tion regarding the duration of his own family, which was
so readily suggested by the fate of Saul, and which must necessarily
have engaged his attention at a very early period. If he obtained the
divine sanction for the building of the temple, that question also was
thereby answered. _Further_,--It appears from ver. 12, that Solomon was
not yet born at the time when David received the promise. The
circumstance, too, that there are so many allusions to it in the Psalms
of David, proves that this promise had been already given to him at the
beginning of his reign.--One circumstance only has been adduced against
assigning to it so early a period, viz., that the event is here placed
within the time when the Lord had given David rest from all his enemies
round about. But there is not one word which affirms that this rest was
a definitive one; while, on the other hand, the contrary is alluded to
by the circumstance that the Books of Chronicles make no mention at all
of David's rest from his enemies, and is distinctly indicated by viii.
1. In 1 Chron. xiv. 17 it is said, after the account of David's victory
over the Philistines (on which event the Books of Samuel report
previous to chap. vii., viz. in v. 17-25): "And the name of David went
out into all lands, and the Lord gave his fear upon all the heathen."
This previous result was so much the more important, as the Philistines
had been, for a long time, the most dangerous enemies of Israel, and
David himself may have considered it as a definitive one,--may have
imagined this truce to be a peace,--may not have been aware that he had
yet to bear the burden of the most trying wars. Looking, then, to the
passage in Deut. xii. 10, 11--in which the choice of a place where the
Lord will cause His name to dwell, is connected with the giving of rest
from all enemies round about--he might think that the present
circumstance formed a call upon him to erect a sanctuary to [Pg 133]
the Lord.[1] But the issue (compare viii. 1) soon made it manifest to
him, that the supposition on which he proceeded was an erroneous one.
We have a tacit correction of David's mistake in 1 Kings v. 17, 18:
"Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto
the name of the Lord his God, for the wars with which they surrounded
him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. And now the
Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, and there is neither
adversary nor evil occurrence." I