Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 7:1-3
Here is, I. David at rest. He sat in his house (Sa2 7:1), quiet and undisturbed, having no occasion to take the field: The Lord had given him rest round about, from all those that were enemies to his settlement in the throne, and he set himself to enjoy that rest. Though he was a man of war, he was for peace (Psa 120:7) and did not delight in war. He had not been long at rest, nor was it long before he was again engaged in war; but at present he enjoyed a calm, and he was in his element when he was sitting in his house, meditating in the law of God.
II. David's thought of building a temple for the honour of God. He had built a palace for himself and a city for his servants; and now he thinks…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 2 Samuel 7:2
I dwell in a house of cedar - That is, a house whose principal beams, ceiling, and wainscot, were cedar.
Dwelleth within curtains - Having no other residence but the tabernacle, which was a place covered with the skins of beasts, Exo 26:14.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 7:2
That the king said unto Nathan the prophet,.... This is the first time this prophet is made mention of, but often afterwards, yet who he was, and from whence he came, is not known; he appears to be a man of great piety and prudence, as well as endowed with a prophetic spirit, and was very familiar with David, and perhaps dwelt in his palace; being a man on all accounts fit for conversation with princes, to whom David imparted what he had been meditating upon in his heart. The Jews have a tradition (t) that he was the same with Jonathan the son of Shimea, the brother of David, 2 Samuel 21:21; which is not very likely:
see now, I dwell in an house of cedar; made of the cedars of Lebanon; see…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on 2 Samuel 7:1-3
Sa2 7:1-3
When David was dwelling in his house, i.e., the palace of cedar (Sa2 5:11), and Jehovah had given him rest from all his enemies round about, he said to Nathan the prophet: "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God dwelleth within the curtains." היריעה in the singular is used, In Exo 26:2., to denote the inner covering, composed of a number of lengths of tapestry sewn together, which was spread over the planks of the tabernacle, and made it into a dwelling, whereas the separate pieces of tapestry are called יריעת in the plural; and hence, in the later writers, יריעות alternates sometimes with אהל (Isa 54:2), and at other times with אהלים (Sol 1:5; Jer 4:20; Jer 49:29…
