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2 Samuel 7 Bible study: The LORD will make you a house
David spoke of the house he lived in and the curtains God's ark was in; the LORD answered that he would make David a house. One Hebrew word, bayit, carries David's house of cedar, the house for the LORD's name and the house the LORD will make for David, 15 times in this one chapter, more than in any other chapter of 1 or 2 Samuel.
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“Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD; and he said, “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?”
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“In 2 Samuel 7, the LORD says that he will make David a house.”
Is that in 2 Samuel 7, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Rest, and then a house
The chapter opens in a quiet moment: "When the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies all around" (7:1) (tap rest). Moses had told Israel what would come with rest: "he gives you rest from all your enemies around you" (Deuteronomy 12:10), "then it shall happen that to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there" (Deuteronomy 12:11), they were to bring their offerings. 2 Samuel doesn't cite Deuteronomy here; the two are set side by side. At rest, David says to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but God’s ark dwells within curtains" (7:2) (tap house). He doesn't say what he means to do. Nathan answers, "Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you" (7:3). Years later Solomon says what it was: "Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel" (1 Kings 8:17).
Where it leads to Jesus
I will be his father
2 Samuel 7:14leads toHebrews 1:5
"I will be his father, and he will be my son" (7:14). 1 Chronicles 17:13 has the same words. Hebrews speaks of the Son by whom God "has at the end of these days spoken to us" (Hebrews 1:2), and asks, "For to which of the angels did he say at any time" (Hebrews 1:5) the two sayings it then gives; the second is "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son" (Hebrews 1:5). Hebrews quotes only the first half of 7:14; the verse goes on, "If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men" (7:14).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 2 Samuel 7
That was a taste
The rest of 2 Samuel 7 is waiting in Favor
- Who builds whom a house?
- The promise
- "Who am I?"
- Chronicles tells it too
- A sure house
- The promise remembered
- 11 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
בַּיִתbayitsay BA-yit
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "house", and also "household, family". In Hebrew it comes 15 times in this chapter, more than in any other chapter of 1 or 2 Samuel, and the WEB gives "house" every time. It is David's own house (7:1-2), the house the LORD asks about, "Should you build me a house for me to dwell in?" (7:5), and the house David's offspring will build, "He will build a house for my name" (7:13). And it is the house the LORD will make for David: "the LORD will make you a house" (7:11), "Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you" (7:16). David takes the word into his prayer, "what is my house" (7:18), and ends with it twice, "to bless the house of your servant" and "Let the house of your servant be blessed forever with your blessing" (7:29). Jonathan had asked David, "you shall also not cut off your kindness from my house forever" (1 Samuel 20:15).
For your group
2 Samuel 7 Bible study questions
- 1David was settled in his house, at rest from his enemies, when he spoke of God's ark in curtains (7:1-2). When your life is finally settled, where does your heart turn?
- 2The LORD reminded David, "I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep" (7:8). Where were you when God found you, and what does it do to you to remember it?
- 3David asked, "Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?" (7:18). Looking back, how far has God brought you, and what would you say to him about it?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Samuel 7 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home