The Vow of David

Session 3:Walking Out the Promise

I.Embracing this Vow:

David didn’t just make a promise, he purposed himself in a very sober way to see it through. He set his mind that he was going to forgo many of the permissible pleasures of life in order to see this huge task become a reality in his lifetime.

  1. Summing Up the Vow:

We need to understand that this vow was David setting his heart to build the house of prayer at all costs; it was a promise not to spend his time, money or his gifts and talents on himself, but rather to point his whole life and all his strength toward seeing God’s house established in his generation.

  1. Not Fully Recorded in the Bible:

David’s vow was probably not fully recorded in Scripture anywhere, but we can understand the basic premise of the vow from what is written in Psalm 132.

“O LORD, remember David and all the hardships he endured. He swore an oath to the LORD and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: "I will not enter my house or go to my bed- I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob." We heard it in Ephrathah, (Bethlehem) we came upon it in the fields of Jaar: "Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool- arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy (Ps. 132:1-9).”

  1. David’s Commitment was Well Known:

It was well known to those who knew him and we can gain additional insight into his vow by looking at Psalm 69 where David described the afflictions that he endured from his youth related to his zeal for God’s house and the lifestyle he chose to see God’s name worshiped night and day and His presence established in Israel.

“For Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting that became my reproach...I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate speak against me...I am the song of the drunkards (Ps. 69:7-12).”

II.How David Fulfilled the Vow:

From the time he was a youth he committed himself wholeheartedly to the Lord and to the mission of establishing a resting place for the Lord. A careful study of his life shows us that he was driven by this vow. His whole life became an offering; his devotion caused him to make decisions very differently from others in his generation. This section points out some of the clearest ways that he used every part of his life to fulfill this vow.

  1. He Used His Relationships:

David’s used every available resources at his disposal to build the house of prayer; this included his relational connections.

  1. Privileged connections:

He had good standing with the king of Tyre and Sidon (1Ki. 5:1-12, 1Ch. 22:4). He took full advantage of this relationship in order to help supply the building materials needed.

“He also provided more cedar logs than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David (1Ch. 22:4).”

  1. Friendships:

David had spent a decade building his army who were now national leaders at his side. He used the influence he had with the heads of his armyto appoint worship leaders for the house of prayer.

“David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals (1Ch. 25:1)”

  1. Family relationships:

Then he raised his son Solomon in the fear of the Lord and probably groomed him most of his life. As David neared death he told his son to build the Temple for God.

“Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the LORD God (1Ch. 22:19)”

  1. He Used His Authority:

David used his leverage as king in order to build the house of prayer, we see him taking full advantage of the position that God gave him in life in order to strengthen the prayer movement.

  1. Appointed people to serve:

As king he commanded 4,000 men to be full time musicians in the house of prayer as their portion in life.

“Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the LORD with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose (1Ch. 23:5).”

  1. He made new multigenerational protocols:

Their sons were to follow after them in this same line of work in order to sustain the occupation for generations to come (1Ch. 23:1-32; 2Ch. 5:12).

“For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever, the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service.” According to the last instructions of David, the Levites were counted from those twenty years old or more. The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the temple of the Lord (1Ch. 24:25-28)”

  1. Changed national financial policies:

David leveraged his position to restructure the whole national economy to sustain the finances of his worship order(1Ch. 9:33; 2Ch. 31:4, 19; Ne. 12:44, 47, 13:5). Special provisions and financial portions were assigned to the Levites so that this lavish gift which David put into place would be provided for long term.

“Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night (1Ch. 9:33).”

C.He Pursued Prerequisite Projects:

David deeply desired to build a place for the Ark, but to do so there were some significant things he would have to undertake first in order for that to become a reality. While God did not ultimately let him be the one to actually build the Temple this is was David spent himself on.

1.He captured Zion from the Jebusites (2Sa. 5:6-7).

2.He bought the Temple mount from Araunah (2 Sa. 24:18-24).

3.He brought up the Ark (2Sa. 6:1-17).

4.He sought to build the Temple (1Ch. 17:1).

D.Use of His Time:

Even though David was the king of the nation he spent large portions of his time in the house of prayer. David was committed to actually being in that tent long and loving hours all the days of his life. He didn’t just build it and move on, once he established it then he lived out the rest of his life in that tent.

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple (Ps. 27:4).”

  1. He Used His Energy:

He used all of his strength to build God a dwelling place in the midst of His people. David spent significant amounts of his energy in administrating and strategizing how to establish and sustain a night and day worship and prayer furnace. It takes a tremendous amount of work to keep such a ministry going and especially this is true with so many people employed in the effort. The most laborious part is that it never stopped; there was no break from the activity and requirements. This meant a tremendous number of organizational meetings, follow-ups and rebukes and reminders and everything else involved in managing such an extravagant and perpetual offering.

  1. Constantly Spoke About it:

David was a man consumed with God, and with establishing a resting place for the presence of God. He spoke often about how he loved to gaze on His beauty in the place that he had built for Him and how he saw His glory there. David talked about and wrote songs about the majesty of God that he encountered regularly in the little prayer room he has set up for Him (Ps. 26:6-8, 27:4, 63:2, 65:4-5).

“I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells (Ps. 26:6-8).”

III.David had a Divine Revelation:

The idea to build God a dwelling place was actually a God given revelation; it was a very important reality to the Father that there be a permanent structure within the community of believers.

  1. Haggais’s Rebuke:

During the time after the exiles had returned to Jerusalem the Lord anointed Haggai to prophesy about God’s desire for His house to be built in the midst of His people. God was here stating that He desired this type of relationship with men still.

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house.’” Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?...Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD (Hg. 1:2-3, 8).”

  1. A More Glorious Temple:

ThenGod promised that in the future there would be an even more glorious house of prayer reality established than what was built in Solomon’s time. This was a far off promise telling the people of God that He would still want this habitation of His presence in the midst of His people for generations to come.

“The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty (Hg. 2:9).”

  1. The Savior’s House:

The Word promises that the Messiah will come and build the final house of prayer for all the nations. All peoples will come and worship the encounter the presence of God in this final expression of the house of prayer.

“Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two (Zch. 6:12-13).”

  1. Given to David First:

This revelation of God having a house for a night and day worship order became clear from the time of David onward. As it related to night and day prayer David was the first to have understanding about this desire in the heart of God.

IV.He Set Himself to Build God a Temple:

Nathan the prophet made it very clear that David was not permitted to be the one to build God a house (1Ch. 17:4). But David just couldn’t let it go at that, he figured that since he wasn’t allowed to actually be the one to build it he would do the next best thing and make provisions for it to be built later on by his son. He spent the rest of his life seeing to its safekeeping and preparing for it to be established after he had passed away. One way or another David was going to see to it that God got a resting place whether he was the guy who would get credit for it or not. Again he would accomplish this by using every strength available to him.

  1. David Made Extensive Preparations:

David spent the rest of his life saving up, planning for and making preparations for his son Solomon to build it after he passed the kingdom on to him.

“David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death (1Ch. 22:5).”

  1. He Used the National Treasury:

He used the resources of the national treasury to build the House of Prayer with strength. Using modern exchange rates he provided approximately $123,750,000,000 of gold and approximately $16,875,000,000 of silver.

“I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them (1Ch. 22:14).”

  1. He Used His Personal Finances:

He went beyond the finances of Israel, buy this time David was himself a rich man and he used his own vast wealth to build the house of prayer as well. This would have amounted to approximately $3,630,000,000 of his personal gold and $117,000,000 of his own silver if we were to use the modern equivalents.

“With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, for the gold work and the silver work (1Ch. 29:2-5).”

  1. He Enlisted a Workforce:

David also enlisted all of Israel in order to help Solomon to build the Temple after he passed away.

“Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. He said to them, “Is not the LORD your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subject to the LORD and to his people. Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the LORD God (1Ch. 22:17-19).”

  1. He Enlisted Every Kind of Craft Maker:

He had men of every craft imaginable lined up all ready to do their part in building the house of prayer.

“You have many workmen: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as men skilled in every kind of work in gold and silver, bronze and iron –craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and the LORD be with you (1Ch. 22:15-16).”

V.Conflicts Because of the Vow:

David set his heart to pursue God in wholehearted abandonment at whatever the cost. Not everyone appreciated his zeal however, and the greatest amount of opposition he received for his vow actually came from his own people and those closest to him. The kind of spiritual fervor that David committed himself to see God’s resting place established is often viewed as dangerous and out of touch.

“O LORD, remember David and all the hardships he endured. He swore an oath to the LORD and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob (Ps. 132:1-2).”

  1. Serious Conflict within His Family:

David’s zeal to see the house of prayer built caused his family to misunderstand him. They mistreated him and called him names related to how consumed he was about the house of prayer.

“For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons; for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me (Ps. 69:7-9).

  1. His Wife was Embarrassed by Him:

Even his own wife thought he was totally off. She accused him of not acting “kingly” and called his acts of devotion to the Lord related to establishing the house of prayer vulgar and an embarrassment.

“As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul…saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart…Michal…said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me…I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes (2Sa. 6:16-22).”

  1. He had Strife with Those He Led:

His zeal for the house of prayer caused his subjects to mock him from every angle. Psalm 69 tells us about three realms of people beyond his family that hurled insults on him related to his radical pursuit of God.

“people make sport of me. Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards (Ps. 69:11-12 NKJV).”

  1. He was a byword to the general populous:

David became a byword amongstthe people; the NKJV says that they make sport of him. They told jokes about him because of the intensity with which he sought God.