1 CHRONICLES 17
1 Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh remaineth under curtains.
King and prophet-both worthy men-decide that God needs a splendid Temple for His honour. Nathan was so sure that this would be a good thing to do that he immediately gave assent on God's behalf. What could possibly be wrong with such a great and righteously intended plan to advance God's honour and worship?
But that night the Word of God came to the prophet-
"Go and tell David My servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt NOT build Me an house to dwell in; for I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day...Spake I a word to any of the judges, saying, Why have ye not built Me an house of cedars?" (vs. 4-6).
Then follows the great Covenant of God with David-the raising up of Christ to rule the world in righteousness and peace from David's throne in Jerusalem. God continues-
"Furthermore, I tell thee that the Lord will build THEE an house" (v. 10).
God is the great Builder. That is the point. We cannot build to God, but He to us. Paul says (Heb. 3:4)-
"Every house is builded by some man, but THE BUILDER OF ALL THINGS IS GOD."
Houses are manmade, but God is building a universal house, not of dead stones, but of living hearts.
How gently and graciously He takes the sincere desires of David to glorify God with a magnificent building, and lifts them to an application to eternal things!
David, the man of war, the man of struggle and conflict, is permitted to prepare for the house.
David, the man after God's Own heart, desires to build Him an house. God holds up a gently restraining hand to his hasty zeal, and begins to explain many things to David, and through David to all like him who seek God's heart.
Taking up this desire, God fashions it to a pattern of type and lesson for all succeeding generations. David, the man of war and conflict, must prepare. Solomon, the man of peace, must erect. To David was given a revelation of all the plans and specifications.
God must be recognized above all as both the Planner and the Builder-"both to will and to do in us of His good pleasure"-and to Him are reserved the times and the seasons.
The Temple, like the Kingship, was to prove to be a lesson in many ways, for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Its splendor lasted but 40 years from the time its first foundation was laid-40, the period of trial and probation.
In the 5th year of Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came and plundered the Temple's gold. Its great external glory and magnificence was no defense, but a weakness and danger.
It was the king of Egypt who first came and robbed it. In our reading today we read of other buildings of Solomon as part of his royal estate. Among them (v. 8) was a house for the daughter of the king of Egypt, whom Solomon had taken to wife.
The House of God was not Solomon's only project-it was not his ONLY alliance and defense. He had considered it prudent also to make political affinity with Egypt-
"And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter"
(I Kings 3:1).
He felt safer to seal his friendship in this way with this great world power. All the "wise" kings did so. It was considered very foolish not to take out this political insurance.
"And it came to pass in the 5th year of Rehoboam, that Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the House of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away ALL."
Solomon's misguided affinity with Pharaoh and marriage with his daughter had given Egypt a foot in the door and excuse for a hand in Israel's affairs. How often God turns our world scheming against us, to teach us wisdom, and smite us with the very rod we made for our defense!
Bro Growcott - Temples made with hands
10 Furthermore I tell thee that Yahweh will build thee an house [Bais].
11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days [yamim] be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers [Avoteicha], that I will raise up thy seed [zera] after thee, which shall be of thy sons [banim]; and I will establish his kingdom [Malchut].
12 He shall build Me an house [Bais], and I will stablish his throne for ever [kisse ad olam].
13 I will be his father [Av], and he shall be My son [Ben]: and I will not take My mercy [chesed] away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
14 But I will settle him in Mine house [[Bais]] and in My kingdom for ever [Malchut ad olam]: and his throne [ kisse] shall be established for evermore [ad olam].
The idea, then of God having a son is Mosaic, and not of Nazarene origin. But we are not left to inference and implication in relation to the Christ being the Son of God. That he should be both Son of Man and Son of God -- "of man," by his mother, and "of God," by his Father--is expressly stated in 2 Sam. 7:14; 1 Chron. 17:13. In the Berith Olahm, or Covenant of the Aion, recorded there, Yahweh informed David that he should have a Seed or Descendant, who should be resurrected to sit upon the throne of the House of Israel; and that Yahweh would be his Father, and he, the Seed, should be His Son.
Hence, David expected that the Son of the Woman who is to bruise the Serpent's Head, would descend from himself, and therefore be Son of Man; but that he would be begotten in one of his female descendants by the Spirit of Yahweh, and therefore be Son of God. This was the kind of Christ expected by David; and therefore in Psalm 110 he styles him "Yahweh," although His son.
The berith or covenant, that promised this, was ever present to the mind of David. The truth of this is apparent abundantly in the Psalms; besides that, he would constantly have before his mind, what he tells us was "all his salvation, and all his delight."
He understood that the subject of this covenant was the Second Adam; for when it was delivered to him, he exclaimed: "Who am I, Yahweh Elohim; and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in Thine eyes, Elohim; for Thou hast spoken concerning the house of Thy servant to a far distant time; and Thou hast regarded me according to the oracle of the ascending Adam, Yahweh Elohim" (1 Chron. 17:17). And in 2 Sam. 7:19, he says of the covenant: "This is the oracle of the Adam, Yahweh Elohim."
David's mind then, was full of this remarkable idea, that the Son of God was to descend from his loins. No Jew can refute this proposition. They are as dumb in its presence as when Jesus silenced their fathers that they could not answer him a word. To the carnal mind the idea is no doubt absurd and incomprehensible, because it judges according to the flesh. How could the Son of God be born of a woman? This is "a great mystery," says Paul, "God manifested in flesh"; and with all the love of mystery, and acuteness of the human mind, Jews nor Gentiles can make nothing of it apart from Moses and the prophets.
Now look at a few sentences from David's pen, as illustrative of his views of things in connection with the Son of God, who was to descend from him. "The truth to David Yahweh swore; He will not turn from it; saying, from the fruit of thy body I will set for thee on the throne. If thy sons will keep my covenant (berith) and my testimony which I will teach them; even their sons shall sit on the throne for thee until AD adai-ad. Because Yahweh has chosen (to be) in Zion; he has desired it for a dwelling for Him. This, saith He, is My rest until AD; here will I dwell, for I have desired it. There I will make a Horn to bud forth for David. His enemies will I clothe with shame; and upon Him shall his crown flourish" (Psalm 132:11-18).
From this we learn:
1. That the Davidian Son of God is to be a King upon a throne in Zion, where David's sons have already reigned.
2. That the throne on which they sat is to have existence until AD.
3. That it should continue from David's time until AD, on condition of his sons keeping the covenant and the testimony.
4. That the Son of God Yahweh would consequently be the Ascending Adam, Yahweh Elohim, whom in Psalm 110 David in Spirit sees at the right hand of power.
We may remark here that ad is a remoter period than olahm. Ad does not arrive till olahm has passed away. It is an indefinite series of ages beyond the thousand years of Messiah's Aion. David's throne is for this period, styled in Daniel, "a season and a time." Olahm ends where Ad begins; so that "until Ad" is to the end of Olahm. Paul refers to this when he says, in 1 Cor. 15:24: "Then cometh the END when he, Christ, shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father ... that God may be all things in all men" (Ta Panta en pasin).
Phanerosis - David's expectations of Messiah