C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on 1 Kings 8:25

1Ki 8:25

The expression “and now” (ועתּה) introduces the prayer for the further fulfilment of the promise, never to allow a successor upon the throne to be wanting to David, in the same conditional form in which David had uttered the hope in 1Ki 2:4, and in which the Lord had renewed the promise to Solomon during the building of the temple (1Ki 6:12-13). In על־כּסּא ישׁב מלּפני, instead of כּסּא מעל in 1Ki 2:4, the divine rejection is more distinctly indicated.