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“The Covenant”
2 Samuel 7
September 6, 2020
Faith Presbyterian Church – Evening Service
Pastor Nicoletti
We return again this evening to the Book of Samuel.
David has been established as the king of all Israel. He is settled into Jerusalem. There has been a whirlwind of activity and now suddenly, here in chapter seven, everything slows down. After so much activity, all of chapter seven is consumed with four speeches, one of which is the longest speech from God since Mt. Sinai. [Leithart, A Son to Me, 216] So what we have here is important. What we have here is God’s covenant with David – a promise from God which will reach all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, and all the way forward to our lives today and beyond.
So with that in mind, we come to Second Samuel chapter seven.
Please listen carefully, for this is God’s word for us this evening:
“7:1Now when the king lived in his house and Yahweh had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” 3 And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for Yahweh is with you.”
4 But that same night the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6 I 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 for my dwelling. 7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ 8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And 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. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” 17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
18 Then King David went in and sat before Yahweh and said, “Who am I, O Lord Yahweh, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 19 And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord Yahweh. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord Yahweh! 20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord Yahweh! 21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. 22 Therefore you are great, O Yahweh God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? 24 And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Yahweh, became their God. 25 And now, O Yahweh God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. 26 And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘Yahweh of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. 27 For you, O Yahweh 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. 28 And now, O Lord Yahweh, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. 29 Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
This is the Word of the Lord. (Thanks be to God.)
Let’s pray …
Lord, you are our portion,
and so we commit ourselves to keep your word.
We ask you with all our hearts to show us your favor,
and be gracious with us according to your promise.
When we consider our ways,
turn our feet to your testimonies.
And as we hear your word now,
give us a sense of urgency to conform ourselves to it,
so that we act on it without delay.
Grant this we ask, for Jesus’s sake. Amen.
[Based on Psalm 119:57-60]
INTRODUCTION:
There is a lot to this chapter, and a lot of ways we could approach it. But tonight I want to hit on something here that is a foundational theme throughout the Scriptures: The Covenant.
What we have here is the covenant that God makes with David.
Put very simply, a covenant is a way of describing a relationship that is characterized by promises, obligations, and mutual loyalty. [Williams, 45-46]
Our text contains discussion between David and Nathan, some background given by God, and David’s response to God’s promises, but the heart of the covenant is found in verses nine through sixteen. There God lays out a series of promises for David and for his descendants.
We can and we will look over those promises again, but if we are paying attention, and familiar with the Scriptures, then one of the things that should strike us about the promises made in those verses is that for the most part, they are not new.
And as we dig more deeply into these promises, another thing we will begin to see is that these promises are not disconnected from us. They have relevance for our lives today.
To see both of those truths, we will need to first look back at what comes before this passage in Second Samuel 7, and then we will need to look forward to see what comes after. And finally, we will need to determine what any of this has to do with us.
THE COVENANT PROMISES BEFORE 2 SAMUEL 7:
So, with that said, we begin by looking back.
And by looking back, I mean way back – back to the first chapters of the Bible: back to Adam and Eve in the garden.
In the beginning God makes the heavens and the earth. And then he makes man and woman, and Genesis chapters one through three tell us a number of things about the promises God made to Adam and Eve.
In Genesis 1:26-27 we read:
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Here we learn that Adam and Eve are made in God’s image and so they are to exercise royal dominion over creation, like God does.
In Genesis 2:8 we read: “And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
God not only gave Adam and Eve a royal kingship, he gave them a land.
In Genesis 1:28 we read that God blessed Adam and Eve and said to them “Be fruitful and multiply.”
God not only gave them a royal kingship, and a special land, but he blessed them to become a great people.
In Genesis 3:8 we read that the Lord’s special presence was in the garden with Adam and Eve – that there God dwelt with them and they dwelt with God.
And so God has not only given humanity a kingship, a land, and a promise to become a great people – he has also committed himself to be with them.
And finally, in Genesis 1:28 we read that God called on Adam and Eve not only to be fruitful and multiply, but to “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
In other words, Adam and Eve’s calling and purpose did not end at the border of the garden – the land given to them – but they also had a worldwide mission in which they were to transform creation.
A kingship, a land, a promise to become a multitude, the presence of God, and a global mission. These are the promises laid out for our First Parents – for humanity – at the very beginning of creation.
That is what God promises to Adam and Eve in his covenant with them.
And those five promises will be central and foundational to everything that follows in the Scriptures and everything we discuss tonight: the promise of a kingship, a land, a multitude, the presence of God, and a global mission.
All of that is promised to Adam and Eve in the context of a covenant of mutual obligation and loyalty.
Of course, as we know, Adam and Eve did not keep that covenant – they did not remain loyal to God. They did not fulfill their obligations. They disobeyed God’s law, they rebelled against God, and as a result, everything promised to them in the garden began to unravel.
Rather than reign over creation, even the ground would resist their efforts going forward. Rather than living in the garden set aside for them, they were cast out of the land given to them. Rather than dwelling in the presence of God, they were sent away from his presence. Rather than creating a great and unified multitude, their descendants would be fractured and divided against each other. Rather than transforming the world, the world would threaten to transform them.
The five promises of the covenant unraveled.
But redemption was promised. God was not done with his people.
God’s redemptive work continued through the faithful, but then it took on a special covenantal form again with Abraham.
In Genesis 12 God called Abraham, and listen to what he promised him. In Genesis 12:1-3 we read:
Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God called Abraham … and what did he promise him?
He promised to make his name great. He promised to give him a land. He promised to bless him with his presence. He promised to make of him a multitude – a great nation. He promised to bless all families of the earth through him. And then to that he added a promise of protection: not only to bless those who bless Abraham, but also to curse and defeat his enemies.
God calls Abraham to himself, and he does so by promising him the same five things he promised Adam, adding now the sixth element of protection and justice necessary in a fallen world.
And God reiterates those six promises again and again in his relationship with Abraham.
In Genesis 15 God assures Abraham that he will be with him, that he will protect him, that he will make from him a multitude like the stars of the sky, and that he will give him a land. [Genesis 15:1-7]
In Genesis 17 God makes the covenant of circumcision with Abraham, and in it he promises again to make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations, to be with him, and to give him the promised land. [Genesis 17:1-8]
In Genesis 22 Abraham proves his faith by being willing to sacrifice Isaac. God stops him before he does, and sends him an angel who says to Abraham: “By myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Again, he promises to bless Abraham – to be with him and make him great, to make a multitude from his offspring, to protect them from their enemies, and to bless all nations through them – the same promises he made to Adam.
God is working to redeem his creation. He does so by making a covenant with Abraham that is oriented towards restoring all things to their original intention for Adam. And he promises to do this through Abraham’s offspring.
And that promise is then passed on to Abraham’s offspring. In Genesis 28 God calls Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. And he repeats the same promises. God appears to Jacob in a vision, and says to him:
“I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The land, the multitude, the mission to all families of the earth, the presence of God, and the protection of God.
These are God’s promises to the patriarchs.
And they are then the basis of his redemption of Israel in the generations that follow.
At the beginning of the Book of Exodus we read that the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob have indeed become a multitude. At the very beginning of the book we are told that “The people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them.” [Exodus 1:7]
This is the fulfillment of God’s promise.
But there is a problem. Several problems, actually. Contrary to God’s promise, the people of Israel are not living in the Promised Land. And rather than being protected from their enemies, they are enslaved by their enemies. God seems absent, and the people are oppressed.
And then in Exodus 2 we read: “the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”
And from there, God acts. He acts because of the covenant. And he acts in accord with the six promises he made to Abraham.
He has already made of them a great multitude – a great nation.
Next, he defeats Egypt, and frees Israel, blessing their friends and cursing their enemies.
In the second half of Exodus God then establishes his special presence among Israel in the building of the tabernacle.
And then, after their wilderness wanderings, in the Book of Joshua, God brings Israel into the promised land.
In everything that happens to Israel from then on, these covenantal promises serve as the foundation for what God does: the promise of a great name, of a land, of God’s presence, of God’s protection, of making God’s people a great multitude, and of giving them a mission to bless the nations.
THE COVENANT PROMISES IN 2 SAMUEL 7:
And then we come to our text tonight: Second Samuel 7.
And David longs to make God a house – a temple to ceremonially confirm God’s presence with God’s people. And David’s motivations and goals seem good to Nathan the prophet, and so Nathan encourages him to go ahead.
But then God interrupts him. He comes to Nathan, and he sends Nathan to David.
Why does God stop David from building him a house? Well, different books of the Bible focus on different reasons. But the reason given here in Second Samuel is essentially that that is not God’s way of doing things.
And if we have been paying attention to God’s promises and God’s work up until this point, we should see that.
Yahweh – the God of the Bible – is not a God whom we first build a house for him and honor him, and then he blesses us and builds a house for us. That is not his way. [Leithart, A Son to Me, 217]
That’s not what he did with Adam. He made Adam a house first – a world to live in and a family to be a part of – and only then did he look to Adam to honor him by beautifying his dwelling place.
God did not first look to Abraham to build him a house, but he promised Abraham a royal house – a family that would have a great name and become a great nation.
God did not demand that Israel first make him a shrine in Egypt – no, first he rescued them, then he made them to be their own nation, and only then did they build the tabernacle for him.
God always makes a house for his people before he looks for them to make a house for him. [Leithart, A Son to Me, 217]
That is the pattern of redemptive history. It is the pattern of the covenant with Abraham. And it is the pattern of the covenant that God makes with David as well.
And what does God promise David in that covenant? Hear again verses nine through sixteen – God said to David:
“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. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”
Israel is already a great multitude, and they are already established in the land.
And now God promises David a name, a place, rest from their enemies, and the presence of God. Later on, in verse twenty David expresses his understanding that this covenant is to be instruction for all mankind. [Leithart, A House for My Name, 160]
These are the same six promises God made to Abraham.
Only now God has added more specifics. Now he has told us that that great name will include a dynasty from the line of David. David’s son will build a house for God – the Temple. And from David’s descendants there will be an everlasting kingdom, so that David’s throne will be established forever.
God began his work of restoring the world to his original intent through Abraham. And now that project seems to be moving forward.
There is a sense of anticipation that builds up in this chapter. It’s not just about what God will do for David – it is not even primarily about what God will do for David. It is much more about what David will do through David to bring about the restoration of all things.
THE COVENANT PROMISES BEYOND 2 SAMUEL 7:
The anticipation grows after David dies and Solomon takes the throne. And the author of First Kings seems to highlight this, ticking off one by one the promises of God that are being fulfilled.
In First Kings 3&4 we are told that Israel is a great multitude, and as many as the sand in the sea [1 Kings 3:8, 4:20], fulfilling the first promise made to Abraham.
In First Kings 4:21 it is highlighted that all the land promised to Abraham had now been occupied by Israel.
In First Kings 6 though 9 Solomon builds the Temple, God’s glory appears in the house of the Lord, and God appears before Solomon, all signs of God’s presence among Abraham’s descendants, just as promised.
In First Kings 4 it is described how God has blessed Israel’s friends and cursed Israel’s enemies.
In First Kings 10 it is described how through Solomon’s blessing blessing was going out to the nations of the earth – just as God had promised Abraham. [1 Kings 10:1,6,9,23-25]
And all of this is happening through the kingly line of David – just as promised in Second Samuel 7.
It seems like everything is coming together. It seems like the promise made to Abraham is being fulfilled through the royal descendant of David, and soon all should be restored to Adam’s original state.
And then, once again, it all unravels.
Solomon sins in a variety of ways, and soon the kingdom is divided.
In the kingdom of Judah a descendant remains on the throne of Jerusalem for a time, but as the people of Israel and Judah, and as the descendants of David again and again turn to unfaithfulness, the promises of God seem to fade away one by one.
Under King Jehoahaz, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, conquers Jerusalem and dominates the people, a sign that God’s protection from their enemies is gone. [2 Kings 23:33]
Under Jehoikim the Lord allowed the Chaldeans, the Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites to defeat and destroy parts of Judah. [2 Kings 24:1-4]
As the descendants of David continued in their sin, God continued to withdraw his blessings.
Under Jehoiachin the temple was plundered by Nebuchadnezzer, and the king of Judah, the descendant of David, was removed from the throne and carried off to Babylon.
Finally, in Second Kings 25 the people of Judah were led out of the land in exile, and the temple was burned to the ground.
The king was in chains. The land was lost. The multitude was disbursed. The sign of God’s presence was destroyed. Their enemies ruled over them. And they were like nothing before the nations.
All that was promised to Abraham, all that was promised to Jacob, and then all that was reaffirmed and promised in even more detail to David in our text tonight, seemed to be lost.
And any gains in the decades or centuries that followed seemed but a shadow of what had originally been promised.
Some returned to the land, but certainly not all. A temple is built, but it is not like Solomon’s, and no glory cloud descends on it. Despite minor local self-government, no son of David sat on the throne. Despite some special freedoms, the Jews were dominated by their enemies. They do not seem to be influencing and blessing all nations.
THE COVENANT & CHRIST:
And it is into that situation that Jesus, the Son of David, is born.
And everything that Jesus says and does is informed by the covenant God made with Abraham and then with David – and the promises it contained.
Jesus speaks of being a king and coming to receive a kingdom, and he is not speaking of kingship in the abstract but as the fulfillment of what Yahweh promised to David.
Jesus teaches and tells his followers that if they follow him, they will not only inherit the land, as promised to Abraham, but that that promise has been expanded to include the whole earth.
Jesus, perplexing many, tells them that he is the new temple of Yahweh – that Yahweh’s presence among his people is no longer communicated through a house of stone, but Yahweh is present among his people through Jesus Christ himself. He is God’s promised presence.
Jesus comes promising a kingdom that would grow and then influence all the nations.
And then Jesus sets out to defeat the enemies of his people. He sets out, as Yahweh says to David in our passage – to: “give [them] rest from all [their] enemies.” He sets out to the cross to give them rest from sin, and death, and the devil.
And on the third day he rises again from the dead, having conquered all the enemies of his people, and having laid hold of the throne set aside for him in heaven, where he will reign forever, just as God promised to David that one of his descendants would.
But before he went to his throne, Jesus gathered his followers, and he made them promises, and he gave them a mission.
In Matthew 28 we read:
“Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
Jesus tells his followers that God has established him as their Davidic king. He tells them that a land – the whole earth – has been given to him. He tells them that all authority has been given to him, so that he can keep them safe. He tells them that he is with them, and will be with them always. He tells them that now they are called to bless all nations – to make disciples of all nations. And he sends them out on their mission.
That is Jesus’s promise and commission to his Church. It is the promise and the commission given to Abraham, to Jacob, to David, and now to us.
THE COVENANT PROMISES FOR US:
Our calling then is to let those promises, given to us through Christ, shape our lives.
And so, while there are many good things we may serve, our ultimate allegiance goes to only one King. It is good and right that we serve our family, our employer, our community, our political party, even our cultural tribe. But none of those things can be our king. God has given us one King, a descendant of Abraham, a son of David – Jesus Christ who reigns and demands our ultimate allegiance.
While many trials may come our way, we are reminded that God dwells with us. He dwells with us always, by his Holy Spirit. But just as the Temple would serve as an instrument of his presence under Solomon, so he has given us means by which he especially makes himself present, and we eagerly attend to them: to his Word, his people, his sacraments, the gathered prayers and worship of his people.
Though we are often sinned against, and though we should take appropriate action to prevent people from sinning against us – still, we do not need to despair or to be consumed with vengeance. For we have a God who has promised to protect his people and set all to rights, bringing justice on his and our enemies.
Along with that, though we often do not feel at home in this world, we are told that this world is ours and will be ours forever.
The Bible uses the word “world” to talk about a couple different things. Sometimes it means the creation – this place that God has made. Other times it means sinful society in rebellion against God. The distinction might be summed up in lines from two different hymns: “This World Is Not My Home” and “This Is My Father’s World”
Both are true.
When we say “this world is not my home” we are referring to the sinful nature of fallen society, along with the parts of this world that are twisted and marred by sin and brokenness.
But we do not reject the physical created world – for “this is [our] Father’s world.” God has made this world for us, and he will purify it and give it to us forever.
The Christian hope is not escape; it is resurrection. It is not leaving earth for heaven, but God making all things new and uniting earth and heaven.
This world is the land that is promised to the people of God.
And until that day when it is cleansed and given to us, our calling is to claim it for God. Our calling is to take up the mission Jesus has given us to make disciples of all nations – the mission God gave to Abraham to bless all nations – all families of the earth.
Our call to minister to the world is not an extra add-on to what it means to be a Christian. It is a central part of God’s covenant with us, and it has been since God called Abraham.
We have a king. We have God’s presence. We can be assured of God’s justice. We embrace God’s land. And we have God’s mission. We have all the same things promised to us that God promised to David in Second Samuel 7.
And our hope is not rooted in our ability to grasp it, for we serve a God who did not first demand that we build for him, but he first built for us – he established our salvation, he grew his kingdom, he built his church – and he gave it to us. And like David, our first calling is to receive what he has built for us, and then to respond by desiring to glorify him.
THE COVENANT PROMISES IN ETERNITY:
God has promised us much. And at the return of Jesus all will reach fulfillment: all that was promised to Abraham and David, all that was accomplished through Christ, all that God intended for Adam.
What does that look like?
John, peering into heaven, writes:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Jesus, the son of David, sits on the throne. And a great multitude from every nation has been gathered around him.
But then the fullness comes in Revelation 21. There John tells us:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
What began with the call of Abraham, and took on more detail in God’s covenant with David not only sets a framework for us to live our lives in – it is a picture of our eternal hope, and our eternal home.
For there we will be joined together with God’s people: a vast multitude beyond which any could number.
There we will live forever in God’s place: a new heaven and a new earth.
There we will be safe forever under God’s protection – with every one of our enemies, including sin, Satan, and death, wiped away forever.
And there we will dwell forever before the face of our Maker, and in the presence of our Eternal King.
That is the hope we have.
That s the promise we’ve been given.
Let us trust God’s word to us, and give him thanks.
Just as David did.
Amen.
—
This sermon draws on material from:
Alter, Robert. The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.
Bartholomew, Craig G., and Michael W. Goheen. The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story. Second Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014.
Leithart, Peter J. A House for My Name. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2000.
Leithart, Peter J. A Son to Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2003.
Williams, Michael D. Far as the Curse is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2005.