2 Samuel 7 · a question people ask
Is the son in 7:12-16 Solomon, or Jesus?
The chapter doesn't name him. It speaks of "your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body" (7:12), who "will build a house for my name" (7:13). Chronicles names Solomon: "for his name shall be Solomon" (1 Chronicles 22:9). Hebrews takes the first half of 7:14 for the Son: "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son" (Hebrews 1:5). Hebrews quotes only the first half. The second half, "If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men" (7:14), isn't quoted in the New Testament, and 1 Chronicles 17:13 tells the promise without it. Christians read how these fit together in two main ways. Both agree that Hebrews speaks the first half of 7:14 of the Son, and that Hebrews says of him, "yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Solomon first, and then Jesus
Those who read it this way take the offspring of 7:12-13 as Solomon first. Chronicles has the LORD say of him, "He shall build a house for my name; and he will be my son, and I will be his father" (1 Chronicles 22:10), and when the house is built Solomon says, "I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel" (1 Kings 8:20). On this reading the chastening words of 7:14 belong to Solomon, and the promise's "forever" (7:13, 7:16) reaches past him to Jesus, of whom Hebrews says, "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son" (Hebrews 1:5).
1 Chronicles 22:9-10 · 1 Kings 8:20 · 2 Samuel 7:13-16 · Hebrews 1:5
David's line, kept in Jesus
Those who read it this way take "your offspring" (7:12) as David's line of sons, not one son only; the Hebrew word, zera, is used both of one child (Genesis 4:25) and of many (Genesis 15:5). A psalm retells the promise this way: "I will establish your offspring forever, and build up your throne to all generations" (Psalm 89:4). It speaks of "his children" (Psalm 89:30): "then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes" (Psalm 89:32), "But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him" (Psalm 89:33). On this reading the chastening falls on the kings of David's line who sin, and the throne that stands "forever" (7:16) is the one Gabriel says Jesus will be given: "The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David" (Luke 1:32).
2 Samuel 7:12 · Genesis 4:25 · Genesis 15:5 · Psalm 89:4 · Psalm 89:30-33 · 2 Samuel 7:16 · Luke 1:32
The verses
“When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men;”
“Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of peace. I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days.”
“I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will not take my loving kindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you;”
“For to which of the angels did he say at any time, “You are my Son. Today I have become your father?” and again, “I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?””