Study Questions

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Bible scholar Bill Arnold argues that today’s scripture, “is one of the most important chapters of the Bible” (First and Second Samuel, NIV Commentary, 472). Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann agrees, “Indeed, this is one of the most crucial texts in the Old Testament for evangelical faith” (1&2 Samuel, Interpretation, 253).

1. Start off by reading today’s scripture.
2. Why do you suspect it is so crucial and important?
3. When Brueggemann writes of “evangelical faith,” he is speaking about salvation by grace alone. Where do you find grace in today’s text?

2 Samuel 7:1-3

1After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” 3 Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”

David has come a long way from the sheep pasture. David was the seventh and last son of Jesse. He had no foreseeable future. There were too many boys ahead of him in the family line. So, David was quite literally put out to pasture. Being a shepherd was only a half-step improvement over homelessness. David is like Huck Finn with responsibility. David is like Oliver Twist without grand theft larceny. David was a neglected child left to his own devices.

God pulled this wild child, this musical prodigy, this defender of sheep out of obscurity and made him king of Israel. David finally gets to sleep inside the house. His palace is made out of cedar, a genuine luxury in the ancient world. David wants to put away God’s tent (the tabernacle) and build the Almighty a really nice house. The prophet Nathan suggests that God has written King David a blank check. Nathan is convinced that God will honor David’s pious desire.

1. We all have mixed motives. David certainly had a heart for the Lord, but he also knew that building a Temple would centralize his authority in Jerusalem. Nathan was clearly devoted to God, but he also wanted to go along with the grand plan of the brand new king. When have you experienced mixed motives in your religious devotion?
2. How do you decipher God’s will for your life?
3. When you pray, do you find it easier to speak to God or listen for God?

2 Samuel 7:4-7

4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

Apparently God does not care about houses. While David was relieved to put away his camping equipment, God wanted the freedom of the great outdoors. God will not be tamed by a cedar house or a stone temple.

When I was a church planter, we worshipped in a boathouse, a school building, and the gymnasium of a YMCA. I really wanted the security of our own building. I was willing to trade freedom for control. I never did get to lead the fledgling congregation to a secure home. The church I started eventually bought an old sanctuary a few years after I moved on. God certainly wasn’t bothered by the smell of sweat socks or the chlorine pool at the YMCA, but he eventually allowed the church to move into a house of bricks.

1. Can you think of any examples our comfort came at the expense of the freedom of God?
2. God will not allow King David or anyone else control him with grand buildings or noble edifices. Can you think of times when the Holy Spirit has shown up in the least expected places?
3. There are a lot of old church buildings being used as antique shops. One of my favorite bookstores is housed in an old Covenant church building. There is an old sanctuary being used as a house in Bellingham. There is an old sanctuary being used as a gun shop in Yelm. God will not stay put in church buildings! How do we best honor the Living God inside our sanctuary and outside of it?

2 Samuel 7:8-11a

8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

David writes in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd …”. God was David’s shepherd, leading him from green pastures to still waters. God took a shepherd boy and turned him into a mighty king. Everything changed for David, but God insists that their relationship remain the same. David is not in control of the relationship now that he can afford to build houses of cedar. God wants David to depend on him like a sheep needs a shepherd; like a shepherd boy needs a loving parent.

1. How has God shepherded you in your life?
2. What direction do you need from God right now?
3.  Take a moment and pray for God’s guidance and direction.

2 Samuel 7:11b-17

“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” 17 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

David cannot improve his relationship with God by building him a nice house. David is still in need of God’s care and direction as he was as a little boy. Consider the evangelical message of Paul from Romans 3:28 and Galatians 2:16-21. Yes, the Bible preaches grace in the Old Testament!

The Hebrew word for house is “bayit.” We are familiar with this word in such names as Bethlehem (house of bread), Bethel (God’s house), and of course Bethany (poor house). Bayit can refer to a house or temple, but it can also refer to a dynasty. We have the same double meaning in English, such as the British aristocrats called the “House of Tudors.” David wanted to build a cedar house for God, but God insisted in building a dynasty for David.

Who is the offspring that will rise up and succeed David? Is this Solomon? Well, sort of. The author of 1 Samuel is certainly thinking of Solomon who built the original temple. Of course, God took away the royal dynasty from Solomon’s wayward children. I don’t consider this a contradiction, because I believe that God was thinking much further out than Solomon.

Nathan predicts, “He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” As Christians, we instinctively jump to the conclusion that Nathan was prophesying about Jesus. Clearly, Nathan and that writer of 2 Samuel were not fully aware of the identity of the coming Savior, but this promise is the foundation for all messianic speculation. When the royal throne was taken away from David’s children, the Jewish people put their hope in some “righteous Branch [to] sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land” (Jeremiah 33:15). They were hoping for the Son of David to take his grandpa’s throne and rule with peace and justice.

Christians must lay claim to this scripture! This would be a wonderful text for Christmas Eve! We believe that Jesus is the Son of David. Jesus is the house of God that was torn down and the temple that rose again three days later. If we believe in Jesus, we are a part of David’s royal lineage. Jesus has adopted us into the dynasty of David, not to live in fancy cedar homes necessarily, but to shepherd the lost sheep all around us.

1. Are you still trying to earn your salvation by doing great things for God? Ask God to give you a fresh appreciation of his mercy. The only way any of us can be saved is by grace alone.
2. Have you ever seen Jesus in today’s passage?
3. Have you ever seen your own connection to the House of David?
4. How do you need to be a shepherd to the people in your life?
5. Close in prayer for the grace of God that adopts you into a royal lineage because of the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, the Son of David and the Son of God.