(18) В¶ Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? (19) And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? (20) And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant. (21) For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. (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. (23) And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? (24) For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever: and thou, LORD, art become their God. (25) And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as thou hast said. (26) And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. (27) For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. (28) And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: (29) Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee: for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.
I admire the conduct of David upon this occasion. He doth not answer the prophet. He sends not back his grateful thanks by the hand, or mouth, of Nathan. His business was with the Lord himself. It would have been robbing God of his honour, and David's own soul of his joy, to have conveyed what he had to say by him, or by any man. Reader! You and I have a man, the man Christ Jesus, our precious Mediator, by whom we may offer up the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Hebrews 13:15. But then this man is God also; one with the Father, over all God blessed forever. In whom, through whom, and with whom, all prayers and praises are presented and centre. But in the days of David this glorious High Priest was not so fully known, not so clearly revealed. Observe David's words and manner in this delightful prayer. It seems as if his whole heart was turned upward, and going forth in all the affections of gratitude, love, and praise. Every part and portion in this conduct of David is interesting. He went in, it is said, before the Lord; perhaps, in before the ark. He sat down before the Lord. Like the Church, when sitting under the shadow of the tree. See Song of Solomon 2:2. The posture of solemn meditation. His whole soul occupied in the thought; in whose presence he then was. After due deliberation, not rushing at once, as the unthinking horse rusheth into the battle. David opens his mouth in prayer. How humble and lowly his beginning. What can he say? what ought he to say, by way of expressing the humblest views of himself, the highest thoughts of God? He then begins to advert to the Lord's favors; but, as if it were impossible to enumerate them, he breaks out into the admiration, that the Lord had not done with blessing him, but hath spoken of a great while to come. Swallowed up in the contemplation, he leaves the subject of the gifts to admire and adore the giver; and after praising God's glory, and expressing his veneration for the Lord God of Israel, he concludes with expressing his entire confidence in God's covenant promises, and in the assurance that the Lord will do as he hath said. Whether David saw as much as you and I do, Reader, in the prospect of the Lord Jesus, and his spiritual and eternal kingdom, I cannot take upon me to say. But to us, who are enabled to read those promises of God to his Old Testament saints, now explained in the New Testament dispensation; nothing can more fully manifest the faithfulness of Jehovah in these gracious promises; nor anything more highly calculated to confirm our faith in God's mercy through Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and Amen. 2 Corinthians 1:20.