The holiness of the Ark is illustrated in the incident in which a man called Uzzah fell dead when he touched the Ark. It is possible to explain Uzzah's death as being caused by the acute fear which he' experienced when he knew that he had touched the Ark, which even the consecrated priest of God could only touch after purification. When the Ark was carried into battle in earlier times, only the priests could touch it and carry it. We are not given the names of the priests who accompanied David to Kiriath Jearim, but 8: 17 gives the names of the priests of that time, and presumably it was these same men who went with David. David himself also acted in a priestly capacity, by right of his consecration by Samuel to the service of the Lord when he was anointed as successor to Saul. The Ark's journey to Jerusalem was delayed after the death of Uzzah but after three months it was taken safely into the city.

In this passage there are some significant illustrations of the Israelite understanding of that time of holiness, worship and kingship. Holiness in the account of the death of Uzzah is understood as a power of almost physical quality-as, for example, electricity may be understood today by people with no knowledge of physics. This power of holiness was associated not only with God himself but with everything associated with him, such as the Ark or the altar of sacrifice. This idea is seen in the account of Exodus 19 when the Israelites gathered at the foot of the mountain but were warned not to climb up as they would be destroyed by the holiness and might of God. As we have already seen, it was necessary for the worshipper to approach God through sacrifice with the utmost reverence and for the priest who approached the altar to be in a state of purification. Irreverence before God was understood to be extremely dangerous. Uzzah's death was understood to be the result of irreverence.

The worship of David and his men is described as joyful and ecstatic. 'David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might to honour the Lord.' David led his people in this rejoicing in the presence of their God and in doing so, showed that he was not only king, but priest and servant of his God.

This last point is very important. The Biblical writers hold firmly to the understanding of Israel's king as the servant of God who must never forget that he is ruled by a greater King than himself. Kings of later times who appeared to have forgotten their true role were condemned by the Biblical writers who saw no good in such kings, whatever their political achievements. Even David comes under such condemnation before the end of his reign, when he ignores the Law of the Covenant (2 Samuel 12).

We should note the importance of the king's capital city also being the nation's central religious sanctuary, which emphasized the divine election and responsibility of the ruler of the nation. 2 Samuel 7 describes important consequences of making Jerusalem the city of the Ark.

Verse 1 indicates that what is set out in the chapter refers to the later period of David's reign, when he had successfully defeated the many enemies of Israel and was ruling over the established kingdom. Verse 2 also indicates that David had established Jerusalem as an impressive capital with new buildings (see 5: 11). This verse also introduces, rather abruptly, another prophet of God. Since the death of Samuel we have not heard of the activities of any other nabi to succeed that great man as spokesman of Israel's God, but this does not mean that there was no prophet in Israel. The sudden introduction of Nathan indicates that Israel had not been left without a man worthy to follow Samuel, and we notice a significant point immediately that Nathan is introduced; he is found at the court of David, in the city which is now the nation's central sanctuary. In the verses which follow, it is clear that Nathan speaks with the same kind of God-given authority which we noticed in Samuel and Moses before him. It becomes clear that David accepts the prophecies of Nathan as coming from God and is obedient to them, whatever his personal wishes had been before he consulted Nathan. This chapter brings out strongly the picture of David as the obedient servant of God, whom God will use for his purposes. The best side of David's character is shown to us here.

In verses 4-16, Nathan gives three prophecies to David. The first is a warning against David's wish to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, which had been placed in a sacred tent or tabernacle after it had reached Jerusalem. Presumably it had been necessary to make a new tabernacle for the Ark when it was removed from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem, but David felt that a tent was an inferior place for the most holy thing in Israel, especially when he now had a palace built of cedar wood brought from the forests of Lebanon and obtained from Hiram, king of Tyre. Verses 4-7 contain a profound insight about the character of God, which goes back to the tradition of Moses; God's power had been revealed to the Israelites through the events of their experience, through God's mighty acts which had brought them out of Egypt and to the land promised to them. God's living presence was with them as they travelled slowly across the wilderness and as they entered Canaan and took the land. Unlike the gods of the Canaanites or Egypt, the living God of Israel was not associated with a fixed place. A serious misunderstanding could arise about a temple, or can still arise about a church; the building can be thought of as God's place or house, outside of which he has little or no influence. God cannot be 'shut up' inside a church, or a temple. So in the command to David that he should not build a temple to God, the warning is given that the infinite and free Spirit of God cannot be limited to an earthly sanctuary; the Tabernacle was, in fact, a more appropriate symbol of God's presence with his people than a building.

 

Nathan's second prophecy is found in verses 12-13 and appears to contradict what has just been said in the first prophecy, but if it is seen against the background of Israel after the time of David, it is not a contradiction but a move to meet the needs of changing times. Human beings need a physical focal point for their worship, in the sense that they need to be in a situation away from normal distractions and where they can give their full attention to God, responding to the sense of the presence of God and sharing with other worshippers in this experience. Of course it is possible to worship God in any situation, but distractions of all kinds can make this very difficult. We continue to build Christian churches which are physical focal points in the community where people can meet together in an atmosphere of reverence and single-mindedness, to worship God, and in building our churches we are meeting a deep spiritual need in human beings.

As Jerusalem increased in size and importance and as more Israelites adapted to a city way of life, not only in Jerusalem but in the other cities which they now inhabited in Palestine, it was inevitable that many Israelites would begin to think as David had thought, that a tent in the midst of city buildings was incongruous and inferior as the centre of the nation's worship; only the best of buildings was good enough for God's presence among his people. But the warning given in the first prophecy was very necessary and was not contradicted by the second prophecy, that David's son would build a temple for God. In later times that warning was forgotten, and the prophet Jeremiah was so angered by the attitude of the people of Jerusalem to their temple that he described it as a hiding place for robbers, only fit for destruction (Jeremiah 7: 1-11). Even today, Christians can fall into the mistake of thinking that the church building is more important than anything else in the Christian community and ignoring the quality of life amongst the community. The Holy Spirit of God cannot be shut up in a church.

In the third prophecy, found in verses 12-16, David is promised that the dynasty established by him will continue and will be blessed. 'I will make one of your sons king and he will keep his kingdom strong. He will be the one to build a temple for me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues for ever. I will be his father and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him as a father punishes his son.... You will always have descendants, and I will make your kingdom last forever. Your dynasty will never end.'

This prophecy can be understood on two levels, and is important as the historic foundation of the later Biblical hope and expectation of the Messiah, the anointed one of God who rules on behalf of God in the world.

On one level, the prophecy refers to the historical situation of Israel in the time ahead. The royal dynasty of David continued for the next four hundred years and all the kings who ruled from Jerusalem during that time were directly descended from David. David's son, Solomon, who succeeded him, did build the temple in Jerusalem, which stood until the Babylonian destruction of the city in 587 B.C.

On another level, something even greater is promised by God, ~f we take the three prophecies together. God promises to be actively with his people and to ensure that there is a succession of his chosen servants to lead and guide his people so that they may experience and enjoy blessing. David, the servant of God, establishes the earthly kingdom of the people chosen by God and stands at the beginning of the human line from which the greatest servant of God, Jesus, will come. We need the New Testament before we can understand who the greatest servant will be. The promise made that David's kingdom will last forever can be understood when we see that Jesus was the descendant of David, born at Bethlehem the birthplace of David, of the people whose nationhood David had established (Luke 2: 4). In the earthly situation of David's people and ancient kingdom, Jesus preached the good news of the Kingdom of God which he came to establish not only in Israel but in the whole world. From the people of God in the kingdom of David there would finally come a group, centred around Jesus Christ the greatest descendant of David, who would be the foundation of a new people of God who would be found over the whole world in the course of time. The beginning of the Kingdom of God would be in the ancient earthly kingdom of David, but it would finally be universal, beyond any earthly boundaries.

In the light of the New Testament we can see very profound meanings in this passage in which David was told that it was not Goo's plan that David should build an earthly temple for him, but that it was God's plan for David to establish a line of descendants, through whom God's presence in the earth would be manifested more greatly than was possible in any temple.

But as we try to understand the prophecy of David's everlasting dynasty, we should remember that in its original setting its immediate reference was to the kings who would rule from Jerusalem, the Israelite descendants of David. This brings us to an important point about Old Testament prophecy which will become more important in the later prophetic books. The prophet spoke to the immediate situation of his people presenting them with the moral claims of their God and challenging their attitude to the Covenant faith and way of life.

The predictive element in prophecy is always related to the immediate situation of the people and has an essential moral condition attached to it. For example, in 2 Samuel 12: 14, Nathan predicts the death of the child of Bathsheba, fathered by David when he fell into sin. The evil committed by David will be punished. But because the prophet is being used by God to reveal God's nature and plans to his people, the prophet may speak in a way that goes beyond the immediate, historic context and may go far beyond the prophet's own conscious understanding and appreciation. On one level, what the prophet says may refer to the immediate situation, but on another level it may refer to the final triumph of God's rule in the world. The prophecy may have a timeless as well as an immediate application. Prophecies relating to the coming of a righteous king, the Messiah or anointed one of God have an immediate historic context but on another level may not find fulfillment until the coming of Jesus Christ. For example, Isaiah speaks from the time of King Ahaz who did not want to listen to the prophet; Isaiah prophesies the coming of a great king (Isaiah 9: 2-7) in words which are taken up by Luke in his gospel and related to Jesus (Luke 1: 32-33), and also by Matthew in his gospel (Matthew 4: 13-17).

2 Samuel 7: 18-29 contains David's prayer of thanksgiving to God for what has been shown to him. It fmishes with these great words: 'And now, Sovereign Lord, you are God; you always keep your promises, and you have made this wonderful promise to me. I ask you to bless my descendants so that they will continue to enjoy your favour. You, Sovereign LORD, have promised this, and your blessing will rest on my descendants forever.' David's prayer firmly relates his kingship, the monarchy and his future descendants to God's covenant relationship with his people.