Parties

But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, “Go and tell My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD...'” -- 2 Samuel 7:4-5 (ESV)

Conditions

Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince (leader) over My people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you.

1. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
2. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more.
3. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel.
4. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.
5. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.
6. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
7. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
8. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to Me a son.
9. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
10. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure (established) forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

-- 2 Samuel 7:5-17 (ESV)

You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’”

...

And I will make him (David) the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and My covenant will stand firm for him.
I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.

• If his children forsake My law and do not walk according to My rules,
• if they violate my statutes and do not keep My commandments,
• then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,
• but I will not remove from him My steadfast love or be false to My faithfulness.

I will not violate My covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.”

-- Psalm 89:3-4,27-37 (ESV)

Confirmation

The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which He will not turn back:

• “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
• If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.”

-- Psalm 132:11-12 (ESV)

Broken?

• Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.
• He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
• For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
• So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done.
• Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.

Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

-- 1 Kings 11:1-13 (ESV)

Yet, some scholars reason that this covenant cannot be broken although humans can be disobedient:

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Thus says the LORD: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also My covenant with David My servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne... As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David My servant...”

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The LORD has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised My people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.

Thus says the LORD: If I have not established My covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

-- Jeremiah 33:19-26 (ESV)

Possible explanations:

• Hidden Lineage: Some argue that there are hidden undocumented lineages of David who reigned during the exile
• Broader Definition of "throne": The concept of "throne" does not necessarily mean political rule, but refers to spiritual authority
• Prophetic Time Scale: Biblical prophecies operates on different time scales which allows gaps

Before Jesus was born, this covenant gave (and still gives do to the Jews) the hope of a future king from David's lineage.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God... and he came to her and said... "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." -- Luke 1:26,31-33 (ESV)

This means that the covenant could be interpreted that Jesus is the promised offspring of David who will sit on the throne forever.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” -- John 18:36 (ESV)

Therefore, "the throne of David" was not meant to be a political throne of this world.