2 Samuel 7:1-29

The Promise of God to David in Requital of his Desire to Build the Temple

This chapter affords an excellent illustration of the way in which prophecy has often two quite distinct applications, one to the more immediate and the other to the more distant future. The primary reference is to Solomon (see especially 2 Samuel 7:12), but the prophecy looks beyond him to a greater Son, of whom he was only an emblem and type. We get a somewhat similar instance in Isaiah 7:14 (see especially 2 Samuel 7:16). Chronologically this chapter should follow 2 Samuel 8.