t was only under Solomon that the
period provided for by Deut. xii. really arrived. (Compare 1 Chron.
xxii. 19.)

Ver. 3. "_And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine
heart, for the Lord is with thee._ Ver. 4. _And it came to pass that
night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying:_ Ver. 5. _Go
and tell My servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build Me a
house to dwell in?_"

In ver. 5 the question is stated, the answer to which is the point at
issue. In ver. 6, the exposition begins with [Hebrew: ki], which refers
to the whole of it, and not merely to the clause which immediately
follows. Hitherto, the Lord has not had a fixed temple (ver. 6), nor
has any such been wished for or desired by Him (ver. 7). By the grace
of God, David has been raised to be ruler over the people (ver. 8), and
the Lord has helped him gloriously (ver. 9), and, through him, His
people (ver. 10). This mercy the Lord had already bestowed upon him,
that, since the beginning of the period of the Judges, it was through
him, first of all, that the people had obtained rest from all their
enemies round about; but to this favour the Lord is now adding another,
by announcing to him that He would make him an house (ver. 11). When
David dies, his seed shall occupy the throne, and be established in the
kingdom (ver. 12). It is he who shall build an house for the Lord who
will establish for ever the throne of his kingdom, vers. 13-16.

David's zeal for the house of the Lord is thus acknowledged (compare
Ps. cxxxii. 1), and so also is the correctness of his supposition, that
the building of the fixed temple is intimately [Pg 134] connected with
his being raised to be ruler over Israel. The first answer of Nathan
remains correct; it is only more distinctly and closely defined and
modified. David is to build the house,--not, however, in his own
person, but in his seed, and after the Lord has begun to fulfil His
promise, that He would make him an house.

But why was it that David himself was not permitted to build the house
to the Lord? In this passage we obtain no answer. In Solomon's message
to Hiram (1 Kings v. 17) an external reason only is stated--viz., that,
by his numerous wars, David had been prevented from building a house to
the Lord. There was a deeper reason than this; but the heathen could
not comprehend it. It is contained in the words which, according to 1
Chron. xxviii. 3, David spoke to the people: "And God