The Histories · Old Testament

1 Chronicles 17

1 Chronicles 17: the Lord promises to build David a house

General context

Sitting in his house, David tells Nathan the prophet that he lives in a house of cedars while the ark "remaineth under curtains". Nathan answers, "Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee." That same night the word of God comes to Nathan with a different message: David shall not build the Lord a house. The Lord says he has not dwelt in a house since bringing Israel up but has gone "from tent to tent", and never asked any judge why no cedar house was built. He recalls taking David "from the sheepcote" to be ruler, being with him and cutting off his enemies, and promises a settled place for Israel where the wicked will not waste them as before. Then the reversal: "the Lord will build thee an house." When David dies, God will raise up his seed, one of his sons, establish his kingdom, and he will build the house; "I will be his father, and he shall be my son", and his throne will stand for ever, unlike the one "that was before thee". Nathan reports all this. David goes and sits before the Lord and prays: who is he, that God has brought him this far and spoken of his house "for a great while to come"; there is none like the Lord, and no nation like Israel, redeemed out of Egypt. He asks that the word be established, that God's name be magnified, and that the house of his servant be blessed "for ever".

Cited passages: 1 Chronicles 17:1, 1 Chronicles 17:2, 1 Chronicles 17:3, 1 Chronicles 17:4, 1 Chronicles 17:5, 1 Chronicles 17:6, 1 Chronicles 17:7, 1 Chronicles 17:8, 1 Chronicles 17:9, 1 Chronicles 17:10, 1 Chronicles 17:11, 1 Chronicles 17:12, 1 Chronicles 17:13, 1 Chronicles 17:15, 1 Chronicles 17:16, 1 Chronicles 17:17, 1 Chronicles 17:20, 1 Chronicles 17:21, 1 Chronicles 17:23, 1 Chronicles 17:27

1 Chronicles 17 (KJV)

¹Now 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 the Lord remaineth under curtains.

²Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee.

³And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

⁴Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:

⁵For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

⁶Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?

⁷Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:

⁸And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.

⁹Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,

¹⁰And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house.

¹¹And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

¹²He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.

¹³I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:

¹⁴But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.

¹⁵According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

¹⁶And David the king came and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

¹⁷And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God.

¹⁸What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.

¹⁹O Lord, for thy servant’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.

²⁰O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

²¹And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?

²²For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, Lord, becamest their God.

²³Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.

²⁴Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.

²⁵For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee.

²⁶And now, Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:

²⁷Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever.

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Historical context

The chapter keeps Nathan's own answer and God's answer apart. Nathan first speaks on his own, "Do all that is in thine heart", and the narrator then dates the divine word to "the same night", so the prophet's first reply is overturned. The oracle does not name the son who will build; it says only "thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons". When David repeats the promise in chapter 22 he adds Solomon's name and a reason about bloodshed, neither of which appears here. "Him that was before thee" is not named in this chapter; Saul is the only previous king the book has shown. The Lord's statement that he has not dwelt in a house since bringing up Israel, and that he never asked the judges for one, is his own account of the past. The narrator says Nathan spoke "according to all this vision", and David's prayer appeals to what "we have heard with our ears", but the chapter says nothing about how Nathan received the word. No time is given for the scene beyond "as David sat in his house", after the ark's arrival in chapter 16.

Cited passages: 1 Chronicles 17:2, 1 Chronicles 17:3, 1 Chronicles 17:11, 1 Chronicles 17:13, 1 Chronicles 17:5, 1 Chronicles 17:6, 1 Chronicles 17:15, 1 Chronicles 17:20, 1 Chronicles 17:1

Literary context

The chapter turns on one word used in several senses. David's "house of cedars" is a building; the house he wants to build is a temple; the house the Lord promises is a dynasty; the house David prays for at the end is his family line. The oracle is shaped as a refusal followed by a gift, with a hinge at "Furthermore I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house." Before the gift, the Lord recites what he has already done for David, sheepcote to name, so the promise rests on a record. David's prayer answers the oracle point by point: "Who am I" against "I took thee", "none like thee" against the Lord's greatness, and "do as thou hast said" against "I will". The words "for ever" and "established" recur across both speeches until the final verse closes on "blessed for ever". The chapter has no action apart from speech; it is the book's foundation for everything said about Solomon and the temple in chapters 22, 28 and 29.

Cited passages: 1 Chronicles 17:1, 1 Chronicles 17:4, 1 Chronicles 17:10, 1 Chronicles 17:7, 1 Chronicles 17:16, 1 Chronicles 17:20, 1 Chronicles 17:23, 1 Chronicles 17:14, 1 Chronicles 17:24, 1 Chronicles 17:27

Key moments

Cedars and curtains (1 Chronicles 17:1). David contrasts his cedar house with the ark under curtains.
Nathan's first answer (1 Chronicles 17:2). Nathan tells David to do all that is in his heart.
Not thou, but thy son (1 Chronicles 17:4). God's word that night says David shall not build the house.
The Lord will build thee an house (1 Chronicles 17:10). The refusal turns into a promise of a house for David.
Father and son (1 Chronicles 17:13). God promises to be a father to David's seed and not withdraw his mercy.
Who am I (1 Chronicles 17:16). David sits before the Lord and asks who he is to receive this.
Do as thou hast said (1 Chronicles 17:23). David asks God to establish the promise for ever.

For reflection

Nathan says yes on his own, and that night God says no and promises something larger. What does the chapter suggest about the gap between a good intention and the answer it actually receives?