Poole on 2 Samuel 23:5: The Goodness of God-fearing Government, Part 2

Verse 5:[1]  Although my house be not so with God; (2 Sam. 7:15, 16; Ps. 89:29; Is. 55:3) yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure:  for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

[Neither is my house so great before God, ‎כִּֽי־לֹא־כֵ֥ן בֵּיתִ֖י עִם־אֵ֑ל]  Because not (or for not [Pagnine, or although not [Junius and Tremellius], not, I say [Tigurinus, Munster], certainly not [Dieu]) so (understanding, either is [Pagnine, Dieu], may be [Junius and Tremellius], or will be [Munster, Tigurinus]; not so does it stand [Arabic, Vatablus]; it is not of this sort [Syriac]) my house with God, or before God (Pagnine, Montanus, Septuagint, Junius and Tremellius, Munster, Tigurinus, Vatablus), that is, God did not make such an imperfect promise with me (Vatablus), but full and altogether glorious (Malvenda).  Those things [concerning which verse 4] are inconstant and unstable; not so my house, etc., which has an eternal covenant (Drusius).  Not so, etc., that is, that it might suffer these vicissitudes (Mariana).  More than these things is my house before God.  Jonathan translates the כִּי as certainly, for it is often not causal, but confirmative, as in Genesis 22:17, ‎כִּי־בָרֵךְ, where the Septuagint has ἦ μὴν, full surely,[2] which Paul also alleges in Hebrew 6:14,[3] which is not a particle of swearing as some maintain, but of confirmation (Dieu).  Although it be not so, etc. (Junius and Tremellius, English, Dutch); but although it be not so settled (Piscator), that is, I and my kingdom, although we do not render these things so exactly, and so are guilty of not keeping covenant with God, seeing that the covenant is everlasting, etc. (Junius).  Although I and my house be unworthy, etc. (Dutch).  For how utterly nothing is my house before God? (Strigelius).  My house is unworthy, upon which God would bestow such favors (Menochius, similarly Lyra).  [Others otherwise:]  That thus the transaction is going to be to my posterity with God…I certainly desire.  As for the fact that I interpret ‎כִּי־לֹא in such a way that he states, and does not deny, in the same manner is posited ‎לֹ֖א כִּ֥י in Genesis 18:15, where it is the same thing as indeed.[4]  For לֹא/not is not always of denial, as in Ezekiel 3:6, in which ‎אִם־לֹא was put in the place of but if:[5]  which is wont also to be applied in swearing and affirming in the place of that which the Greeks express as ἢ μὴν, ἢ μάλα, full surely.  Likewise in 2 Samuel 13:26;[6] 2 Kings 5:17;[7] Ezekiel 15,[8] it is confirming; and often elsewhere; as also in Ecclesiasticus 29:6 εἰ δὲ μή signifies even indeed:[9]  and also in Matthew 6:1; Mark 2:21, 22, otherwise;[10] and in 2 Timothy 2:25 μήποτε, if peradventure:[11]  just as to the Greeks οὐκοῦν, not therefore, in one voice is affirming.[12]  But if the כִּי־לֹא here should introduce a denial, the dissimilitude would be absurd, and contrary to nature and the similitude posited by the same David in Psalm 1 (Castalio).  [But to others this dissimilitude appears appropriate enough, as we said.]

Although my house be not so with God; although God knows that neither I nor my children have lived and ruled as we should have done, so justly, and in the fear of the Lord; and therefore have not enjoyed that uninterrupted prosperity which we might have enjoyed; but our morning light, or the beginning of that kingdom promised to me and mine for ever, hath been overcast with many black and dismal clouds, and my children have not hitherto been like the tender grass springing out of the earth, and thriving by the influences of the sun and rain; but rather like the grass that withereth away, or is cut off before its due time.

[And it is not such…that He would enter into an eternal covenant with me, firm, etc., ‎כִּי֩ בְרִ֙ית עוֹלָ֜ם שָׂ֣ם לִ֗י עֲרוּכָ֤ה בַכֹּל֙ וּשְׁמֻרָ֔ה [13]]  Because or since (or but [Syriac, Arabic], or seeing that [Junius and Tremellius], yet [English, Dutch], yet because [Piscator]) a covenant or pact (or oath [Jonathan]) eternal or perpetual (or of the age [Montanus]) He hath posited (or disposed [Junius and Tremellius]) to me (Montanus, Vatablus, Syriac, Dieu, Munster), or entered or settled with me (Pagnine, Septuagint, Arabic, Tigurinus), disposed (or ordered [Pagnine, Septuagint, Tigurinus, English], which is well disposed [Dutch], and that ordered [Piscator], confirmed in an orderly manner [Munster], prepared [Vatablus], firm [Strigelius], ordered it endures [Junius and Tremellius]) in all (understanding, things [Junius and Tremellius, English]) or in every way, and kept (Montanus, Pagnine, Dieu, Piscator), or and preserved (Tigurinus, Dutch, Vatablus), maintained (Munster, Junius and Tremellius), reliable (Mariana), inviolable (certain interpreters in Vatablus), sure (English), prepared unto perpetuity (Arabic); and all things are prepared and preserved (Syriac).  He says this, so that it might set over against a morning that is spoiled with cloud-cover.  All these things are to be understood of Christ (Vatablus, thus Lyra).  In no other way was the kingdom of David eternal; see Luke 1:33, and He shall reign forever, etc.  Moreover, he says that this covenant is secured either by oath, or by the divine decree (Sanchez).  This covenant was rightly ordered in every respect, and in that order is kept (Dieu).  The sense:  although in the Kingdom of Christ the confusions from persecutions, heresies, scandals, etc., appear to be many; nevertheless, it shall appear in the end that God has disposed all things rightly and wisely, and has permitted no evil, from which some great good has not come.  And, even if Satan should study to overthrow this kingdom, it will nevertheless be kept and protected; that is, God will keep His own, and will not allow the Gospel to be destroyed (Osiander).  Nothing shall hinder the coming of Messiah and His kingdom.  It remains to me kept and preserved.  Even if my descendants sin, Christ shall nevertheless be born of them; Romans 3:3, if some did not believe, is the promise then vain? (Martyr).  In the hands of God Himself is the ordering and preservation of that most desirable and salutary covenant, in my house, and universal kingdom and church through Christ; and He has undertaken to bring it to pass, and actually accomplishes it at the same time, as the faithful Lord (Malvenda out of Junius).  God promised to me a house; that is, a royal posterity and lineage, to be continued unto Christ, and thence unto eternity (Lapide).  Because He swore an eternal oath with me, that my kingdom would be firm, just as the orders of ‎בְּרֵאשִׁית/Bereshith, in the beginning [that is, of creation], are firm, and kept unot the age that will come (Jonathan).  [He understands the age of Messaih, which the ancient Hebrews express in that way.]

Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant:  notwithstanding all our transgressions whereby we have broken covenant with God, and the confusions and civil wars which have threatened our dissipation and utter destruction; yet I comfort myself with this, that God, to whom all my sins were foreknown before I committed them, was graciously pleased to make a sure covenant, to give and continue the kingdom to me and to my seed for ever, 2 Samuel 7:16, until the coming of the Messias, who is to be my Son and successor, and whose kingdom shall have no end.  Ordered in all things; ordained in all points by God’s eternal and unchangeable counsel; and disposed by his wise and powerful providence, which doth and will overrule all things, even the sins and sufferings of my house, so far, that although he would punish them for their sins, yet he will not utterly root them out, nor break his covenant made with me and mine; as is said, Psalm 89:31-34. Sure, or preserved, or observed, or kept, to wit, on God’s part, or by God’s power and faithfulness, in the midst of all the oppositions and uncertainties to which it seems to be exposed on our part.  Compare Romans 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:13.

[For it is all my salvation, and all my desire:  neither is there anything thereof that does not spout, ‎כִּֽי־כָל־יִשְׁעִ֥י וְכָל־חֵ֖פֶץ כִּֽי־לֹ֥א יַצְמִֽיחַ׃]  Since (or seeing that [Pagnine]) all, or whole or entire, my salvation (understanding, He is [Vatablus, Mariana, Menochius, Sanchez) and all will (Septuagint, Pagnine, Montanus, Glassius), or all desire (Vatablus), all zeal (Glassius), understanding, is borne in Him (Vatablus); or all, understanding, my, will, understanding, He is; I love Him, cleave to Him, hope all things from Him (Sanchez); that is to say, that I fear and love God, etc., is God’s blessing, who bestowed a good disposition upon me (Menochius).  Inasmuch as (or because [Montanus]) He will not make it to sprout (Pagnine, Montanus), or will not produce; that is, He will not raise, understanding, another King that is not of my family; that is to say, In my family the kingdom shall remain perpetually (Vatablus).  That the unjust man shall not sprout (Septuagint).  [‎בְלִיַּעַל/Belial, the first word of the following verse, they conjoin with the last word of this verse.]  Since (or for [English]) my whole salvation, and whole desire (understanding, is [Junius and Tremellius], namely in that covenant of God [Junius], or this is [English]), when [that is, although] He does not cause it to sprout (Junius and Tremellius, similarly the English).  That is to say, Not because of our merits is He going to do this, but for the sake of His own name, and because of the eternal covenant through Christ (Malvenda out of Junius).  Now, the pledge of the keeping of the covenant by God is the firstfruits of the Spirit, by whose inspiration I attribute all my salvation to the gracious covenant of God (Junius).  When He does not cause, etc., that is, because of our sins He does not put forth that prosperity that he had adumbrated in verse 4.  Thus he anticipates objections:  one, that they do not obey the commandment of God:  the other, that God is not fulfilling the things promised.  For, he determines that by his disobedience the faith of Go is not able to be made of no effect, as in Romans 3:3 (Malvenda out of Junius).  Certainly in that is all my salvation and delight, although He does not allow that to bloom (Piscator).  Certainly all my salvation is in that [namely, the covenant] and all my desire; although He does not yet make that to sprout; that is, although the promised shoot/branch of Jesse or of David, namely, the Messiah, has not yet come.  Compare Isaiah 4:2; 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12.  Others thus:  certainly all my salvation and delight is, that He will not make it to sprout, that is, because it had already sprouted, it will never die (Dutch).  Seeing that all my salvation, and whole will is firm; not as a shoot springs forth (Tigurinus).  It shall not be as the sprout of the field, which wilts away:  but He, who is my salvation and my desire, namely, Christ, shall every reign, etc. (Hebrews in Vatablus).  Not so shall be my kingdom, which by covenant…is confirmed, from which shall proceed my salvation, etc., that is, the Christ of God:  this shall not spring up like a plant, which soon withers; but there shall be no end of His kingdom (Munster).  Because all my salvation, etc., because it shall not sprout,[14] in the place of shall not sprout (so that the ‎כִּי/because is redundant, just as in Ruth 4:12[15] and elsewhere).  That is to say, Although in my kingdom I have conducted many things beneficially and successfully; all this my glory is tottering; if it be compared with the kingdom of my son, that is, the Messiah, it is obscure, and like a dry branch and trunk that does not sprout.  This appears to be the simple sense of this passage; now, הִצְמִיחַ is also elsewhere taken neutrally for to blossom, or to sprout, Isaiah 48:8;[16] etc. (Glassius’ “Grammar” 616).  [Castalio thus renders this whole passage, God says, etc., with the early morning beginning to shine in the rising of the Sun, a clear morning, by reason of the luster after the rain, such shoots appear from the earth; that thus it was certainly going to be done to my posterity with God (who made with me an eternal covenant, altogether stable and certain), which posterity of mine, so that it might thoroughly flourish, I long with all my resources and all my effort.]  For all my will, and all my commission He has fulfilled (Syriac, similarly the Arabic).  Even if all my salvation and all will, even if, I say, He does not make it to sprout forth; or, He certain does not make it to sprout forth.  כִּי I translate as even if, which it often means elsewhere; concerning which see the Thesaurus of Pagnine[17] (Dieu).

For, or therefore, as the Hebrew particle ‎כִּי/chi oft signifies; therefore, that is, because God hath made such a covenant.  This is, or, he is, he who hath made this covenant; or, in this is, that is, it consists in and depends upon this covenant.  All my salvation; both my own eternal salvation, and the temporal salvation, or the preservation of the kingdom to me and mine.  All my desire, or, every desirable thing; the word desire being oft put for desired, or a desirable thing; as Psalm 21:2; 78:29, 30; Ezekiel 24:16.  David being deeply sensible, and having had large experience, of the vanity and uncertainty of all earthly things, here declares that the covenant made by God with him and his in the Messias, is the only happiness which he prizeth and desireth, in which he doth fully acquiesce.  Although he make it not to grow, that is, my house, mentioned before.  So the sense is, Although God as yet hath not made my house or family to grow, that is, to increase, or to flourish with worldly glory and prosperity, as I expected; but hath for my sins cut off divers of my most eminent branches, and sorely afflicted my person and family; and although he may for the future deal in like manner with my sons and successors for the like miscarriages, which it is probable they may commit:  yet this is my great support and comfort, that God will constantly and inviolably keep this covenant; and therefore, in the midst of all the shakings, and confusions, and interruptions which may happen in my house and kingdom, will preserve my line and family until the coming of the Messiah out of my loins, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; who, as he is the desire of all nations, Haggai 2:7, so in a special manner is my desire, and the author of all my salvation.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎כִּֽי־לֹא־כֵ֥ן בֵּיתִ֖י עִם־אֵ֑ל כִּי֩ בְרִ֙ית עוֹלָ֜ם שָׂ֣ם לִ֗י עֲרוּכָ֤ה בַכֹּל֙ וּשְׁמֻרָ֔ה כִּֽי־כָל־יִשְׁעִ֥י וְכָל־חֵ֖פֶץ כִּֽי־לֹ֥א יַצְמִֽיחַ׃

[2] Genesis 22:17:  “That in blessing I will bless thee (‎כִּֽי־בָרֵ֣ךְ אֲבָרֶכְךָ֗; ἦ μὴν εὐλογῶν εὐλογήσω σε, in the Septuagint, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies…”

[3] Hebrews 6:14:  “Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee (λέγων, Ἦ μὴν εὐλογῶν εὐλογήσω σε), and multiplying I will multiply thee.”

[4] Genesis 18:15:  “Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid.  And he said, Nay; but (‎לֹ֖א כִּ֥י) thou didst laugh.”

[5] Ezekiel 3:6:  “Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand.  Surely (‎אִם־לֹא), had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.”

[6] 2 Samuel 13:26:  “Then said Absalom, If not (‎וָלֹא), I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us.  And the king said unto him, Why should he go with thee?”

[7] 2 Kings 5:17:  “And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given (‎וָלֹ֕א יֻתַּן־נָ֣א) to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.”

[8] This appears to be an error, but what may have been intended is not evident.

[9] Ecclesiasticus 29:6:  “If he prevail, he shall hardly receive the half, and he will count as if he had found it:  if not (εἰ δὲ μή), he hath deprived him of his money, and he hath gotten him an enemy without cause:  he payeth him with cursings and railings; and for honour he will pay him disgrace.”

[10] Matthew 6:1:  “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:  otherwise (εἰ δὲ μήγε) ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”  Mark 2:21, 22:  “No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment:  else (εἰ δὲ μή) the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles:  else (εἰ δὲ μή) the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.”

[11] 2 Timothy 2:25:  “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if peradventure (μήποτε) God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth…”

[12] Sometimes, when the speaker is introducing his own opinion, the negative disappears.

[13] עָרַךְ signifies to arrange or set in order; שָׁמַר, to keep or preserve.

[14] Hebrew:  ‎כִּֽי־כָל־יִשְׁעִ֥י וְכָל־חֵ֖פֶץ כִּֽי־לֹ֥א יַצְמִֽיחַ׃.

[15] Ruth 4:12:  “And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee, of this young woman (‎מִן־הַזֶּ֗רַע אֲשֶׁ֙ר יִתֵּ֤ן יְהוָה֙ לְךָ֔ מִן־הַֽנַּעֲרָ֖ה הַזֹּֽאת׃).”

[16] Isaiah 45:8:  “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness:  let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together (‎וּצְדָקָ֤ה תַצְמִ֙יחַ֙ יַ֔חַד); I the Lord have created it.”

[17] Thesaurus Linguæ Sanctæ, sive, Lexicon Hebraicum.