6.12–19 A ceremony typical of ancient Near Eastern rituals in which the statue of the national god (to which the ark corresponds in Israel’s aniconic religion) is introduced to a newly built or newly captured royal city. In a ceremonial march the god is borne into the city, with numerous sacrifices along the way (v. 13), and installed in the sanctuary (v. 17), followed by the distribution of food and drink to the populace (v. 19).
6.13 For every six paces the ark bearers advance David sacrifices an ox and a fatling (i.e., “a fatted ox”), progressively sanctifying the City of David so that it will be ritually suitable to house the ark.
6.14 David’s ritual dance has a sacerdotal aspect, as indicated by his garment, a linen ephod (see notes on 1 Sam 2.18; 22.18).
6.16 For Michal daughter of Saul, see 3.13–16; her displeasure is apparently a reaction to David’s scant clothing (see v. 20; cf. note on 6.22).
6.17 The ark customarily resides in a tent (see 7.6), and David has prepared one for it here.
6.21 This verse, part of which looks ahead to 7.8, may have been expanded by a Deuteronomistic editor (see Introduction).
6.22 David’s retort to Michal’s accusation is that what seems vulgar behavior to her is actually pious self-humiliation in the presence of the Lord.
6.23 No child. The principal purpose of vv. 20–23 is to explain Michal’s childlessness and to show that the blood of the house of Saul was never mixed with that of the house of David.
2 SAMUEL 7
God’s Covenant with David
1Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” 3Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”
4But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: 5Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leadersa of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” 8Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. 12When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. 15But I will not takeb my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me;c your throne shall be established forever. 17In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
David’s Prayer
18Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 19And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD; you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. May this be instruction for the people,d O Lord GOD! 20And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! 21Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, so that your servant may know it. 22Therefore you are great, O LORD God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23Who is like your people, like Israel? Is there anothere nation on earth whose God went to redeem it as a people, and to make a name for himself, doing great and awesome things for them,f by driving outg before his people nations and their gods?h 24And you established your people Israel for yourself to be your people forever; and you, O LORD, became their God. 25And now, O LORD God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever; do as you have promised. 26Thus your name will be magnified forever in the saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. 27For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’ therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 28And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; 29now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you; for you, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
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a Or any of the tribes
b Gk Syr Vg 1 Chr 17.13: Heb shall not depart
c Gk Heb Mss: MT before you; Compare 2 Sam 7.26, 29
d Meaning of Heb uncertain
e Gk: Heb one
f Heb you
g Gk 1 Chr 17.21: Heb for your land
h Cn: Heb before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, nations and its gods
7.1–17 The royal theology of the Davidic dynasty in oracular form. Because of the thematic centrality of Davidic kingship to ancient Israelite religion, the oracle uttered by Nathan is a watershed event in the biblical narrative as a whole. Accordingly, the passage attracted the attention of biblical writers and editors of every period and point of view (see Introduction). It reflects the royal theology of Jerusalem in its emphasis on the dynastic promise to David and the commissioning of the erection of a temple in Jerusalem. At the same time it expresses prophetic suspicion of dynastic rule, possibly retaining echoes of an early oracle forbidding the building of a temple (see note on 7.6–7). In its final form, though, it is an editorial composition of the Deuteronomistic Historian, affirming the establishment of the Davidic dynasty and the Jerusalem temple as conditions necessary for the realization of the Lord’s promise of rest for Israel (v. 11; cf. Deut 12.9–10).
7.2 The prophet Nathan, previously unmentioned, figures prominently here, in the story of David and Bathsheba (ch. 12), and in the account of the accession of Solomon (1 Kings 1). The contrast David draws between his own house of cedar and the tent in which the ark is lodged points to 5.11; 6.17; though he does not say so explicitly, David’s words clearly imply a wish to build a temple for the Lord.
7.5 Are you the one? The Lord’s rhetorical question implies that it is not David but someone else who will build the temple; we soon learn that it will be David’s son (v. 13).
7.6–7 In its present, Deuteronomistically edited form (see Introduction), Nathan’s oracle merely defers the erection of a temple to the next generation. These two verses, however, reflect the idea that the ark should be housed in a tent, a portable shrine, and seem hostile to a temple under any circumstances; they may represent the core of an older oracle prohibiting rather than postponing the construction of a temple (see note on 7.1–17). I brought up…from Egypt refers to the exodus, as in, e.g., 1 Sam 8.8; 2 Kings 21.15. I have been moving about, Wherever I have moved about, language that stresses the freedom of the Lord to go where he pleases. For a house of cedar, i.e., a temple, see notes on 5.11; 7.2.
7.8 I took
you from the pasture alludes to 1 Sam 16.11. For prince, elsewhere translated ruler, see note on 1 Sam 9.16.
7.10 A place, not the promised land, in which Israel is already living, but the place where the Lord chooses to be worshiped (see Deut 12.5, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26), i.e., the temple in Jerusalem. Evildoers, here probably Hophni and Phinehas (see 1 Sam 2.12–26).
7.11 I will give you rest connects the present events with the Deuteronomistic theme of the promise of rest from enemies that the Israelites were given by Moses in Deut 12.9–10; the promise was fulfilled in preliminary form by the conquest of Canaan (see Josh 21.44), but its final realization awaits the erection of the temple (see 1 Kings 8.56). The Lord promises David a house, i.e., a dynasty.
7.12 Offspring, Solomon, as v. 13 makes clear, but also the Davidic dynasty in general, which Solomon’s kingship inaugurates.
7.13 The house that David’s offspring will build is the house, or temple, of v. 5; the author is playing on two meanings of house in Hebrew—David’s house, or dynasty, and the Lord’s house, or temple. Name, the Lord’s presence in the temple in a way that avoids the theological objection that no earthly dwelling could house such a great deity (see esp. 1 Kings 8.27–30).
7.14 In ancient Israel and contemporary societies, the relationship between father and son was used to express the special relationship between the dynastic deity and the king, who was regarded the adoptive son of the national god; for David as the adoptive son of the Lord, see also Pss 2.7; 89.26–27. For an early Christian appropriation of the verse, see Heb 1.5.
7.15 As the son of the Lord, the Davidic king will be subject to punishment (v. 14) but not rejection; the pledge of adoption is irrevocable. This means that neither David nor any of his successors will become another Saul (see 1 Sam 13.13–14; 15.26–28).
7.18–29 David’s response to Nathan’s oracle.
7.18 David went in (i.e., into the tent, 6.17; 7.2) and sat before the LORD (i.e., in front of the ark). But it was not customary to sit during prayer, so the meaning may be that David remained “before the LORD” after others departed.
7.19 May this be instruction for the people, perhaps originally “and you have shown me the generation to come,” on the basis of the Hebrew and Greek texts of 1 Chr 17.17.
7.21 According to your own heart. See 1 Sam 13.14. The point is that the Lord has acted at his own initiative and not in response to some gesture by David, such as his offer to build a temple (see v. 2).
7.22–26 An expansion of David’s prayer, replete with stereotypical language, by the Deuteronomistic Historian (see Introduction), whose purpose was to incorporate the Lord’s benefaction toward the house of David into the larger context of his graciousness toward Israel as a whole.
7.23 Is there another nation…their gods? Cf. Deut 4.7, 8, 32–40.
7.24 The covenant between Israel and the Lord (cf. Deut 29.10–13), which in Deuteronomistic thought was linked to the special relationship between the Davidic king and the Lord (see v. 14).
2 SAMUEL 8
David’s Wars
1Some time afterward, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them; David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.
2He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie down on the ground, measured them off with a cord; he measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one lengtha for those who were to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.
3David also struck down King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah, as he went to restore his monumentb at the river Euphrates. 4David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots. 5When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans. 6Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David and brought tribute. The LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. 7David took the gold shields that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8From Betah and from Berothai, towns of Hadadezer, King David took a great amount of bronze.
9When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, 10Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to greet him and to congratulate him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him. Now Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi. Joram brought with him articles of silver, gold, and bronze; 11these also King David dedicated to the LORD, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued, 12from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah.
13David won a name for himself. When he returned, he killed eighteen thousand Edomitesc in the Valley of Salt. 14He put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.
David’s Officers
15So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and equity to all his people. 16Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 17Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary; 18Benaiah son of Jehoiada was overd the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.
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a Heb one full length
b Compare 1 Sam 15.12 and 2 Sam 18.18
c Gk: Heb returned from striking down eighteen thousand Arameans
d Syr Tg Vg 20.23; 1 Chr 18.17: Heb lacks was over
8.1–14 A summary of David’s military achievements.
8.1 Metheg-ammah, in Hebrew something like “the Bridle of the Aqueduct,” occurs nowhere else; the Septuagint has “‘the common land.”
8.2 David seems to have had an amicable relationship with the Moabites before he became king (see 1 Sam 22.3–4). Measuring lines of prisoners for execution is unique to this passage.
8.3–12 This passage can be read as a sequel to David’s Ammonite and Aramean war in ch. 10.
8.3 Hadadezer. The patronymic son of Rehob suggests that he may have been a native of Beth-rehob, an Aramean state that fought against David (see 10.6); he may have united Beth-rehob and Zobah under his rule, just as David did with Judah and Israel. Zobah (cf. 1 Sam 14.47), located on the western slope of Mount Hermon, was the leading Aramean state before the rise of Damascus. If Hadadezer had been marching north to restore his monument at the Euphrates, he would not have been likely to encounter David, who lived far to the south. It seems more likely that it was David who marched north “to leave his monument” at the Euphrates after his victory at Helam (see 10.15–18).
8.4 Apparently David had use for only a hundred chariot horses and hamstrung the rest so that they could not be used against him; but Josh 11.6–9 suggests that David might have been following some kind of ritual requirement.
8.5 Damascus, at this point an ally and probably a vassal of Zobah, will rise to preeminence late in the reign of Solomon under the leadership of a survivor of the present conflict (see 1 Kings 11.23–25).
8.7 Gold shields, ceremonial gold bow cases that were carried by royal officials on formal occasions.
8.8 Betah, probably “Tebah,” as in certain Greek and Syriac manuscripts (cf. Tibhath in 1 Chr 18.8); it was in the Bekaa Valley south of modern Homs. Berothai (cf. Berothah in Ezek 47.16) was also in the Bekaa a few miles south of Baalbek.
8.9 Hamath, modern Hama on the middle Orontes, a Neo-Hittite city-state that bordered on Zobah to the north.
8.10 Surprisingly, Toi’s son Joram has a name that means “Yahweh [the LORD] is exalted” in Hebrew. His name in 1 Chr 18.10 is Hadoram, which means “(the Aramean god) Hadad is exalted,” and many scholars would replace Joram with Hadoram here; but it has also been suggested that Hadoram’s name was changed to Joram as a gesture of fealty to David.
8.13 The Valley of Salt proba
bly ran from somewhere in Edom into the Dead Sea; in the Septuagint David’s victory there is credited to Abishai son of Zeruiah (see 2.18, 30; 1 Sam 26.6).
8.15–18 The first of two lists (also 20.23–26) of the members of David’s administration.
8.16 Joab (see 2.13) may have received the command of the army as a result of his role in the siege of Jerusalem (see note on 5.8). Jehoshaphat will remain in office under Solomon (see 1 Kings 4.3); as recorder he was probably responsible for keeping public records, but the title has been compared to that of an Egyptian officer whose chief responsibility was communication between the king and the public.
8.17 Two high priests served simultaneously during David’s reign. One was Zadok, who survived Solomon’s purge and became the ancestor of the dominant priestly family in Jerusalem, as forecast in the oracle in 1 Sam 2.27–36. The other was not Ahimelech son of Abiathar but Abiathar son of Ahimelech, as shown clearly by 15.24, 29, 35; 17.15; 19.11; the mistake in the present passage is replicated in 1 Chr 18.16 but not in 2 Sam 20.25. Abiathar, the only survivor of Saul’s massacre of the Shilonite priesthood (see 1 Sam 22.6–23), became David’s personal priest (1 Sam 22.20–23) and remained at court until he was banished by Solomon for having sided against his succession (see 1 Kings 1.7; 2.26–27). Seraiah, the name is doubtful; the Septuagint points to Shausha, and 20.25 has Sheva. Like recorder, the title of secretary has been compared to that of an Egyptian officer who served as the personal secretary of the king.
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