1 Chronicles 17: 1- 27
You cannot out love God
17 Now it came to pass, when David was dwelling in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under tent curtains.” 2 Then Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.” 3 But it happened that night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, 4 “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You shall not build Me a house to dwell in. 5 For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. 6 Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, have I ever spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” 7 Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 8 And I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. 9 Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, 10 since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Also, I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore, I tell you that the LORD will build you a house. 11 And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. 14 And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.’” 15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. 16 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: “Who am I, O LORD God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 17 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come and have regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, O LORD God. 18 What more can David say to You for the honor of Your servant? For You know Your servant. 19 O LORD, for Your servant’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. 20 O LORD, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 21 And who is like Your people Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people—to make for Yourself a name by great and awesome deeds, by driving out nations from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt? 22 For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and You, LORD, have become their God. 23 “And now, O LORD, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, let it be established forever, and do as You have said. 24 So let it be established, that Your name may be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God.’ And let the house of Your servant David be established before You. 25 For You, O my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build him a house. Therefore, Your servant has found it in his heart to pray before You. 26 And now, LORD, You are God, and have promised this goodness to Your servant. 27 Now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You have blessed it, O LORD, and it shall be blessed forever.”
A relationship with God is like no other relationship you may have experienced. God has a unique kind of love for you. It is unconditional (not based upon meeting certain conditions). God loves you because He loves you.
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us…” (1 John 4:9,10)
He does not love you based upon your performance. There is nothing you can do to cause God to love you any more than He already does—and there is nothing that will cause God to love you any less. He loves you, even more than you love yourself.
Until now you have probably only experienced conditional love. Conditional love is based upon what you do. Perform well on the job, on the team, or in the relationship, and you are “loved.”
In opening your life to Christ, you have found total love and acceptance. That may be hard to comprehend if you’ve never felt totally loved and accepted by anyone. But it’s true! Unfortunately, you won’t always feel that God loves you. There will be times when you find yourself doubting not only His love, but also His existence. You’ll feel like giving up. Don’t.
When God gave you a new life, it didn’t come trimmed in lace and smelling of perfume. Our Wonderful Master Jesus Christ began His earthly life in a smelly, damp stable. He tasted real life, and that will be the flavor of your journey with Christ—no magic, just the promise of His presence with you.
No matter how you try, you cannot out love our Great Holy Father Yahweh God. He says to us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).
Our faith rests in what God has revealed about Himself to us. He specifically wants us to believe and rely on His love for us:
“…the Lord delights in those who fear (reverence) him, who put their hope in His unfailing love” (Psalms 147:11).
“…the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.” (Psalms 33:18)
King David, whom God referred to “as a man after my own heart” trusted God’s love: “…I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. O my strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God” (Psalms 59:16,17).
Today we are going to witness the love of our God poured out on a man who loved God. He keeps God in his thoughts and wants to honor Him. However, out Creator knows of all his good intentions and personally out does anything David could even comprehend.
The Ark being successfully given its home in the Jerusalem, David’s thoughts now turned towards something which in his eyes, was even more splendid. He had seen the Temples of the gods of the nation’s round about, and he visualized an even more splendid Temple as becoming the home of the Ark. At last it could find permanent rest in a house of cedar in Jerusalem. It must be noted that he did not ‘enquire of YHWH’. He assumed that his own notions must be right. For how could such a proposition be displeasing to Him? So therefore, an idea was planted in his mind that in spite of God’s rules he could not shake off. God would have His house of cedar (whether He wanted it or not).
The Ark being in Jerusalem David was concerned that while he dwelt in a house of cedar, YHWH had only a tent of curtains to dwell in. It did not seem quite right. And even the prophet Nathan was deceived for a time. But YHWH then revealed to him through his prophet that He required no such house. Rather He preferred it to be seen, by dwelling in a movable tent, that He was not bound to one place. There was also the further implication that no dwelling place built on a cursed earth could be good enough or grand enough to contain Him. Thus, rather than a house of cedar glorifying Him, it would diminish Him.
17 Now it came to pass, when David was dwelling in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under tent curtains.”
Nothing could bring out more what the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH meant to David. He did not see it as just a religious symbol, to be sheltered as they wished. Rather it represented in a unique way the very presence of the living God continually among His people. And it did not seem right to him that he should live in a cedar palace, whilst the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH dwelt under mere curtains, however splendid they might be. He wanted something permanent.
2 Then Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God Is with you.”
Here Nathan spoke, not as an inspired prophet of God, but as a religious adviser weighing up things in his mind. And it is important to notice that he got it wrong. It is a reminder that even the most spiritual of advisers can lead us astray if they speak simply in accordance with their own ideas. It seemed a good idea to Nathan, and so he approved of it, and even suggested that God was in it. It is sad to think that such a godly prophet could have such earthbound ideas. But he was after all, except when inspired, a man of his time. However, he was soon to learn differently, that God’s ways were not man’s ways, and that what seemed like a good idea to men was not a good idea to God. It would not be the last time that someone imposed his own ideas on God.
3 But it happened that night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
Because Nathan was a true prophet God soon set him right. For that same night He came to Nathan and spoke to him and brought him ‘the word of God’.
4 “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You shall not build Me a house to dwell in. 5 For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
He told him to tell David not to build Him a house for Him to dwell in, because He was content with His Ark being lodged in a Tent patterned in accordance with His own ideas. He pointed out, from the day when He had brought up His people out of Egypt His earthly dwelling place had always been a Tent. First the Tent of Meeting prior to Sinai, then the Tabernacle as made at Sinai, and then its continued replacement as the original had worn out, and now in the Tent at Jerusalem.
6 Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, have I ever spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”
He reminded David that never once in all the places in which He had walked with Israel had He asked them to build Him a house of cedar. Nor had He called on the Judges of Israel, Whom He had appointed as shepherds of His people, to build Him such a house.
The force with which these words were spoken suggests that a house of Cedar was not what YHWH wanted. It suggests that in His eyes the Temple, while he would later accept it because he saw the love that was in David’s heart, would not be what He had really wanted. What He wanted to do was to build a house for David, that is, a dynasty of righteous kings Who would represent and present Him in a way in which no building could. That was what truly mattered. And He wanted that to be the thing that David and Solomon concentrated on.
The same has always been true of the true Christian church. Often a persecuted church, it did not in the early days go in for splendid buildings, but rather sought to be a living body pleasing to God. The splendid buildings tended to come from those whose spirituality was lacking and produced the wrong kind of leadership. Giving buildings to God replaced the giving to Him of absolute obedience.
7 Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 8 And I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and have made you a name like the name of the great men who are on the earth.
YHWH now tells Nathan to say to David, that it was He Who had taken David from following the sheep, to make him prince over His people Israel and that He had been with him wherever he had gone and had ‘cut off all enemies.
9 Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, 10 since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Also, I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore, I tell you that the LORD will build you a house.
YHWH now turns to the future and declares also what He intends to do. David may be on his way to greatness, but it is YHWH Who will make him supreme, ‘like one of the great ones on the earth’. He will make the mention of his name ring out through the nations. And He will fully establish His people, and plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved any more.
11 And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
YHWH promises David that on his death He, YHWH, will set up his seed after him, the seed who will come forth from his sons. And He will establish his kingdom. This seed would ‘come forth from his sons’.
12 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.”
The thought is of the continuing dynasty that will find fulfillment in the final coming King.
The point here is that David’s sons’ seed will build YHWH a house, a house far better than a house of cedar. It will result in his throne being everlasting. In the light of the context this means a dynastic house or a house of living people among whom YHWH can dwell. Such a house was necessary if his throne was to be established forever. This is not a reference to the Temple.
Our Great God Is not saying, ‘David you can’t build me a house but your son Solomon can.’ For the thought of the whole passage is not that of building a Temple, but of building a dynasty and a people. It is only because Solomon did build a Temple that anyone thinks differently. On the other hand, it is very possible that both David, in his enthusiasm, and Solomon himself, misinterpreted these words as expressed in 2 Samuel, taking them out of context, and using them, as expressed in 2 Samuel, to spur them on to build the Temple. Our Precious Holy Spirt inspired the author in his writings to counter this error by his recording of the words as, ‘your seed after you, who will come forth FROM your sons’. He rightly saw the words in terms of the coming king.
13 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.
Indeed, YHWH now promises that the relationship between Him and the son of David’s sons will be that of father and son. He will adopt the son as His son. This idea is exemplified in Psalm 2.7 where God says to the Messiah king, ‘You are My son, today I have ‘begotten’ (by adoption) you’. And His further promise is that He will not take His covenant love away from this son as He did from Saul. Whatever the son does, YHWH will be faithful to him under the covenant.
14 And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.’”
YHWH then assures David that this son will be settled ‘in His house’ and in His kingdom forever. This is clearly not referring to the Temple. ‘MY house’ is the house that YHWH has promised to David, the house that He would build for him. It is the house of his dynasty. Thus, the promise is that the dynasty will be made secure until the king comes Whose right it is to rule over God’s kingdom, who will be settled in that chosen dynasty, or alternately refers to the coming King Himself. He will be settled in the place that YHWH has destined for Him. It is in Him that his throne will be established forever.
And through all the vicissitudes of the kings who followed Solomon, they are regularly thought of in terms of David. For it was in the final Son of David that all hopes would be fulfilled, and the everlasting kingdom be set up.
15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.
The passage ends by confirming that all these words, which gave a vision of what our Great Holy God YHWH would do in the future, were spoke by the prophet Nathan to David. Sadly, the words were misunderstood, and David interpreted them as meaning that Solomon should build the Temple, even though God had made clear that He wanted nothing more than a Tent. So just as the nation had asked YHWH for a king and YHWH had reluctantly given them one, going along with the idea for their sake, something which ended in tragedy, so now David determined that his son should build a Temple and God reluctantly allowed it, even though it would end in tragedy (as the Temple always has), because David was so set on the idea. He went along with the idea for David’s sake, but the consequences would be disastrous. For it resulted in the false belief that because YHWH’s Temple was there Jerusalem would not be destroyed, and resulted in the introduction of many false idols which finally destroyed the Temple. And this was true even though God had gone along with the idea out of love for David and approved of it in the building of the second Temple because it had become so much a part of His people’s thinking. For the building of the Temple was intended to boost their hopes of a return to the days of David which they expected to be fulfilled in a greater David, a Prince of Peace. In the end the Temple was finally necessarily destroyed, having lost its meaning and significance. It failed to prepare for the coming King. Thus, it was replaced by Jesus Christ, the King Who had come, Whose body was the true Temple (John 2.19-21) into which all true believers were incorporated (1 Corinthians 12.12-27; 2 Corinthians 6.16-20; Ephesians 2.20-22). This was how David’s house and kingdom were established.
Thrilled because YHWH had guaranteed the continuation of his dynasty, David ‘went in and sat before YHWH’, presumably in the court of the Tent in Jerusalem. And there he prayed this prayer of gratitude and praise.
16 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: “Who am I, O LORD God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
Sitting in God’s presence, David admits his unworthiness of the privilege that has been given to him, and of the goodness that God has shown to him in the past. He first asks YHWH to explain to him why he should be worthy of the guidance and protection that God has revealed towards him in the past. It is beyond his comprehension. And yet he is grateful that God has brought him ‘thus far’.
17 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come and have regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, O LORD God.
He then declares that he recognizes that the benefits which he has enjoyed from YHWH in the past are as nothing compared with the great promise that he has now been given by YHWH concerning his house ‘for a great while to come’.
18 What more can David say to You for the honor of Your servant? For You know Your servant.
He admits that the honor that has been done to him as God’s servant has left him without words to express the wonder of it. He recognizes that there is no need to say more, because God knows him so thoroughly. It is always the test of a true man of God that he is filled with wonder as to why God has chosen him.
19 O LORD, for Your servant’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.
YHWH has been good to His servant and has done it out of the love that He has for him. And what has He done? He has purposed a great and marvelous future, in which He will do great things for David’s house, and will bring about (make known publicly) all the great things that He has promised.
20 O LORD, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
David now stresses the uniqueness of YHWH. There is none like Him. He Is the only God. And it is this that gives him the certainty that what has been promised will be fulfilled.
21 And who is like Your people Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people—to make for Yourself a name by great and awesome deeds, by driving out nations from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt?
Nor is there any nation like Israel. For it is this great God Who has chosen them, and has redeemed them, and Who has delivered them from Egypt, and on whose behalf, He has done mighty wonders in driving out of Canaan the nations who sought to prevent their presence there.
22 For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and You, LORD, have become their God.
And this was because YHWH had made Israel His own people ‘forever’, and He Himself had become their God. But if this was so, how then could God through Hosea (1.9) speak of them as ‘not My people’? The answer lies in the nature of Israel. For as the prophets will make clear, ‘Israel’ only refers to those who respond to and are faithful to the covenant, in the final analysis the faithful remnant. As God would say to Elijah, ‘I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal’. They were the true Israel. In Zerubbabel’s day and the Chronicler’s day it referred to those who truly worshipped YHWH and excluded those who blended religions.
In our Lord Jesus’ day it referred to those who believed in their Messiah, and were part of the true Vine (John 15.1-6) and excluded those who rejected Him (Matthew 21.43; John 15.1-6). To Paul the true Israel was the Israel within Israel (Romans 9.6), those who were part of the olive tree in contrast with those who had been cast off (Roman 11.12-24). In his eyes all who truly believe in Jesus Christ are grafted into Israel, so that the true Israel today, who are God’s own people forever, consists of all true believers in Christ.
23 “And now, O LORD, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, let it be established forever, and do as You have said.
David humbly prays that YHWH will do what He has promised. He asks that what YHWH has spoken concerning him, and concerning his dynasty, will be established forever. That YHWH will do what He has said.
24 So let it be established, that Your name may be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Is Israel’s God.’ And let the house of Your servant David be established before You.
His aim was not selfish. His purpose was that YHWH’s Name be established and magnified forever as a consequence of men saying, ‘YHWH of Hosts Is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel’ (the idea was that Israel would be so great that it would bring such glory to God). This was David’s hope and prayer. At first the reign of Solomon appeared to indicate the approach of its fulfilment. But it all fell apart, and it was to be a long time before, in the coming of The Greater David, our Lord Jesus Christ, it became a reality, and especially so after His resurrection (Acts 2.36; Matthew 28.18-19).
25 For You, O my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build him a house. Therefore, Your servant has found it in his heart to pray before You.
The reason why he felt able to pray before YHWH like this was that YHWH had revealed to David that He would build him a house, that is, a dynasty. With the guarantee of YHWH, he knew that it could not fail.
26 And now, LORD, You are God, and have promised this goodness to Your servant.
David now repeats his confidence that YHWH Is God and has promised all these good things to His servant. He is confirming his assurance that God will do what He has said.
27 Now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You have blessed it, O LORD, and it shall be blessed forever.”
With his final affirmation David knows that YHWH has been pleased to bless the dynasty of His servant, and that therefore his dynasty will continue forever before Him. For this he knows, that because YHWH has blessed it, it will be blessed forever.
