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." It was only under Solomon that the period provided for by Deut. xii. really arrived. (Compare 1 Chron. xxii. 19.) Ver. 3. "_And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee._ Ver. 4. _And it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying:_ Ver. 5. _Go and tell My servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build Me a house to dwell in?_" In ver. 5 the question is stated, the answer to which is the point at issue. In ver. 6, the exposition begins with כי, which refers to the whole of it, and not merely to the clause which immediately follows. Hitherto, the Lord has not had a fixed temple (ver. 6), nor has any such been wished for or desired by Him (ver. 7). By the grace of God, David has been raised to be ruler over the people (ver. 8), and the Lord has helped him gloriously (ver. 9), and, through him, His people (ver. 10). This mercy the Lord had already bestowed upon him, that, since the beginning of the period of the Judges, it was through him, first of all, that the people had obtained rest from all their enemies round about; but to this favour the Lord is now adding another, by announcing to him that He would make him an house (ver. 11). When David dies, his seed shall occupy the throne, and be established in the kingdom (ver. 12). It is he who shall build an house for the Lord who will establish for ever the throne of his kingdom, vers. 13-16.