Sometimes it can hardly be chronological at all.
This prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 has two subjects in mind. The general subject is the building of the“house” of David, the family line of David. David had wanted to build “the house of God,” the temple of God. God told David that He would not allow David to build Him a house, because he had been a man of war, not a man of peace.
Instead, God tells David, that God will build a house of David, a family of David, which will last forever. Then He tells David that his son will “build a house for my name,” 2Sam 7:13.
“12 When your days are fulfilled, and you shall
sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you,
who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his
kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his
father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children
of men; 15 but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I
took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. 16 Your house and
your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before you: your throne
shall be established forever.”
2Sam 7:12-16 WEB
The issue is that Scripture says that this prophecy is fulfilled by Solomon (for instance in 1Kgs 8:17-20), but it also says that Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. Hebrews 1:5 is a quotation from 2Sam 7:14 and applies it to Jesus the Christ!
“
… and
again,
“I will be to him a
Father,
And he will be to me a Son?””
Heb
1:5 WEB
Both Solomon and Jesus are “sons” (descendants) of David. Solomon built a literal temple, a literal house of God. Jesus, beginning in the first century of our age is building spiritual temple, a spiritual house of God, the church.
“But
if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself in the
house of God,
which is the
church of the
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. ”
1Tim
3:15 KJV
How much time separate Solomon and Jesus?
Well, as a minimum, about 1,000 years. Notice that evidently Solomon is symbolic of Jesus, that is to say, Solomon is a “type” of Jesus. We might say in modern English that Solomon is a “prototype” of Jesus.
Notice that part of this does not fit Solomon at all.
Solomon’s kingdom was not “established forever,” 2Sam 7:16. Solomon’s kingdom ended in 586 BC when Jerusalem fell and the city was destroyed.
Notice that part of this does not fit Jesus at all.
Jesus was not a disobedient son of His Father, so the part, “if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;” (2Sam 7:14) does not apply to Jesus at all. The two subjects, Solomon and Jesus are intertwined, with no clear line of division.
You CANNOT divide up this prophecy by either subject
(Solomon and Jesus), or by time.
It just cannot be done. A full discussion of this prophecy and its fulfillment is in Prophecy Principles.
KJV is the King James Version, 1611
WEB
is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the
original ASV American Standard Version 1901