1 Chronicles 17:16 - Meaning and Application

Here we have David’s solemn prayer to God in response to the gracious message he had just received. By faith he receives the promises, welcomes them, and is fully convinced of them, like the patriarchs in (Hebrews 11:13). How humbly he lowers himself and admits his own unworthiness! How highly he lifts up God’s name and admires his gracious kindness! With what devotion he praises the God of Israel, and how deeply he values the people of God! With what confidence he rests on the promise, and with what living faith he brings it before God in prayer! What a model this is for humble, believing, earnest prayer. May the Lord enable us all to seek him this way.

These matters were already discussed at length in (2 Samuel 7). So here we will notice only the few expressions in this prayer where the version in Chronicles differs from that record and adds something.

What is there stated as a question, “Is this the manner of men, O Lord God?” is here turned into an acknowledgment: “You have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree” (1 Chronicles 17:17). In other words, “You have made me great, and then you have treated me as great.” God brings believers into covenant with himself, gives them titles of honor, bestows his favors on them, and prepares good things for them. In that way, he regards them as people of high standing, even though they are weak and unworthy. Since he has set them apart, he treats them according to the honor he has placed on them.

Some take these words another way: “You have looked upon me in the form of a man who is in the highest, the Lord God,” or, “You have enabled me to see, in human form, the majesty of the Lord God.” In that reading, the words point to the Messiah, the promised Christ. As Abraham saw Christ’s day by faith and was glad, so David did too. He saw him as coming in human form, the Word made flesh, yet also saw his glory as the only Son from the Father. This was what God had spoken about David’s house for a long time to come, and the sight of it moved David more than anything else. It should not seem strange that David speaks so clearly of Christ’s two natures, since in the Spirit he called him Lord, though he knew Christ would come from his line (Psalm 110:1). He also foresaw Christ being made lower than the angels for a little while, and then crowned with glory and honor (Hebrews 2:6-7).

After the words, “What can David say more unto thee,” the Chronicler adds, “for the honor of your servant” (1 Chronicles 17:18). The honor God gives his servants by bringing them into covenant and fellowship with himself is so great that they need, and can, ask for no greater honor. If they sat down and tried to imagine a higher honor, they could not speak more highly for themselves than God has already spoken in his word.

It is also worth noticing that what is said in Samuel as “for your word’s sake” is here stated as “for your servant’s sake” (1 Chronicles 17:19). Jesus Christ is both the Word of God (Revelation 19:13) and the servant of God (Isaiah 42:1). It is for his sake, because of his mediation, that the promises are both given and fulfilled to all believers. In him they are “yes” and “amen.” For his sake all kindness is shown, and for his sake it is made known. We owe all this greatness to him, and from him we must expect all these great things. They are the unsearchable riches of Christ. If by faith we see them in themselves and in the hand of the Lord Jesus, we cannot help speaking of them as great things, the only true greatness, and honoring them as such.

In Samuel, the Lord of hosts is said to be the God over Israel. Here he is called the God of Israel, even a God to Israel (1 Chronicles 17:24). To say that he is the God of Israel means he bears their name and calls himself their God. To say that he is a God to Israel means he truly answers to that name, fills out that relationship, and does everything for them that such a God should do. Other nations had beings they called gods, like the gods of Assyria or Egypt, but those were no gods to them. They were useless, mere names, doing nothing at all. But the God of Israel is truly a God to Israel. All his power, perfections, and goodness really work for their benefit. Happy, yes, three times happy, is the people whose God is the Lord, for he will be a God to them, an all-sufficient God.

Samuel ends with these words: “With your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever.” That is the language of holy desire. But here the ending is the language of very strong faith: “For you bless, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever” (1 Chronicles 17:27). David was encouraged to ask for a blessing because God had already shown him that blessings were stored up for him and his family. “You bless, O Lord,” he says, and therefore “to you all flesh comes for blessing.” So he comes to God for the blessing already promised to him. God’s promises are meant to guide and stir up prayer. Has God said, “I will bless”? Then our hearts should answer, “Lord, bless me.”

David was also eager for the blessing because he believed that those whom God blesses are truly and forever blessed. “You bless, and it shall be blessed.” People can only ask for the blessing, but God gives the command. What he plans, he carries out. What he promises, he performs. With God, speaking and doing are not two separate things. And it shall be blessed forever. His blessings cannot be taken back, cannot be resisted, and the good they bring lasts beyond time. David’s prayer ends as God’s promise did, with what lasts forever (1 Chronicles 17:14). God’s word looks toward eternal things, and so our desires and hopes should do the same.