NOTES for Sa2 7:12-13

The promises God gave to David concerning his descendants, and therefore his dynasty and the throne of Jerusalem, played a very special role in the history of God's people. And this is not only about ancient Jewish history, though of course it is about that too. It is enough to compare the history of the Northern Kingdom with the history of the Southern Kingdom, the two states that arose in place of united Israel after Solomon's death.

The constant palace coups in the North contrast quite noticeably with the stability of power in the South. That is no surprise: in the North, power was seized from the very beginning by a claimant who had no formal right to the throne. But in the South practically no one doubted the authority of David's dynasty; its authority among the people was so great that even after the exile, when there was no longer any talk of an independent state, David's descendants enjoyed the people's respect.

But there was something else in this divine promise. God promises David that his throne will exist until the end of time. And here the question arose: what is this about? This is no longer history, even long history, since the reign of David's dynasty by historical standards did not last very long: only about five hundred years. Here something greater was clearly in view. It was no accident that the pre-exilic prophets saw the Messiah as a righteous King from David's line.

The Messianic Kingdom is no longer history; it is not for a time, but forever. Yet even if we set aside for now the messianic preaching of the pre-exilic prophets, God's promises were extremely important. They meant that the appearance of the Jewish state, David's reign, and his dynasty became part of that divine design for the world and for humanity which we sometimes call the history of salvation. And here it is not so important what exactly this will mean in history. Something else is important: everything connected with David and his dynasty, and with all his descendants in general, belongs not only to time but also to God's eternity. And therefore to the Kingdom. Forever. In the Kingdom, after all, everything is forever. And everything is in fullness.

God's covenant with David plays an immense role in both Yahwism and Christianity: the entire messianic tradition, Yahwist, Jewish and Christian, is founded upon it. This covenant was understood differently at different times. In the pre-exilic age, when political messianism predominated, as it sometimes did even after the Babylonian exile, the covenant with David was perceived as a promise that a righteous ruler would arise from David's line, a ruler who, while remaining human, would nevertheless be able with God's help to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

In pre-exilic times and, to some extent, after the exile as well, especially following the Maccabean wars, messianists envisaged this Kingdom as an ordinary earthly state governed according to the laws of the Torah and headed by a righteous ruler, God's anointed one. The Hebrew word “mashiach”, “messiah”, like the corresponding Greek word “christos”, means precisely “anointed one”. In the context of political messianism, David was regarded first of all as a righteous ruler and God's anointed one, with the expectation that one of his descendants would lead the Kingdom of God, which political messianists understood as the kingdom of the righteous on earth.

Spiritual messianism saw the Messiah less as a ruler than as the embodiment of God's truth, and regarded His ministry as something akin to prophetic ministry. In the context of spiritual messianism the Messiah is, first and foremost, God's witness, whose authority resembles that of a religious and charismatic leader of the pre-state era rather than that of a king. Sometimes this messianism brought to the fore the image of the Messiah as high priest, who would renew the relationship between God and the people as a community, in the spirit of Jeremiah's teaching about the new covenant.

Yet all these messianic traditions, so diverse and reflecting the figure of Christ in such different ways, go back to the image of David, who wished to build a Temple for his God. It is no accident that the promises of support to David's descendants are linked with the Temple: the meaning of the Jerusalem royal dynasty's existence was bound up with it, for the Temple almost always remained the spiritual citadel of pure Yahwism, unreformed and undistorted by any pagan borrowings. When paganism entered the Temple under Josiah's successors, both the Temple and the dynasty collapsed.

The very idea of an authority that protected the altar was a prefiguration of the Kingdom that the Saviour brought into the world. It was, of course, only a prefiguration, but its spiritual meaning, fully unfolded, was to connect the history of the people of God over whom David reigned with the new, messianic people who acknowledge another King over them, the King before whom every true ruler of the people of God would gladly bow.

As soon as peace came to the borders and it became possible to attend to everyday matters, David felt a desire to build a house for the Lord. The desire was entirely legitimate and reflected David’s deep bond with God, and so the prophet Nathan initially approved it. He approved it while reasoning in human terms, basing himself on his understanding of the reality of David’s standing before the Lord: if the Lord was with David, then David’s intentions did not contradict Him.

But the Lord has a different logic, unfathomable to human thought and often inaccessible to the most perceptive of sages. Through Nathan the Lord announced that His House was to be built not by David but by his descendant. At this point in the biblical account, the principal reason why the Lord rejected David’s desire is not mentioned; the Bible will speak of it later....

Yet in rejecting David’s plan, the Lord reveals His own plan for David’s house and descendants. The Lord announced that, whatever might happen, the house of David would remain indestructible. It is still hidden from David how the indestructibility of his house will be manifested; he is not yet able even to imagine what the Kingdom brought by the Son of David will be like. But David’s heart is filled with gratitude, and in response to the promises David turns still more intensely in prayer to the God of Israel.

Today's Old Testament reading describes a very interesting situation. David comes to the prophet Nathan for advice. He expects an answer from the prophet about God's will. The prophet answers, and David receives his answer as an answer from God: “Yes, go and do everything you have in mind; the Lord will be with you.” The prophet says what seems to him the most natural conclusion from everything God has told him and everything he knows about God. But the Lord thinks differently. Human logic cannot always help us understand His thoughts. The Lord addresses Nathan and says that He does not reject David; on the contrary, He Himself will build a house for David. But He does not need David to build His house. He does not explain why—and are explanations even necessary? One thing matters to us: the best of intentions may not coincide with His will at a given moment.