, so this is a beautiful exchange.
David wants to do something lovely for the Lord of the Lord of the house. God says, yes, but not yet. I'm going to build you a house and it's this fantastic unilateral covenant. And then David will respond in this beautiful humble act of prayer.
That's going to be the rest of chapter 7 here versus 18 through 29. Now, let me read another quick quote for you because it helps us to understand that this prayer, this response that David has to God's covenant is broken down into three major chunks. Okay, so this is what it says. David's prayer in response to the prophecy is a song of praise that follows the three main points of the prophecy.
First, the divine election of David himself. That would be verses 18 through 21. Then next, the election of the people of Israel is the people of God. That's 22 through 24.
And then finally, the consolidation of the Davidic dynasty. That's the end of the chapter 25 through 29. So those are the three main parts of David's prayer in response to God. Now let's read it here.
And then we're going to dive into some deeper details. All right, here we are verse 18. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me thus far?
And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God, and you've spoken also of your servant's house a great while to come. And you have shown me literally in Hebrew, it's the Torah, Adam, it might be in the footnote of your Bible there. Torah, Adam, literally means a law for mankind. That's the proper translation.
Unfortunately, it says your future generations. That doesn't quite cut it. You have shown me a law for all mankind. And I'll explain what that is a little bit later.
Verse 20. And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God, because of your promise and accordance with your own heart, you have wrought all of this greatness to make your servant know it. So that's the first part here, right?
David is thanking God for the election of David himself. Now the second part here begins the election of the people of God. Therefore you are great, O Lord God, and there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. What other nation on earth is like your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name, and doing for them great and terrible things by driving out before his people in nation and its gods.
And you have established for yourself yourself your people Israel to be your people forever, and you O Lord God became their God. All right, that's the second part here. God, David is praising and thanking the Lord for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the continued providence of his people. All right, and then the third part here, 25 and following, is the dynasty.
And now O Lord God, confirm forever the word which you have spoken concerning your servant concerning his house. And do as you have spoken and your name will be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is God over Israel and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel have made this revelation to your servant saying, I will build you a house. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.
And now O Lord God, you are God and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you, the bless the house of your servant, that may continue forever before you. For you O Lord God have spoken and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever. That's such a beautiful, beautiful prayer.
He's like, you told me all these amazing things. So now I have courage to ask you to actually do it. He's like, he almost can't even believe it. It's like too good to be true what God is doing for him here.
So that is the two main chunks of chapter seven. You kind of have a little preamble of David wanting to build the house. God says, no, I'm going to do something better for you, David. And David is absolutely geeking out.
He's completely humbled. He's floored, flabbergasted, and just pours out his heart in this beautiful prayer of Thanksgiving and praise. So that's the main flow of chapter seven. So what I'd like to do with you now in the next couple of pages of notes is break down the various attributes of this covenant.
And the kingdom that God is swearing to uphold and to establish forever, there are eight main primary characteristics. And I've given you the resources I'm pulling this from in your footnotes. But there are eight primary characteristics of the kingdom and covenant. There are a few secondary characteristics.
And of course, we would have to talk about the typology, right? Because there's always initial fulfillment of prophecy and promise. And then there's ultimate fulfillment with Jesus Christ and his church, right? So that's what we're going to be doing here for the next number of minutes, probably next half an hour or so easily going through all these characteristics.
And I really want you to walk away like mind blown about how incredible this is and how it truly is the greatest of the Old Testament covenants. And this is why many people would argue this is the high point of the covenantal history of all of the Old Testament. Up until the time of Jesus Christ, it doesn't get any better than this. And you can really see God's plan of salvation flourishing and flowering with David and especially with his insolence.
So it's pretty dynamite stuff. All right, let's look at these eight primary characteristics. Number one.