God's Covenant with David was Unconditional (2), 2 Samuel 7:8-17

Let us continue considering God’s unconditional covenant with David, picking up with the fact that God did not do this on the basis of David’s works.

·        7:8-9: When we pointed out that God emphasizes His previous grace to David as the basis for making this covenant some might think otherwise.  You might ask, “Did God not see something in David that He did not see in King Saul?”  The answer is, of course, yes!  God is the one who told Saul that He was going to find a replacement whose heart would be different (1 Samuel 13:14).  But notice that: what God saw was in the heart of David.  David regularly inquired of God about his every decision (e.g. 1 Sam. 30:7-8).  David had brought up the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6, the chapter and story immediately preceding the making of the covenant).  And it was in David’s heart to build a permanent place for the Ark, a house for God.  But none of these things are works that make David deserving of what God gives to him.  Each of these is evidence of faith which is always the only way people have a relationship with God.  As we noted in yesterday’s post: David never asked God to establish him based on his works.

·        7:10-11: God Himself puts His covenant with David inside His covenant with Abraham.  What God will do for and through David and his descendants is fundamental to what He has promised Abraham.  It is His means of giving them permanence in the land.  It is His means of moving them from the times of the judges when there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).  And it fulfills the promise God made to Moses to choose a city in which He would put His Name (Deut. 12:5).

·        7:12-16:  In the covenant itself notice the language of this promise.  God puts it entirely in the context of “I will.”  David’s son shall build a house for My name, the thing David’s faith urged him to do.  But in the case of Solomon what He shall do is the result of God’s covenant. 

o   God will make a covenant with David (v11).  David did not make the covenant with God.

o   God will set up David’s seed.  David will have (and actually already had) sons; but God will establish them after David is gone.

o   God will establish David’s kingdom, meaning He will continue to give the victorious over enemies necessary for the kingdom to continue.

o   There is no naivety on God’s part.  He knows there will be iniquity among David’s descendents.  He will chasten them, using the enemies to do this. 

o   But God will not remove His mercy from David’s descendants.  For that reason God says this covenant is forever (v13,16).

Let us rejoice in this God of grace and mercy!