Consider the God of the Covenant with David
Text 1 Chronicles 17:1-15 Time 13 01 21 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church (Zoom)
1 Chronicles 17:1-15, with its parallel in 2 Samuel 7, records one of the greatest moments in the Old Testament. It is the chapter in which the Davidic Covenant is established. As you know, the idea of covenant, an agreement between two or more persons, is very important in Scripture. Although the Covenant of Grace is in fact one, we can discern a series of covenants in the Old Testament beginning arguably with the Adamic covenant and going on through the Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic and then the Davidic covenants. All this leads up, of course, to the new covenant sealed in the precious blood of Christ. On the detail of this subject there is a fair amount of disagreement among believers. In dealing with this chapter, therefore, what I want to do, taking the lead of a contemporary commentator, is to focus not on the covenant itself but on the God of the covenant. In this chapter we can see at least four things that are revealed about his character.
1. See God’s covenant wisdom and follow his will not your feelings
The chapter begins by describing how the time arrived After David was settled in his palace. We know from 2 Samuel that it was a time of peace. At this point we are allowed to eavesdrop on a conversation between David and the Prophet Nathan. Nathan is not introduced but elsewhere we learn that he is one of David’s chief advisors, especially in Temple matters. The scene is not described for us but it clearly took place in David’s Palace, perhaps up on the roof or may be in one of the state rooms or in David’s private quarters. There seem to have been several topics of conversation but then David turns to Nathan and shares with him something that has obviously been on his mind for some time ... he said to Nathan the prophet, Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.
The incongruity of it all was troubling David. Here he was with his fine Palace of cedar but God's ark, the symbol of his presence, was still being kept in a tent! David wanted to do something about it. Nathan could see that a plan was already forming in David’s mind and so he said to the king (2) Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you. Nathan knew, of course, as a prophet, what it was to speak the Word of God. Normally, he would take great care to be sure that he was speaking the Word of God but on this occasion, he felt, there was hardly need for that. David’s idea was so obviously right that he could simply say ‘Go ahead’. Or so it seemed. And of course, Nathan’s instincts were right – almost!
How careful those who profess to speak the Word of God need to be.
When he lay down that night in bed, God spoke to him. 3, 4 But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying: Go and tell my servant David, This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. David had to be told, not quite ‘No’ but certainly ‘Not yet’. We are used to the expression that what seemed a good idea last night does not at all seem the same in the cold light of the next day. Here that is reversed and what seemed such a good idea in the day time is called into question by a vision in the night and though Nathan is not rebuked directly for his failure, he has to eat humble pie and go and tell David that what he had said was premature. His enthusiasm needed to be tempered by God’s Word.
And so here is a lesson straight away. Sometimes things that seem to be so obviously right and reasonable to us are not always the right thing to do. We have plenty examples of this in the historical books of the Bible. When Eli saw Samuel’s mother Hannah at the Temple, it was obvious to him that she was drunk and he told her so. But she was not. Or recall Samuel himself looking at Jesse’s eldest son Eliab and being sure that this was the man to replace Saul. But he was not. Samuel was wrong. Or what about David being convinced it was right to crush Nabal and his household? Yet, he too discovers that he is in the wrong.
We need to learn to distinguish between right feelings and desires and right actions. David is not condemned for having the desire he had. It is good to be looking for new things to do in God’s service. However, it was not God’s will for him to do what he had in mind. A failure to distinguish here can lead to problems. I have come across women, true believers, who have had a genuine desire to preach. The desire in and of itself is not the problem. The Bible itself says that it is a good thing to desire to do the work of an overseer. The Bible is equally clear that it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church (1 Corinthians 14:35). The same applies to a man who has the desire to preach but is plainly not called by God or anyone who has a desire to be an overseas missionary but would be neglecting prior duties at home to do that work. There are countless applications, I’m sure, as various desires come and we consider what we ought to do or not do.
The principle then is to follow God’s wisdom not our own feelings. There is some comfort here in the fact that God did not let Nathan and David go on in their error very long.
2. See God’s covenant humility and realise that though we should put him first, he always puts us first
I read a story somewhere about Sam Rayburn, the American Speaker of the House of Representatives in the forties and fifties of how when he heard that a journalist had tragically lost his teenage daughter, he not only called on him but humbly offered to make him coffee.
In the opening part of Nathan’s message from God to David, we get a real sense of the humility of God. Things are put in very human terms and there is a little humour there even perhaps.
5, 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
God pictures himself as moving about from place to place, camping if you like, from the time the people left Egypt until that very time. What’s all this about a house of cedar, David? When did I ever speak of such a thing to you or to any of your predecessors? God’s great concern is always with his people, his true temple, rather than with buildings.
It has been a largely unsettled period for the people of God and so God has remained unsettled too. God has plans for his people before he takes up residence in a house of cedar. He won’t rest until he has made sure that they are at rest. It reminds you perhaps of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples in the upper room. It certainly points us to Philippians 2 and the humility of God in Christ. When John speaks of Jesus coming to earth in John 1 he speaks literally of his pitching his tent among us.
The principle then is that God always puts his people first. Yes, he is greater than us and we should serve him and put him first. The truth is, however, that he always puts us first. He stoops to make us great.
3. See God’s covenant grace and realise that though we think we are helping him, it is he who helps us
In verses 7-10 we have the heart of what God has to say to David. God reminds David of his grace in the past and assures him of his grace in the future.
First, in verse 7 there is God’s past grace to David, choosing him, being with him and defeating his enemies Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. We must never forget our origins. 8a I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you.
Secondly, in verses 8b-10, there is the promise of future grace to David and his people.
David: Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth.
Israel: And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel.
David: I will also subdue all your enemies. I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you:
God promises that he will follow his previous grace with yet more grace; grace upon grace. It is important to observe that this ‘grace’ is not in response to David doing something for God. The plan to build God a house has been rejected for now. You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. No, I am going to build you one, the LORD will build a house for you that is a household or a dynasty.
The other way round was pretty common in the near east. In Sumer (c2100 BC) the god Enlil chose Ur-Nammu as king and kept enemies away so that he could build him a temple.
Or take Yahdun-Lin, king in Mari, about 1900 BC. His god Shamash gave him great victories after Shamash had built a temple for him.
There is also the victory hymn of Thut-Moses III in Egypt (c 1490-1436 BC) recording the words of the god Amon-Re and his gratefulness for his temple which had prompted him to give victories.
One other – Esarhaddon of Assyria (680-669 BC) rebuilt the temple of Asshur in thankfulness for a long and prosperous reign.
It is not that God’s temple didn’t matter but it could wait. Asshur and Amon-Re were quite different. They were very demanding. But God is the God of all grace.
It is important to note that God’s promises to David are entirely intended to bring about the security of his people. This is why David and his family are to be blessed. David is their representative, their mediator if you like. One writer says ‘God seems possessed over the safety of his people’. He is pre-occupied with it. We know that all the Davidic kings, including David, left something to be desired but God’s grace continued nevertheless through until the coming of Christ, the one Mediator between God and man. If we are in Christ we will know blessing.
The US presidential inauguration is coming up this month. At his, John F Kennedy famously said in 1961 “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. I was going to reverse the sentiment and say we ought to be considering “not what we can do for God but what he can do for us” but then I came across an Oliver Wendell Holmes quote that Kennedy may have cribbed. Holmes said "We pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return." That is the order. Think first of what God has done for you and then what we might do for God.
4. See God’s covenant constancy and realise that though we are weak and often fail him yet he will never fail us
In verses 11-15 we have the covenant itself. Its form points to three weaknesses in David that are also in us and shows that despite these God’s covenant love will continue to be constant. We are such doubters by nature but the form here reassures us that with God all will be well.
1. Though we die, yet God remains constant. Verse 11 begins When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, .... David will not last forever on earth. Soon he will die. This promise assures him that that will not be the end of the story, however. I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. The reference is no doubt initially to Solomon and then to certain ones who follow and points ultimately beyond that to the Lord Jesus himself. You will die, but God will raise up. For us in New Testament times we think of what he did for Christ and we know that we too will rise again in the first resurrection of new birth and then at the end of the world in our bodies too.
At the start of verse 13 we have these amazing words I will be his father, and he will be my son. Perhaps these words do not strike us with the force that they should. God is saying that David’s descendant will not only be David’s son but God’s son too. He will not only sit on David’s throne but on God’s throne too. And isn’t that where Jesus Christ the Son of God is now? Not only that but in 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18 Paul extends it and says Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. What is true of Christ is true of his people.
2. Though we sin, the Lord remains constant. Then comes this wonderful promise (13b) I will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. Here is something amazingly reassuring then. Even despite our sin, the Lord still loves us and will continue his goodness to us. This is not a licence to sin, of course, but a word of comfort for us when we see the enormity of our wickedness. Just as God not only cursed the Christ but raised him from the dead so we can be sure that by his unstoppable grace so he will continue to show his live to us at all times.
3. Though much time might pass, yet the Lord remains constant. 14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever. There is something inevitable about the promise. It will happen and it will go on happening. David’s own physical dynasty lasted some 400 years which is pretty remarkable as far as these things go. Palmer Robertson ‘This tenure probably represents the longest single dynasty in the history of the world’. Of course, beyond, that is the reign of Messiah, which will literally last forever. Let’s never forget that we belong to an everlasting kingdom, an unbreakable kingdom that will last through all eternity.
