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.
Ver. 18. "And King David came and sat before the Lord, and said: Who am I, Lord Jehovah, and what my house (literally, who my house,—the house being conceived of as an ideal person), that Thou hast brought me hitherto?"
Moses also was sitting in long-continued prayer, Exod. xvii. 12. David, as a true descendant of Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 10), acknowledges his unworthiness of the great mercies bestowed upon him. The comparison of Ps. cxliv. 3 is still more striking than that of Ps. viii. 5; for, in the former, the words, "Lord, what is man, that Thou takest knowledge of him; the son of mortal man, that Thou hast regard to him?" were uttered in praise of the adorable mercy which the Lord had shown to his house.
Ver. 19. "And this is yet too little in Thy sight, Lord Jehovah; and Thou speakest also to the house of Thy servant of things far distant; and this is the law of man, Lord Jehovah."
The word תורה has only the signification of law. Gesenius, in assigning to it the signification of mos, consuetudo, has no other warrant for it than our passage. The law of any one is the law which has been given for him, or which concerns him; compare Lev. vi. 2 (9): "This is the law of the burnt-offering;" Lev. xiii. 7: "This is the law for her that hath born;" Lev. xiv. 2: "This shall be the law of the leper," etc. Hence the law of man can only be the law regulating the conduct of man. Man is commanded in the law: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;" compare Mic. vi. 8: "He hath showed, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before thy God?" The fact that God should, in His conduct towards poor mortals, follow the rule which He hath given to men for their conduct towards one another, and that He shows Himself to be full of mercy and love, cannot but fill him who knows God and himself with adoring wonder. The words in Ps. xviii. 36 are parallel: "Thou givest me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy right hand holdeth me up, and Thy meekness (the parallel passage in 2 Sam. has: 'Thy being low') maketh me great." In the parallel passage in Chronicles the words are these: "And Thou hast regarded me according to the law of man (concerning תורה = תור compare remarks on Song of Sol. i. 10), Thou height, Jehovah God." The essential agreement of the sense of the parallel passage with that of the fundamental passage, may be applied as a test to prove the correctness of our exposition. "To regard some one" is used for "to visit some one," "to have intercourse with some one;" compare 2 Sam. iii. 13, xiii. 5, xiv. 24, 28; 2 Kings viii. 29. The words, "Thou height" (God is represented as personified height in Ps. xcii. 9: "And Thou art a height for evermore, O Lord"), bring out still more prominently the contrast with human lowness, which was already implied in the names of God, Adonai Jehovah, and Jehovah Elohim, and serves therefore to show still more distinctly the condescension of God, whose revelation on this occasion was a prelude to ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο. Luther has introduced into the main text a direct allusion to the incarnation of God in Christ. He translates, "This is the manner of a man who is God the Lord;" and adds, in a marginal note, the following remark: "This means, Thou speakest to me of such an eternal kingdom, in which no one can be king unless he be God and man at the same time, because he is to be my son and yet a king for evermore—which belongs to God alone." But this single circumstance is sufficient to overthrow this view:—that in the preceding, as well as in the subsequent context, Adonai Jehovah is always used in the vocative sense.
Ver. 20. "And what shall David say more unto Thee? (In the parallel passage: 'As regards the honour for Thy servant.') And Thou knowest Thy servant, Lord Jehovah."
It is not necessary that David should make many words, in order to express his thanks, as his thankful heart lies open before God. In Ps. xl. 10, David also appeals to the testimony of the Omniscient as regards his thankful heart: "I preach righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I will not refrain my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest,"—knowest how with my whole heart I am thankful for Thy great mercy. It is, in general, David's practice to appeal to God, the Searcher of hearts; compare, e.g., Ps. xvii. 3.