(4) В¶ And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, (5) Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? (6) Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. (7) In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?
How beautiful a view do these verses afford, of the Lord's watching over his people. No doubt, the Lord inclined the heart of David to this intention, for the preparations of the heart are from the Lord. And by thus awakening in David's heart this desire, it tended to open this gracious communication from God to him. The Lord was pleased with the intention, as we find it is recorded, 1 Kings 8:18, but would not allow the deed. The Lord had other work for his servant; he would permit him to make preparations for the temple, and the temple-service, in laying up gold and silver for the expenses of the building, and in composing psalms and hymns for the service; but his son Solomon, as a type of Jesus, was to be the builder. See Hebrews 3:4. Observe, with what wonderful grace and condescension the Lord speaks of himself, in that the Ark, the symbol of his presence, had been within a poor tent and tabernacle. Reader! do not overlook the sweet and precious spiritual sense of this blessed truth. Our nature is indeed a poor and wretched tent and tabernacle; and yet Jesus made it his dwelling, when he came to tabernacle among us. Precious Lord! thou hast dwelt in no other; thou dost now dwell in no other; but in the heart of every poor sinner whom thou hast brought out of the spiritual Egypt of our fallen state. Leviticus 26:11-12. compared with 2 Corinthians 6:16.