2 Samuel 7:18

_THEN WENT KING DAVID IN, AND SAT BEFORE THE LORD, AND HE SAID, WHO AM I, O LORD GOD? AND WHAT IS MY HOUSE, THAT THOU HAST BROUGHT ME HITHERTO?_ Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord. Sitting was anciently an attitude for worship (Exodus 17:12; 1 Samuel 4:13; 1 Kings 19:4). As to the particular attitude, David sat most probably upon his heels. It was the posture of the ancient Egyptians before the shrines; it is the posture of deepest respect before a superior in the East. Persons of highest dignity sit thus when they do sit in the presence of kings; and it is the only sitting attitude assumed by the modern Mohammedans in their places and rites of devotion. In Pococke's Travels' is drawn the fig

18-29 David's prayer is full of the breathings of devout affection toward God. He had low thoughts of his own merits. All we have, must be looked upon as Divine gifts. He speaks very highly and honourably of the Lord's favours to him. Considering what the character and condition of man is, we may be amazed that God should deal with him as he does. The promise of Christ includes all; if the Lord God be ours, what more can we ask, or think of? Ephesians 3:20. He knows us better than we know ourselves; therefore let us be satisfied with what he has done for us. What can we say more for ourselves in our prayers, than God has said for us in his promises? David ascribes all to the free grace of God. Both the great things He had done for him, and the great things He had made known to him. All was for his word's sake, that is, for the sake of Christ the eternal Word. Many, when they go to pray,...

Verse 2 Samuel 7:18. _SAT BEFORE THE LORD_] Sometimes, when a Hindoo seeks a favour from a superior, he sits down in his presence in silence; or if he solicits some favour of a _god_, as _riches, children_, c., he places himself before the idol, and remains in a _waiting_ _posture_, or repeats the name of the god, counting the beads in his necklace. - WARD....

SAT BEFORE THE LORD - In the tent where the ark was. Standing or kneeling was the usual attitude of prayer (1Ki 8:22, 1 Kings 8:54; but compare Exodus 17:12). Modern commentators mostly take the word here in the sense of waiting, abiding, not sitting: but sat is the natural rendering. David sat down to meditate, and then rose up to pray....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 7:1 WHEN THE KING SAT IN HIS HOUSE. The order is not chronological; for the words, JEHOVAH HAD GIVEN HIM REST FROM ALL HIS ENEMIES ROUND ABOUT (so the Revised Version, rightly), imply the successful termination, not of all wars necessarily, but certainly of something more than that with the Philistine invaders in the Rephaim valley. A general summary of all David's wars is given in 2 Samuel 8:1; and it was probably after he had subdued the Philistines and Moab, and his throne was now fully established, that in some time of peace, possibly before Hanun forced him into wars which won for him an empire, David sent for Nathan, and told him his full desire. Its position here immediately after the account of the bringing o

THEN WENT KING DAVID IN,.... Into the tabernacle where the ark was, which he had prepared for it, 2 Samuel 6:17; AND SAT BEFORE THE LORD; before the ark, the symbol of his presence, and prayed, and gave thanks, as follows: from whence it appears that a sitting posture was sometimes used in prayer, of which we have other instances, Exodus 17:11. It is said y that Pythagoras, and also Numa, ordered that worshippers should sit. So that this act of devotion is not to be limited to any particular posture, though it seems most agreeable either to stand or kneel; and the Jews look upon this to be a peculiar case, and infer from hence that none were allowed to sit in the court but the kings of the house of Judah z; and some of them a will not allow that to them, since the seraphim above are even

4. THE LORD'S PROMISE TO DAVID AND THE COVENANT CHAPTER 7 _ 1. David's desire (2 Samuel 7:1)_ 2. Nathan receives the message for David (2 Samuel 7:4) 3. David in the presence of Jehovah (2 Samuel 7:18) We reach now a climax. The Lord speaks and reveals His great purposes He had in His eternal councils for David, the king after His own heart. We behold the king in peace sitting in his own house; he had rest from all his enemies. In pious meditation the heart of the king had but one great thought, one great ambition. The prophet Nathan is in his presence and to him he speaks. “See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.” And Nathan told him to

2 SAMUEL 7. DAVID PROPOSES TO BUILD A TEMPLE FOR THE ARK BUT YAHWEH PREFERS TO DWELL IN A TENT, AS HERETOFORE. HE PROMISES DAVID THAT HIS DYNASTY SHALL ALWAYS OCCUPY THE THRONE (D). An independent narrative, complete in itself; not from any of the main sources, but probably composed towards the close of the Jewish Monarchy by a writer of the Deuteronomic school. 2 Samuel 7:13, referring to Solomon and his Temple, is a later addition. This Divine promise of permanence to the Davidic dynasty is an early form of the Messianic Hope of Israel. 2 SAMUEL 7:1. David proposes to build a house of cedar for the Ark; Nathan assures him of the Divine approval. 2 SAMUEL 7:4. Nathan, however, was premature.

THEN. It is grace that really humbles. SAT BEFORE THE LORD. Very different from sitting before one's self, as in 2 Samuel 7:1. WHO AM.... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. Compare 2 Samuel 7:1. When David sat in his own house he sat before him-self. See Structure, p. 416, "Q" and "Q". O LORD GOD. O _Adonai Jehovah_. Adonai because (1) David is the servant and He the master; (2) because this title has to do with lordship in the earth. App-4. Compare verses: 2 Samuel 7:7; 2 Samuel 7:19 (twice), 2 Sam

_Then went king David in, and sat before the_Lord] In the tent where the Ark, the symbol of God's presence, was. As sitting does not seem to have been a customary posture for prayer, some commentators render _tarried_instead of _sat_. Others suppose that David sat to meditate, and afterwards stood up to pray. _Who_am _I_&c. Cp. Jacob's language in Genesis 32:10. _O Lord God_ Whenever God is thus printed in small capitals, it represents the sacred name Jehovah. From very ancient times the Jewish practice in reading the Scriptures has been to substitute in place of Jehovah _Adônai_, which means _my Lord_, or _Lord_; or if the title Adônai is joined with Jehovah, as here, _Elôhîm_, which means _God_. The E. V. follows the Jewish practice in giving Lord and God, and whenever they represent the name Jehovah indicates the fact by the