Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church

The pattern of ancient kings was to establish themselves through two things: victory in battle – and then once they had proven themselves militarily, they would embark on great building projects, in order to leave monuments to their great might. After all, if you are going to devote your resources to building, that means that you are secure militarily. But David has built his house – with the help of Hiram of Tyre - and now his conscience gets to him: See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. There is a sense of guilt here – how can I live in such splendor, while the ark of God has only a tent to cover it? And the prophet Nathan responds by encouraging David: sounds great to me! Go for it! The LORD has been with you in battle, so surely the LORD is with you in building as well! But building a temple is different from other building projects. Building a temple signifies that God is on your side! If David builds the temple, then it has the effect of saying that David is the gre