2 Samuel 7:7

7 In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people Israel, saying, "Why build ye not Me a house of cedar?"'

2 Samuel 7:7 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 7:7

In all [the places] wherein I have walked with all the children
of Israel (See Gill on 2 Samuel 7:6) on the places mentioned there:

spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel;
or rather the sceptres of Israel; so the word is rendered, ( Genesis 49:10 ) ; the sceptre bearers, rulers, and governors, whose custom was to carry a sceptre in their hands, as Ben Melech observes; and so in a parallel text, ( 1 Chronicles 17:6 ) , it is, "to any of the judges of Israel"; any of those from the times of Moses and Joshua to the times of Saul and David, and this is confirmed by what follows:

whom I commanded to feed my people Israel;
that is, to rule and govern them, protect and defend them, which cannot be said of the tribes, but of the rulers of them; and the Lord asks this question, whether ever he had said a word to any of those, in all that space of time, expressing anything of this kind:

saying, why build ye not me an house of cedar?
they never were bid to do it, or expostulated with why they did not, or ever reproved for not doing it; therefore why should David think of doing it?

2 Samuel 7:7 In-Context

5 "Go and tell My servant David, `Thus saith the LORD: Shalt thou build Me a house for Me to dwell in?

6 For I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.

7 In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people Israel, saying, "Why build ye not Me a house of cedar?"'

8 Now therefore, so shalt thou say unto My servant David, `Thus saith the LORD of hosts: I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel.

9 And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men who are on the earth.