ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף שמואל ב 7:19

Mankind can be divided into two categories. The first category consists of people who have a goal and purpose in life. These people can be subdivided into three groups. Group One is totally spiritually oriented, pursues only Divinely approved goals. This group is miniscule in numbers, due to the fact that man is made up of both physical and spiritual components, each of which exerts pressure on him. Group Two is oriented towards the physical and material only, numerically, alas, a very strong group, preferring the beast in man. Group Three combines both the physical and the spiritual elements in its orientation towards life, desiring the esthetically beautiful, the useful, the expedient which is morally good at the same time. Marriage combines the three objectives striven for by this third group. Gratification of the sex urge is channelled into the effort to reproduce the species, excessive indulgence in physical urges is curbed by the legal confines of the marriage contract. Choice of the esthetically pleasing is part of the process leading to marriage. The latter is what David describes as Torat ha-adam, (Samuel II 7,19), the teaching of mankind. Average man, due to his composition, is liable to act like the members of this third group. Combining the three objectives is not only acceptable, but is desirable in the eyes of G-d. When Solomon says, "He who has found a woman, has found goodness," what he means is that these objectives can be achieved by means of life in wedlock. If Jonathan nonetheless preferred the friendship of a man to the love of a woman, this is because woman always weighs in her mind considerations of expediency, of what is functionally sound. (Samuel II 1) We find that women are described there as needing to mourn Sauls's death because of the beautiful garments they had received during his reign due to his valour in battle. The practical is important to women.

When we examine the promise of the prophet Nathan to David concerning the future of his son Solomon, we find that G-d had almost precluded Himself from severing His covenant with Solomon even if the latter should be steeped in sin. (Samuel II 7, 12-17) We read there something that sounds like Solomon had been given carte blanche by G-d, come what may. Similarly, we see Eytan Haezrachi describe the absolute assurances G-d gave to David and his descendants. (Psalms 89,21-38) How does all this square with the statement "G-d is not mortal man that He deceives?" (Numbers 23, 19) Reading verses 39,53, in Psalms 89, certainly poses a difficult problem concerning the absolute nature of assurances from G-d. We also find Solomon being warned repeatedly that his kingdom would not endure if he failed to live up to G-d’s expectations of him. (Kings I chapter 9) Even though the tabernacle, i.e. temporary collapsible structure did endure long, -due to the sin of the spies-, G-d expressed His plan for residence on earth by giving all the instructions for such a residence. In G-d’s own good time, an enduring structure will be built, such as is envisaged in the concluding chapters of the book of Ezekiel. That however, will be when the Jewish people will have become so refined in character through having been persecuted in exile, that success can be ensured and the Divine Presence would not again be forced to withdraw. The entire book of Ezekiel can be viewed as concentrating on this subject, seeing that it commences with a vision of ma-asseh merkavah, i.e. G-d’s residence in the heavens, and concludes with visions of G-d’s residence on earth. The intervening chapters only provide the rationale why a permanent residence for G-d on earth had not been possible, due to the errant ways of G-d’s chosen people. Only after "and I shall sprinkle on you cleansing waters...and give you a new heart," (chapter 36) have the conditions been met that must precede the establishment of a permanent home for G-d on this earth. Interestingly, when Ezekiel mentions the date of his first vision, he begins with the exile of the Divine Presence,- when Jewish exile began-, only to mention the date of the day of Atonement, when forgiveness is granted as the last day in all his recorded visions. If G-d did not command building of a temple when Israel entered the holy land, it was because Israel did not remove all the vestiges of idol worship and idol worshippers from that land. They left in place many people and many objects that would cause them to sin at a later date. Even though David, of his own accord, proposed to establish such a temple, G-d asked "how could you do so unless I had commanded you?" As to the promise that his son would be chosen to do so, the son referred to, is not Solomon, but the Messiah. G-d emphasized that He never requested from Moses a permanent residence, neither does He request it at that time. (Samuel II 7,7) However, "your son" meaning the Messiah, "he will build it." David prepared blueprints etc., but he did not realise that it was not Solomon who had been meant by the words of the prophet Nathan, but that the descendant who would build the permanent house would do so many years after David's departure from this earth. Chronicles I chapter 17, confirms this interpretation. Verse 14 reads "I will make him stand in My house and My kingdom forever," a phrase that can certainly not be applied to Solomon. This is all in line with the prophecy in Isaiah chapter eleven, describing the nature of the Messiah. This is the person referred to already in David's time (Samuel II 7, 14) "I will be his father" etc. The kind of sins committed in those distant days will indeed be subject to forgiveness because the people will respond positively to teachings and rebukes. As the prophet Zecharyah (12,8) says "anyone that stumbles in those days will be equal to David; the house of David will be G-d like, like an angel before the Lord." G-d will not abandon them as He has not abandoned David himself." Nathan's prophecy to David referred in large measure to this distant future. Whether Nathan himself was fully aware of this, does not matter. When David refers to G-d’s promise for the distant future in gratitude, (Samuel II 7, 19) we notice that he was not unaware of the meaning of Nathan's message. David also understood that the very nature of man made it necessary for this process of refinement to extend over millenia. Chronicles I 17, 17, states "You have seen me and chosen me like the row (group) of men of the elite, Lord G-d." As the Talmud (Baba Metzia 114) says "man, i.e Israel will qualify for the term ADAM after going through long periods of trials and afflictions etc. before realising that the object of our hopes is the glory of G-d manifested by what He builds, not the glory of man manifested by what man has erected.