When Is a House Not a House?

Having discussed several of the issues surrounding the tabernacle in Exodus, we're skipping way ahead to 2 Samuel 7, in which David proposes to build a temple for the Lord. By this time, about 400 years since the construction of the tabernacle, God had brought the Israelites into Canaan - the Promised Land - and had established them as a nation with their own territory. The people had demanded a king and received Saul, who was succeeded by David. David had fought many successful battles against Israel's neighbors to secure the borders and extend the kingdom. And now, says 2 Samuel 7:1, God had given David rest.

David had already built a palace for himself in Jerusalem and he compares it to the tabernacle and resolves to construct something far better for the Lord. Why should God live in a tent while David enjoys a cedar paneled palace (that place must have smelled great!)?

Oddly, the Lord does not allow David to move forward with his plan (2 Sam 7:12-13), but instead God offers to do even more for David than He has already done. Yahweh tells him, "The Lord himself will establish a house for you" (2 Sam 7:11). And He says, "Your [David's] house and your kingdom will endure forever before me [God]; your throne will be established forever" (2 Sam 7:16). Here David had offered to do something extravagant for God in response to all that the Lord had done for him (remember David started as a simple shepherd before becoming a renowned soldier and then king), but God's response is to refuse and offer to pour more blessing on David.

The story demonstrates the remarkably extravagant heart of our Lord. He cannot deliver enough blessing on those who love Him and seek His face. It reminds me of a little passage that Paul wrote to the Ephesians: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..." (3:20). The Lord is an abundant God who takes pleasure in giving in abundance to His children. It would be worth meditating on this for a while and see if it doesn't change our expectations of what God can and, indeed, wants to do.

The other bit about this story in 2 Samuel 7 that's fun to point out is a little word play that only kind of shows up in English. After David suggests this temple idea to the prophet Nathan, the Lord says, "Are you [David] the one to build me a house to dwell in" (2 Sam 7:5)? The word for "house" there is a pretty common Hebrew word: bayith. The word quite often simply means a physical house. But then in v. 11, God declares that He will build a bayith for David. And now the meaning starts to take new shape. Surely God does not intend to construct a new home for David; he's already got a palace. No, the context is clear, the Lord is going to establish David's line of kings. Now, bayith means something more like "dynasty."

OK, so cool, David intends to build a home for God, but God turns the tables and promises a legacy for David. Why get so pumped up about this? It really gets interesting in vv. 12-16. Check it out:

"When your [David's] days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house [bayith] for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever."

This is a key passage that is often taken, at least in part, to refer to the coming Messiah. That it is from David's line that the Christ will come to rule over the earth forever (Matthew 1 makes the connection in the genealogy of Jesus). But the Lord could also simply be refering to Solomon, who will take the throne after David. After all, it is Solomon who ends up building the temple (1 Kgs 6-8).

But I wonder if the same word play that we saw above is working here too. When the Lord says that David's offspring will build a bayith for Him, could he mean dynasty or legacy or reputation? Certainly Solomon does build a temple for Yahweh, in which the Lord did dwell (1 Kgs 8:10), but it is Jesus who establishes an eternal house - dynasty, legacy, reputation - for the Lord. And this forces us to ask: What kind of house are we building for our God?