GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CHRONICLES 17:10b-15
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“‘I declare to you that the LORD will build a house– for you. 11 When your days are ended, you will go to be with your fathers, and I will raise up your seed after you, from your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my mercy from him, as I took it from the one who was before you, 14 but I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever. His throne shall be established forever.’”
15 All of these words, everything that was in the vision, Nathan repeated to David.
The conclusion of the Church has always been that these verses describe the coming Messiah. A look at the details in this passage and the verses that follow will show that this view is exactly right.
1, In verse 11, God tells David that the one he is talking about will be “your seed” (that is, descendant), “from your own sons.” Grammatically, “your seed… from your own sons” is not the same as “from among your own sons.” It shows that the descendant being described can be applied to Solomon in the near future in some ways, but not in every way. In fact, the true identity must come from a descendant through David’s sons.
2, In the same line of thought, we should remember that only in Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Christ is the Savior from Solomon’s line (Matthew 1:6). That genealogy is usually seen to be the line of Joseph, who was Jesus’ adoptive father. But by blood, Luke tells us that Jesus came through another of David and Bathsheba’s sons: Nathan (Luke 3:31; cp. 1 Chronicles 3:5; 14:4).
3, This son of David would build the temple (verse 12). But Jesus also said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). The true temple there is the body of Christ; the true spiritual temple is the body of Christ we call the Holy Christian Church, which was also built by Christ and his gospel (Matthew 16:18).
4, In this son of David, God would establish his throne forever (verses 12-14). Solomon’s throne lasted a while, but in a sense it vanished when the kingdom was torn from his son Rehoboam’s hands shortly after Solomon’s death (1 Kings 11:31-33).
5, The son of David in this prophecy would have a father-son relationship with God. Jesus said, “I stand with the Father, who sent me” (John 8:16), and “I did not speak of my own accord but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it” (John 12:49), and many things like that.
6, In verse 13, God says, “I will never take my mercy from him.” What happened to Saul (“the one who was before you”) would not happen with this Son of David.
7, Finally, God’s kingdom and God’s house endure, and so does the rule of David’s son over God’s house and kingdom (verse14).
All of these things point to the Son of David being the Messiah, Christ Jesus, rather than Solomon. If Solomon lines up with any of these points, it is only in a partial, passing sense, and not in the true and precise sense of the text. In an upcoming verse, we will also see that the Father describes both the human and divine natures of the Son (verse 17).
Here it may also help some readers to see the difference between the four occurrences of “establish” in verses 11,12, and 14. Three of these are forms of the verb kun, “to stand, set up.”
In verse 11, the Lord uses the hifil stem, which means “establish” in the sense of preparing something, such as preparing rain to fall on the earth (Psalm 147:8) or preparing meat for the table (Genesis 43:16). With a throne as the object, it seems to mean getting a throne ready for use: to set up a place from which to reign (Psalm 103:19).
In verse 12, the Lord uses the polel stem (a variation of the piel, which often carries a repetitive idea, or the concept of aim or intention). The polel is required here on account of the way the word is formed, but it means to set something firmly in its place, the way the Lord set the heavens right where he wanted them (Proverbs 3:19), or the earth itself (Isaiah 45:18). Here the lasting permanence of the throne of the Messiah is meant; and so the use of the polel is probably “resultative,” showing the aim and the finalized form of the Lord’s work rather than the process.
In the first part of verse 14, the Lord uses a different verb that I have translated “established” (NIV “set,” EHV “cause him to stand”). This is the work of a man setting another man in place in a position of power and authority.
In the second part of verse 14, the Lord returns to the verb kun, this time in the passive nifal stem, simply to show that the Father was the one who did this, and that the duration of the established throne will therefore be permanent in the absolute sense: forever. Compare David’s desire in Psalm 119:5, “Oh, that my ways were ‘steadfast’ (kun, established, unchangeable).”
The Lord’s answer focuses so far on David’s descendant, the Savior, and not on the temple David had in mind. The Lord’s thought is ever on his great design, seeing beyond our limited plans, however grand they might seem to us. The greatest we can give is small in God’s eyes except when we give selflessly, from the heart, in love and kindness. These are the gifts he cherishes the most, more than marble or gold or skyrocketing to the stars. “Love one another” (2 John 1:5) is such a simple thing to say. Such a great and towering thing to do.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 1 Chronicles 17:10b-15 He will be my son