1 Chronicles 17

2. S. 7 : 1** And it came to pass, when the king dwelt in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies round about, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee. And it came to pass the same night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou (Thou shalt not, Chron.) build me an house for me to dwell in? for I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedar? Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldst be prince over my people, over Israel: and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a great name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the

11 first, and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will cause thee to rest from all thine enemies. Moreover the LORD telleth thee that the LORD will 12 make thee an house. When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his king- 13 dom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom 14 forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten 15 him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my mercy shall 16 not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee: thy throne shall be established for- 17 ever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

18. Then David the king went 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 thus far?

1. Chron 17:** 17 And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; but thou hast spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate 18 of a man of high degree, O LORD God. What can David say yet more unto thee concerning 19 the honor which is done to thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant. O LORD, for thy word’s sake, for thy servant’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make thy servant know all these great things.

2. S. 7:** 22 Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is 23 there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, and to make him a name, and to do great things for you, and terrible things for thy land, in driving out nations from before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee out 24 of Egypt, from the nations and their gods? And thou didst establish to thyself thy people 25 Israel to be a people unto thee forever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God. And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, 26 confirm thou it forever, and do as thou hast spoken. And let thy name be established and magnified forever, saying, The LORD of hosts is God over Israel: and the house of thy servant 27 David shall be established before thee. For thou, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found 28 in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O LORD God, thou art God, and thy 29 words are truth, and thou hast promised this good thing unto thy servant: now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee: for thou, O LORD God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.

The same desire to exalt the Lord which had distinguished David thus far now manifests itself in reference to a house for God. He dwelt in a permanent and splendid abode. God dwelt in a temporary and plain tent. The contrast impresses him painfully, and he forms the design of erecting a costly temple for God’s worship. This feeling and design he communicated to the Prophet Nathan, who approved and encouraged its execution. But neither had consulted God, and both were mistaken in their confident assurance of the Divine approval. For that very night God intimated His will in the matter to Nathan. He has not desired as yet “a house of cedar,” nor will he accept one at the hands of David. Elsewhere and at another time, God commends David’s purpose, and assigns the reason for declining it—that David had been a man of war and of blood. Further, in the message by Nathan, David is reminded of his lowly shepherd lot, out of which God had taken him, and advanced him to a great kingdom and name. And this, not for David’s sake, as David himself had before “perceived,” but to establish His people Israel as a nation; to give them a permanent home and rest in the land He had promised before to Abraham, and now bestowed on them. B.

2. S. 7: 1, 2.** To complete the history of the religious movement of that period, the sacred writers insert in this place the account of David’s purpose to build a temple. The introduction to the narrative (verse 1), and the circumstance that at the time most if not all the wars mentioned in 2 S. 8 and 10 were past, sufficiently indicate that in this, as in other instances, the history is not arranged according to strict chronological succession. Still it must have taken place when David’s power was at its zenith. A. E.

31-11. The impulse of generous devotion, which cannot bear to lavish more upon self than it gives to God, at first commended itself to the prophet; but in the solitude of his nightly thoughts the higher Wisdom speaks in his spirit, and the Word of God gives him a message for the king. The narrative makes no mention of David’s war like life as unfitting him for the task, which we find from 2 Chron. was one reason why his purpose was set aside, but brings into prominence the thought that David’s generous impulse was outrunning God’s commandment. So the prophetic message reminds him that the Lord had never, through all the centuries, asked for a house of cedar, and recalls the past life of David as having been wholly shaped and blessed by Him, while it pointedly inverts the king’s proposal in its own grand promise, “The Lord telleth thee that He will make thee an house.” A. M.

Of David’s purpose to build a house God took notice, and he was well pleased with it, as appears (1 K. 8 : 18), Thou didst well that it was in thine heart; yet he forbade him to go on with his purpose. David is a man of war, and he must enlarge the borders of Israel, by carrying on their conquests. David is a sweet psalmist, and he must prepare psalms for the use of the temple when it is built, and settle the courses of the Levites; but his son’s genius will better suit for building the house, and he will have a better treasure to bear the charge of it.

11. David had purposed to build God a house, and, in requital, God promises to build him a house. Whatever we do for God, or sincerely design to do, though Providence prevents our doing it, we shall in no wise lose our reward. He had promised to make him a name (verse 9), here he promises to make him a house, which should bear up that name. These promises God faithfully performed to David, and his seed, in due time. Though David came short of making good his purpose to build God’s house, yet He did not come short of making good His promise to build him a house. Such is the tenor of the covenant we are under; though there are many failures in our performances, there are none in God’s. H.

12-16. God’s Covenant with David, a covenant with immediate and far-reaching promises. In reach, meaning, and preciousness, this finds its main parallel in the Covenant with Abraham. Both are but amplifications of the brief promise to the fallen Adam. Like the promise made to Abraham, this to David has a twofold reference and meaning. It refers to David’s natural posterity and his earthly kingdom, and, in this refreference, is conditional upon right conduct, and is a contingent and temporary promise (1 Chron. 28 : 9). Its larger and sublimer reference is to Christ and His spiritual kingdom. Here the promise is absolute and unlimited. With this double meaning in thought, read the terms of this Divine pledge to David: I will make thee a house. I will set up thy seed after thee, and will establish his kingdom. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. Thine house and thy throne shall be established forever.

This promise had a literal fulfilment, in the establishment of David’s dynasty, in the enthronement of Solomon, despite the machinations of his elder brethren, and in the long perpetuation of the house of David; virtually, in the desire and will of the Jewish people, until the coming of Christ. Then the temporal part of the promise was linked on to the spiritual, of which it was the designed type and pledge. Christ was the promised seed and son of David, His kingdom that which should be established forever, according to the Old Testament and New. Paul’s simple utterance sums up the substance of both: “Of this man’s (David’s) seed hath God, according to his promise (this very promise before us), raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” And as this text thus expounds and explains the promise to David in its ultimate supreme reference to Christ, so it as plainly intimates that the nation Israel stands here, not for the Hebrew race, but for the greater spiritual nation or kingdom of believers in all ages. This, too, is the cheering doctrine of the whole Old Testament and New. This “royal nation,” this “people all His own,” shall have an everlasting habitation and rest under the enduring dominion of Jesus. Based upon this covenant with David, from this time forth Christ’s Kingship is dwelt upon by David himself, and referred to by the prophets. And because the vital meaning of the Priestly office and sacrifice had been lost, it came to pass that at the Advent and onward this Kingship was the exclusive thought of the Jewish people respecting the looked-for Messiah. B.

This promise has ultimate respect to Christ, the seed of David, and is fulfilled in him only; for the kingdom of David has long since ceased, any otherwise than it is upheld in Christ. That this covenant which God now established with David by Nathan the prophet, was the covenant of grace, is evident by the plain testimony of Scripture in Isa. 55 : 1-3. There we have Christ inviting sinners to come to the waters. And in the third verse he says, “Incline your ear, come unto me; hear, and your souls shall live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David.” Here Christ offers to sinners, if they will come to him, to give them an interest in the same everlasting covenant that he had made with David, conveying to them the same sure mercies. But what is that covenant but the covenant of grace? This was the fifth solemn establishment of that covenant. The first was with Adam, the second was with Noah, the third was with the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the fourth was in the wilderness by Moses, and now the fifth is this made to David. This establishment of the covenant of grace with David, David always esteemed the greatest smile of God upon him, the greatest honor of all that God had put upon him; he prized it, and rejoiced in it above all the other blessings of his reign. You may see how joyfully and thankfully he received it here. And so, in his last words, he declares this to be all his salvation, and all his desire (2 S. 23 : 5). Edwards.

From the very exalted emotions which the promise raised in his breast, and the enthusiasm with which he poured forth his thanksgivings for it, we infer that David saw in it far more than a promise that for generations to come his house would enjoy a royal dignity. He must have concluded that the great hope of Israel was to be fulfilled in connection with his race. God’s words implied that it was in His line the promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled—“In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” He saw Christ’s day afar off and was glad. W. G. B.

15. Under no circumstances would God withdraw his favor from David’s royal house, or annul his gift of the kingdom, as he had done in the case of Saul. Hence, when the ten tribes revolted and set up a separate kingdom, in memory of this promise, Judah was preserved faithful to the house of David; and in the confidence that the kingdom should be given to the great Son of David in the future, the prophets speak of “the sure mercies of David.”

16. The perpetuity of David’s house and kingdom is further emphasized by a double “forever.” The promise here made to David forms the basis of most of the Messianic hopes and prophecies from this time forward. It is dwelt upon by David in his last words (2 S. 23 : 5), and in his charge to Solomon (1 K. 2 : 4); it is more or less prominently the theme of several of the psalms (e.g., Ps. 89 : 19-37 ; 132 : 11, 12), and of the predictions of the prophets (Isa. 9 : 6, 7 ; 11 : 1, etc. ; Jer. 33 : 20, 21). W. H. G.

This prophecy marks an important stage in the Old Testament revelation which prepared the way for the Messiah’s coming. The primeval promise to Adam held out the hope of deliverance through “the seed of the woman.” Abraham received the assurance that “in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed;” Jacob in his dying blessing assigned the sceptre to Judah. Thus the whole human race, one nation of the race, and one tribe of the nation, were successively designated to be the means of realizing the promise of blessing to mankind. And now by this prophetic declaration a further limitation was made, and the family of David was chosen out of the tribe of Judah as the depository of the promise. At this epoch of the national history, Israel’s hopes centred in the theocratic kingdom, in the establishment of a government whose head was to be the visible representative of Jehovah. And now by God’s message through Nathan this kingdom was forever promised to the house of David. To it therefore men’s hopes were now directed as the destined instrument of salvation. But this prophecy does not speak of the Messiah as an individual; it does not predict the perfect reign of a sinless king. It contemplates a succession of kings of David’s line, who would be liable to fall into sin and would need the discipline of chastisement. The perfect king in whom, as we now know, the line was to culminate, and the prophecy receive its highest fulfilment, is not yet foreshadowed. It remained for prophet and psalmist, developing this fundamental revelation, to draw the picture of the ideal king who should spring from David’s seed, and exercise dominion as the true representative of Jehovah on earth. As each human heir of David’s line failed to fulfil the expectation, hope was carried forward and elevated, until He came to whom is given the throne of His father David, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end. The subsequent references to this great promise should be carefully studied: David applies it to Solomon (1 Chron. 22 : 9, 10 ; 28 : 2). Solomon claims it for himself (1 K. 5 : 5 ; 2 Chron. 6 : 7 ff. ; 1 K. 8 : 17-20). It is confirmed to Solomon (1 K. 9 : 4, 5). It is repeatedly affirmed, that in spite of the sin of individual kings, the kingdom shall not be withdrawn from David’s house for his sake (1 K. 11 : 31-39 ; 15 : 4, 5 ; 2 K. 8 : 18, 19). Ps. 89, written no doubt in the dark days when the monarchy was already tottering to its fall, recapitulates this promise, and pleads with God that He should not suffer it to be frustrated. See especially verses 19-37. A. F. K.

This prophecy is a covenant-promise which, extending along the whole line, culminates in the Son of David, and in all its fulness applies only to Him. These three things did God join in it, of which one necessarily implies the other, alike in the promise and in the fulfilment: a unique relationship, a unique kingdom, and a unique fellowship and service resulting from both. The unique relationship was that of Father and Son, which in all its fulness only came true in Christ (Heb. 1: 5). The unique kingdom was that of the Christ, which would have no end (Luke 1: 32, 33; John 3: 35). And the unique sequence of it was that brought about through the temple of His body (John 2: 19), which will appear in its full proportions when the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven (Rev. 21: 1-3).

Such was the glorious hope opening up wider and wider, till at its termination David could see “afar off” the dawn of the bright morning of eternal glory; such was the destiny and the mission which, in His infinite goodness, God assigned to His chosen servant. Many were his failings and sins, and those of his successors; and heavy rods and sore stripes were to fall upon them. But that promise never failed. Apprehended from the first by the faith of God’s people, it formed the grand subject of their praise, and continued the hope of the Church, as expressed in the burning language and ardent aspirations of psalmists and prophets. Brighter and brighter this light grew, even unto the perfect day; and when all else seemed to fail, these were still “the sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55: 3), steadfast and stable, at last fully realized in the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A. E.

This is a germinal or seed prophecy—a standard prediction which leads the thought of numerous subsequent prophecies, and which furnishes largely the current phraseology—the symbols and terms in which later prophecies of the Messiah were clothed. The Messiah was subsequently presented very generally as a King—a king after the type of David, with a kingdom analogous to his; as a successor to David, on his throne; and as bearing in prophecy the name, David. The latter point is the more conclusive because he was never known by this name during his incarnation. It appears in prophecy only, and, therefore, has the more unquestionable allusion to this great germinal prophecy. The Messianic Psalms, especially those written by David himself, must be high authority on this point, since they reveal his own conceptions of the promised Messiah. Remarkably these Psalms do everywhere represent the Messiah as King.

The Messiah, as seen by Isaiah, is in several visions a King on the throne of David (9: 6, 7, etc.) In Isa. 55: 3 the phrase “the sure mercies of David,” looks toward this very passage (2 S. 7) as embodying and embosoming in itself the fullness of Messianic promise—the great idea of Divine mercy to a lost world. It can scarcely be necessary to follow this argument through the Messianic prophecies of the other prophets. But we ought not to overlook the sublime strains of those latest prophets who, standing in the presence of the infant Jesus, foresaw his future triumphs and gave their interpretation of these earliest promises made to David. The angel Gabriel brought down these words prophetic of Jesus: “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1: 32). So Zacharias, filled with the Holy Ghost: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for having raised up an horn of Salvation (a powerful Saviour) for us in the house of his servant David, under whom we shall be saved from our enemies,"—he being a real king over his people. Further, note the testimony of Peter, given under the special inspiration of the great day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 30): “David, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath unto him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne,” etc. There seems to be no room to doubt that Peter refers to this passage in 2 S. 7, for there is no other promise of God to David on record to which he can refer. Peter inferred (very justly) that the promise of an eternal throne to one who was a descendant of David must assume and imply his resurrection, and an immortal life beyond. Let us close with the testimony of Paul, from whose sermon at Antioch (Acts 13: 22, 23) we may read—“I have found David the Son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart; of this man’s seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus”—the promise referred to being none other than this in 2 S. 7. H. C.

Now we can understand why David was overcome with ecstasy of emotion; why he thought that all which Jehovah had done for him in raising him to a throne was a small thing compared with this new covenant promise. He felt himself now exalted to the position of the Adam, in that, like Adam and Noah and Abraham, he had been selected to stand as the great representative and typical man, and the starting-point of a new covenant, in the grand series through which the scheme of redemption was to be developed to men. And this new covenant with David becomes a new and additional development of the relations and office of the promised Deliverer to the faith of the church. Before, he has been revealed, in every age, as her Prophet, to reveal the will of God. Thus was he revealed in all the Theophanies of the Patriarchal era, in the Sinai revelations, and in the oracles of the Theocratic era. Before, he has been revealed, in every age, as her Priest. So he was revealed in all the varieties of the ritual of atonement by sacrifice. Now he is revealed also as her King, to rule his chosen people and conquer all enemies. And henceforth, while faith contemplates him none the less as Prophet and Priest, it contemplates him chiefly as coming in his Kingly office to gather out of all nations and all ages a great spiritual kingdom as the result of his prophetic and priestly work. From this time forward the chief purpose of the prophetic teachings and revelations is to develop the nature, the functions and the destiny of this peculiar typical kingdom, organized by the covenant with David, under the administration of the great Founder and King typified in David’s royal line. The key-note to which the harp of prophecy is attuned henceforth is “Thy throne, Oh God, is forever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” The fundamental form of the Church’s theology is moulded in this promise of a coming King to administer a universal kingdom. The Church gospel becomes a proclamation, as in Isaiah, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the sure mercies of David.” As this conception of a spiritual kingdom to come is that with which the series of Old Testament revelations closes, so it is that with which the New Testament opens. Jesus has come to sit upon the throne of his father David, is the grand annunciation at the incarnation of the Son of God, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” is the first New Testament preaching. This kingdom according to the covenant with David, as the kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God, was the grand subject of the preaching of Jesus during his personal ministry. The great truth first proclaimed by the Apostles after his ascension and the outpouring of the spirit was, “Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour.” The last vision of him by mortal eye is as the “Lamb in the midst of the throne.” The last gospel that closes up revelation, comes from Jesus as “the root and the offspring of David.” Thus, in the entire Scriptures Jesus Christ is exhibited as the Prophet who reveals all and the Priest who redeems all, in order that He may be the King that rules all. S. R.

18-21. David gratefully acknowledges God’s unmerited favors. Profoundly moved by the message of Nathan, he goes to the tabernacle, and there continues for a time before the Lord. Accepting without a word the disappointment of his desire to build a House for the Lord, rejoicing, as we learn, that it would be erected by his son, and content with the humble part of garnering material for the sacred structure, David now simply responds almost in terms to the words of Jehovah. “Thou didst take me,” he says, “from the sheep-cote, thou didst choose me from a lowly household. And it was a small thing for thee to do, to elevate me to the highest honor. Now thou hast added to all this the promise to perpetuate my name and house! How can I express my obligations?” Then gratefully he traces “all these great things” to previous promises, and to God’s own love and grace alone. “Not from any desert of mine, but of thine own heart hast thou been moved in doing all.” Next he passes from this gracious dealing with himself to the higher election of the Jewish nation.

22-24. David recognizes God’s sovereign love in his choice and confirmation alike of the earthly and the spiritual Israel. “Nations, like individuals, are subjects of thy sovereign dealing. And Israel thou hast ‘redeemed to thee’ from among the nations. In all the way thou hast led this people, in all the great and terrible things thou hast done for their protection and deliverance, thou hast shown thy sovereign power and thine electing love.” Then, recurring to the enlarged promises in behalf of His people, just uttered at the mouth of Nathan, David recognizes in the words God’s own eternal confirmation of His long-covenanted blessings, His pledge that the spiritual Israel shall be His people, and that He will be their God forever. To these words in this sublime interpretation, Isaiah refers in that wonderful Gospel invitation, his fifty-fifth chapter, where he declares in God’s name “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” So Zacharias in his song, Peter and Paul in their discourses make similar reference to these words of David in this their larger application to God’s spiritual Israel. Nay, more than this, as already intimated, David himself afterward, in his Messianic Psalms, the Evangelical Prophet, and the Apostles, centre all the blessings of this everlasting covenant in the person and work of Christ the Son of David, the only King eternal. Here then, let it be noted again, in this higher significance of God’s covenant with David, we find the central truth which links all truths of the entire Revelation of God. And here we learn that David’s kingship and David’s kingdom are distinguished from others only as they represent the Almighty Kingship and the everlasting Kingdom of the Lord Jehovah, Jesus. B.

26. David prays for the glorifying of God’s name; Let thy name be magnified forever; this ought to be the summary and centre of all our prayers, the Alpha and the Omega of them; begin with Hallowed be thy name, and end with Thine is the glory forever.

29. Let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, and again, with thy blessing; let the house of thy servant be truly and eternally blessed. Those whom thou blessest are blessed indeed. The care of good men is very much concerning their families; and the best entail on their families is that of the blessing of God. The repetition of this request is not a vain repetition, but expressive of the value he had of the Divine blessing, and his earnest desire of it, as all in all to the happiness of his family. H.

25-29. In these verses we have a characteristic supplication of an Old Testament believer. David’s one request is that God will do as He has said, that He will establish and bless His servant’s house forever. This request is presented in many forms and with various urgent pleas. Yet one plea is strongest, and blends with all others. It is God’s promise, His voluntary promise. He says, “Thou hast promised this goodness, and thy words be true!” “Thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it, and thou art that God” who “for thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast done all these great things!” His simple faith affirms, “Thou canst not deny thyself, thy promised mercies are sure!” Yet while he thus believes, he well understands that true faith and desire must and will find expression in earnest prayer—that God wills that true faith and desire shall turn promises into prayers, and so insure that prayers be turned into fulfilments. Hence his many, varied, importunate requests. We take this as the first of several pointed suggestions that may be gathered out of this entire prayer of David. The soul that truly prays first considers God’s promises; realizes that the good promised is that which it needs and desires; believes, from what God is and has done, that He will keep the promise and give the desired good; and, under the quickening of desire and faith, earnestly asks and pleads for it. Whatever increase of spiritual breadth and light the New Testament brings, it adds nothing to the teachings of the Old respecting the elements and practice of prayer. The prayers of Paul are grander in their reach, sublimer in their spiritual depth, but the prayers of Abraham, Moses, and David deeply touch and teach our hearts with their simplicity of faith and fervor of expression. Most effectively do these Old Testament saints “teach us how to pray.”

Another suggestion from David’s prayer. He believed and therefore prayed the Scripture doctrine of God’s sovereignty. Belief in the doctrine did not hinder, but prompted his prayer. He admitted the fact of this sovereignty exactly as God asserted it. Then he applied it to himself, to his people, and to all peoples forevermore. Nay more, he found motive and comfort in it, motive to pray, and comfort in praying. And this kind of prayer, this reference to God’s sovereign greatness and grace, and these repeated, intense pleas based on His sovereignty, were accepted of God. So to-day, with us. The same faith in God’s gracious control over life’s daily events, admitted and cherished, will prompt and help, not hinder prayer; will strengthen motive and increase comfort in praying. And now, as ever, God delights in and will respond to every plea resting upon His sovereign gracious willing and doing.

Specially instructive, also, in this same connection, are two expressions of this prayer when set together. Because “according to thine own heart thou hast done,” “thy servant hath found in his heart to pray.” Here God’s heart and man’s are referred to as the ultimate spring of action. And here the acting of God’s heart is counted as the moving influence in the acting of man’s heart. David believed that the heart of God actuated His doing, that love impelled and executed His plans, therefore his own heart was moved to love, to gratitude and devotion.

Here is the Divine love waking the human. Here is the Divine Plan exhibited as actuated and formed under the instigation of Divine Love. Here, in a word, is the Old Testament way of rendering that incomparable utterance of Christ, “God so loved the world,” etc. And as God’s heart moves His will and hand in all his deeds toward men, so it is in man’s heart He seeks response, in man’s love He supremely delights.

A final point is, that the heart quickened to pray as David’s was, may well imitate the simplicity and directness of his pleading. Such pleading is not common—is scarce counted reverent by some. But if the heart be in it, if an object desired be promised, if there be faith with desire, then, however simple, plain, or defective the form of expression, God will see in it no disrespect, but the attempt to do honor to Him. No matter how large the blessing sought, if it come within the reach of promise, and if faith turn the promise into prayer, then God will turn the prayer into praise by its fulfilment. B.

1. The whole of the Jewish dispensation was designed by God to be a preparation for the coming of Christ. Many of its institutions, ordinances, events, and characters were typical—that is to say, they were intended to be as it were outlines drawn beforehand to prefigure and foreshadow Christ, and to prepare men’s minds to expect His coming.

2. The Kingdom of God in Israel was typical of the Kingdom of God afterward to be established in the world; and the King of Israel was typical of Christ, the King of that universal kingdom. The characteristics of his office, as interpreted by a succession of prophets, led men to look for One who should perfectly realize the ideal, which had been imperfectly realized by the best of their human kings.

3. The Theocratic King was typical of Christ in the following respects: (1) His distinctive title was “the Lord’s Anointed:” and under this very title men were led to look for the coming Deliverer as the Messiah or the Christ. (2) He was the visible representative of Jehovah, who was Himself the true King of Israel; the instrument of the Divine government, through whom He dispensed deliverance, help, and blessing. He would therefore be a conquering king, before whom no enemies could stand, if he was true to his calling. So Christ came as the representative of God, with supreme authority in earth, delegated to Him by His Father, and destined finally to conquer all His enemies. (3) His will was therefore to be in perfect harmony with the will of God; and his kingdom would be, in proportion as it realized its purpose, a kingdom of righteousness and peace; foreshadowing imperfectly what was never perfectly accomplished except by Christ. (4) In virtue of this intimate relation to God he received the lofty title of God’s Son (2 S. 7 : 14), a title given to no other individual, signifying God’s parental care over him, and the filial obedience due from him to God. This title is a most striking anticipation of the mysterious relationship of Christ to God.

4. In these respects any king of Israel, who at all fulfilled his office, was to some extent a type of Christ; and David, because he was the truest example of a king after God’s own heart, was the most prominent and striking type of Christ among them. And David, more than any other single individual, was a type, an anticipatory likeness, of Christ the Perfect Man. In the fervency of his aspirations, in the closeness of his communion with God, in the firmness of his trust, in the strength of his love, he was unrivalled by any human character of the Old Testament. No man ever “touched humanity at so many points;” and the many-sidedness of his character, and the variety of his experience, which qualified him for practical sympathy with all ranks and all conditions of life among his subjects, made him again a type of Him whom “it behoved in all things to be made like unto his brethren.” He was an eminent example of the spiritual capability of the human soul as a recipient of Divine illumination, preparing the way for the highest Example of all. (7) In these respects, both as king and as man, David was an undoubted type of Christ. Many other striking correspondences between him and the antitype whom he prefigured may be noted; for example, his occupation as shepherd, first of his flock, and then of Israel: his persecution by enemies, and elevation to reign through many sufferings and trials: the misunderstandings and scorn he met with from his own relations: his betrayal by one who had been admitted to his closest confidence, and so forth: but though these analogies are most interesting and instructive, it may be questioned whether they can, strictly speaking, be called typical. A. F. K.

DAVID’S VICTORIES OVER PHILISTIA, MOAB, TWO SYRIAN KINGDOMS, AND EDOM. GATHERED TREASURE DEDICATED TO GOD’S HOUSE. HIS WISE, JUST REIGN. CIVIL OFFICERS.