Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 18:1 (Spring 2021)
Article: The Davidic Covenant As An Interpretational Key
Author: Mario Melendez

JBTM 18:1 (Spring 2021) p. 41

The Davidic Covenant As An Interpretational Key

Mario Melendez

Mario Melendez is the Auguie Henry Chair of Bible and Assistant professor of Old Testament and biblical studies at Oklahoma Baptist University

When studying the Davidic covenant, Walter Brueggemann regarded it as the “dramatic and theological center of the entire Samuel corpus” and as “the most crucial theological statement in the Old Testament.”1 Interestingly, Brueggemann did not layout what he meant by these statements. Thus, the thesis of this article is that the Davidic covenant serves as an interpretational key to understand several subpoints of theology: theology of the temple, theology of peace, and theology of the king/messiah. Several research questions will be asked of the Davidic covenant. 1) What does the covenant entail? 2) How did the prophets understand and utilize the Davidic covenant? 3) What are the possible theological implications of the Davidic covenant? The method in answering these questions will be to survey the original text, prophetic texts and to draw theological conclusions of the two. The hypothesis of this work is that the biblical authors utilized the Davidic covenant to be a theological message to numerous generations culminating with an eternal fulfillment. As such, only when the divine king rules, among the people (in the promised temple), will there be eternal peace.

The Covenant In 2 Samuel

The setting of the covenant, 2 Samuel 7, is the beginning of David’s reign. In 2 Samuel 5, David united the kingdom. Shortly thereafter, David took the city of Jerusalem and brought the ark of the covenant into the city. With his capital in control, David began

JBTM 18:1 (Spring 2021) p. 42

constructing the king’s palace. At the time of the covenant, David laments that he was living in a grand palace, yet God was relegated to a tent (2 Sam 7:2). Not written into the text is another possible worry of David, his reign. This worry is implicit in the text, for the ancient near eastern tradition was to build a temple for the local deity and sacrifice to him so that the king may have a long ruling dynasty.2 “The obvious answer to the problem of legitimacy, [a] characteristic of every ruler in the ancient world, is to build a temple. Give God a permanent residence that will solidify the regime.”3 Though this tradition was known to David, God does not permit such a construction. God’s reply demonstrates that ...