Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
1 Kings 8:17
“ Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of YHWH, the God of Israel.”
Solomon acknowledged that the idea of building a physical Temple was very much that of David (see 2 Samuel 7:2; and compare 1 Chronicles 21). He was using the love that they had had for David for all he was worth. But even then it was as something that was in David's heart, not as something that came from YHWH's heart.
“ But YHWH said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart, nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will come forth out of your loins, he will build the house for my name.' ”
But then he stressed that YHWH had given His approval to David's continuing demand, because He saw that it was made from a genuine heart and a right motive. This approval appears to have been given late in David's life (1 Chronicles 21), after the incident of the numbering of Israel. But it is clear that the initiative came from David and received YHWH's approval rather than it being proposed by YHWH. In fact a careful examination of all the narratives involved reveals that David had taken YHWH's words in 2 Samuel 7:13 and had misinterpreted them precisely because the idea of a literal Temple like all the nations round about had become so firmly fixed in his own mind, and that he had then finally received YHWH's approval (it was a very similar situation to that when YHWH had granted His permission for the kingship in 1 Samuel 8). There is nowhere a suggestion that YHWH had positively requested on His own initiative that a house be built to His Name.
However, once He had given His permission YHWH did insist that the house be built by one who was a man of peace. He did not want His house to be seen as a celebration of blood shed in war, and as a memorial of bloody victories. He wanted it to be seen rather as a symbol of peace and security. Thus He had insisted that the building of the house be left to David's son, born from his loins. If such a house was to be built it was David's son, brought up in peace, who should build a house for His Name.
To build a house for His Name meant to build a house where His presence could be revealed (Genesis 13:4; Exodus 23:21; Exodus 34:5) and where the Ark, which bore His Name (2 Samuel 6:2), could find a home. The idea of ‘the Name of YHWH' comes as early as Genesis 13:4 where we read that, ‘Abram called on the Name of YHWH' (and even earlier in Genesis 4:26). In Exodus 23:21 YHWH could say of the Angel of YHWH, ‘My Name is in Him'. Thus in both cases ‘the Name' represented YHWH's own presence. Again in Exodus 33:19 YHWH ‘pronounced the Name of YHWH' before Moses as an indication of His revealed presence, compare Exodus 34:5. We can see therefore why the Ark of God which symbolised His presence was ‘called by the Name of YHWH' (2 Samuel 6:2), and why building the ‘Dwellingplace of YHWH' was considered as being in order to house His Name. It was on this basis that Moses saw it as so important that there should always be ‘a place' (the Hebrew article can never be pressed) where YHWH would cause ‘His Name' to dwell there (Deuteronomy 12:5). Like 2 Samuel 6:2; Deuteronomy 12 looks back to the above references.