In our reading for today, we find King David, after having consolidated his kingdom and moved into a palace for himself, deciding that he'd like to built an impressive house for God as well. Now David wasn't so theologically naive as to think that God needed a physical dwelling as though he were merely a super human, but he did know that the Ark of the Covenant, that special box containing the tablets on which God had inscribed the Ten Commandments, was a unique symbol of the presence of God among the people. And at that time, the Ark was housed in a temporary structure, a tent.

That doesn't seem right to David. "I am living in a house of cedar [that is, a luxury palace], but the Ark of God stays in a tent." So he resolves to build a temple.

But that very night, a prophet of God named Na…