Promises
to David: FRD
When the writer of Kings writes this history there are different
purposes that he has in mind. One purpose is to complete the narrative that was
begun in 1 Samuel: the story of the
1 Kings 1-11 deals with the reign of Solomon. The first chapter and a
half focuses on the transfer of the kingdom from David to Solomon. So we could
call the first division, the first eleven chapters, God provides for the
transition of the kingship from David to Solomon in fulfilment of the Davidic
covenant. That is what these first eleven chapters focus on. In the narrative
of the Old Testament God is the hero, the one ultimately acting behind the
scenes and bringing things out the way they are. So it is not just a matter of
the fact that there is a transition of kingship but that we see God at work.
Even though God is not mentioned in this chapter and a half we can’t read the
chapter and a half without thinking about the Davidic covenant that lies behind
everything that is going on there, and we see how God works through people and
through circumstances to bring about His will despite human opposition. So in
the first eleven chapters we see God providing for the transition from David to
Solomon in fulfilment of the Davidic covenant. The first part of that is God
providing for the transfer of the kingdom from David to Solomon, fr0om 1:1 to
In the first four verses we get into the situation where David is older,
he is a bit senile, not on top of his game, and down to the end of the chapter
we don’t see David as the subject of an active voice verb. He is very passive,
he is old, he is not engaged, he has lost his health, his body can’t generate
enough warmth, so in the first four verses we have the provision of Abishag to
provide warmth to the king. In the midst of that we discover that there is a
coup, and by the fifth verse we are introduced to that coup from Adonijah who
seeks to secure the throne for himself, and how Nathan and Bathsheba then come
in to make the king aware. All of a sudden we see David wake up, the matter
catches his attention, and we see the spark of his old leadership ability and focus
as he immediately realises what is happening. When Nathan and Bathsheba come
into the throne room to make David aware of what Adonijah is doing, at that
moment Adonijah has half the city of
One of the things we need to keep pointing out as we get into this
section is the major doctrines that need to be brought out. There are three
central doctrines that form a backdrop to the first chapter and a half. The
first has to do with the promise of God. The promise of God here is anchored in
the Davidic covenant, so we have to understand the Davidic covenant and the
promise God made to David in that context so that we can understand that when
David realises what is happening and he begins to give orders as to the
anointing of Solomon as king he is doing that in response and in reliance upon
the promise of God—otherwise known as the faith-rest drill. He knows what God
has promised and he is relying upon that and so he takes the appropriate
action.
The second things we see, a very important doctrine, is the guidance of
God behind the scenes. God is behind the scenes in order to stop this coup by
Adonijah. How Nathan found out about the attempted coup, how he comes to
Bathsheba and how they approach the king, show how God is working behind the
scenes. God works through circumstances and behind the scenes though His name
isn’t mentioned as directly engaged in any of these events. David is simply
reminded of what is going on and David then applies the Word to the situation.
The third thing is the faithfulness of God. It is very important that we
will see again and again throughout the book of Kings that God is faithful to
His covenant promises in the Mosaic covenant, both to bless and to curse, to
provide gracious blessing and to provide judgment.
Deuteronomy is Moses’ parting message, his last sermon, his farewell
address to the Israelites on the plains of Moab as they are about to cross over
the Jordan under the generalship of Joshua into the land the God has promised
them. As part of his final address to them he reminds them of the stipulations
of the Mosaic law, and he rehearses and summarises the Mosaic law in
Deuteronomy. When he comes to the end he reminds them that the Mosaic covenant
is a conditional covenant that includes both promises of blessings and promises
of coursings, promises of grace and promises of judgments dependent upon what
they do.
Deuteronomy 28:1 NASB “Now it shall be, if you diligently
obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you
today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.” When we
read that it is a reminder of Isaiah chapter two which is a Millennial kingdom
passage where God promise
Deuteronomy 28:2 NASB “All these blessings will come upon you
and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God.”
Discipline:
1. Discipline is,
verse 15 NASB “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to
observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you
today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” The next
verse from 16 down through 28 all outlines these curses. They mirror the same
blessings of verse 3 down through 13.
2. The curses are the
opposite of the blessings in verses 16-20 and then are expanded after that in
vv. 21ff. Deuteronomy 28:21 NASB “The LORD will make the pestilence
cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to
possess it.”
3. The curse involved
a loss of productivity, a loss of fertility, an increase of disease, increase
of financial troubles, and military defeat. Deuteronomy 28:25 NASB “The
LORD shall cause you to
be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you
will flee seven ways before them, and you will be {an example of} terror to all
the kingdoms of the earth.”
4. The military defeat
would result in oppression and removal from the land. This is what we see as
the fifth cycle of discipline in Leviticus 26.
5. The spiritual
purpose for this is stated in vv. 28, 45-48. If they don’t obey all of these
curses will overtake them. Verse 46: “They shall become a sign and a wonder on
you and your descendants forever.”
6. They are told that
a foreign enemy will come whose language they will not understand, v. 49: “The LORD will bring a
nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops
down, a nation whose language you shall not understand.” This is the background
for the tongues passage when Isaiah talks about the fact that they would hear a
people speak in languages they didn’t know. It would be a sign of conquest;
they were being disciplined. The same passage is being picked up by the apostle
Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 to state the purpose for the gift of tongues. It
wasn’t to evangelise. The fact that they heard the Word of God taught in
languages other than Hebrew was a sign that God was about to judge them and
take them out of the land.
7. The result is that
they would be left few in number. Deuteronomy 28:62 NASB “Then you
shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of
heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God. [64] Moreover, the LORD will scatter you
among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and
there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers
have not known.
8. The details of how
the land will be abused are then described in chapter 29.
9. When we come to
chapter 30 it describes the restoration of
To understand that is to understand why things
happen the way they do in I & II Kings.
The next thing we have to be aware of in terms of background is the
Davidic covenant. This is outlined by God in 2 Samuel 7:12-15. One word of
caution. When reading through 2 Samuel and we read in chapter six where David
moves the ark back to
It is the giving of the Davidic covenant where God secures the promise
to Solomon. It is important to understand that in 1 Chronicles 22 when David
talks about his desire to build the temple for the Lord he recognises that God
gave him a promise and told him that Solomon would succeed him long before that
actually happened. In the first five
verses of 1 Chronicles 22 David has been talking about his desire to build a
house for the Lord. He knows that God has prevented that but he wants to
prepare things for his son to build the temple.
1 Chronicles 22:6 NASB “Then he called for his son Solomon,
and charged him to build a house for the LORD God of
Some observations
1. The promise was
given before Solomon was born and before the Davidic covenant was given in 2
Samuel 7.
2. The promise
specifies Solomon as the heir.
3. The promise
specifies that Solomon would build the temple.
4. In 1 Chronicles
5. Since Solomon and
all who followed him failed spiritually these promises had to point to someone
greater than Solomon, someone who could actually do one hundred per cent
obedience.
6. What we see here is
a promise of God in the Davidic covenant that instead of David building a house
for God, God is going to build a dynasty for David.
In 2 Samuel 7 what we see is that the Davidic covenant is an outgrowth
of the Abrahamic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant promised a land, seed, and
blessing. The land was expanded in Deuteronomy 30 in the land covenant, the
seed is going to be expanded in the Davidic covenant, and this terminology is
picked up in 2 Samuel chapter seven. It is literally “the seed of your loins”
is going to receive the blessing. The English doesn’t use specific terminology
but the Hebrew does and ties it right back to the seed promise. The new
covenant will fulfil the blessing aspect.
When we come to the Davidic covenant we have key Scripture in 2 Samuel
7:11-14; 1 Chronicles 17:10-14; Psalm 89. The persons involved are God and
David. God is party of the first part and David is the party of the second
part. In the Old Testament there is two types of covenant. One covenant is
called a suzerain vassal treaty; the other is called a royal grant. The vassal
treaty was designed to induce the obedience of a vassal and to protect the
rights of the suzerain. But a royal grant is a grace gift, a reward given by
the king to a loyal and faithful servant. The Adamic, Noahic and the Abrahamic
covenants were all royal grants. They are designed to protect the right of the
servant and to expand them as a reward for faithful obedience. That is what the
Davidic covenant is.