Second Friday of Advent
Reflection: Friday, Day 13 of Advent
Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan,“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (2 Samuel 7:1-17)
David wants to give God something—not out of a sense of compulsion or the desire to show off, but out of an overflow of love he has for God. He doesn’t think it proper for the Lord to be housed in a tent while he lives in an expensive, cedar-paneled house.
Rather than accept David’s gift of a house, however, the Lord tells David that he will build him a house—in the sense of a dynasty. This house that God builds David will last forever. David is overcome in response, for it was he who wanted to give something to God, but instead he has received a promise that no other king in the history of the world could have hoped for. Everyone knows that dynasties, cities, and countries fail eventually.
David, God seems to be saying, cannot give God anything, cannot shelter or stabilize God. It is God from whom every gift comes, and God who always gives more to us than we can possibly repay. David rejoices at this fact. He is humbled by this fact.
God promises David a son who will sit on his throne, and to most readers of 2 Samuel and the books that follow, God’s promise is fulfilled in Solomon, the great and wise king who ruled Israel during its golden age in the midst of unprecedented peace and prosperity. It is Solomon who ends up building a temple for the Lord (though readers are again reminded that he doesn’t need it, because not even heaven or the highest heaven can contain him).
“David, God seems to be saying, cannot give God anything, cannot shelter or stabilize God. It is God from whom every gift comes, and God who always gives more to us than we can possibly repay. David rejoices at this fact. He is humbled by this fact. ”
Yet the throne of Solomon’s kingdom is very clearly not established forever—at least not in any traditional way. Solomon himself dies, Israel is split into two, of which only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin endure, and even Judah loses the right to govern itself. This is why it is common for Christians to point out that—just as God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled not only through Isaac but through Christ who descended from Isaac, so his promise to David is fulfilled not only through Solomon, but through Christ who descended from Solomon. For, as one of the New Testament writers has said, “All of the promises of God are ‘yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Christ.”
One part of this passage that I stumble over is the bit about God correcting the King to come when he commits iniquity. This doesn’t work if it simply and solely predicts Christ, for Christ, being sinless, shouldn’t need correction. I think this is part of the reason we need to take an expansive view of this passage—it does refer to Solomon, and to the Judaic dynasty of David that will follow Solomon. But it is fulfilled in Christ, who descends, through Mary, from David, and whose kingdom does not and will not end, covering the entire world and lasting eternally. It also applies to all of us—those who, through Christ, become heirs both of God and his promises. God will correct us when we err as well, out of his love for David and the Son of David.
And here is the really fascinating thing: It is through the house which God builds him that David does actually give God something: It is through his line that God becomes Man, even as he makes a manger his first bed because Joseph and Mary have to travel to the City of David to be taxed by another earthly king, and then proceeds to live his life on earth with “no place to rest his head.” Yet for all eternity, long after all worldly fame has vanished like vapor, God the Son will still be human—resurrected, but clothed in the flesh bequeathed to him by David and his descendants. God’s great gift to David, then, was to allow him to give him a human body. And so, in a way, David does give God an everlasting house, a kingdom that will endure.
Advent
Activities
Most of you have and are purchasing Christmas gifts for an assortment of people: parents, children, friends, family, coworkers. Consider saying a prayer over each gift as you wrap it for this person. Remember that your giving itself is symbolic of the deep and unmatchable gift of God’s love for you.
- Consider giving gifts that are deeply symbolic to you or to your relationship with your friend.
- We have a gift guide that attaches themes of the twelve days of Christmas to the gifts we give. And each year, we use those themes to help guide our purchases for Christmas gifts. We’ve enjoyed this aspect of the twelve days, since it gives a clear arc with a variety of themes for the feasting of twelve days.
Taken from the daily office
Daily Scripture & Prayer
First Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1–17(ESV)
Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Taken from the Book of Common Prayer
Literature
“In the Bleak Midwinter,” by Christina Rossetti
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part
Song
Ryan Ellis, “Son of David”
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