2 Samuel 7:14 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

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 (2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 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).