Matthew Poole and continuators on 2 Samuel 23:5

5 Although my house be not so with God ; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant , ordered in all things and sure : for this is all my Salvation , and all my desire , although he make it not to grow.

Although God knows, that neither I, nor my Children have Lived and Ruled as we should have done, so justly, and in the fear of the Lord; and therefore have not enjoyed that uninterrupted Prosperity which we might have enjoyed: but our Morning-light, or, the beginning of that Kingdom promised to me and mine for ever, hath been overcast with many black and dismal Clouds, and my Children have not hitherto been like the tender Grass springing out of the Earth, and thriving by the Influences of the Sun and Rain; but rather like the Grass that withereth away, or is cut off before its due time.

Notwithstanding all our Transgressions whereby we have broken Covenant with God, and the Confusions and Civil Wars which have threatned our Dissipation and utter Destruction; yet I comfort my self with this, That God, to whom all my Sins were fore-known before I committed them, was graciously pleased to make a sure Covenant, to give and continue the Kingdom to me, and to my Seed for ever; Chap. 7. 16. [illegible: 1 word] the Coming of the Messias; who is to be my Son and Successor, and whose Kingdom shall have no End.

Ordained in all Points by God's Eternal and Unchangeable Counsel; and disposed by his wife and powerful Providence, which doth and will over-rule all things, even the Sins and Sufferings of my House so far, that although he would punish them for their Sins, yet he will not utterly root them out, nor break his Covenant made with me and mine; as is said, Psal. 89. 31, 32, 33, 34.

Or, preserved or observed, or kept; to wit, on Gods part, and by Gods power and faithfulness in the midst of all the oppositions and uncertainties to which it seems to be exposed on our part; compare Rom. 3. 3. And 2 Tim. 2 13.

Or therefore, as the Hebrew Particle, chi, oft signifies; therefore, i. e. because God hath made such a Covenant.

Or, he is, he who hath made this Covenant: or, in this is, i. e. it consists in, and depends upon this Covenant.

Both my own Eternal Salvation, and the Temporal Salvation, or the Preservation of the Kingdom to me and mine.

Or, every desirable thing; the Word desire being oft put for Desired, or a Desirable Thing; as Psal. 21. 2. and 78. 29, 30. Ezek. 24. 16. David being deeply sensible, and having had large experience of the vanity and uncertainty of all Farthly things, here declares, That the Covenant made by God with him▪ and his in the Messias, is the onely happiness which he prizeth and desireth, in which he doth fully acquies[illegible: 1+ letters]e.

i. e. My House, mentioned before. So the sence is, Although God as yet hath not made my House or Family to grow; i. e. to increase, or to flourish with Worldly Glory and Prosperity, as I expected; but hath for my Sins [illegible: 1+ letters]ut off divers of my most eminent Branches, and sorely afflicted my Person and Family; and although he may for the future deal in like manner with my Sons and Successors for the like miscarriages, which it is probable they may commit: yet this is my great support and comfort, that God will constantly and inviolably keep this Covenant; and therefore, in the midst of all the shakings, and confusions, and interruptions, which may happen in my House, and Kingdom, will preserve my Line and Family until the coming of the Messias out of my Loins, whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom; who as he is the desire of all Nations, Hag. 2. 7. so in a special manner is my desire, and the Author of all my Salvation.