2 Samuel 7:21

21 It was your will and purpose to do this; you have done all these great things in order to instruct me.

2 Samuel 7:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 7:21

For thy word's sake
For the sake of the promise he had made to him by Samuel, that he should be king, and his kingdom should be established; or for the sake of the Messiah, that should spring from him; the Memra, as the Targum, the essential Word of God; and so the Septuagint version, "because of thy servant", with which agrees the parallel text in ( 1 Chronicles 17:19 ) ;

and according to thine own heart;
of his own sovereign good will and pleasure, of his own grace, as the Arabic version, and not according to the merits and deserts of David:

hast thou done all these great things;
in making him king of Israel, and settling the kingdom in his posterity to the times of the Messiah, who should spring from him:

to make thy servant know [them];
as he now did by Nathan the prophet, what he and his should enjoy for time to come; so that it is not only a blessing to have favours designed, purposed, and promised, but to have the knowledge of them, to know the things that are freely given of God.

2 Samuel 7:21 In-Context

19 Yet now you are doing even more, Sovereign Lord; you have made promises about my descendants in the years to come. And you let a man see this, Sovereign Lord!
20 What more can I say to you! You know me, your servant.
21 It was your will and purpose to do this; you have done all these great things in order to instruct me.
22 How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is none like you; we have always known that you alone are God.
23 There is no other nation on earth like Israel, whom you rescued from slavery to make them your own people. The great and wonderful things you did for them have spread your fame throughout the world. You drove out other nations and their gods as your people advanced, the people whom you set free from Egypt to be your own.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.