Prophecy in 2 Samuel

“How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” (6:9)

Reading

David sets out to bring the ark of the covenant, the throne of God's presence, up to his new city. When Uzzah touches it and dies, David is afraid and leaves it in the hill country at the house of Obed-edom: “The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months” (6:11), and the household is blessed. Then David brings it into Jerusalem with joy: “David came dancing before the LORD with abandon” (6:14).

Fulfilled

This is a reading of the Fathers and the liturgy, and Luke seems to tell the Visitation with this chapter in view. Mary, carrying the Lord in her womb, goes into the hill country of Judah. Elizabeth asks, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43); the child leaps in her womb as David danced; and “Mary remained with her about three months” (1:56). The Catechism calls Mary “the ark of the covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells” (CCC 2676).

See also

Exodus 25: the ark of the covenant; the ark seen in heaven just before the woman clothed with the sun (Revelation 11:19–12:1).

“I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me” (7:14). “Your house and your kingdom are firm forever before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever.” (7:16)

Reading

David wants to build a house for the ark. Through the prophet Nathan, God turns the plan around: “the LORD will make a house for you” (7:11), a dynasty. “I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever” (7:12–13). In the first place this is Solomon, who builds the temple and whose sins God will punish but not with the loss of his love (7:14–15). But no son of David reigned forever, and the promise outgrew every king who received it. Psalm 89 holds God to it when the throne has fallen.

Fulfilled

Gabriel tells Mary her son “will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32–33). Hebrews applies 7:14 to Christ: “I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me” (Hebrews 1:5). St. Peter at Pentecost says David knew “that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,” and that he spoke of the Resurrection (Acts 2:30–31). The Catechism links the promise to David with the work of the Holy Spirit and with Luke 1:32–33 (CCC 709). The son who builds God's house is Christ, who speaks of the temple of his body (John 2:19–21).

Unfolding

The Son of David reigns now, and his kingdom grows in the Church, which is “on earth, the seed and the beginning of the kingdom” (CCC 669).

Future

At the end Christ calls himself “the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16), and the kingdom with no end is revealed in full.

See also

Prophecy in Luke: the throne of David; Psalm 89.

“Then Nathan said to David: ‘You are the man!’” (12:7)

Reading

David takes Bathsheba and has her husband Uriah killed. Nathan tells him the parable of the rich man who stole the poor man's one ewe lamb, and David condemns himself (CCC 2538). Nathan's word follows: “the sword shall never depart from your house” (12:10). David answers simply, “I have sinned against the LORD,” and Nathan replies that the LORD has removed his sin (12:13).

Fulfilled

The prophecy comes true in David's own family: the death of the child, Amnon and Absalom, the revolt that drives David from Jerusalem (13–18). Yet the promise of chapter 7 is not withdrawn. From Bathsheba comes Solomon, and Matthew names her in the genealogy of Jesus as “the wife of Uriah” (Matthew 1:6): the line of the Messiah passes through sin and mercy alike.

Unfolding

Tradition joins Psalm 51 to this moment, “when Nathan the prophet came to him” (Psalm 51:2), and the Church prays it every Friday and through Lent: “Have mercy on me, God, in accord with your merciful love” (51:3). David's repentance, the Catechism says, is a model for the prayer of the people (CCC 2579).

“As David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, he wept without ceasing. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot.” (15:30)

Reading

Betrayed by his son Absalom, David leaves Jerusalem on foot. He “crossed the Wadi Kidron” and climbed the Mount of Olives (15:23), weeping, with his people weeping around him. His trusted counselor Ahithophel has gone over to the conspirators, and David prays, “O LORD, turn the counsel of Ahithophel to folly!” (15:31). When his advice fails, Ahithophel goes home and hangs himself (17:23).

Fulfilled

This is a type the Fathers drew out, not a prediction. The Son of David goes the same way on the night of his Passion: “Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley” (John 18:1) to the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39), betrayed by a friend who then hangs himself (Matthew 27:5). Jesus too wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). St. Augustine, in his Expositions of the Psalms on Psalm 3, which is titled for David's flight from Absalom, reads the betrayal of David as a figure of the betrayal of Christ.

“The spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.” (23:2)

Reading

David's last words are an oracle. He speaks of a ruler who rules in justice and in the fear of God, like the light of sunrise on a cloudless morning after rain (23:3–4), and he rests his hope on God, who “has made an eternal covenant with me” (23:5).

Fulfilled

The New Testament calls David a prophet (Acts 2:30) and says he spoke “inspired by the holy Spirit” (Mark 12:36). The just ruler of his last oracle is the Son of David, hailed in Jerusalem: “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matthew 21:9).

Future

The morning light David saw is the dawn Zechariah sings of (Luke 1:78), and it is completed when Christ, “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16), comes to reign.