2 Samuel 7:4-17

The Lord's message to David

The connexion of thought in 2 Samuel 7:5 is as follows: "Thoushalt not build a house for Me(5 7), but I, who have chosen thee to be the ruler of my people, will build an house for thee(8 11), and thy son shall erect an house for me" (12, 13). The reasons why David's zeal was thus checked must be carefully considered. The unsettled condition of the nation had made a fixed sanctuary impossible hitherto, and even now the time for it was not yet fully come. The house of David must be firmly established and peace secured, before this great step in the history of the national religion could be advantageously taken. Again, David was not to build the house "because he had shed much blood, and had made great wars" (1 Chronicles 22:8; 1 Chronicles 28:3).

Thus personally David was not the fitting man to build the temple, though he is not blamed for wars which were a necessity of the time; and the very fact that he had to wage these wars, shewed that the time for building the temple had not come, because the kingdom was not yet firmly established.