1 Chronicles · chapter 17 of 29
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1 Chronicles 17 records God's covenant with David. When David wants to build a house for the ark, God tells him through the prophet Nathan that he will not be the one to build it, but a son of his will, and that the Lord himself will build David a house: he will establish the throne of David's descendant forever. David answers with a prayer of humility and gratitude, and asks that the promise be fulfilled.
This is one of the most important chapters of the Old Testament. The ark is in Jerusalem, and David, who lives in a house of cedar, feels it is not right for the ark to be under curtains. God's answer changes the direction: David will not build the house of the Lord, but the Lord will build David a house. From this promise is born the messianic hope of a king from David's line who will reign forever.
David is now living in his house of cedar and tells the prophet Nathan that it does not seem right for the ark of the covenant to be under curtains. Nathan answers that he should do all that is in his heart. But that night the word of God comes to Nathan: David will not be the one to build the house, because since the exodus from Egypt the Lord has moved from tent to tent and never asked any of the judges to build him a house of cedar.
God then recalls what he has done for David: he took him from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over his people, was with him wherever he went, cut off his enemies and will make him a great name. He also promises a place for Israel, where they will live without being disturbed. Then he announces that the Lord himself will build David a house. When David dies, the Lord will raise up one of his sons and establish his kingdom. He will build a house for the name of the Lord, and the Lord will establish his throne forever. God will be a father to him, and he will be a son, and God will not take away his steadfast love as he took it from Saul.
David goes in, sits before the Lord and prays. He asks who he is that God has brought him this far, confesses that there is none like the Lord and no people like Israel, and concludes by asking that the word spoken be fulfilled and that the Lord bless the house of David forever.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
God reminds David that he took him from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince of his people. All that David is comes from God. Before promising anything, the Lord recalls the grace with which he has already acted.
The Lord announces that he himself will build David a house. David wanted to build a house for God, and God answers with the promise to build David's. The initiative belongs to God, not to man.
God will establish his son in his house and kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever. The passage applies first to Solomon but points beyond, to a king in David's line whose kingdom will have no end.
David sits before the Lord and asks who he is and what his house is that God has brought him this far. It is a prayer of humility: he receives the promise as an undeserved gift, not as a right.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That he lived in a house of cedar while the ark of the covenant was under curtains. — 1 Chronicles 17:1
Answer: That David should do all that was in his heart, because God was with him. — 1 Chronicles 17:2
Answer: That David would not build it, and that a son of his would build a house for the name of the Lord. — 1 Chronicles 17:4-12
Answer: From the pasture, from following the sheep. — 1 Chronicles 17:7
Answer: That he will establish it forever. — 1 Chronicles 17:12-14
Answer: Who he is and what his house is that God has brought him this far. — 1 Chronicles 17:16
The promise to David teaches that God acts before we do. David wanted to give something to God, and God responded by giving to him. In a small group, talk about how often what we have done for God is a response to what he first did. We serve because we have been loved, not to earn his love.
David's prayer is also a model. He does not ask for more but marvels at what he has received. Ask the group when they last prayed simply to give thanks, without asking for anything, and how life would change if they made gratitude a habit.
1 Chronicles 17 opens a promise that runs through the whole Bible: a son of David will reign forever. The next chapter shows how God keeps fulfilling his word through David's victories over the neighboring peoples, and how the king governs with justice.
In Hebrew, house also means dynasty or family. God promises that David's descendants will reign and that his throne will endure. It is a play on words: David wants to build a house for God, and God promises David a house, that is, a royal family that will continue.
Both. Solomon built the temple and received the throne, which fulfills the promise in part. But the New Testament teaches that the promise reaches its fullness in Jesus, a descendant of David, whose kingdom has no end. The angel Gabriel says so to Mary in Luke 1:32-33.
In this chapter God does not give the reason; he only says that a son of his will build it. Later, in 1 Chronicles 22 and 28, it is explained that David had shed much blood in his wars. That does not mean his desire was wrong, but that God had another plan for that service.