n a
loftier elevation than all the former deeds of the Lord.

Others--as _Calovius_--would refer the promise to Christ alone. But
vers. 14, 15 are decisive against this view; for, according to them,
God will not, by a total rejection, punish the posterity of David, if
they commit sin,--from which the reference is evident to a posterity
merely human, and hence sinful. According to ver. 13, David's posterity
is to build a temple to the Lord,--a declaration which, with reference
to David's plan of building a temple to the Lord, can, in the first
instance, be understood in no other way than as relating to the earthly
temple to be built by Solomon. To this consideration it may be added,
that, in 1 Chron. xxii. 9 seqq., David himself refers this announcement
primarily to Solomon, and that Solomon, in 1 Kings v. 5 seqq., and in 2
Chron. vi. 7 seqq., refers it to himself.

Nor is there entire soundness in the view of those who, following
_Augustine_ (_de Civitate Dei_ xvii. 8, 9), assume the existence of a
double reference,--to Solomon and his earthly successors on the one
hand, and to Christ on the other. Thus _Brentius_: "Solomon is not
altogether excluded, but Christ is chiefly intended." It is true that
these interpreters are substantially right in their view; but they err
as to the manner in which they give expression to it. The promise has
not a reference to two subjects simultaneously.[6] It views David's
house as an _ideal_ unity.

[Pg 149]

The promise is given to the house of David, vers. 11, 16, 19, 25, 26,
27, 29; to his seed, ver. 12. It is to the house of David that the
absolute perpetuity of existence, the unchangeable possession of the
grace of God--a relation to God similar to that of a son to his
father--and the inseparable connection of their dominion with the
kingdom of God in Israel, are guaranteed.

There is no direct mention of the person of the Messiah; and yet the
words, when considered in their full import, point, indirectly, to Him.
The absolute perpetuity of the race can be conceived of, only when at
last it centres in some superhuman person. But still more decisive is
the connection in which this promise stands to Gen. xlix. The dominion
which is there promised to Judah is here transferred to David. It is
then to David's race that the exalted individual must belong, in whom,
according to Gen. xlix. 10, Judah's dominion is to centre at some
future period. That David really connected the promise