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Jerusalem existed hundreds of years before King David was born. The earliest reference to Jerusalem is found in Genesis 14:18. Abraham honored Melchizedek, "King of Salem" and "priest of the God most high." Melchizedek was both king and priest of God, a combination of roles that could not exist in Israel.
The next certain reference to Jerusalem came hundreds of years later. Israel was conquering and possessing the area God promised them. The Jebusite king, Adoni-zedek (king of Jerusalem), [Joshua 10:1] feared (a) the advance of Israel and (b) the peace treaty the Gibeonites made with Israel. He formed an alliance with four Amorite kings to attack Gibeon. Obviously, Jebus (Jerusalem) did not belong to Israel.
Though Jerusalem was on the tribe of Judah's northern border, they did not conquer it. They coexisted with the Jebusites [Joshua 15:63]. Though Jerusalem was within the tribe of Benjamin's territory [Joshua 17:28], they did not conquer it.
Jerusalem was not Israel's property until it was captured by King David [2 Samuel 5:6-9]. After King Saul's death, David was appointed King of Judah [2 Samuel 2:4]. The city of Hebron was the new king's residence. Seven and a half years later the elders of the rest of Israel made David king of the entire nation [2 Samuel 5:1-5].
After David became King of Israel, he captured Jerusalem through a surprise attack. He slipped soldiers into the city through the water tunnel [2 Samuel 5:6-10].
From Joshua's invasion of Canaan until the beginning of King David's rule over all Israel, Jerusalem was not Israel's property. In this period (approximately 250 years), God did not cause "His name to dwell" in Jerusalem. It was not the site of Israel's sacrificial worship.
King Hiram of Tyre sent King David cedar timbers, carpenters, and stone masons to build David a palace [2 Samuel 5:11]. It was then that David fully realized that God had established him as Israel's king for Israel's sake [verse 12].
David built his palace in Jerusalem making it Israel's royal city. But David wanted it to be more than Israel's royal city. He also wanted Jerusalem to be Israel's holy city. At this time the ark of the covenant resided at Baale-judah (Kiriath-jearim) [2 Samuel 6].
David did not know the proper way to move the ark of the covenant. Instead of carrying the ark on poles (as commanded and designed), David attempted to move the ark to Jerusalem on a new ox cart. On the way, the oxen stumbled, the ark tottered, and Uzzah touched it to steady it. God regarded Uzzah's act as one of irreverence, and Uzzah died instantly [2 Samuel 6:7].
David did not understand God's anger. He became angry with God and was afraid of God. He asked, "How can the ark of the Lord come to me" [2 Samuel 6:9]?
The ark was placed in Obed-Edom's home for three months. The ark's presence blessed his home and family. When David learned of those blessings, he brought the ark "into the city of David with gladness" [2 Samuel 6:12]. In Jerusalem, the ark was placed in the tent that David prepared for it [2 Samuel 6:17].
David struggled with a personal dilemma. God made him king over all Israel. He succeeded in (a) capturing Jerusalem; (b) making Jerusalem the royal city by building his palace there; and (c) making Jerusalem Israel's site for sacrificial worship by bringing the ark there and placing it in a tent.
So what was his dilemma? It seemed improper for the king to live in a palace in his royal city and for the presence of God to live in a tent in the holy city [2 Samuel 7:2]. When David acknowledged that inequity to the prophet Nathan, Nathan said, "Do whatever you have in mind to do because it is obvious that the Lord is with you" [2 Samuel 7:3].
First, contrast what Nathan said to David before he received God's vision with what Nathan said to David after he received God's vision. Before the vision: "David, do whatever it is you wish to do." After the vision: (a) God: "Are you the one to build me a house to live in [7:5]? (b) "Since Israel began, I moved about in a tent; I never lived in a house" [7:6]. (c) "I never asked anyone in Israel to build me a house" [ 7:7]. (d) "I made you. I was with you. I made Israel. 'The Lord will make a house for you.' I will permanently establish your lineage over the kingdom of Israel" [7:8-16].
David's reaction to the Lord's message in Nathan's vision is clear. David understood that the focus of God's message was (a) on God's promise to make David "a house" in the nation of Israel by making his descendants the continuing kings of Israel. (b) The message did not focus on David's desire to build God a temple.
David was humbled and grateful for this enormous honor. The honor: in each future generation, God would make a descendant of David king in Israel. "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far" [7:18]? (Note that "house could refer to family and descendants.) David fully grasped the significance of God's promise to him and his descendants. He sought to honor God, and God honored him instead.
Second, note (a) the desire to have the ark in Jerusalem was David's, not God's. (b) The desire to build God a temple was David's, not God's. (c) This desire came from David's heart, not from God's command. God always had been the God whose presence was in a tent in Israel. The shepherd and fugitive who was now king lived in a palace. He wanted God to live in a temple.
First, Israel wanted a king so they would be ruled in the same manner as the nations around them [1 Samuel 8:1-6]. That mistaken desire was permitted by God. Second, David wanted to build a temple for God. That desire was David's heart desire. David intended it as an honor. God looked at his heart and accepted his gift. David gathered the materials [see I Kings 8:17-21; 1 Chronicles 17:4, 11-13] and his son Solomon built the temple [1 Kings 5-8].
This "appropriate" honor that came from David's heart (in time) became a spiritual disaster in Israel. The temple was David, Solomon, and Israel's gift to God. Unfortunately, in time, the temple became the focus of Israel's faith. What was given to God as a gift became the object of their faith. They were certain that God was with them and would protect and bless them because they had the temple. From their misguided perception, God was obligated to bless and protect them because they had the temple. Their basic concept of God reverted to the concept of the gods. They saw the temple as serving the role and purposes of the temples of the gods. The temple that was given to honor God became an insult to God [Isaiah 1:10-15].
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