The Lord would not destroy the house of David ... — An exegetical (not arbitrary, as Thenius asserts) expansion of “The Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant” (Kings).

The covenant that he had made with David. — Literally, for David. So Isaiah 55:3, “I will make an everlasting covenant for you, even the sure mercies of David.” This construction is generally used of the stronger imposing conditions on the weaker. (Comp. Joshua 9:6; 1 Samuel 11:1.) In the Pentateuch, God makes a covenant with (im or eth) His people (Genesis 15:16; Exodus 24:8).

To give a light to him and to his sons. — Literally, a lamp. Some critics find another “deviation here, and render 1 Kings 8:19, “to give a lamp to him in respect of his sons.” But many Hebrew MSS., and the LXX., Vulg., and Targum of that passage, read, “and to his sons,” as here. Syriac, “On account of the oaths which he sware to David, to give to him a burning lamp, and to his sons all the days.”

For ever.All the days.

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