2 Samuel 7:20

_AND WHAT CAN DAVID SAY MORE UNTO THEE? FOR THOU, LORD GOD, KNOWEST THY SERVANT._ What can David say more unto thee - i:e., my obligations are infinitely greater than I can express; and then, "thou, Lord, knowest thy servant," must refer to the deep, unspeakable feelings of his ravished heart. But by reference to the parallel passage (1 Chronicles 17:17), this is spoken rather as a prayer, intimating that David could neither ask nor desire anything greater than what had been now conferred; and therefore he would leave all his wants to be supplied by his gracious 'Lord, who knew his servant.'...

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 7:20. _WHAT CAN DAVID SAY MORE_] How can I express my endless obligation to thee?...

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

AND WHAT CAN DAVID SAY MORE UNTO THEE,.... In a way of self-abasement, or in thankfulness for such wonderful favours, or in prayer for more and other mercies; he wants words, as if he should say, to express his sense of his own nothingness and unworthiness, and to praise the Lord for all his benefits; and so large are the grants and promises made, that there is no room for him to ask for more: FOR THOU, LORD GOD, KNOWEST THY SERVANT; what a sense he has of his own meanness and vileness, what gratitude his heart is filled with, and what his wants and necessities are, which God only can supply, and does abundantly, even more than he is able to ask or think. The Targum is, "and thou hast performed the petition of thy servant, O Lord God.''...

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.

David's prayer and thanksgiving David's address to God consists of (_a_) humble thanksgiving for the undeserved favour shewn to him and his house, 2 Samuel 7:18; (_b_) praise for God's past manifestations of his glory in and to Israel, 2 Samuel 7:22; (_c_) petition for the final fulfilment of the promise, 2 Samuel 7:25....

_David's Response to the Lord's Will._ 2 Samuel 7:18-29 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? 19 And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And _is_ this the manner of man, O Lord God? 20 And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. 21 For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know _them._ 22 Wherefore thou are great, O Lord God: for _there is_ none like thee, neither _is there any_ God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And what one nation in the earth _is_ like thy people, even

THE PROMISE OF GOD TO DAVID IN REQUITAL OF HIS DESIRE TO BUILD THE TEMPLE This chapter affords an excellent illustration of the way in which prophecy has often two quite distinct applications, one to the more immediate and the other to the more distant future. The primary reference is to Solomon (see especially 2 Samuel 7:12), but the prophecy looks beyond him to a greater Son, of whom he was only an emblem and type. We get a somewhat similar instance in Isaiah 7:14 (see especially 2 Samuel 7:16). Chronologically this chapter should follow 2 Samuel 8....