_PROPOSAL TO BUILD A TEMPLE._
2 SAMUEL vii.
The spirit of David was essentially active and fond of work. He was
one of those who are ever pressing on, not content to keep things as
they are, moving personally towards improvement, and urging others
to do the same. Even in Eastern countries, with their proverbial
stillness and conservatism, such men are sometimes found, but they
are far more common elsewhere. Great undertakings do not frighten
them; they have spirit enough for a lifetime of effort, they never
seem weary of pushing on. When they look on the disorders of the
world they are not content with the languid utterance, "Something
must be done;" they consider what it is possible for them to do, and
gird themselves to the doing of it.
For some time David seems to have found ample scope for his active
energies in subduing the Philistines and other hostile tribes that
were yet mingled with the Israelites, and that had long given them
much annoyance. His friendship with Hiram of Tyre probably gave a
new impulse to his mind, and led him to project many improvements
in Jerusalem and elsewhere. When all his enemies were quieted, and
he sat in his house, he began to consider to what work of internal
improvement he would now give his attention. Having recently removed
the Ark, and placed it in a tabernacle on Mount Zion, constructed
probably in accordance with the instructions given to Moses in the
wilderness, he did not at first contemplate the erection of any
other kind of building for the service of God. It was while he sat
in his new and elegant house that the idea came into his mind that
it was not seemly that he should be lodged in so substantial a home,
while the Ark of God dwelt between curtains. Curtains might have
been suitable, nay, necessary, in the wilderness, where the Ark had
constantly to be moved about; and even in the land of Israel, while
the nation was comparatively unsettled, curtains might still have
been best; but now that a permanent resting-place had been found for
the Ark, was it right that there should be such a contrast between
the dwelling-place of David and the dwelling-place of God? It was
the very argument that was afterwards used by Haggai and Zechariah
after the return from captivity, to rouse the languid zeal of their
countrymen for the re-erection of the house of God. "Is it time for
you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses and this house lie waste?"
A generous heart, even though it be a godless one, is uncomfortable
when surrounded by elegance and luxury, while starvation and misery
prevail in its neighbourhood. We see in our day the working of this
feeling in those cases, unhappily too few, where men and women born
to gold and grandeur feel wretched unless they are doing something
to equalise the conditions of life by helping those who are born to
rags and wretchedness. To the feelings of the godly a disreputable
place of worship, contrasting meanly with the taste and elegance of
the hall, or even the villa, is a pain and a reproach. There is not
much need at the present day for urging the unseemliness of such a
contrast, for the tendency of our time is toward handsome church
buildings, and in many cases towards extravagance in the way of
embellishment. What we have more need to look at is the disproportion
of the sums paid by rich men, and even by men who can hardly be
called rich, in gratifying their own tastes and in extending the
kingdom of Christ. We are far from blaming those who, having great
wealth, spend large sums from year to year on yachts, on equipages,
on picture galleries, on jewellery and costly furnishings. Wealth
which remunerates honest and wholesome labour is not all selfishly
thrown away. But it is somewhat strange that we hear so seldom of
rich Christian men devoting their superfluous wealth to maintaining
a mission station with a whole staff of labourers, or to the rearing
of colleges, or hospitals, or Christian institutions, which might
provide on a large scale for Christian activity in ways that might
be wonderfully useful. It is in this direction that there is most
need to press the example of David. When shall this new enlargement
of Christian activity take place? Or when shall men learn that the
pleasure of spreading the blessings of the Gospel by the equipment
and maintenance of a foreign missionary or mission station far
exceeds anything to be derived from refinements and luxuries of which
they themselves are the object and the centre?
When the thought of building a temple occurred to David, he conferred
on the subject with the prophet Nathan. The Scripture narrative
is so brief that it gives us no information about Nathan, except
in connection with two or three events in which he had a share.
Apparently he was a prophet of Jerusalem, on intimate terms with David,
and perhaps attached to his court. When first consulted on the subject
by the king, he gave him a most encouraging answer, but without having
taken any special steps to ascertain the mind of God. He presumed that
as the undertaking was itself so good, and as David generally was so
manifestly under Divine guidance, nothing was to be said but that he
should go on. "Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine
heart, for the Lord is with thee." That same night, however, a message
came to Nathan that gave a new complexion to the proposal. He was
instructed to remind David, first, that God had never complained of
His tabernacle-dwelling from the day when He brought up the children
of Israel to that hour, and had never given a hint that He desired a
house of cedar. Further, he was commissioned to convey to David the
assurance of God's continued interest and favour towards him--of that
interest which began by taking him from the sheepfold to make him king
over Israel, and which had been shown continuously in the success
which had been given him in all his enterprises, and the great name he
had acquired, entitling him to rank with the great men of the earth.
Towards the nation of Israel, too, God was actuated by the same feeling
of affectionate interest; they would be planted, set firm in a place
of their own, delivered from the thraldom of enemies, and allowed to
prosper and expand in peace and comfort. Still further--and this was a
very special blessing--Nathan was to inform David that, unlike Saul, he
was not to be the only one of his race to occupy the throne; his son
would reign after he was gathered to his fathers, the kingdom would
be established in his hands, and the throne of his kingdom would be
established for ever. To this favoured son of his would be entrusted
the honour of building the temple, God would be his Father, and he
would be God's son. If he should fall into sin, he would be chastised
for his sin, but not destroyed. The Divine mercy would not depart from
him as it had departed from Saul. The kernel of the message was in
these gracious concluding words--"Thine house and thy kingdom shall be
established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for
ever."
Here, certainly, was a very remarkable message, containing both
elements of refusal and elements of encouragement. The proposal which
David had made to build a temple was declined. The time for a change,
though drawing near, had not yet arrived. The curtain-canopied
tabernacle had been designed by God to wean His people from those
sensuous ideas of worship to which the magnificent temples of Egypt
had accustomed them, and to give them the true idea of a spiritual
service, though not without the visible emblem of a present God.
The time had not yet arrived for changing this simple arrangement.
God could impart His blessing in the humble tent as well as in the
stately temple. As long as it was God's pleasure to dwell in the
tabernacle, so long might David expect that His grace would be
imparted there. So we may say, that so long as it is manifestly
God's pleasure that a body of His worshippers shall occupy a humble
tabernacle, so long may they expect that He will shine forth there,
imparting that fulness of grace and blessing which is the true and
only glory of any place of worship.
But the message through Nathan contained also elements of
encouragement, chiefly with reference to David's offspring, and to the
stability and permanence of his throne. To appreciate the value of
this promise for the future, we must bear in mind the great insecurity
of new dynasties in Eastern countries, and the fearful tragedies that
were often perpetrated to get rid of the old king's family, and prepare
the way for some ambitious and unscrupulous usurper.
We hardly need to recall the tragic end of Saul, the base murder of
Ishbosheth, or the painful deaths of Asahel and Abner. We have but to
think of what happened in the sister kingdom of the ten tribes, from
the death of the son of its first king, Jeroboam, on to its final
extinction. What an awful record the history of that kingdom presents
of conspiracies, murders, and massacres! How miserable a distinction
it was to be of the seed royal in those days! It only made one the
more conspicuous a mark for the poisoned cup or the assassin's
dagger. It associated with the highest families of the realm horrors
and butcheries of which the poorest had no cause even to dream. Any
one who had been raised to a throne could not but sicken at the
thought of the atrocities which his very elevation might one day
bring upon his children. A new king could hardly enjoy his dignity
but by steeling his heart against every feeling of parental love.
And, moreover, these constant changes of the royal family were very
hurtful to the kingdom at large. They divided it into sections that
raged against each other with terrible fury. For of all wars civil
wars are the worst for the fierceness of the passions they evoke, and
the horrors which they inflict. Scotland and England too have had too
much experience of these conflicts in other days. Many generations
have elapsed since they were ended, but we have many memorials
still of the desolation which they spread, while our progress and
prosperity, ever since they passed away, show us clearly of what a
multitude of mercies they robbed the land.
To David, therefore, it was an unspeakable comfort to be assured that
his dynasty would be a stable dynasty; that his son would reign after
him; that a succession of princes would follow with unquestioned
right to the throne; and that if his son, or his son's son, should
commit sins deserving of chastisement, that chastisement would not
be withheld, but it would not be fatal, it would bring the needed
correction, and thus the throne would be secure for ever. A father
naturally desires peace and prosperity for his children, and if he
extends his view down the generations, the desire is strong that it
may be well with them and with their seed for ever. But no father,
in ordinary circumstances, can flatter himself that his posterity
shall escape their share of the current troubles and calamities of
life. David, but for this assurance, must have looked forward to
his posterity encountering their share of those nameless horrors to
which royal children were often born. It was an unspeakable privilege
to learn, as he did now, that his dynasty would be alike permanent
and secure; that, as a rule, his children would not be exposed to
the atrocities of Oriental successions; that they would be under
the special care and protection of God; that their faults would be
corrected without their being destroyed; and that this state of
blessing would continue for ages and ages to come.
The emotions roused in David by this communication were
alike delightful and exuberant. He takes no notice of the
disappointment--of his not being permitted to build the temple.
Any regret that this might occasion is swallowed up by his delight
in the store of blessing actually promised. And here we may see
a remarkable instance of God's way of dealing with His people's
prayers. Virtually, if not formally, David had asked of God to permit
him to build a temple to His name. That petition, bearing though it
did very directly on God's glory, is not vouchsafed. God does not
accord that privilege to David. But in refusing him that request,
He makes over to him mercies of far higher reach and importance. He
refuses his immediate request only to grant to him far above all
that he was able to ask or think. And how often does God do so!
How often, when His people are worrying and perplexing themselves
about their prayers not being answered, is God answering them in a
far richer way! Glimpses of this we see occasionally, but the full
revelation of it remains for the future. You pray to the degree of
agony for the preservation of a beloved life; it is not granted;
God appears deaf to your cry; a year or two after, things happen
that would have broken your friend's heart or driven reason from its
throne; you understand now why God did not fulfil your petition. Oh
for the spirit of trust that shall never charge God foolishly! Oh
for the faith that does not make haste, but waits patiently for the
Lord,--waits for the explanation that shall come in the end, at the
revelation of Jesus Christ!
It is a striking scene that is presented to us when "David went in,
and sat before the Lord." It is the only instance in Scripture in
which any one is said to have taken the attitude of sitting while
pouring his heart out to God. Yet the nature of the communion was
in keeping with the attitude. David was like a child sitting down
beside his father, to think over some wonderfully kind expression of
his intentions to him, and pour out his full heart into his ear. We
may observe in the address of David how pervaded it is by the tone
of wonder. This, indeed, is its great characteristic. He expresses
wonder at the past, at God's selecting one obscure in family and
obscure in person; he wonders at the present: How is it Thou hast
brought me thus far? and still more he wonders at the future, the
provision made for the stability of his house in all time coming.
"And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?"[3] All true religious
feeling is pervaded by an element of wonder; it is this element that
warms and elevates it. In David's case it kindles intense adoration
and gratitude, with reference both to God's dealings with himself
and His dealings with Israel. "What one nation in the earth is like
Thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people
to Himself, and to make Him a name, and to do for you great things
and terrible, for Thy land, before Thy people, which Thou redeemedst
to Thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?" This wonder
at past goodness, moreover, begets great confidence for the future.
And David warmly and gratefully expresses this confidence, and looks
forward with exulting feelings to the blessings reserved for him and
his house. And finally he falls into the attitude of supplication,
and prays that it may all come to pass. Not that he doubts God's
word; the tone of the whole prayer is the tone of gratitude for the
past and confidence in the future. But he feels it right to take up
the attitude of a suppliant, to show, as we believe, that it must
all come of God's free and infinite mercy; that not one of all the
good things which God had promised could be claimed as a right, for
the least and the greatest were due alike to the rich grace of a
sovereign God. "Therefore now let it please Thee to bless the house
of Thy servant, that it may continue for ever before Thee; for Thou,
O Lord God, hast spoken it, and with Thy blessing let the house of
Thy servant be blessed for ever." Appropriate ending for a remarkable
prayer! appropriate, too, not for David only, but for every Christian
praying for his country, and for every Christian father praying for
his family! "With Thy blessing," bestowed alike in mercy and in
chastisement, in what Thou givest and in what Thou withholdest, but
making all things work together for eternal good--"With Thy blessing
let the house of Thy servant be blessed for ever."
We seem to see in this prayer the very best of David--much intensity
of feeling, great humility, wondering gratitude, holy intimacy and
trust, and supreme satisfaction in the blessing of God. We see him
walking in the very light of God's countenance, and supremely happy.
We see Jacob's ladder between earth and heaven, and the angels of
God ascending and descending on it. Moreover, we see the infinite
privilege which is involved in having God for our Father, and in
being able to realise that He is full of most fatherly feelings
to us. The joy of David in this act of fellowship with God was
the purest of which human beings are capable. It was indeed a joy
unspeakable and full of glory. Oh that men would but acquaint
themselves with God and be at peace! Let it be our aim to cherish as
warm sentiments of trust in God, and to look forward to the future
with equal satisfaction and delight.
A very important question arises in connection with this chapter,
to which we have not yet adverted, but which we cannot pass by.
In that promise of God respecting the stability of David's throne
and the perpetual duration of his dynasty, was there any reference
to the Messiah, any reference to the spiritual kingdom of which
alone it could be said with truth that it was to last for ever? The
answer to this question is very plain, because some of the words
addressed by God to David are quoted in the New Testament as having
a Messianic reference. "To which of the angels said He at any time,
I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to Me a son?" (Heb. i.
5). If we consider, too, how David's dynasty really came to an end
as a reigning family some five hundred years after, we see that the
language addressed to him was not exhausted by the fortunes of his
family. In the Divine mind the prophecy reached forward to the time
of Christ, and only in Christ was it fully verified. And it seems
plain from some words of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost that David
understood this. He knew that "God had sworn to him that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit
on His throne" (Acts ii. 30). From the very exalted emotions which
the promise raised in his breast, and the enthusiasm with which he
poured forth his thanksgivings for it, we infer that David saw in
it far more than a promise that for generations to come his house
would enjoy a royal dignity. He must have concluded that the great
hope of Israel was to be fulfilled in connection with his race. God's
words implied, that it was in His line the promise to Abraham was
to be fulfilled--"In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed." He saw Christ's day afar off and was glad. To
us who look back on that day the reasons for gladness and gratitude
are far stronger than they were even to him. Then let us prize the
glorious fact that the Son of David has come, even the Son of God,
who hath given us understanding that we may know Him that is true.
And while we prize the truth, let us embrace the privilege; let us
become one with Him in whom we too become sons of God, and with whom
we may cherish the hope of reigning for ever as kings and priests,
when He comes to gather His redeemed that they may sit with Him on
the throne of His glory.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] The expression is very obscure, whether we take the affirmative
form of the Revised Version or the interrogative form of the
Authorised Version. "And this, too, after the manner of men, O Lord
God!" (R.V.) We must choose between these opposite meanings. We
prefer the interrogative form of the A.V. David's wonder being the
more excited that God's ways were here so much above man's.