Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
Although my house be not so with God. Between his prediction of the beneficent effects of this Ruler's government and its destructive influences on his enemies, David throws in a parenthetical clause, relating to himself, which has been sadly marred in our translation. "The light of the morning" - i:e., the beginning of David's kingdom-was, unlike the clear, brilliant dawn of an Eastern day, overcast by many black and threatening clouds. Neither himself nor his family had been like the tender grass springing up from the ground, and flourishing by the united influences of the sun and rain; but rather like the grass that withereth, and is prematurely cut down. The meaning is, that although David's house had not flourished in an uninterrupted course of worldly prosperity and greatness, according to his hopes-although great crimes and calamities had beclouded his family history-some of the moot promising branches of the royal tree had been cut down in his lifetime-and many of his successors should suffer in like manner for their personal sins-although many reverses and revolutions may overtake his race and his kingdom-yet it was to him a subject of the highest joy and thankfulness that God will inviolably maintain His covenant with His family until the advent of His greatest Son, the Messiah, who was the special object of his desire, and the author of his salvation.
This is the common view of the passage-a view, however, encumbered by so many and so great difficulties as necessitates its abandonment. It represents David, whose doting fondness for his sons rendered him blind to their errors and crimes, as making a strong assertion to their disadvantage; as acknowledging his painful conviction that they were far from exemplifying the attributes of character that were symbolized by the morning sun and the springing of the tender grass; and selfishly congratulating himself, that though his house might be excluded from the blessings of the Great Ruler's government, he would personally enjoy them to the utmost extent of his wishes. It is opposed to the tenor of the context, which guarantees the fulfillment of the covenant promise, not to David personally so much as to his posterity; not to his family but to his house, his dynasty (see 2 Samuel 7:11-16); so that it obviously could not be his intention to draw a picture that would be flattering to himself and disadvantageous to his house, or to admit the one, but exclude the other from the blessings of the promise. Besides, it rests upon an unsound philological basis; because it has given to the Hebrew conjunction х kiy (H3588), for], which stands at the commencement of the four clauses in 2 Samuel 23:5, as many different significations-although, yet, for, and although a second time. A word which is forced to play so many parts for the purpose of supporting a particular view is evidently perverted from its proper use; whereas, let it bear its legitimate sense, at the same time giving to the first and last clauses an interrogative form, and the several parts of the verse will appear to harmonize with each other, as well as with the context.
`For is not my house so with God? For He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; For this is all my salvation, and all my desire: For will He not make it (namely, my house) to grow?'
'Is not my house so with God?' - i:e., my dynasty bearing a resemblance to the morning sun and the luxuriant growth of the grass after a seasonable shower; and that his own reign, and that of many of his royal successors on the throne of Judah, did wonderfully approximate in spirit and in beneficent influence to that of the Messiah, the course of the sacred history relating to David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, etc., abundantly attests.
An everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, х `ªruwkaah (H6186)] - arranged, confirmed in all ways. 'The extent to which all interposing obstacles were excluded, or rather had been considered and calculated beforehand, appears especially from 2 Samuel 7:14-15, according to which even the most fatal of all interpositions, the apostasy of the bearers of the covenant, should not destroy the covenant-should not annul the gracious promise made to the race' (Hengstenberg).
And sure, х uwshmuraah (H8104)] - and kept, carefully observed; i:e., inviolable, because guarded by Him who is "the faithful God, keeping covenant and mercy" (Deuteronomy 7:9; Daniel 9:4: cf. 1 Kings 8:25). The concluding verses of the prophecy exhibit the destructive effects of the ruler's government on his enemies, (cf. 2 Samuel 22:38; also Psalms 2:1-12.)