2 Samuel 7:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Samuel 7:12
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
to go (causatively · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bowels
מִמֵּעֶ֑יךָmi.me.'Ei.kha
H4578
used only in plural the intestines · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
establish
וַהֲכִינֹתִ֖יva.ha.khi.no.Ti
H3559
properly · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
kingdom
מַמְלַכְתּֽוֹmam.lakh.To
H4467
dominion · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he wo…
1 Kings 2:1 Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,
1 Kings 8:20 And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as th…
Psalms 132:11-12 The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of th…
1 Chronicles 17:11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, whic…
Matthew 22:42-44 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 7:4-17
We have here a full revelation of God's favour to David and the kind intentions of that favour, the notices and assurances of which God sent him by Nathan the prophet, whom he entrusted to deliver this long message to him. The design of it is to take him off from his purpose of building the temple and it was therefore sent, 1. By the same hand that had given him encouragement to do it, lest, if it had been sent by any other, Nathan should be despised and insulted and David should be perplexed, being encouraged by one prophet and discouraged by another. 2. The same night, that Nathan might not continue long in an error nor David have his head any further filled with thoughts of that which he…
I will set up thy seed after thee, &c.--It is customary for the oldest son born after the father's succession to the throne to succeed him in his dignity as king. David had several sons by Bath-sheba born after his removal to Jerusalem (Sa2 5:14-16; compare Ch1 3:5). But by a special ordinance and promise of God, his successor was to be a son born after this time; and the departure from the established usage of the East in fixing the succession, can be accounted for on no other known ground, except the fulfilment of the divine promise.
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 7:11
The Lord - will make thee a house - Thou hast in thy heart to make me a house; I have it in my heart to make thee a house: thy family shall be built up, and shall prosper in the throne of Israel; and thy spiritual posterity shall remain for ever. God is the author of all our holy purposes, as well as of our good works, he first excites them; and if we be workers together with him, he will crown and reward them as though they were our own, though he is their sole author.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 7:12
And when thy days be fulfilled,.... The days of his life, which were appointed by the Lord for him to live, and when he had filled up the common term of man's life, as he exactly did; for he lived just seventy years, see 2 Samuel 5:4,
and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; die and be buried; for this is a phrase expressive of death, and the grave the common portion of men:
I will set up thy seed after thee; sons to succeed in the kingdom, as they did for the space of five hundred years; though here it respects one particular seed or son, even Solomon, as appears by what follows:
which shall proceed out of thy bowels; be begotten by him, and born unto him, and has regard to a future son of…
The Church Fathers
However, the tribe of Judah did not fail until he came for whom it was reserved, who did not himself sit upon a material throne, for the kingdom of Judea had now been transferred to Herod, the son of Antipater, the Ascalonite, and to his sons, who divided Judea into four provinces when Pilate was governor and Tiberius held the power over the whole Roman province. But his indestructible kingdom he calls the throne of David on which the Lord sat. He himself is "the expectation of nations," not of the least part of the world. "For there will be the root of Jesse," it is said, "and he who rises up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles will hope." "For I have placed you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." "And I shall establish," it is said, "his seed forever, and his throne as the days of the heavens."
That new dispensation, then, which is found in Christ now, will prove to be what the Creator then promised under the appellation of "the sure mercies of David," which were Christ's, inasmuch as Christ sprang from David, or rather his very flesh itself was David's "sure mercies," consecrated by religion, and "sure" after its resurrection. Accordingly the prophet Nathan, in the first [book] of Kings [Samuel], makes a promise to David for his seed, "which shall proceed," he says, "from your own body." Now, if you explain this simply of Solomon, you will send me into a fit of laughter. For David will evidently have brought forth Solomon! But is not Christ here designated the seed of David, as of that womb which was derived from David, that is, Mary's? Now, because Christ rather than any other was to build the temple of God, that is to say, a holy manhood, wherein God's Spirit might dwell as in a better temple, Christ rather than David's son Solomon was to be looked for as the Son of God. Then, again, the throne forever with the kingdom forever is more suited to Christ than to Solomon, a mere temporal king.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Human Nature Of Christ, The · Was of the seed of: David — Was of the seed of: David
King · Hereditary succession — Hereditary succession
Kings · Rendered hereditary in the family of David — Rendered hereditary in the family of David
Nathan · .His message to David concerning the building of a temple — .His message to David concerning the building of a temple
Promises Of God, The · Made to: David — Made to: David
Tabernacle · A permanent house substituted for, when the kingdom was established — A permanent house substituted for, when the kingdom was established
Temple, The First · David: Told by the prophet that Solomon should build — David: Told by the prophet that Solomon should build
Types Of Christ · Solomon — Solomon
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
After thus declining his proposal, the Lord made known His gracious purpose to David: "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts" (not only Jehovah, as in Sa2 7:5, but Jehovah Sebaoth, because He manifests himself in the following revelation as the God of the universe): "I have taken thee from the pasturage (grass-plat), behind the flock, to be prince over my people Israel; and was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and exterminated all thine enemies before thee, and so made thee, ועשׂיתי (perfect with vav consec.), a great name, ... and created a place for my people Israel, and planted them, so that they dwell in their place, and do not tremble any more (before their oppressors); and the sons of wicke…
one of your descendants . . . will build a house . . . for my name: David’s son Solomon would build the Temple; David’s personal involvement in military conflict and bloodshed disqualified him from building God’s Temple (1 Chr 22:8-9).
Rashi on 2 Samuel 7:11
And from that day that I commanded. It is connected to what preceded it, they will no longer afflict [the people] as before, i.e., before the [days of the] Judges. And as they [also] did from the days of the Judges until now.
I will give you respite. More and more until you have respite from all your enemies.
Adonoy is telling you. Today, through me [Noson], that He will establish a monarchy for you to have your son [Shlomo] sit on your throne and he will secure the monarchy for you. And it is he [Shlomo] that will build the House
