The extent to which this prophecy of Nathan bears the character of a fundamental one, appears from the circumstance that almost every word of the verse under review has called forth an echo in later times. נאמן _sure_, _certain_, _constant_, occurs again in Ps. lxxxix. 29, compared with ver. 38, and in Is. lv. 3. The _sure_ (_constant_) mercies of David, spoken of in the last of these passages, shall be bestowed upon the people of the covenant, in the coming of Christ, by which the perpetuity of the house of David was most fully manifested. The נכון, _constant_, _firm_, occurs in Mic. iv. 1, and the לעולם, _for ever_, in Ps. lxxii. 17, lxxxix. 37, xlv. 7, and cx. 4. The saying of the people in John xii. 34, ἡμεῖς ἠκούσαμεν ἐκ τοῦ νόμου ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, refers, in the first instance, to our passage, and all the other texts quoted may be considered as a commentary. It is certainly not the result of mere accident, that the twelve verses of Nathan's prophecy are divided into two sections of seven and of five verses respectively, and that the former again is subdivided into sections of three and four verses. Its closing [Pg 143] words, "The Lord will make thee an house," are farther expanded in vers. 12-16. We subjoin to the exposition of Nathan's prophecy, that of David's prayer of thanks, because, by means of the thanks, the promise itself is more clearly brought out. The Lord has done great things for His servant in his low estate, and has promised things still more glorious, vers. 18-21. By doing such glorious things to His servant, He has manifested Himself as a faithful God, in harmony with His revelations in ancient times, vers. 22-24. The thanksgivings for the promise are followed in vers. 25-29 by a prayer for its fulfilment, intermingled with expressions of hope. As the promise was expressed in twelve verses, so are the thanks. These twelve verses are again divided into seven and five, and the seven into four and three. The name of Jehovah occurs twelve times. Ten times is the address directed to Jehovah. Once He is addressed by the simple name of Jehovah, six times by that of Adonai Jehovah, twice by that of Jehovah Elohim, and once by that of Jehovah Zebaoth. The address, Adonai Jehovah, occurs at the beginning and the close. The third division first takes up the name of God which is used in the second, and returns, at the close, to that which is used in the first division. In the parallel passage in Chronicles, Jehovah occurs seven times, and Elohim three times.--Ten times the servant of the Lord is mentioned in David's prayer, and seven times, the house of David. The servant of the Lord occurs three times in vers. 18-21, and seven times in vers. 25-29; the house of David twice in 18-21, and five times in vers. 25-29. In vers. 22-24, where the manifestation of the mercies to David are brought into connection with the glorious revelations of God in ancient times, neither the servant nor the house is mentioned.