Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 7:14

"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;" — 2 Samuel 7:14 (ASV)

If he commit iniquity. —The promise has plainly in view a human successor or successors of David upon his throne; yet it also promises the establishment of David’s kingdom FOREVER by an emphatic threefold repetition (2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16), which can only be fulfilled, and has always been understood to be fulfilled, in the Messiah. There is a similar promise of a prophet, human and yet more than human, in Deuteronomy 18:15-22, and the explanation in both cases is the same.

The Divine word looks forward to a long succession of human prophets or heads of the theocracy who were for the time being, and as much as possible, to fill the place of the true Prophet and King, all culminating at last in Him who would fully make known the Father’s will and reign over His people, of whose kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:32–33).