2 Samuel 7

12. I will set up thy seed after thee, &c.--It is customary for the oldest son born after the father's succession to the throne to succeed him in his dignity as king. David had several sons by Bath-sheba born after his removal to Jerusalem ( 2 Samuel 5:14-16 ; compare 1 Chronicles 3:5 ). But by a special ordinance and promise of God, his successor was to be a son born after this time; and the departure from the established usage of the East in fixing the succession, can be accounted for on no other known ground, except the fulfilment of the divine promise.

13. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever--This declaration referred, in its primary application, to Solomon, and to the temporal kingdom of David's family. But in a larger and sublimer sense, it was meant of David's Son of another nature ( Hebrews 1:8 ).

2 Samuel 7:18-29 . DAVID'S PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING.

18. Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord--Sitting was anciently an attitude for worship ( Exodus 17:12 , 1 Samuel 4:13 , 1 Kings 19:4 ). As to the particular attitude David sat, most probably, upon his heels. It was the posture of the ancient Egyptians before the shrines; it is the posture of deepest respect before a superior in the East. Persons of highest dignity sit thus when they do sit in the presence of kings and it is the only sitting attitude assumed by the modern Mohammedans in their places and rites of devotion.

19. is this the manner of man, O Lord God?--that is, is it customary for men to show such condescension to persons so humble as I am? [See 1 Chronicles 17:17 .]

20. what can David say more unto thee?--that is, my obligations are greater than I can express.