"house. And when thy days be fulfilled, " and thou fhalt fleep with thy fathers, "I will fet up thy feed after thee, which "hall proceed out of thy bowels, and "I will establish his kingdom. He fhall "build an houfe for my name, and I "will establish the throne of his kingdom "for ever. I will be his father, and he "fhall be my fon. If he commit iniquity, "I will chaften him with the rod of men, "and with the stripes of the children of "men: but my mercy fhall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, "whom I put away before thee. And "thine house and thy kingdom fhall be "eftablished for ever before thee: thy "throne fhall be eftablifhed for ever." To explain this difficult prophecy, I fhall avail myself of the obfervations of a late eminent Biblical Critics. "The New Teftament begins with af"ferting, that Jefus Chrift was the son of "David, the fon of Abraham. Every one "knows, that Chrift was born a Jew, and confequently defcended from Jacob, the "grandfon of Abraham; and we all know, Dr. Kennicott. "that 1 that the promise given to Abraham, con- CHAP. cerning the Meffiah, is recorded in Gen. I. "xxii. 18. But it is remarkable, that no 66 "fuch promise is recorded to have been "made to David, at least in our tranfla"tion. The record of this promife, if "written at all, must have been written "in this chapter, (2 Sam. vii.) in the mesfage from God by Nathan to David. "The wrong translation of the tenth and "fourteenth verfes, in a part of Scripture "fo very interesting, has been artfully laid "hold of by the deistical Author of The "Grounds and Reafons of the Chriftian Re ligion, who pretends to demonftrate, that "the promise of a Meffiah could not be "here recorded. His reafons are three ; "" first, because, in verse the tenth, the Prophet fpeaks of the future profperity of "the Jews, as to be afterwards fixed, and "no more afflicted; which circumstances "are totally repugnant to the fate of the Jews, as connected with the birth and "death of Christ. Secondly, Because the "fon here promised was (ver. 13.) to "build an houfe, which houfe, it is pre"tended, must mean the Temple of Solo"mon, and, of courfe, Solomon must be "the fon here promised. And thirdly, "Be 66 VOL. II. P SECT. III. "Because verse the fourteenth fuppofes, "that this fon might commit iniquity, "which could not be fuppofed of the "Meffiah. "The firft of thefe objections is founded "on our wrong translation of verse the tenth, where the words fhould be ex ૪. preffed, as relating to the time past, or "prefent. For the Prophet is there de"claring, what great things God had al"ready done for David, and his people"that he had raised David from the sheep"fold to the throne, and that he had planted the Ifraelites in a place of safety, "at reft from all those enemies, who had "fo often before afflicted them. That the "words ', and 'yo, may be ren"dered in the time past or present, is both "clear from its being the most natural "conftruction of the Hebrew, the words "in question being in the preterite tense; " and it likewife is allowed by our trans"lators, who here (ver. 11.) render '01'171, "and have caufed thee to reft, and also 66 Tam, and telleth. The tranflation there"fore fhould run thus; I took thee from "the fheep-cote, and have made thee a great "name-and I have appointed a place for « my I. "my my people Ifrael; and have planted them, CHAP. "that they dwell in a place of their own, " and mové no more. Neither do the chil"dren of wickedness afflict them any more, as before, and as fince the time that I com"manded judges to be over Ifrael; and I "have caused thee to rest from all thine ene"mies. Objection the fecond is founded on a "mistake in the fenfe. David indeed had propofed to build a houfe to God, "which God did not admit. Yet, ap"proving the piety of David's intention, "God was pleafed to reward it, by pro mifing-that he would make an house for David; which houfe to be thus " erected by God was certainly not mate"rial, or made of ftones, but a fpiritual "houfe or family, to be raised up for the "honour of God, and the falvation of "mankind. And this houfe, which God “would make, was to be built by David's feed; and this feed was to be raised up after David flept with his fathers; which "words clearly exclude Solomon, who was "fet up, and placed upon the throne before David was dead. This building alfo "was to be erected by an everlasting king, SECT. III. "whofe kingdom was to be established for 66 ever. Now, that this houfe was to be "fet up, together with a kingdom, by the "Meffiah, is clear from Zech. vi. 12, 13. "Behold the man, whose name is the BRANCH; " be shall build the temple of the Lord. Even "be fhall build the temple of the Lord; and "he shall bear the glory, and shall fit, and "rule upon his throne. Obferve also the 66 language of the New Teftament; re "are God's building-Know ye not, that ye "The third objection alfo may be re- -is in Ni עוה from העות but ;בעותו be * -Tis alfo cer' גלה from הגלות phal, as «tain, |