A Rather Different David? - Reflections on 2 Samuel 7:1-14a

by Dr. John Holbert on Monday, July 15, 2024

A Rather Different David?

2 Samuel 7:1-14a

The Peripatetic Hebrew Bible Preacher

          Much ink and many bites have been used to try to understand just why this chapter looms up between the bitter end of the house of Saul, when his daughter is rebuked and forgotten by her sort-of husband, and his quick return to the battlefield in 2 Sam.8. Many have contended that the chapter has been inserted here by a Deuteronomistic editor, (much of the language is clearly reminiscent of that of the writer of that biblical book some 400 years after David) intent on providing the usually scheming and clever king with a measure of traditional piety, while others have argued that the chapter includes two authentically old literary pieces joined together by a later editor. I tend to side with those who think the material comes from a much later writer. But whichever origin may be true, the issue for any Bible reader is always: how does the stuff fit here? 

          It is more than plain that the writing here is vastly different from the quicksilver ironies of the material roundabout. Especially in the first part of chapter 7, the language is hortatory and formulaic. Nathan is introduced here as the court prophet, but when he appeared and where he comes from is not offered to the reader. He will of course play a major role later in the narrative, particularly when David skids off his moral rails. But here he is straightforwardly the conduit of YHWH’s demands for David. At first, he plays the role of court functionary by saying to the new king of the land, “Go, do all you have in mind, for YHWH is with you” (2 Sam.7:3). Religious leaders in any court have been known to speak precisely like that, telling the king exactly what he wants to hear. 

          But then “that same night the word of YHWH came to Nathan,” and what God said to him completely contradicts what he has just told the king. He is now to tell David, “Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people from Egypt..” (2 Sam.7:6). In effect what YHWH is saying is that it is a rash and presumptive act for a mere mortal, even a king, to build a temple for the unhoused God of Israelite history. Interestingly, in the parallel passage in the 5th century BCE Chronicler, a different reason is provided for why David cannot build the temple for YHWH; in 1 Chron.22:8, we are told that because David has “shed blood” he will not be allowed to build. Well, that David is a shedder of buckets of blood is certainly true, but that reality is not mentioned here in this attempt to clean the king up a bit. 

          Instead, the task of temple building is assigned to “the seed” of the wildly successful David, of whom YHWH promises to make a “house,” rather than ask him to build a physical house. It is of course, David’s son Solomon who will finally build that physical house, the temple of Jerusalem. “He (Solomon is not named) will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam.7:13). And on that proclamation rests the notion that David’s throne, seen in his subsequent heirs, will last forever; as long as a direct descendant of the great David sits on the Judean throne, it can be expected that YHWH is still protecting and guiding Israel. This theological theme of course extends for well over 1000 years, for when Jesus rides his donkey into Jerusalem, the assembled crowds shout, “Hosanna to the son of David,” making evident the conviction that Jesus is an heir to the throne of David himself.

          However, we should not be completely blinded by this promise of YHWH’s. Solomon and all of his heirs remain subject to the chastisement of YHWH “When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings” (2 Sam.7:14). We might conclude from this that God will discipline all future kings in a most human way, that is with familiar human actions, not with supernatural bolts from the heavens. What this promise for future punishment does not say is that David also will suffer human chastisement due to his quite overt iniquities against Uriah, husband of Bathsheba. He will die alone and cold in his royal bed as a direct result of his iniquities. 

          This narrative is followed by a long and deeply pious prayer by David (2 Sam.7:18-29). It is the only real prayer that is attributed to the king in his long story (that long Psalm of 2 Sam.22 is borrowed from psalmic literature, designed again to clean up the image of the complex king). In the prayer David speaks to God as a very pious and religious king, entreating YHWH for continued good favor for him and for God’s people. 

          It strikes me that after reading and evaluating the picture of David we have seen from his introduction to us in 1 Sam.16 that he is in need of a more straightforwardly traditionally pious portrait, and such is given to us in 2 Sam.7. However, we must read such material with a careful eye, because this narrator has been careful to provide a fuller and richer picture of the man, a picture of complexity that no single chapter of a different sort of David can ever overwhelm. We know David too well and will see his deviousness presented as the tale proceeds too often to be taken in by one lengthy bit of pious prayer.