2 Samuel 7:14

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) If he commit iniquity.—The promise has plainly in view a human successor or successors of David upon his throne; and yet it also promises the establishment of David’s kingdom FOREVER by an emphatic threefold repetition (2Samuel 7:13; 2Samuel 7:16), which can only be fulfilled, and has always been understood as to be fulfilled, in the Messiah. There is a similar promise of a prophet, human and yet more than human, in Deuteronomy 18:15-22, and the explanation in both cases is the same. The Divine word looks forward to a long succession of human prophets or heads of the theocracy who should for the time being, and as far as might be, fill the place of the true Prophet and King, all culminating at last in Him who should fully make known the Father’s will and reign over His people, of “whose kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33).

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 7:14. I will be his father — I will carry myself toward him as a father, with all affection, and I will own him as my son. This is intended both of Solomon, as a type of Christ, and of Christ himself, as is evident from Hebrews 1:5. If he commit iniquity — This agrees only to Solomon and some others of David’s posterity, but not to Christ, who never committed iniquity, as Solomon did; who therein was no type of Christ, and therefore this branch of the text is terminated in Solomon; whereas, in those things wherein Solomon was a type of Christ, the sense passes through Solomon to Christ. With the rod of men — With such rods as are gentle and moderate, and suited to man’s weakness. This implies that God would punish that seed of David, in whom his kingdom was to be established, with such correction as parents give their children, in case he should fall away and commit iniquity; and not punish him with that exact severity which his sins might deserve, nor entirely cut him and his posterity off from the kingdom, as he had done Saul. And God accordingly performed this for some ages, till the time arrived when it was proper and beneficial to make a change, not only in regard to the family of David, but to the whole Hebrew nation, which was to produce a greater good, not only to them, but to the whole human race, namely, the establishment of Christ’s kingdom. Thus does God work to produce a greater and still greater good to mankind, and gives far better things than he has promised.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:4-17 Blessings are promised to the family and posterity of David. These promises relate to Solomon, David's immediate successor, and the royal line of Judah. But they also relate to Christ, who is often called David and the Son of David. To him God gave all power in heaven and earth, with authority to execute judgment. He was to build the gospel temple, a house for God's name; the spiritual temple of true believers, to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. The establishing of his house, his throne, and his kingdom for ever, can be applied to no other than to Christ and his kingdom: David's house and kingdom long since came to an end. The committing iniquity cannot be applied to the Messiah himself, but to his spiritual seed; true believers have infirmities, for which they must expect to be corrected, though they are not cast off.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will be his father ... - In marginal reference the equivalent expressions are applied to David. In Hebrews 1:5, this text is applied to Christ. But in 1 Chronicles 17:13; 1 Chronicles 22:9-10; 1 Chronicles 28:6, it is expressly appropriated to Solomon.

With the rod of men ... - i. e. such a chastisement as men inflict upon their children, to correct and reclaim them, not to destroy them. The whole clause is omitted in 1 Chronicles 17:13.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever—This declaration referred, in its primary application, to Solomon, and to the temporal kingdom of David's family. But in a larger and sublimer sense, it was meant of David's Son of another nature (Heb 1:8). [See on [270]1Ch 17:14.]

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will carry myself towards him as becomes a father, with all affection and tenderness, and I will own him its my son. This is intended both of Solomon, as a type of Christ; and of Christ himself, as is evident from Hebrews 1:5.

If he commit iniquity: this agrees only to Solomon and some others of David’s posterity; but not to Christ, who never committed iniquity, as Solomon did, who therein was no type of Christ and therefore this branch is terminated in Solomon; whereas in those things wherein Solomon was a type of Christ, the sense passeth through Solomon unto Christ.

With the rod of men; either, first. With such rods as men use to correct their sons, or to beat other men; which are here opposed to the rods or strokes which an angry God inflicts. See, Job 23:6 Psalm 39:11 Isaiah 47:3 Romans 9:22 Hebrews 10:31 12:29. Or, secondly, With such rods as are gentle and moderate, and suited to man’s weakness; as a tolerable and resistible temptation is called human, or common to men, 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I will be his father, and he shall be my son,.... That is, I will be as kind unto him, and careful of him, as a father of a son; or he shall be, and appear to be my son, by adopting grace, as no doubt Solomon was, notwithstanding all his failings. This is applied to Christ, the antitypical Solomon, who was, in an higher sense, the Son of God, even by natural and eternal generation; see Hebrews 1:5,

if he commit iniquity; which cannot be supposed of Christ; for though he was made sin by imputation, he neither knew nor did any, but may be supposed of his spiritual offspring, whom he represented as an head and surety, as of Solomon, who committed many sins and transgressions:

I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; either with men themselves, as Hadad the Edomite, Rezon the son of Eliadah, and Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by all whom he was afflicted and distressed, after he felt into idolatry, 1 Kings 11:14; or with such rods and stripes as men correct their children with, not to destroy them, but to chastise them for their good; and so the phrases denote humane, kind, gentle, moderate corrections given in love, and which answer some good purposes.

Geneva Study Bible

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the {f} rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

(f) That is, gently, as fathers use to chastise their children.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. I will be his father and he shall be my son] The nation of Israel is honoured with the lofty title of “Jehovah’s son” (Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 14:1; Hosea 11:1); and the king, as the representative of the nation, enjoys the same distinction. This relationship implies, on the part of God, the watchful care and love of a parent; on the part of the king, the duty of loyal trust and willing obedience. Cp. Psalm 89:26-27, where similar expressions are applied to David; Psalm 2:7; and 1 Chronicles 22:9-10; 1 Chronicles 28:6, where David quotes this promise in reference to Solomon. It finds its highest fulfilment in the mysterious eternal relationship between God the Father and Christ the Son, with reference to which these words are quoted in Hebrews 1:5. See Introd. p. 43.

If he commit, &c.] A warning that this high dignity will not exempt him from the danger of sin nor from its punishment. He will be chastised, if need be, as men chastise their children to correct and reclaim them. Cp. Psalm 89:30-33, and 1 Kings 11:34-36; 1 Kings 11:39.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - I will be his Father, and he shall be my son. Between father and son there is not only love, but oneness. Whatsoever the father hath, that belongs also to the son by natural right. But this sonship is magnified in the Psalms beyond the measure of Solomon or any natural limits. The Son there is "the Firstborn," which Solomon was not, "higher than the kings of the earth" (Psalm 89:27); and he must have "the nations for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession" (Psalm 2:8). Psalms like the second and seventy-second belong, not to Solomon personally, but to him as the type of the prince of Peace; and they help to show us what is the true meaning and fulfilment of the words here. The rod of men; that is, such punishment as men fitly receive for their faults. David's natural posterity was to be exempt neither from human depravity, nor from punishment, nor from the changes and chances of mortal life. With them, as with men generally, there would be a tangled skein, of virtue and sin, of folly and wisdom, of terrible fall and penitent recovery. But there was to be no blotting out of David's lineage. Great earthly houses, in the long course of events, one after another become extinct, and even the tabernacle of David was to fall (Amos 9:11), but not forever. God would "raise up its ruins' in Christ, and "build it as in the days of old." So in Isaiah 9:1 there is the same thought of the complete down-hewing of David's earthly lineage, yet only to rise again to nobler life and vigour, in the Branch, or Sucker, that was to spring from the fallen trunk. 2 Samuel 7:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me; so that if he go astray, I shall chastise him with rods of men, and with strokes of the children of men (i.e., not 'with moderate punishment, such as parents are accustomed to inflict,' as Clericus explains it, but with such punishments as are inflicted upon all men who go astray, and from which even the seed of David is not to be excepted). But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I caused it to depart from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for ever." It is very obvious, from all the separate details of this promise, that it related primarily to Solomon, and had a certain fulfilment in him and his reign. On the death of David, his son Solomon ascended the throne, and God defended his kingdom against the machinations of Adonijah (1 Kings 2:12); so that Solomon was able to say, "The Lord hath fulfilled His word that He spoke; for I have risen up in the stead of my father David," etc. (1 Kings 8:20). Solomon built the temple, as the Lord said to David (1 Kings 6:1; 1 Kings 8:15.). But in his old age Solomon sinned against the Lord by falling into idolatry; and as a punishment for this, after his death his kingdom was rent from his son, not indeed entirely, as one portion was still preserved to the family for David's sake (1 Kings 11:9.). Thus the Lord punished him with rods of men, but did not withdraw from him His grace. At the same time, however unmistakeable the allusions to Solomon are, the substance of the promise is not fully exhausted in him. The threefold repetition of the expression "for ever," the establishment of the kingdom and throne of David for ever, points incontrovertibly beyond the time of Solomon, and to the eternal continuance of the seed of David. The word seed denotes the posterity of a person, which may consist either in one son or in several children, or in a long line of successive generations. The idea of a number of persons living at the same time, is here precluded by the context of the promise, as only one of David's successors could sit upon the throne at a time. On the other hand, the idea of a number of descendants following one another, is evidently contained in the promise, that God would not withdraw His favour from the seed, even if it went astray, as He had done from Saul, since this implies that even in that case the throne should be transmitted from father to son. There is still more, however, involved in the expression "for ever." When the promise was given that the throne of the kingdom of David should continue "to eternity," an eternal duration was also promised to the seed that should occupy this throne, just as in 2 Samuel 7:16 the house and kingdom of David are spoken of as existing for ever, side by side. We must not reduce the idea of eternity to the popular notion of a long incalculable period, but must take it in an absolute sense, as the promise is evidently understood in Psalm 89:30 : "I set his seed for ever, and this throne as the days of heaven." No earthly kingdom, and no posterity of any single man, has eternal duration like the heaven and the earth; but the different families of men become extinct, as the different earthly kingdoms perish, and other families and kingdoms take their place. The posterity of David, therefore, could only last for ever by running out in a person who lives for ever, i.e., by culminating in the Messiah, who lives for ever, and of whose kingdom there is no end. The promise consequently refers to the posterity of David, commencing with Solomon and closing with Christ: so that by the "seed" we are not to understand Solomon alone, with the kings who succeeded him, nor Christ alone, to the exclusion of Solomon and the earthly kings of the family of David; nor is the allusion to Solomon and Christ to be regarded as a double allusion to two different objects.

But if this is established, - namely, that the promise given to the seed of David that his kingdom should endure for ever only attained its ultimate fulfilment in Christ, - we must not restrict the building of the house of God to the erection of Solomon's temple. "The building of the house of the Lord goes hand in hand with the eternity of the kingdom" (Hengstenberg). As the kingdom endures for ever, so the house built for the dwelling-place of the Lord must also endure for ever, as Solomon said at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:13): "I have surely built Thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for Thee to abide in for ever." The everlasting continuance of Solomon's temple must not be reduced, however, to the simple fact, that even if the temple of Solomon should be destroyed, a new building would be erected in its place by the earthly descendants of Solomon, although this is also implied in the words, and the temple of Zerubbabel is included as the restoration of that of Solomon. For it is not merely in its earthly form, as a building of wood and stone, that the temple is referred to, but also and chiefly in its essential characteristic, as the place of the manifestation and presence of God in the midst of His people. The earthly form is perishable, the essence eternal. This essence was the dwelling of God in the midst of His people, which did not cease with the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, but culminated in the appearance of Jesus Christ, in whom Jehovah came to His people, and, as God the Word, made human nature His dwelling-place (ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, John 1:14) in the glory of the only-begotten Son of the Father; so that Christ could say to the Jews, "Destroy this temple (i.e., the temple of His body), and in three days I will build it up again" (John 2:19). It is with this building up of the temple destroyed by the Jews, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that the complete and essential fulfilment of our promise begins. It is perpetuated with the Christian church in the indwelling of the Father and Son through the Holy Ghost in the hearts of believers (John 14:23; 1 Corinthians 6:19), by which the church of Jesus Christ is built up a spiritual house of God, composed of living stones (1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Peter 2:5; compare 2 Corinthians 6:16; Hebrews 3:6); and it will be perfected in the completion of the kingdom of God at the end of time in the new Jerusalem, which shall come down upon the new earth out of heaven from God, as the true tabernacle of God with men (Revelation 21:1-3).

As the building of the house of God receives its fulfilment first of all through Christ, so the promise, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son," is first fully realized in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the heavenly Father (vid., Hebrews 1:5). In the Old Testament the relation between father and son denotes the deepest intimacy of love; and love is perfected in unity of nature, in the communication to the son of all that the father hath. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand (John 3:35). Sonship therefore includes the government of the world. This not only applied to Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, but also to the seed of David generally, so far as they truly attained to the relation of children of God. So long as Solomon walked in the ways of the Lord, he ruled over all the kingdoms from the river (Euphrates) to the border of Egypt (1 Kings 5:1); but when his heart turned away from the Lord in his old age, adversaries rose up against him (1 Kings 11:14., 1 Kings 11:23.), and after his death the greater part of the kingdom was rent from his son. The seed of David was chastised for its sins; and as its apostasy continued, it was humbled yet more and more, until the earthly throne of David became extinct. Nevertheless the Lord did not cause His mercy to depart from him. When the house of David had fallen into decay, Jesus Christ was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, to raise up the throne of His father David again, and to reign for ever as King over the house of Jacob (Luke 1:32-33), and to establish the house and kingdom of David for ever. - In 2 Samuel 7:16, where the promise returns to David again with the words, "thy house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever," the expression לפניך (before thee), which the lxx and Syriac have arbitrarily changed into לפני (before me), should be particularly observed. David, as the tribe-father and founder of the line of kings, is regarded either "as seeing all his descendants pass before him in a vision," as O. v. Gerlach supposes, or as continuing to exist in his descendants.