David Expresses His Gratitude To YHWH For His Everlasting Goodness (2 Samuel 7:18-29).
The humility of David, and His recognition of his subjection to YHWH comes out in this prayer which follows up on God's promise, for he opens his prayer up by describing himself as ‘your servant' three times (2 Samuel 7:19-21), and then closes it with a sevenfold use of ‘your servant' (2 Samuel 7:25-29), the latter being somewhat similar to the sevenfold bow used when approaching Pharaoh as mentioned in the Amarna tablets, and the one clearly used among Semites in general in order to express complete submission (compare Genesis 33:3).
He similarly reveals his appreciation of YHWH, for he addresses Him six times as ‘O Lord YHWH' (four times in 2 Samuel 7:18-20, and twice in 2 Samuel 7:28-29), twice as ‘O YHWH God' (2 Samuel 7:22; 2 Samuel 7:25) and once as ‘O YHWH of Hosts' (2 Samuel 7:27). He thus makes clear that YHWH is his Overlord.
And yet it is also the prayer of one who is confident of his approach. This probably indicates the fact that he does see himself as having a priestly right to approach YHWH as ‘a priest after the order of Melchizedek', a priesthood which he saw as becoming his when he captured Jerusalem, for in it he expresses not only his own personal gratitude, but the gratitude of his whole people.
The prayer can be split into three subsections:
1). Gratitude to YHWH for what He has promised for him and his house (2 Samuel 7:18-21).
2). Wonder at what this great YHWH has done for His own people (2 Samuel 7:22-24).
3). Wonder at, and prayer for, what YHWH's purposes are for his house (2 Samuel 7:25-29).
The prayer can also be seen as in a more detailed chiastic form as follows:
Analysis.
a Then David the king went in, and remained before YHWH, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord YHWH, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” (2 Samuel 7:18).
b “And this was yet a small thing in your eyes, O Lord YHWH, but you have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this too after the manner of men, O Lord YHWH!” (2 Samuel 7:19).
c “And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord YHWH. For your word's sake, and according to your own heart, have you wrought all this greatness, to make your servant know it” (2 Samuel 7:20-21).
d “For this reason you are great, O YHWH God, for there is none like you, nor is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (2 Samuel 7:22).
e “And what one nation in the earth is like your people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people” (2 Samuel 7:23 a).
f “And to make him a name, and to do great things for you, and terrible things for your land, before your people, whom you redeem to yourself out of Egypt, from the nations and their gods?” (2 Samuel 7:23 b).
e “And you established to yourself your people Israel to be a people to yourself for ever, and you, YHWH, became their God” (2 Samuel 7:24).
d “And now, O YHWH God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, confirm you it for ever, and do as you have spoken. And let your name be magnified for ever, saying, ‘YHWH of hosts is God over Israel,' and the house of your servant David will be established before you” (2 Samuel 7:25-26).
c “For you, O YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.” Therefore has your servant found in his heart to pray this prayer to you” (2 Samuel 7:27).
b “And now, O Lord YHWH, you are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your servant” (2 Samuel 7:28).
a “Now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue for ever before you, for you, O Lord YHWH, have spoken it: and with your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed for ever” (2 Samuel 7:29).
Note that in ‘a' he declares that YHWH has brought him and his house thus far, and in the parallel he prays that it may continue before Him for ever. In ‘b' YHWH is seen as having spoken of his house for a great while to come and in the parallel He is seen as having promised this good thing to His servant. In ‘c' He has made His servant know of what is to be, and in the parallel He has revealed it clearly to His servant (note the twofold reference to ‘your servant' in each case). In ‘d' YHWH is great and there is none like Him, and in the parallel His Name is to be magnified for ever. In ‘e' Israel is unique among nations in that God has redeemed them to Himself, and in the parallel it is because He has established them to be His people for ever, and He will be their God. Centrally in ‘f' God has thereby made a name for himself and has done wondrous things for His people whom He has redeemed for Himself.