For the past couple of weeks, we have endeavored to explore all the background information that played a role in setting the stage for the establishment of the Davidic Covenant. To summarize, we noted how the establishment of an earthly throne was the result of God’s eternal plan carried out through (and in spite of) the sinful intentions of men. Whereas the people of Israel failed in their choice of a wicked king named Saul, God succeeded by choosing for Himself a king; a Bethlehemite named David, whose life was characterized by faith and obedience. We ended last time with the account of David’s desire to build a house for the Lord, and how God subsequently responded to that desire when He spoke to the prophet Nathan. Now, we pick up where we left off in the narrative, when God spoke these words:

“Now 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 ruler over My people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever'” (2 Samuel 7:8-16).

This passage, along with its parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 17, is when God first established His covenant with David. What we actually see here is God promising to build David a house, in response to David’s desire to build Him a house. In his book Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World, Thomas Schreiner describes this play on words that is present in this text, noting, “We have a wordplay on the house here, for David wanted to build a house (the temple) for the Lord, but the Lord countered by promising David an everlasting house (i.e., an eternal dynasty)”^[1].

There are several key components of the Davidic Covenant that are worth pointing out as we consider this text. First of all, this covenant has no conditions. Unlike the covenant God made with the people of Israel through Moses, and to a certain extent even the Abrahamic Covenant, there are no requirements of obedience on David’s part in order to fulfill this covenant. In fact, disobedience is even assumed to be characteristic of David’s descendants when God said in verse 14 that He will bring correction on David’s son when he commits iniquity. Israel’s history would prove to be a fulfillment of this prophecy, for Solomon’s heart turned away from the Lord towards the end of his reign, and his successors would continue to plunge Israel deeper into idolatry. Yet, similarly to the Noahic Covenant, this covenant is completely unilateral and unconditional and contains no bilateral or conditional components. There was no obedience required on the part of David in order to keep the covenant God made with him, just as with Noah when God promised him that He would never again flood the earth.

The second component is the everlasting nature of the covenant, along with the singular nature of the heir to David’s throne whose reign would be eternal (see v. 12-13). But did we not already establish that the Davidic Covenant promised multiple descendents who would be heirs to David’s throne? Indeed, that is part of the promise; however, as you may recall, a similar type of promise was made in the Abrahamic Covenant, wherein God promised to Abraham that through his Seed the world would be blessed. This seed was both singular and plural. Here we see a similar type of promise made to David as well, in that his heir is likewise both singular and plural. But notice how the basis of the eternality of David’s throne is not an eternal line of succession, but rather a singular, eternal Ruler who would be a descendant of David. It is His kingdom that will last forever (v. 13). Just like with Abraham, David would not see this promise fulfilled in his lifetime, and would be buried with his fathers centuries before the promised Seed would come into the world.

The third component of the covenant is the far future nature of the fulfillment. In verses 10 and 11, God promised David that this eternal kingdom brings with it “rest from all their enemies”, and that the nation Israel “…may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly”. Indeed there was a near future, historic fulfillment of this promise during the 40-year reign of King Solomon, during which time the land rested from war. But this peace was only temporary, and several centuries later the Israelites would once again find themselves taken from their homeland during the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. From that time right up to the present day, Israel hasn’t truly experienced the greater fulfillment of this prophecy, but the day will come when Christ will return and establish His millennial reign on the earth, a time when He will rule the world with a rod of iron (Psalm 2:9).

David was a righteous man, and it was for this reason that God chose him over the house of Saul to rule over Israel. Yet, even David was not without his own failures, most notably in his sin with Bathsheba. His son Solomon had a promising beginning to his reign and even built the temple as God promised that he would do in verse 13. But his eventual spiritual failure led to the kingdom being divided during the reign of his son Rehoboam. Once again, the whole nation of Israel, which by this time comprised of the northern and southern kingdoms, would turn away from the Lord and serve idols. As time went on, it became evident that Israel was in need of a true and better David to rule over them.

At the heart of the Davidic Covenant is the promise of an eternal King from David’s lineage who would rule over His people Israel, and give them true rest from all their enemies. Who is this King? Many centuries later, this long awaited Son of David came into the world through the person of Jesus Christ. He has the legal claim to David’s throne through His earthly father Joseph, and He is a direct descendant of David by blood through Mary’s lineage. His rightful claim to the throne of David was first announced to Mary by the angel Gabriel, who proclaimed that “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:32-33).

Unlike His predecessors, Jesus is God in human flesh, incapable of sin. He is the true and better David, as He is everything that was desirable concerning David, yet without any shortcomings. David himself looked forward to the arrival of this future Seed when he famously wrote, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’ “ (Psalm 110:1). Though there are most certainly future elements of His reign, our Lord reigns even now. He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 2:33). All authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). For believers, this is great comfort to take in even as God raises up and removes earthly rulers and government leaders: no matter the political circumstances, Christ is King. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and His reign is eternal. His kingdom is not only a fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants, but it also ushers in a new and better covenant which we will begin to further explore next time.

[1] (Schreiner, 2017)