II Samuel 2:1-11
II Samuel 5, 7
Lessons to be learned from David's succession to the throne
As we study this period of David's life, we wish not only to draw lessons from the life of David but also to draw comparisons where possible with the life of the Lord Jesus and also with our own experiences also.
We shall consider the following points :
- The sovereignty of God in David's succession
- The patience of David as he waits God's time
- The forgiveness of David in his succession
- David enquires of the Lord
- David's new cart
- David's desire to build a house for God
1. The sovereignty of God in David's succession
The day that Israel asked Samuel to find them a king was a sad indictment upon the nation. Since coming into the land of Canaan, Israel had been judged by a series of Judges, some good and some not so good. The book of Judges, however, ends with the comment, "Every man did that which was right in his own eyes". They were living in a state of spiritual anarchy. The last of the judges was Samuel. Samuel was also a prophet but he judged Israel all his life. Samuel's sons should have succeeded him but they took bribes from the people and thus the people abhorred them. Their answer was to ask Samuel to find them a king, just like all the nations rounds about them.
I Samuel 10:19
And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands.
God should have been their king He wanted a theocracy and not a monarchy. When the Lord Jesus reigns, of course, the world will have both a theocracy and a monarchy.
Israel's first king, as we know, was Saul, the son of Kish. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, which is most interesting. When Jacob in Genesis 49 was blessing his twelve sons, he said regarding Judah, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet". Judah then was to be the royal tribe, not Benjamin. So why was Israel's first king from Benjamin, and not Judah? The accession of Saul was the people's doing. God went along with them, sending Samuel to anoint Saul. But when God would bring forward His man, he would come from the royal tribe of Judah. Hence God's dealings with Saul and David underline how the sovereign will of God and man's activities often come together. Saul would be the first king, yet soon by his activities he would forfeit his right to the throne and also the right of his seed after him. First of all, there was a day when Saul was waiting for Samuel to come and lead in the offering of a sacrifice to God. Saul, however, had grown impatient waiting for Samuel to come, and had gone ahead with a burnt offering on his own, thus invading the function of the priest. Samuel warns Saul then, but worse was to come when Saul went to fight against the Amalakites. Samuel's commandment was to spare nothing alive, neither man nor beast. But Saul spared the life of Agag the king of the Amalakites, and also spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. Saul's excuse was that the people could offer the sheep and oxen as sacrifices to the Lord. As a result of this act of disobedience, Samuel says to Saul, The Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel ( Samuel 15:26). Saul indeed would continue to rule for many years to come, but his divine authority to rule had been withdrawn. In the very next chapter (I Samuel 16), God directs Samuel to go to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem. Here, Samuel was told, he would find the man who was to become the next king of Israel. Samuel thus calls Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice. When Samuel sees Eliab the oldest son, he says to himself, Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him. But he was judging now by the standards of Saul who was head and shoulders above all the men of Israel. But God was not looking on a man's countenance rather He was looking upon the heart. We know well the story of what happened next. One by one, seven sons of Jesse pass by and God's verdict on them was, Neither has the Lord chosen this. Had God made a mistake? Impossible! Hence Samuel asked, Are there other sons beside these? There was only one, David the youngest, out in the wilderness caring for the sheep. When David appears, Samuel anoints him to be king of Israel. From that moment on, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David and at the same time He departed from Saul.
All of this shows the sovereignty of God joining hands with the responsibility of man.
Saul had disqualified himself from being king human responsibility is in evidence, but in the purpose of God, the royal line would be established in Judah.
God did the same thing when He chose Abraham to be the heir to the land of Canaan. Logic would tell us that God should have chosen a man living in the land to be its heir. Instead, God goes 700 miles away to an idolatrous home in the idolatrous city of Ur of the Chaldees. Here we find a father with two surviving sons, and God choses the younger son.
The same is true of Jacob and Esau. Esau was the elder of the twins and hence he was the legal heir to the birthright and the blessing, but he disqualified himself by his behaviour. The bible describes him "that profane person". But even before the children were born, God had said, The elder shall serve the younger. The behaviour of Esau justified the sovereign will of God.
The sovereignty of God in relation to the Lord Jesus
Jacob's blessing upon Judah as regards the throne was but partly fulfilled in the succession of David and his seed after him. The true heir to the throne of Israel is the Lord Jesus. There were other sayings spoken by Jacob which could only be fulfilled by the Lord. "Him shall his brethren praise". Unto him shall the gathering of the people be. God later wrote through the prophet Micah that the heir would be born in Bethlehem Ephratah, the town of David. So does God do the simple thing and chose a virgin from Bethlehem to be the mother of the child? Far from it! God uses a man in a sovereign way to bring about the birth of the child in Bethlehem. Thus, when the angel Gabriel appears to announce His birth, he comes not to Bethlehem, but to Galilee, to a town called Nazareth. This was the last place that the Jews would have looked to find their Messiah. Galilee is described in the Bible as Galilee of the Gentiles, the people that walk in darkness. But there is worse to come to the town of Nazareth. Nathaniel, a man in whom there was no guile, said of that place, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? It had no reputation at all among the Jews.
But here in Nazareth was the heir to David's throne and he was not a prince or a ruler but a lowly carpenter, Joseph. His espoused wife, Mary, was also descended from David through his son Nathan.
But God had a problem. How would Micah's prophecy be fulfilled if Joseph and Mary were in Nazareth and not Bethlehem? Would He use the angel of the Lord to direct them as He would later, telling Joseph to take the young child and His mother down into Egypt? God is His own counsellor and He deigns to use an ungodly Caesar sitting many hundreds of miles away in the city of Rome. The Emperor makes a decree that all of the world should be taxed. Everyone throughout the Roman empire has to go back to the place of their birth. Thousands perhaps are on the move and all this to bring a carpenter and his wife from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Human activities once again bring about the fulfilment of the sovereign will of God.
The sovereignty of God today
God works in a similar way today to fulfil His own ends. He moves in a sovereign way to bring about the salvation of souls. We perhaps don't like to hear of the election of God thinking it is too "Calvinistic", but it is a reality we must acknowledge. In the book of Acts we read that, the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved(Acts 2:47). We also read that as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. In Acts chapter 18, Paul is standing before the city of Corinth, as he writes later, in much fear and trembling. But God gives him this assurance, I have much people in this city. Armed with this knowledge, Paul entered the city to preach the gospel. Paul wrote about election more than any other writer, yet it never bred in him a sense of fatalism ie God will save souls despite us. No-one was more determined to reach men than the apostle. What he did was to preach and leave the matter of salvation in the hands of God. But it has pleased God to use the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. We should do likewise. We should make ourselves available to do the work that God will bless in saving souls.
The Calvinist goes further, however. He reasons that if some have been chosen to salvation, then it must follow that the remainder have been chosen for damnation. But the bible never speaks in that way and neither should we. If indeed a man had been chosen to be damned, could he not put up a just argument at the Great White Throne. "I am here because you chose me to be here". I had no choice in the matter, therefore it is unjust of you to condemn me. His logic would have some merit, but God would reply that all men have a free will and that unsaved men chose not to believe when they heard the gospel. They have fitted themselves to destruction.
2. The patience of David waiting for the throne
David is anointed king in I Samuel 16, but it will be many years before he will ascend to the throne. Another man is still holding this place, king Saul. The wonderful thing about David is that he was prepared to wait all those years before taking up his inheritance. He is prepared to wait for God, to wait on God's time. Yet, on two separate occasions, David had the opportunity to wrest the throne from Saul. On the first occasion, David and his men were hiding in a cave at En-Gedi. Saul, who is out pursuing him, comes to the mouth of the cave and falls asleep there. David's men urge him to rise up and kill Saul. After all, was not Saul there to kill David? But David will not raise his hand against the Lord's anointed, though he does cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. Soon David is ashamed of himself for even doing that. David is waiting for God's time.
A second opportunity came David's way in I Samuel chapter 26, in the wilderness of Ziph. After that first occasion at En-Gedi, Saul had returned shame faced after David had made himself known. But soon, Saul is out hunting David again, like a partridge on the hillside. Saul and Abner are both fast asleep when David and Abishai come upon them. Abishai would have taken Saul's spear and thrust him through with it, but David is content to take the spear and Saul's cruse of water and withdraw. Again, David makes himself known to Saul and returns the spear and the cruse to him. Once again, David will not raise his hand against the Lord's anointed and Saul also withdraws. David is waiting for God's time.
How different David is from Jacob. The Lord had already said regarding Jacob and Esau, "The elder shall serve the younger". God would have fulfilled His own purpose in His own way and in His own time, but Rebekah and Jacob sought to get the blessing by deceiving the old man Jacob. Genesis 27 could have been a very different story had they left God to do things His way.
The patience of God regarding the Lord Jesus
If David waited many years before ascending the throne, how much longer has God? Yet, like David, the Lord had His opportunity. In John chapter 6, after the feeding of the 5000, we read that the people would have come and taken Him by force to make Him a king. But the Lord refuses with the words, "Ye seek Me, not because ye perceived the miracle, but because ye did eat the loaves and were filled". Again in John chapter 12, the disciples, accompanied by the men of Bethany who had seen the miracle of Lazarus being raised, followed the Lord in triumph into the city of Jerusalem. Their cries ring out, Behold thy king cometh. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. The Lord appears to be at the height of His popularity. Even the Gentiles came to Philip and said, Sir, we would see Jesus. But how does the Lord react to this? These celebrations are a picture of the Feast of Tabernacles which will be celebrated aright when the Lord returns in glory to be crowned king. But before Tabernacles comes the feast of Passover, hence He says, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Again in John chapter 20, when the Lord rose again from the dead, He could surely have had the opportunity to appear to Pilate, to Herod, to Annas, and to Caiaphas and to prove them all wrong? But the only unbeliever to whom He appeared in resurrection was His own brother James. It was an act of pure grace and those brethren who did not believe on Him (John chapter 7) are together with Mary and the disciples in Acts chapter 1.
But all these opportunities were passed over. Why ? God has been amazingly patient as far as the vindication of His Son has been concerned. Nearly 2000 years have passed since Calvary, and the one thing that prevents Him coming to rule is this dispensation of God's grace. God so wants men and women to be saved that He has delayed the appearing in glory of His Son. But we can rest assured that Psalm 2 will be fulfilled. "Yet have I set my king upon My holy hill of Zion". When the Lord ascended on high, He was invited to sit at the right hand of God. Sit Thou at my right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. Soon we will witness His coronation when He takes the book from the right hand of Him who sits upon the throne (Revelation chapter 5).
The patience of the saints in the present dispensation
It is not only the Lord who waits with patience the day of His coronation. We
have been promised, "If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him". When He reigns, we shall reign with Him. We have no say as to when we shall reign, it is all in the hands of God. It is for us to patiently wait that day.
There were Christians in Paul's day, who apparently weren't prepared to wait. Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Ye have reigned as kings without us". Some were so puffed up with pride that it seemed as if they were reigning then.
Then when we come to the book of Revelation, we read of Babylon, the great whore. She is seen sitting upon the scarlet coloured beast. She wants power and authority and she wants it now in the day of His rejection. She is seen bedecked with all manner of precious stones. She says about herself, "I sit a queen and am no widow". Babylon wants to reign now in the world she is not prepared to wait. It is picture of the great world religions of today who will join together under the title of Babylon.
3. David's forgiveness in his succession
Not only had Saul been killed in battle but so too had Jonathan who naturally speaking should have been Saul's heir. Not only did Saul lose his right to the throne, he also lost the right of his seed after him. In the death of both men, the line of Saul was eliminated. The way was now open for David to take up his inheritance.
David suffered much at the hands of Saul who hunted him relentlessly like a partridge in the wilderness. Surely he would be bitter towards this man who treated him so badly? Yet listen to the words of David in II Samuel 1:23. "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives". One could have understood it if David had said this of Jonathan alone. David says of Jonathan, Thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of women. Despite the hatred of Saul, Jonathan had remained true to David. After the fight with Goliath we read concerning Jonathan, When David had made an end of speaking, the heart of Jonathan was knit with the heart of David. Thus Jonathan had even protected David against the intentions of Saul.
But David includes both Saul and Jonathan in his remarks "lovely and pleasant in their lives". He says of both of them, The beauty of Israel is fallen. David is magnanimous and forgiving in his praise.
David was also forgiving towards Abner who had been the captain of the host under Saul. One gets the impression of Abner that although he was on the opposite side to David, he was an honourable man, a professional soldier who was doing what he saw as his duty. He not only sided with Saul, he also sided with Ishbosheth who claimed the throne after Saul's death. Soon however Ishbosheth reveals his true colours and accuses Abner of immoral behaviour. Abner is incensed and leaves Ishbosheth to go and speak to David. David not only receives Abner but sent him away peaceably. Joab was not there when Abner had come and he is incensed at David for sending Abner away. Abner had killed his younger brother Asahel in the midst of battle. Abner had tried to warn off Asahel but the young man pursued still and was slain.
Hence Joab pursues after Abner and kills him treacherously in the gate of Hebron, one of the cities of refuge in Israel. But David mourns for Abner so that all Israel knew it was not David's will that this man had been slain.
The same was true later concerning the rebellion of Absalom. Absalom had won the hearts of the people away from David, and soon he lays claim to the throne. In the battle that followed, Absalom is slain. Was David pleased? We find instead that David mourned for his son. "O Absalom, my son, my son Absolom, would God I had died for thee". David had a big heart even towards those who opposed him.
The Lord's forgiveness towards His enemies
The Lord Jesus showed the same kind of forgiveness towards His enemies, especially in the last few hours of His life. Thus in Luke's gospel, we read of His last miracle towards men - the healing of the ear of Malchus, one of the men who had come to capture Him in the garden of Gethsemane. Then when we come to Calvary, we hear His last prayer for men. He is praying for the Roman soldiers who are nailing His hands and feet to the cross. "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". This was the kind of forgiveness He had shown in His lifetime. In Luke chapter 7, He said of the woman of the city who was a sinner, Her sins which are many are forgiven her.
But we come back again to Calvary. All kinds of men are gathered around the cross to mock the Saviour. Some are crying, "If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross and we will believe Thee". Others are crying, If Thou be the king of the Jews, Come down from the cross. In some of the gospels we read that the thieves also railed upon Him, or that the thieves also cast the same in His teeth. But in Luke 23, one of the thieves has a change of heart. Eternity is fast approaching for this man, and he has a fear of God. In his last hours, he turns and asks the Lord, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. Does the Lord hold the cruel mocking against him? We know the answer, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Truly His forgiveness towards those who opposed Him was wonderful.
Lessons in forgiveness for ourselves
There are obvious lessons for us to learn from the examples of both David and the Lord. The Lord taught the parable of the 10,000 talents debtor and the 500 pence debtor.
Woe betide the Christian who cannot find it in his heart to forgive his brother. According to the Lord's parable, forgiveness is seen as one of the things that should mark the child of God. An inability to forgive others would indeed put a question mark over the reality of our salvation.
Paul puts it into doctrinal language when he writes about "forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you".
4. David enquires of the Lord
Another thing that marked David during this period of his life was his readiness to enquire of the Lord before he would go forward in any activity. In I Samuel 23, he enquires of the Lord on no less than four occasions. He asks, "Shall I go up?" Shall I pursue? He will not move without divine guidance. The Lord answers him on every occasion. So what was David's secret? I believe it shows that the knowledge of the will of God in future events depends upon our obedience towards earlier revelations of God's mind. There is a definite pattern of: revelation, obedience, further revelation, further obedience.
One occasion when David did not enquire of the Lord was when he and his men went to live amongst the Philistines and there he served Achish, the king of Gath. It was not a good time in David's life. He raided and destroyed the cities of Israel's enemies then lied to Achish as to where he had been. Then when the battle lines were being drawn up and when the Philistines were going out against Saul and the army of Israel, David drew up with his men to fight along with Achish. It is only the intervention of the other lords of the Philistines that prevents David from joining in the battle against Israel. It is little wonder that David did not enquire of the Lord prior to this experience. His own conscience must have told him it was wrong.
We see failures of this kind in the life of Saul. He failed badly in two respects. Firstly, he would not wait for Samuel to come but went ahead with a burnt offering anyway thus incurring the displeasure of the prophet. Secondly, Saul spared the sheep and oxen of the Amalakites when he should have destroyed them all. Hence, when Saul enquires of the Lord, he gets no answer. The heavens are as brass to him. Hence he resorts to the witch of Endor to seek out the way ahead. He gets an answer but only by resorting to a familiar spirit and the news is not good He and Jonathan were to perish in the forthcoming battle.
On the other hand, we see the right pattern of events in the life of Abraham. The God of glory appeared to him in Ur of the Chaldees. Genesis chapter 12 records the words of the Lord. "Get thee out of thy country and thy kinsfolk unto a land that I will tell thee of". Abraham obeyed but his father Terah and his nephew Lot came with him. They came as far as Haran and stayed until the death of Terah. Abraham then moved towards Canaan and God revealed Himself again with further revelation about the land. God spoke now, not just about the land that I will tell thee of but the land that I will give thee. Further revelations followed about the birth of a son, and the birth of that son to Sarah his wife.
The Lord Jesus and the will of God
The Lord Jesus said this about Himself in John 6:38 :
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
It would be wrong to say that the Lord had no will of His own. Rather His will was to do the Father's will, while a man here on earth. So how did the Lord learn the Father's will? Surely it came to Him in the matter of prayer. In Luke's gospel, we read of Him praying on no less than 11 occasions, beginning at His baptism and culminating at the cross. He was ever in the will of His Father.
Knowing the will of God for ourselves
How would we as Christians get to know the will of God for our own lives. We cannot, like David, speak to God through the linen ephod of the priest and hear God speaking to us in an audible way. But we can learn the lesson of David and Abraham and that is that we need to obey the truth that we do have before further light will be given. Apart from that fundamental fact, we have much at our disposal. We, far more than these Old Testament saints, have the full word of God. We have eternal life and the Lord gives the reason why. "That they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent". We have a divine instructor within, the Spirit of truth. And then the ascended Christ gives gifts to the church evangelists, pastors, and teachers till we all arrive at the unity of the faith (Ephesians chapter 4). It is possible for us to enquire of the Lord as David did, and to be conscious of His leading.
5. David's new cart
One of the results of the failure of the high priest Eli and his sons was that the ark of God fell into the hands of the Philistines. However, the judgment of God soon fell upon them to such an extent that the Philistines hastened to return it. It came into the house of Abinadab and there it remained for 20 years.
The fact that it remained there for so long tells us something upon the spiritual priorities of Saul. It was obviously of no great concern to him he had other matters on his mind and heart than the ark of God. But with David, it was different, and one of the first actions he carried out as king was to bring about the return of the ark. Where David went wrong was that he set the ark upon a new cart to bring it back to Jerusalem.
II Samuel 6:3
"And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab"
But what did the word of God have to say about the manner of bearing the ark? We read the mind of God in the matter in the following verse:
Exodus 25: 13-14
"And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
And thou shalt put staves into the rings, by the side of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them"
When the tabernacle moved on through the wilderness, it was borne along by the Levites on their shoulders by means of the staves.
So, why did David do what he did? Perhaps he was carried away by his own enthusiasm. We see that often in the experience of Peter, who spoke or acted out of turn because of his love for the Saviour. Perhaps David remembered that it was a cart towed by the milch kine that the Philistines used when they sent the ark back, and God had nothing to say about that. The Philistines, however, were ungodly men who knew nothing about the mind of God in this matter. David on the other hand had the revealed will of God available to him and was expected to act upon it. He could also have enquired of the Lord either directly or via the priestly men around him.
We notice though that David provided a "new" cart. David maybe reckoned that only the best was good enough for the Lord. But the flesh is always the flesh, no matter how much it is dressed up to make it more appealing. The flesh can never please God.
So what were the consequences of David's action? Sadly, the judgment of God fell, not upon David, but upon a man called Uzzah, who put out his hand to steady the ark as it was being pulled along in the cart. The sad fact about Uzzah was that he was one of the sons of Abinadab, in whose house the ark had rested for twenty years. Uzzah, obviously, had not laid a hand upon the ark in all that time but then along came David, and the king's action cost Uzzah his life
The other lesson that we learn from this incident is that if we disobey the known will of God, then God may come in to judge us. We saw that in the case of Saul the king's disobedience to the mind of God meant two things :
- That the Lord would no longer commune with him
- That when he did learn the future via the witch of Endor, it was only to learn of his death and of that of his sons.
As a result of Uzzah's death, David carried the ark into the house of a man called Obed-Edom. There it remained for three months, and the Lord blessed the house. When David heard of this, he went and fetched up the ark to Jerusalem but not this time upon a cart. In II Samuel 6:13, we read of "They that bare the ark". Now it was being borne along upon the staves. The bearers went only 6 paces when David stopped it's progress to offer oxen and fatlings. Was it out of relief? Possibly! But it was also out of joy, and the next verse records, David danced before the Lord with all his might. When the ark arrived in Jerusalem, they set it in its place, and David again offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. He also distributed to all the people a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. All the people were blessed because David was now moving in the current of God's will.
The lesson of the cart is that disobedience can have serious consequences not only upon ourselves but on others, while obedience can bring blessing to ourselves and to others. The corresponding lesson in the New Testament is "Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones which believe in Me". It is far worse to stumble another than it is to be stumbled ourselves.
But in II Samuel 6, there was one person in Jerusalem who was not rejoicing along with David and that was Michal, David's first wife and the daughter of Saul. David had insisted on Abner bringing her back from her second husband. When Saul gave Michal to David, he obviously knew her well, for he said of her, "She shall be a snare unto him". Michal loved David and even spared his life when her father was intent on killing him. But she was a woman marked by the flesh and spiritual things like the return of the ark and David's joy at it's return meant nothing to her. It tells the lesson of the unequal yoke. It is very well to marry for love, but we should ascertain first the depth of spiritual feeling in our intended life partner first.
When David returned to his house (verse 20), Michal mocks him. "How glorious was the king of Israel today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants". David says an interesting thing in return. He speaks about the Lord, which chose me before thy father and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord. Saul had been king for a number of years before Samuel anointed David in I Samuel 16, but in the purpose of God, He had chosen David before He had chosen Saul. It is an evidence again of the sovereignty of God.
Michal is therefore a picture of the carnal believer who has little appreciation of the joy of divine things.
6. David's desire to build the house of God
In II Samuel 7:1, we read of David, "When the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies". Everything was now going well. David thought, The ark is returned. Now I must build a house for God.
David makes known his intention to Nathan the prophet, who answers him, "Do all that is in thine heart". But David had not enquired of the Lord about this matter, and neither had Nathan. Even prophets of the Lord can get it wrong if they do not seek the mind of God.
When the Lord does speak to Nathan that same night, it is to tell David that he will not build the house. The reason why is given us in I Chronicles 22:6-11. In verse 8, the word of the Lord comes to David, "Thou hast shed blood abundantly. Thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight". David is a type of the Lord in rejection, while Solomon is a type of the Lord reigning in peace amongst His people.
Yet what the Lord did say would be a great comfort to David. Firstly, the Lord reminds David of his past. "I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel". David also learns the future regarding his seed. Verse 12 says, I will set up thy seed after thee. Saul's seed was not permitted to succeed him, but not so with David. God makes a promise regarding David's successor, He shall build a house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever
Solomon would build the house, and the Lord also promises His presence, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son". Is David disappointed? Far from it!! He goes into the presence of God to thank God for His goodness and for the blessing upon his seed. David's final prayer is, With Thy blessing, let the house of Thy servant be blessed for ever.
