Jesus in the Old Testament 30:
The Davidic Covenant
2 Sam 7:1-17
Thesis: David and God both try to establish permanence and security for the other. God, in overwhelming David’s offer with his own, creates an everlasting covenant, the promises of which survive even His own judgment.
Nutshell w/kids
Have you ever been camping in a tent? What’s different about that compared to living at home?
David saw that he had a house while God was worshipped in a tent (tabernacle). He wanted to fix that and build God a temple. Why do you think he wanted to do this?
David ended up not building the temple. His son did, but God instead promised to give David a permanent kingdom.
God promised David that he would never lack for an heir (a child, grand child, etc), and that his kingdom would last forever.
Is there a king in Israel right now? What happened to this promise?
Jesus is the son of David who will reign forever and fulfills God’s promise to David.
Deeper w/ Adults
Context
2 Sam 7:1-3
It is put upon David’s heart to build a temple for the Lord.
Nathan, speaking just as a man, confirms that the Lord is with David and gives him the green light
Vs 4-7
Nathan is corrected by God and told to go to David with a different message.
God has never sought a temple from any of the leaders of Israel.
Wordplay between “house” and “tent.”
House: בַּיִת (bayit) can mean several things:
Most commonly, a regular dwelling of a common person. Usually constructed of stone and wood with a flat roof upon which one might walk.
Can be a dwelling for animals, a pen or stable, or even a spider’s web.
Can be a temple for a god, pagan or otherwise.
Used of the abode of God in heaven (Psalm 36:8) and also of the tabernacle (Judg 18:31).
Can also be used of a person’s household members, including immediate and family members, and even servants.
Can be used of a kingly dynasty.
All of these senses (except the animal one) are used here.
Tent:
The normal word for “tent” is אֹהֶל (ʾōhel). Used 348x in scripture.
David instead diminishes the significance of the structure by using the word “curtain” as a euphemism for the tabernacle. “God is sheltered under a curtain.” יְרִיעָה yerîʿâ 54x
Speaks to insufficiency and inadequacy in comparison to the cedar out of which David’s house is made.
When God self-references his dwelling, he calls it a “tent” in the normal sense, restoring it to its proper understanding.
David wants to give permanence and stability to God’s house, but God does not need a man to grant him this stability.
Vs 8-17 The Covenant:
The conversation continues around the topic of permanence and stability.
God reminds David of what he’s already done to provide stability for David (vs 8-9a)
Elevated him from shepherding sheep to shepherding my people Israel as their prince.
The judges were shepherds only (vs 7), but now David is a shepherd-prince.
God has allowed David to defeat his enemies all around him.
God promises to continue to elevate and stabilize David’s kingdom (vs 9b-11a)
A great name for David
A planted place for the people of Israel
Peace on all sides
No more violent men
God now deals with David’s “house” (11b-17)
Up to now, his physical house is stable and strong (made of Cedar), but his dynasty is not a settled question.
There is no precedent yet in Israel that a King’s son inherits the kingdom. Only one king prior, and his son is not king now.
Prophecy about David’s son finds partial immediate fulfillment in Solomon, but final and perfect fulfillment in Christ.
Vs 12: A son will come after you and will inherit your Kingdom: Solomon
Vs 13: He will build a house for my name:
Initially, Solomon, who will build the temple [2Chron 22:6-19].
However, Christ is engaged in a much grander building of the temple of God in the Church (Eph 2:20-22; Heb 3:6; 1Pet 2:5).
Vs 13: I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Solomon’s kingdom lasted a long time, 40 years (1Kins 11:42), but not forever.
The forever reign of the Davidic monarchy is only realized in Christ.
Vs 14a: The son of God.
Solomon was certainly intimate with God early in his life, but he lacked the perseverance to continue in the faith and in the fear of God.
This relationship is reserved in its fulfillment for Christ.
Vs 14b-15. The son will sin and be disciplined, but he will not be forsaken; only Solomon. Christ was sinless.
Vs 16: permanent throne, house, kingdom.
Only in Christ is this realized. David’s dynasty was eventually interrupted (below).
Only in Christ’s rule as heaven’s king now and as the early millennial potentate is this promise fulfilled.
The culmination of the permanence dialogue.
David’s recap in the Psalms (Psalm 89)
Vs 3-4 recap the general thrust of the covenant. The term “covenant” is not used in 2Sam 7, but it is here.
Vs 25-29 recap the promises of the permanence and preeminence of David’s dynasty in poetic language.
Notice that the offspring, the throne, and the throne are the critical enduring features of the promise in both vs 4, 29, and 36.
Did God break his covenant with David when the Davidic line ended with the Babylonian Exile?
Solomon last king of the united kingdom.
10 tribes left to serve Jereboam. All wicked all the time.
God warned Judah and the Davidic Kings to stay true to the law both in the context of the covenant (2 Sam 7:14-15 and Psalm 89:30-37) and numerous times through prophetic warnings (Obediah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)
King Jehoram, about half-way through the Davidic dynasty, almost lost it all, but the Lord remembered his promise to David and extended more time to repent (2 Chron 21:7).
While the kings of Judah as a whole did better in obeying the Lord than the kings of Israel, ultimately, the curses also included in the law came to fruit in the line of David.
Josiah was the last godly king.
Jeremiah 22: The end of the royal dynasty.
Vs 1-5. One more appeal to repentance.
Vs 6-9 A prophecy about the future testimony of the destruction of the palace to the sovereignty and judgment of God against idolatry.
Vs 10-12 a prophecy against Shallum the son of Josiah who had ruled wickedly in Jerusalem.
Vs 13-23 a final passing of judgment against the Davidic line in the person of Jehoiakim.
13-15: David dwelt in a house that God had made secure. God derides Jehoiakim for trying to make his own house secure apart from a relationship with God.
15-17: Josiah enjoyed wealth and prosperity as a result of his love for the Lord and righteous life. Jehoiakim is attempting to have the benefits without the relationship.
18-23: Judgment is passed. Jehoiakim will be killed outside the city gates and left to rot. Nobody will mourn for him (fulfilled in 2 Kings 24).
Vs 24-30. Judgment against Jehoiakim’s posterity.
His son, Coniah, will be led into captivity and live in obscurity.
No child of Jehoiakim will ever sit on Davids Trone. The end of the dynasty.
Psalm 89 was written in the times after the destruction of the dynasty and echoes the phrases of the covenant back to God, asking the question, “Did you change your mind?”
Focus on discipline much magnified vs 2Sam 7
Long post-script asking God to remember his faithfulness (vs 39-52)
Matthew and Luke’s genealogies help us answer this question.
Matthew records Jesus’ ancestry through Solomon’s line to Joseph. Kingly line, right to rule but cursed.
Luke records Jesus’ ancestry through Nathan’s line to Mary. Bloodline, David’s heir, not the throne, but not cursed.
In Jesus, the right to rule was re-united with an uncursed Davidic bloodline.
God promised to preserve forever David’s offspring and his throne. Even when there was no offspring on the throne, he preserved them separately. Nathan’s line preserved the offspring (bloodline), and Joseph’s preserved the throne (the cursed right-to-rule).
The Application to us:
God’s promises can always be trusted. Not only his discipline and judgment can force God to abandon his promises.
God provided, 400 years before he needed it, for a way to still bring a Messianic King to David’s throne even after cursing the royal bloodline.
God’s sovereignty and love intersect in ways that overwhelm the attempts of the enemy to thwart the redemptive plans of God.
Discussion Questions.
David wanted to bless the Lord. Instead, the Lord blessed David more than he could imagine. How have you seen this happen in your life?
What does it mean to you that God’s blessing was not unhitched from his discipline?
What does it show you about God that He preserved David’s throne separate from his heir?
How have you seen God keep His promises in surprising ways in your life?
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