Messianic promise in 2 Sam 7 Just a note on the hope here. We do not know how much hope was placed in a new David, a Messiah over the years. Our passage goes back 1000 years before the birth of Christ. If Luke is using it, others must have continued to hold the promise dear for many years.
Qumran had a dual messiah, a priestly one to reform the temple and a political one. Indeed some more mystical Jewish sects had a deep messianic expectation of their leader just recently in New York. Followers of Moon see him as a new Christ figure.
From the reading on David, we get a good sense of how expectations can change over time. the word messiah and therefore Christ means anointed one. In Reformed tradition we notice that priests, prophets, and kings were anointed.
This is a good Advent text as it links, past, present, future. I like how God, with a moreover, reverses David’s request and decides to be the giver, not receiver of gifts. Again, the issue of giving or receiving gifts is a good piece for spiritual growth.
The promise fell with the temple and the monarchy, no? It took some real interpretive magic to recast the messianic hope.
God treads lightly here with David’s desire to link church and state as a legitimation tool. If one feels bold, the right wing church embrace of the president fits into this passage.
God prefers the nobility of the tabernacle. One could work with this image as Jesus himself is a mobile tabernacle of divine presence.
One could go further and link God’s mobility to Emmanuel quite directly. The evocation of God’s solidarity offer a great way to mention current events and seek the divine presence within them, or over and under them
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