2 Samuel 7:1, commentary and pictures

The verse describes the moment when David was settled in his cedar palace in Jerusalem after the Lord had given him rest round about from his enemies. It was nearly three thousand years ago, when Israel was greatly favored, dwelling in costly cedar houses in a permanent home in the goodly land of Canaan after the nearly forty-year pilgrimage from Horeb to Jerusalem had come to an end. At that time the ark that symbolized God's presence, the mighty God and Maker of heaven and earth, still rested with no suitable dwelling place in the curtained tent or tabernacle constructed in the wilderness. There God was still worshiped with the visible emblem of His presence, the Shekinah dwelling between the cherubim, and there the ark made in the wilderness and borne through the pilgrimage still remained.

As David dwelt in his magnificent palace and looked at the costly dwellings of the city and of the settled inhabitants, he was impressed with remorse and a disturbed conscience that he lived so grandly while the ark was provided for so much more poorly. He felt that a more honorable place should be prepared for the worship of God. Out of that contrast he conceived the purpose to make Jerusalem the religious center of the nation by building a splendid and more worthy temple as a house for God to dwell in. He made his conviction known to Nathan the prophet, who at first encouraged him to carry it out.

The Lord's message through Nathan denied David the privilege of building because he had shed much blood and fought many wars and because God had a special work for him to perform. But by divine appointment in His providence He selected David's son Solomon, a man of rest, to accomplish the great work of building the house in Jerusalem. Its site was indicated and its most complete instructions were given, and Solomon afterward entered upon and carried out the plan. The Lord also promised through Nathan to establish David's house and kingdom, and David received the message with gratitude.