Carey's Bible Study Notes
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david
life of christ: 1 Chronicles 17.1-27
god's covenant with david
introduction
For the past several weeks, we have been claiming that the major tent posts of the OT have been (1) the creation of the world by Jesus, (2) the fall of mankind which brought in the curse, and (3) God�s promise to Abraham that he would be a blessing to the whole world which finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Everything in the OT which occurs between God making the covenant with Abraham-Christ and its fulfillment in Jesus explains, enhances, shows the need of, etc. this covenant between God and Abraham-Christ. Today�s passage enhances in a major way the covenant God made with Abraham and Christ. In God�s contract/covenant with Abraham, He promised that He would make of him a great nation. Moreover, He promised that the kings of Israel would come from the tribe of Judah; in fact, one day a king from the tribe of Judah would emerge who would rule over the entire world. Although Jacob spoke in generalities, God now becomes specific as He makes a covenant with David which deals exactly with this very thing.
david desires to build god a house (17:1-2)
After the Israelites conquered the land of Canaan, they lived in the land for approximately 400 years during which judges selected by God ruled over them: Deborah, Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Samuel. Towards the end of this period, the people tired of this system of government and requested Samuel the last of the judges to give them a king who would rule over them. Samuel begrudgingly gave them Saul to be their king. After Saul proved to be an unmitigated disaster, Samuel under God�s leadership anointed David to be the next king of Israel. After Saul�s death in 1000 BC, David assumes the throne over the tribe of Judah. Seven years later, all the tribes acknowledge David as their king. Even today, the reigns of David and his son Solomon are considered the high point in Israel�s history. David smashed all the enemies which surrounded Israel. His kingdom extended all the way from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River in what is modern-day Iraq.
As the wars began to wind down, David embarked on a building project. One of the first things he built was a beautiful palace of stone which was paneled with cedar wood from the kingdom of Lebanon. Such a house would have been considered luxurious in David�s day. As David began to compare his palace with the headquarters of the ark of the covenant, he naturally began to feel guilty about the disparity between his home and God�s. He summons Nathan, the major prophet of that day, and informs him of his plans to build a splendid temple for God. Nathan is excited about David�s plans and tells him to proceed because surely God would endorse such a vision.
Nathan makes a strategic error at this point. The idea David pitched him seemed natural and reasonable. Why should God live in a tent while David lived in a palace? The only problem with this though is that although the idea was logical, it did not come from God. A lot of us, including ministers, do what is logical or natural without consulting God. "I mean, God must be in it since it is logical and natural." The truth is that whereas God does things which are logical and natural, not everything logical and natural is from God. Sometimes 2 things may be logical and natural, but only one of them is from God. Fortunately for Nathan, God deals him with that very night in a dream and tells him to put a stop to David�s scheme.
god decides to build david a house (17:3-15)
Nathan approaches David and informs him that although his scheme is praiseworthy, it is not what God has in mind for David. First, He gently reminds David that He and not David should be controlling their relationship. He reminds David that He has been dwelling in a tent for the past 400 years and not once during that time has He ever said He wanted to dwell in a temple instead. He asks David to look at the past and try to find a time when God asked the people to build Him a Temple. So what has changed? The only thing that has changed is the person now leading Israel, David. God hasn�t changed; the leader is the one who changed. God is implying that the person initiating all this is David and not God.
Whatever else should characterize our relationship with God, obedience to Christ should be paramount. How many times in the Gospels do we hear Jesus say, "Follow Me?" Many times. On the other hand, how many times do we hear Him say, "Lead Me"? Never, and yet that is exactly what David was trying to do and unfortunately what many well-intentioned Christians try to do. Every now and then Christians will say we need to have great faith and attempt great things. That can be disastrous. If we come up with the ideas for great ventures and God has not laid them on our hearts, then He is not obligated to make those great ventures successful. He is obligated to make successful only those ventures He initiates and designs. When somebody tells me to have great faith in their ventures, then they had better be able to assure me that their great venture is really from God and not from themselves. We see this reinforced by the number of times God speaks about Him initiating and leading in His relationship with David; look at the number of times God uses the word "I" in this passage.
What David proposes is not evil; it�s just not what God had in mind at that very time. God in fact wanted a temple to be built in His honor, just not at this time and not by David. Rather God wanted David�s son (Solomon) to be the one to build the temple for Him.
Was God rejecting David by choosing Solomon to be the temple-builder instead of him? No. In fact, He honors David in this passage in such a way that he truly becomes one of the greatest people in the entire Bible. It�s just that was not God�s plan for his life. He had another plan, not a worse plan but just a different plan for him. I feel like I can relate to what David was going through. When we are getting out of high school and college, we feel like we have a plan for our lives which would be perfect just for us. We do all we can to make this plan work. Sometimes it does, but more often it does not. Is it because God is angry at us? Is it because we are bad? No, it�s because God has a different plan for us which in the long run is perfectly suited for us.
I remember while in high school and college, my plan was to be a doctor, MD. I was salutatorian in high school at a time when a high school diploma meant something, and made good enough grades at UT in the sciences to qualify me for entrance into a medical school. When God changed all this, my plans to be a doctor went up in smoke. Never did I realize at the time that God still wanted me to be a doctor; it�s just that He wanted me to be a doctor of philosophy instead of a doctor of medicine. God knew that I needed a theological doctorate instead of a medical one because of who I am. I would have never found the satisfaction in life if I were an MD. Being an MD is not bad. My goodness, I want excellent MD�s in the world, especially when I am sick; however, being an MD would not have been ultimately fulfilling for me.
God further informs David that a house is going to be built; in fact 2 houses are going to be built. It�s just that David is not going to be doing any of the building. First, instead of David building a house for God, God is going to build a house of David. God is doing a play on words with the word "house." By "house" David meant a material building; God, however, meant it in terms of a royal dynasty. Just like we say the present Queen of England comes from the House of Windsor, that is, the dynasty of the family of Windsor, so now God was saying that He is going to make of David and his family a dynasty, "the house of David." Moreover, God promises David that his dynasty would be eternal because one of his sons would reign forever and ever. Second, from this dynasty, God is going to use one of David�s sons to build a house for Him. We know that by this God is designating Solomon to be the one to build the temple. God also promises that He will bestow much favor upon this son of David by claiming him as His own son.
application to jesus christ
We can easily see how this passage relates to Jesus Christ. When God promises David that his dynasty would be eternal, we know that this was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ. The NT takes great pains to show that Jesus was both physically (Luke�s genealogy) and legally (Matthew�s genealogy) descended from David the king. Matthew records that as Jesus was passing through Jericho to go to Jerusalem before His crucifixion, the blind man hails Him as, "Jesus, Son of David! (Matt. 20:30)" When God exalts Jesus to the status of Lord of the universe (Messiah), He is fulfilling His promise to David to make his dynasty an eternal one.
Moreover, v. 13 is one of the most important verses in the Bible to show that even the OT believed that one of David�s sons would be nothing less than God�s own Son. Even today, many Jews refuse to believe that Jesus is God the Son because they believe that God would never, ever become a man. The NT quotes this verse to show first that the OT does claim that Jesus would be God (the Son) and second how it was possible for David�s dynasty to be eternal. By David�s son (Jesus) being divine, His rule would never end. Whereas Solomon fulfilled this verse in the sense that God "adopted" Solomon, Jesus ultimately fulfilled this verse because He was the Father�s Son in the truest sense.
david's response (17:16-27)
David�s response to God�s promise should be the model we imitate in our response to all that God has done and is doing for us right now. David first expresses his utter unworthiness at all the honor God has bestowed upon him through these promises: "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that Thou hast brought me this far (17:16)?" Unfortunately, I see most people today, including Christians, who do not live lives of gratitude, much less even express gratitude, in light of all the things God has done for us. What I see today is people demanding rights and expressing unbending expectations�upon their spouses, their children, their extended families, their local governments, their national government, and ultimately God. Listening to the news, you would think each of us has the right to have free child-care paid for by the government. Sometimes at work, home or play, people don�t ask other people for favors, they approach others with demands and then get upset if the others don�t meet those demands.
We actually believe that we deserve all the good things that are coming our way or should come our way. The truth is that if we got what we deserved, we would all be destined for hell. Each and everyone of us has sinned and is ultimately responsible for the death of God on the cross. Yet God loves us, and out of His mercy�not out of a sense of fair play, but out of His mercy He has reached down to save us.
Not only has He saved us, He has also made us members of His family. The concept of family is a big deal for me. I had a great dad and still have a great mom. It was a great honor to have Carey Ford, Jr. as my dad. Because of hard work, he went from being a produce clerk in Corsicana (now the Living Arts Warehouse) to becoming VP of an international food retail business (Safeway). We got to live in some wonderful parts of Dallas, Washington DC and London. We were able to travel across continental Europe while I was growing up. Mom, on the other hand, is a dedicated Christian who sincerely loves God and loves her children.
Well, as good as my parents are, they ultimately pale in comparison with our heavenly Father. Every human parent fails their children; it is inevitable because they are human. On the other hand, our heavenly Father never fails us. The only ones doing the failing are us! Instead of being demanding and resentful when we don�t get our way with other people and God, we should be the most grateful of all. Instead of feeling like attending Sunday morning Bible study and worship service is a duty, we should attend them out of the sheer gratitude of our hearts. In light of what God has done for Christians, they should be the most excited people on earth about being in God�s presence on Sunday morning. I fear the reason we�re not that excited about being in God�s presence is that we have not really understood the depths of our own unworthiness and of what He has done for you and me.
Finally, David prays that God fulfill His promise to David, that is, that God do His will. This should have been David�s attitude all along. Discover what God wanted him to do and then pray it into existence. Last Wednesday night during prayer meeting, one of the young ladies in our church , Katy Morris, asked God to do His will, acknowledging that Christians not only have the responsibility but also the privilege to pray God�s will into existence. It�s not that we determine what God�s will is; rather, it is that through prayer we discover that will and pray that it happen. Many of us are too influenced by Calvin�s view of God to think that this is necessary. Calvin basically taught that God was going to do whatever He was going to do no matter what we did. Well, this flies in the face of Jesus� prayer: "Thy will be done." Jesus was applying this same principle Himself, that is, He was praying that God make His will a reality. There is nothing wrong with asking God for the desires of our heart; however, the highest form of prayer is always discovering what God wants and praying it into existence.