And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.
And now, O God, of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. The reference is to the great promise, 2 Samuel 7:11-14. It was made to David before Solomon was born. It began to be verified at his birth, and still more on his completion of the temple, when the glory of the Lord was visible in it; but it pointed to a far greater, nobler, and more extensive kingdom than was embraced by the dominion of that magnificent monarch, happy and extensive as his dominion was (1 Kings 4:20-21). He had probably been taught by his pious father, who had made him well acquainted with that promise, 'to extend his views of it unto the distant future; and indeed he appears,from his language used here - "will God indeed dwell on the earth?" - to have been conscious that his own achievements were unable to exhaust the fullness of its meaning. For, from the announcement of that promise, the Messiah was expected as the king, the king of Israel, exalted on the throne of David, and in virtue of His close communion with the Lord Yahweh, an object of universal reverence, exercising justice and dispensing mercy to the various families of man' (Hardwick, 'Christ and other Masters,' 1:, p. 146).