When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. – 1 Chronicles 17:11-12

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 24, 2019): 1 Chronicles 17

William IV of the United Kingdom ascended to the throne on June 26, 1830, at the age of 64. While most of his contemporaries were preparing for the final days of their lives, William was preparing for a new career. William was the third son of George III of the United Kingdom and third sons rarely ascend to the throne. So William did not expect that he would ever be king. His older brother, George the IV, reigned as king. The next oldest of the sons of George III was Prince Frederick, and Frederick was the heir presumptive, in other words, he was the next in line to the throne as long as King George IV remained without a child. But Frederick had dropsy and died of cardiac disease in 1827, three years before his older brother. Suddenly William IV became the heir presumptive, and then was crowned as the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom – and the last king to reign over both the United Kingdom and Hanover.

Unfortunately for William, his reign is mostly forgotten. During his reign, the influence of the crown on the people and politics suffered a steep decline. He reigned seven years (1830-1837), but his reign is overshadowed by those who came before, and by his niece who reigned after him, as Queen Victoria.

God tells the priest, Nathan, that David is not the one who will build his temple. The task of creating a home for God would be left to his son. I really think that God was hoping that David would forget about his dream of a temple. After all, God was not going to be contained within a brick and mortar building. But David never gave up on his idea about a Temple. And as his son and heir, Solomon, began to grow, the king told his son all about the temple that he believed that Solomon would build – the house would bear the name of God and the throne that would last forever.

The problem was that it didn’t. Oh, we remember Solomon, but the kings of Israel are now long gone and forgotten. And the temple that Solomon built is gone as well. We have nothing left by which we can remember the House that Solomon built. There was a second temple; Zerubbabel’s temple which became Herod’s Temple. And from that temple, we, at least. have a wall and some foundational elements. But Solomon’s temple, the one that David dreamed of, has completely disappeared.

I believe that David got it wrong. When God spoke about the descendant who would build a house for him and whose throne God would establish forever, he was not talking about Solomon. The son of David that would build a temple that would bear God’s name and whose feign would be forever was a different son. His name is Jesus. And of his reign, there would be no end.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 18

See also 2 Samuel 7:12