2 Samuel 7:22

Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) All that we have heard with our ears.—Such expressions are common enough in all languages not only for that which has been communicated orally, but for all that has been made known in any way; the same word is used with reference to written records in Deuteronomy 4:6; 2Kings 17:14; 2Kings 18:12; 2Kings 19:16 (in Hezekiah’s prayer in reference to Sennacherib’s letter); Nehemiah 9:29; probably Esther 2:8; and in many other places. (So also the corresponding Greek word, Revelation 1:3, &c). It is therefore entirely unnecessary to suppose that David refers here only to oral tradition; he means the history of the Divine dealings with his people as recorded in their sacred books.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 7:22. Wherefore thou art great — Both in power and in goodness, as appears by the great and good things which thou hast done for me. Neither is there any God besides thee — Thus Hannah had expressed herself in her song, in which she prophesied of him, 1 Samuel 2:2; 1 Samuel 2:10. According to all that we have heard — That is, what their forefathers had reported concerning the wonders which God had done by Moses and Joshua, and in the time of the judges.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:18-29 David's prayer is full of the breathings of devout affection toward God. He had low thoughts of his own merits. All we have, must be looked upon as Divine gifts. He speaks very highly and honourably of the Lord's favours to him. Considering what the character and condition of man is, we may be amazed that God should deal with him as he does. The promise of Christ includes all; if the Lord God be ours, what more can we ask, or think of? Eph 3:20. He knows us better than we know ourselves; therefore let us be satisfied with what he has done for us. What can we say more for ourselves in our prayers, than God has said for us in his promises? David ascribes all to the free grace of God. Both the great things He had done for him, and the great things He had made known to him. All was for his word's sake, that is, for the sake of Christ the eternal Word. Many, when they go to pray, have their hearts to seek, but David's heart was found, that is, it was fixed; gathered in from its wanderings, entirely engaged to the duty, and employed in it. That prayer which is from the tongue only, will not please God; it must be found in the heart; that must be lifted up and poured out before God. He builds his faith, and hopes to speed, upon the sureness of God's promise. David prays for the performance of the promise. With God, saying and doing are not two things, as they often are with men; God will do as he hath said. The promises of God are not made to us by name, as to David, but they belong to all who believe in Jesus Christ, and plead them in his name.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Is this the manner of man - Compare 1 Chronicles 17:17. Our passage may be thus understood: But this is the law (or prerogative) of a great man to found dynasties which are to last into the far future. David expresses his astonishment that he, of such humble birth, and one so little in his own eyes, should not only be raised to the throne, but be assured of the perpetuity of the succession in his descendants, as if he were a man of high degree.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20. what can David say more unto thee?—that is, my obligations are greater than I can express.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou art great, both in power and in goodness, as appears by the great and good things which thou hast done for me,

All that we have heard with our ears; what we have heard from our parents, or out of thy word, concerning the incomparable excellency of thy majesty, and of thy works; of that I have this day eminent experience.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God,.... In his name, nature, persons, and perfections, purposes, promises, and works:

for there is none like thee; for his essence and attributes, for his greatness and goodness, for what he is in himself, for what he is to his people, and has done for them:

neither is there any God beside thee; there is but one God, the living and true God, the former and maker of all things; all others are but fictitious and factitious gods, see 1 Samuel 2:2;

according to all that we have heard with our ears; concerning what he did in the land of Egypt upon the Egyptians, and in the wilderness, in favour of the Israelites, and in the land of Canaan, by driving out the inhabitants before the people of Israel, and in the times of the judges, in raising them up to deliver his people.

Geneva Study Bible

Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. Wherefore thou art great] Since Thou hast done these great things for me, I praise Thee and acknowledge Thy greatness. Cp. Psalm 35:27; Psalm 40:16; Psalm 48:1.

for there is none like thee, &c.] Cp. Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 3:24; Deuteronomy 4:35; 1 Samuel 2:2.

according to all, &c.] David passes from the evidence of God’s greatness derived from his own experience, to the evidence afforded by the history of His dealings with Israel, handed down from father to son by oral tradition. Cp. Exodus 10:2; Deuteronomy 4:9; Psalm 44:1; Psalm 86:8-10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - Wherefore thou art great. God's goodness is to David a proof of his greatness, and he sees it displayed, not only in his dealings with himself, but also in the past history of the Jewish nation. There is in this a depth of evangelic piety. An unconverted heart would see the greatness of God in the majesty of creation, or in severe dealings with the impenitent. David saw it in acts of mercy and kindness. We look upon Elijah as the very type of sternness, yet he too recognized the presence of God in "the still small voice" of gentleness and love (1 Kings 19:13). 2 Samuel 7:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"For Thy word's sake, and according to Thy heart (and therefore not because I am worthy of such grace), has Thou done all this greatness, to make it known to Thy servant." The word, for the sake of which God had done such great things for David, must be some former promise on the part of God. Hengstenberg supposes it to refer to the word of the Lord to Samuel, "Rise up and anoint him" (1 Samuel 16:12), which is apparently favoured indeed by the parallel in the corresponding text of 1 Chronicles 17:19, "for Thy servant's sake," i.e., because Thou hast chosen Thy servant. But even this variation must contain some special allusion which does not exclude a general interpretation of the expression "for Thy word's sake," viz., an allusion to the earlier promises of God, or the Messianic prophecies generally, particularly the one concerning Judah in Jacob's blessing (Genesis 49:10), and the one relating to the ruler out of Jacob in Balaam's sayings (Numbers 24:17.), which contain the germs of the promise of the everlasting continuance of David's government. For the fact that David recognised the connection between the promise of God communicated to him by Nathan and Jacob's prophecy in Genesis 49:10, is evident from 1 Chronicles 28:4, where he refers to his election as king as being the consequence of the election of Judah as ruler. "According to Thine own heart" is equivalent to "according to Thy love and grace; for God is gracious, merciful, and of great kindness and truth" (Exodus 34:6, compare Psalm 103:8). גּדוּלה does not mean great things, but greatness.

The praise of God commences in 2 Samuel 7:22 : "wherefore Thou art great, Jehovah God; and there is not (one) like Thee, and no God beside Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears." By the word "wherefore," i.e., because Thou hast done this, the praise of the singleness of God is set forth as the result of David's own experience. God is great when He manifests the greatness of His grace to men, and brings them to acknowledge it. And in these great deeds He proves the incomparable nature of His Deity, or that He alone is the true God. (For the fact itself, compare Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 3:24; Deuteronomy 4:35.)