[Scripture reading is at end of post] This Sunday we continue our sermon series in I & II Samuel. So far in the series we’ve seen the birth and childhood of the prophet Samuel; we’ve seen the people of Israel rebel against God by asking for a king; we’ve seen the disastrous first kingship of King Saul; and last time I was here saw David begin to take the throne as the Ark of the Covenant returned to Israel.
Today’s reading takes place a number of years later. At this point, the long and steady decline of the house of Saul is over. Things are getting better for Israel; David has put down any challenges to the throne and has established the nation in peace. In fact the writer of II Samuel doesn’t even call David by name in the first few verses: he says “the king did this” and “the king did that” – emphasizing the strength of David’s throne.
By this time David had also married many wives and fathered a number of children, and he had built a magnificent palace in Jerusalem: a palace made of stone and lined with cedar, with magnificent views of the countryside around him. The place was big enough to hold the wives and their kids plus servants and advisors and officers – it was almost like a small city.
King David
So as King David – handsome, mighty man of arms, loved by all his people – looked out over all that he owned, and all his kingdom, he was deeply and profoundly thankful to God for all that God had given him. Unlike many before him and after him who have risen to power or wealth or fame, David takes credit for none of this, and he takes none of it for granted. He doesn’t say to himself “look at all I’ve done” – he says “look how great God is that he’s done all this for me!”
So as David looks around, he notices that his house is more magnificent than God’s house. In fact God doesn’t have a house at all; his sanctuary is in a tent. And that doesn’t sit right with David – that David might appear to be greater in the eyes of people than God.
So he says to his friend, Nathan the prophet, “Look, I’m living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God is in a tent.” And Nathan answers, “Do all that you have in mind; God is with you.”
But that night the word of God came to Nathan and said otherwise. And God gave Nathan this message: “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?”
The obvious answer to this question is ‘no’. But I think it’s important to ask ‘why?’ What God is thinking and feeling at this point? Is God saying David doesn’t need to prove God is bigger? Is God disappointed or angry at the suggestion?
I don’t think so. The book of Chronicles tells us that God said ‘no’ to David in part because David was a man of war, and God wanted a man of rest and of peace to build his temple. (I Chron 22:8-10) God is also looking into the future for a king who will be a prince of peace and will bring God’s people into a Sabbath rest.
But God is pleased at the request. And then God explains to David (through Nathan) how God sees things from His point of view. God says:
“I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt… I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved… did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel… saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”” (II Samuel 7:6-7)
Again the obvious answer is ‘no’ God has never asked for a house. God has chosen, deliberately, to live in something that is in the midst of the people and that moves with the people. And God is still this way today. God may gather us into buildings for worship but God does not live in buildings. The entire universe is not big enough to contain God! Instead, God chooses to put God’s Spirit in God’s people. God moves in us and with us, all the time, because that’s how God chooses to be with us.
So getting back to God’s message to David – at this point, the tables begin to turn. Rather than receiving a gift from David, God is going to give gifts to David – beginning with reassuring David that God sees David as his son – a man after God’s own heart. Then God mentions three things he has done for David in the past, and three things God will do for David in the future.
The three things in David’s past are: (1) God took David from keeping sheep, and made him king over Israel; (2) God has been with David wherever David went (and David traveled quite a bit before he became king), and (3) God has kept David safe and has cut off his enemies on every side.
The three things God is about to do for David are: (1) God is going to give David a great name. Think about how true that is: How many people who lived 3000 years ago do we still talk about today? David was famous not only in his own time but in our time as well. If you travel to Jerusalem today, you will see statues of David and places where David used to visit still preserved after 3000 years. The memory of David is still very much alive… and his name is far greater than any of his contemporaries, or most of the people who lived within 1000 years on either side of him.
(2) The second thing God promises to do for David is to appoint a place for his people Israel where they will be safe and no longer be harassed by evil-doers. And David, having been a shepherd, who is now in charge of shepherding the people, would have understood this as a great blessing. It’s what every shepherd wants for the ones he cares for.
And (3) third, God says to David, “the Lord will build you a house”. This third promise has a double-meaning. The first meaning is that David’s son, Solomon, will follow him on the throne, and then his son and then his son: that God will establish David’s dynasty. Solomon will also be the one to build God’s temple. He will be a man of peace and great wisdom, and David and Solomon together will draw up the plans and gather the materials, so that when David passes, Solomon will be able to build the temple. God says to David, “I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me.”
But the second meaning comes in where God says, “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” This promise does not come true in David’s dynasty. There will come a time when the kingdom of Israel will be divided, and first the north and then the south will fall; and the line of kings descended from David will end. But David’s descendants will not die out. They will continue, quietly, unnoticed… until the Messiah appears. Jesus will be known as the “Son of David” because he will be born into the family of David. And his kingdom will never end.
When Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees and Sadducees, he questioned them back by asking:
“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
They said to him, “The son of David.”He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls [the Messiah] Lord, saying,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer [Jesus] a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:42-46)
This is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith: that Jesus, David’s son, is also David’s Lord.
And David knew it. David was the one who wrote the words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22) And David was the one who wrote the words “into your hands I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31:13)
In the power of the Holy Spirit, David saw the Messiah coming – not quite clearly, always somewhat out of reach, but David understood that God was speaking of more than just a flesh-and-blood kingdom; that God was speaking of an eternal kingdom. The establishing of David’s kingdom, forever, could mean no one but Jesus.
God also warns David that if and when his sons, his descendants, rebel against God, God will discipline them; but God will never forsake the house of David the way God abandoned the house of Saul. And God promises he will never take his love away from David’s descendants, ever.
This whole reading today, this whole scene, is a beautiful illustration of how God’s grace works. Grace is unmerited favor – gifts from God, and a future from God, that we don’t deserve and could never earn. David doesn’t earn God’s favor by doing things for him: that’s how the pagan gods worked: “Do me a favor and I’ll do you a favor.”
In God’s kingdom no favors are necessary. They’re not asked for or even wanted. Instead, when God makes us his own, God not only adopts us as heirs of David (because we are heirs of Jesus) but also promises to give us still more! Through Jesus, God is building a spiritual house, the body of all believers.
David’s response to God’s message, and to God’s generosity, is, “Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” And he ends his prayer by saying, “Your word has given me all these things and your word is true. May it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever, for you O Lord God have spoken…”
Or to put in another way, in the words of Jesus’ mother Mary: “I am the Lord’s servant; may it be to me according to your word.”
So this whole passage speaks to us of the coming of the Messiah: the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the King whose kingdom will never end. In Jesus, as with David, God will cut off all enemies and give us peace. In Jesus, as with David, God’s people will have a home, free of trouble and harassment.
So for us here in the 21st century, just as God called David to be both his servant and his son, God calls each of us to be both his servants and his children. And just as David didn’t earn any of this on his own, we also have received God’s grace, and we can say with David, “look how great God is, that God has done so much for us!” And just as God moved with the people of Israel in the tabernacle, God moves with us, in what the apostle Paul called “our earthly tents” through the Holy Spirit working in our hearts.
God has promised us to be with us in this life, and has promised us a dwelling place (a house!) – a heavenly mansion in the kingdom to come. So let us join with David in giving thanks and praise to God, and in saying “Lord, I am your servant; may it be to me according to your word.” AMEN.
~~~~~~~~~ Reading for the Day~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.” But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
“Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and 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 will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers 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. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.” – II Samuel 7:1-16
[David’s reply – not in this week’s lectionary but necessary to complete the passage]: 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; you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. May this be instruction for the people, O Lord GOD! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, so that your servant may know it. Therefore you are great, O LORD God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Who is like your people, like Israel? Is there another nation on earth whose God went to redeem it as a people, and to make a name for himself, doing great and awesome things for them, by driving out before his people nations and their gods? And you established your people Israel for yourself to be your people forever; and you, O LORD, became their God. And now, O LORD God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever; do as you have promised. Thus your name will be magnified forever in the 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 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 to bless the house of your servant, so that it 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.” – II Samuel 7:18-29
Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church and Spencer United Methodist Church, 7/22/18
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