‘Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?’
David wasn't wrong in his desire for the Lord to have something greater than a tent for his dwelling place. The greatness of the Lord deserved the very best that David could offer. Further, it was true that the Lord's presence did dwell in that tent in a special way where he could be found nowhere else on earth. And yet, the temptation would be to then see the Lord as one who could be contained within time and space, to see him as less because of the shape of that dwelling, and to then think that there was something David could offer to the Lord as a favor.
I have been with you wherever you went,
and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.
And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.
I will fix a place for my people Israel;
I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place
without further disturbance.
The Lord reminded David that his power was by no means circumscribed by the ark or the tent that surrounded it. There was no aspect of the world to which his power did not extend. He was present in the tent in a special way because he chose to be, not because he was confined, or because anything about it was a benefit to him. This would also be true of the temple that would in fact eventually be built by Solomon. It was a gift from the Lord to those who worshipped him in order that they themselves might enter more deeply into his presence.
The LORD also reveals to you
that he will establish a house for you.
David wanted to do something for God but instead was compelled to realize that there was nothing that even he, great king though he was, could offer. His very authority and power by which he might do anything was already a gift. It was something which could only perdure by the Lord's will.
It was nevertheless a holy desire, an inspired one, which made David wish that the Lord would dwell among his people. It was not something that he could bring about. Nor was the eventual fulfillment of it something which he could have even comprehended. But the Lord really did respond to that desire in a way that was more than David could have asked for or imagined. It was no mere tent in which the Lord would dwell in response to that promise. And yet, when we read that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the word dwelt did in fact mean "to pitch a tent". The Word who became flesh and dwelt among us was the true heir of David sprung from his loins, whose kingdom would be made firm, whose house and kingdom would endure forever, whose throne would stand firm, just as David was promised.
“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
So much time passed between David and the Son who would finally fulfill the promise to him. But with Mary there was finally one who did not secretly carry the belief that she could offer something to God nor ever hope to contain him. She was the first one, the only one to be small enough, that one so great could enter. This was because Mary herself was, in a sense, a tent prepared by God and not by man for the Lord to come and dwell within. God bypassed human arrogance and pride but still allowed the ark of the new covenant to be from our race, "our tainted nature's solitary boast" (The Virgin by William Wordsworth). She was able to be that precisely because she did not and could not imagine ever boasting of anything in herself.
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
We can learn to imitate Mary so that the Word may be born in our own hearts, more and more. We can approach her in her smallness and her humility, trusting in the God for whom nothing will be impossible. We can learn to give the complete yes which can only come from that place of trust.
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
With this yes as our beginning we can learn the true meaning of the obedience of faith of which Paul speaks.
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