The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

The Davidic Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant had promised a specific territory. Even though the victories of Joshua were outstanding, this covenant of grant was never fully realized in his time. The period between the death of Joshua and the rise of the monarchy was a period during which the tribes of Israel often forgot that they were a covenant people. The worship of the Lord frequently lapsed with the result that they were oppressed by the surrounding nations, often losing some of the territory that they had gained under Joshua. It was only after they repented did God raise up a charismatic leader to rally the people to arms and recover that which had been lost. These periods of relapse and recovery continued until a king was anointed to lead them. The occasion for it was a particularly heavy period of oppression. After some two hundred years of life in Canaan, the tribal confederacy was broken by the Philistines. Israel’s army had been utterly defeated. Even the Ark, which they had taken into battle in the hope that it would turn the tide, was lost to the enemy. The priests that cared for it were slain. The Philistines then drove home their advantage by occupying as much of Israel’s territory as they could. Having captured the Ark they then destroyed the Tabernacle at Shiloh. They placed garrisons at strategic locations. It was this particular oppression that led to the demand for a king. Saul, the king the people received, was commissioned to deliver Israel from the Philistine threat. Samuel was instructed, “… you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines” (1 Sam. 9:16). But Saul did not complete his commission and although he had some initial victories he died at the hands of the Philistines. Israel was once again at their mercy.

It was at this time that David took hold of the remnant of Israel’s army, and with inspired leadership and strategy, used them to propel Israel to be the dominant power in the area. His success was founded on his relationship with the covenant keeping God. When Saul was finally rejected for usurping the priest’s office, Samuel informed him, “… now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1 Sam. 13:14) Not yet identified and anointed but described already as a man after God’s own heart - this is some praise for a young man who, at that time, was looking after the family flock.

So David, with faith in the God of Israel, broke the power of the Philistines, drove them back to a narrow strip of land along the coast, and confined them there. They would never be a serious threat to Israel again. Indeed, Philistine soldiers were recruited as mercenaries in David’s army. David also captured the Jebusite city of Jerusalem, and made it his capital, and completed the conquest of Canaan, Every inch of the land was now Israel or under Israelite domination. The influence that Israel exerted in that part of the Middle East was considerable. A new Israel had emerged.

Not only anointed by Samuel, but also anointed by the Spirit of God,[1] David had begun his career as a student in the school of the prophets, which had been established by Samuel at Naioth. Inspired by the Spirit of God, his musical gift was combined with a prophetic anointing to produce a number of Psalms for Israel’s worship, some of which pointed forward to another anointed king who would yet reign over Israel.

At the height of his power he decided to bring the Ark to his capital city, Jerusalem.[2] It had lain neglected at Kirjath-Jearim. Initially, transporting it on a cart and incurring the displeasure of God, it was finally brought up to the city with an enormous military escort and great ceremony. Composing a Psalm for the occasion[3] he organized the Levitical choir to pronounce that the ‘King of Glory’, ‘the Lord of Hosts’ was coming to Jerusalem to dwell. The Ark was His portable throne, and Jerusalem thus became the religious capital of Israel as well as its political centre. This would cement the newly established unity of the tribes around their new capital city and strengthen the throne. The affections of the people of Israel were now bound to Jerusalem in such a way that wherever they would be, and however far they travelled, they would always pray facing Jerusalem.

The establishing of the throne of David was clearly the will of the Lord because this kingdom would be a pointer to the Messianic kingdom which would grace Israel at a future date. The Tabernacle was erected on the Mount of Olives, and the Ark housed there. But David’s heart was still not satisfied. The tent-shrine needed to be replaced with something more permanent; perhaps a Temple where Israel could gather to fulfill their obligations at festival times. David voiced his thoughts to the prophet Nathan. “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.” (2 Sam. 7:2) Initially, Nathan supported David’s idea, but a message from the Lord, revised the program. “Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house. ‘When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (2 Sam. 7:11-16)

The importance of this is evident in that the essence of it is repeated in the history recorded in first Chronicles. “The Lord will build you a house. And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.” (1 Chron. 17:10-14) 

Instead of David building a house for God, God would build a house for David, that is, God would establish David’s dynasty. In the Samuel passage it speaks of Solomon inheriting the throne, but the historian who wrote Chronicles uses the word ‘seed’ in a similar fashion as it is used in the Abrahamic Covenant, allowing for the possibility that there will be a future son of David, apart from Solomon, who will build a house for the Lord, and who will hold the title ‘Son of God’, and who will reign eternally. Here is a promise of immense proportions; a promise of the Lord; a promise you can count on; a covenant promise! Any future Israelite who laid claim to the throne of the nation would have to come from the tribe of Judah and the line of David, although the sins of Jeconiah prevented any of his family from qualifying.[4]

Now although David himself was forbidden to build a Temple to house the Ark, this Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, purposed that his son Solomon, should fulfill David’s ambition – “He shall build Me a house” (1 Chron.17.12). It seems the desire of God to “dwell among them” (Exod.25.8) was still in place. Certainly, when the Temple was completed and Solomon transferred the Ark to its new place of residence, the presence of God was evident, “indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,” that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God”. (2 Chron. 5:13-14)

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[1] 1 Sam.16.13

[2] 2 Sam. chapter 6

[3] Psalm 24.

[4] Jer. 22.24-30