Brad's Blog

THE COVENANT WITH DAVID

INTRODUCTION

The promise that God gave in His covenant with David entailed the promise of dynastic succession from David to David’s son and so on for, for perpetuity!

2 Samuel 7:16 [16] And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

DA Carson states: “Verse 16 “Your house and kingdom will endure forever” can only mean one of two things: 1) You will have successor after successor forever, or 2) You will have a successor who will be successor Himself forever!”

In the covenant with David we have three central themes:

BLESSING

2 Samuel 7:[12] When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, 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 to him a father,

OBLIGATION

and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,

MERCY

[15] but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

The obligations in the covenant with David are anticipated in the covenant with Moses. In Moses we have the standards of righteousness that David’s throne will be obligated to uphold. In Moses we have obligations for David, written before the covenant is given to David. This provides a point of continuity between Moses and David.

Deuteronomy 17:14–20 [14] “When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ [15] you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. [16] Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ [17] And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

[18] “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. [19] And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, [20] that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. (ESV)

The New Covenant reveals that David’s greatest son, Jesus, is also God’s son.

Matthew 1:17–25 [17] So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

[18] Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. [19] And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. [20] But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. [21] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” [22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

[23] “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). [24] When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, [25] but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Hebrews 1:1–4 [1] Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. [3] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [4] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

The covenant with David made it possible for God to send His own son into history to hold up and fulfill the human side of the covenant obligations. God can stand behind one overarching covenant of Grace through all of history that makes salvation available to all men and women in all history, because His own Son will enter history to fulfill His righteous requirements and to atone for sin. The covenant with David serves as the entry point, then, for God's own Son to enter history and fulfill both the law requirements of Eden and the Edenic promise of redemption first given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15.

In this unit we will see how the covenant with David made a way for the righteousness standards that the people of God did not live up to, to be fulfilled through the representation of their king, the son of David!

Psalm 78 gives a detailed history of Israel's failures, culminating with the promise that Israel will be shepherded and guided by the king of Judah, David.

Psalm 78:67–72

[67] He rejected the tent of Joseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

[68] but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he loves.

[69] He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

[70] He chose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

[71] from following the nursing ewes he brought him

to shepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his inheritance.

[72] With upright heart he shepherded them

and guided them with his skillful hand.

ESTABLISHING THAT THERE IS A COVENANT WITH DAVID

The word covenant is not used in the Adamic or Davidic narratives.
With Adam we worked through Unit 3 to uncover all the ingredients of covenant in his relationship with God.
But with David we noted that we may go directly to various scriptures, to see that the word covenant is used to describe David’s relationship with God.

2 Samuel 23:5

[5] “For does not my house stand so with God?

For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,

ordered in all things and secure.

For will he not cause to prosper

all my help and my desire?

Psalm 89:3–4

[3] You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have sworn to David my servant:

[4] ‘I will establish your offspring forever,

and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

DAVID’S PATH TO THE MONARCHY

It will be a long and perilous journey for David to reach the throne.
1 Samuel 16:1–2 speaks of the dangers of replacing the first king, Saul, with David.

1 Samuel 16:1–2 [1] The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” [2] And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’

Samuel’s fear of Saul sets the tone for the next 15 years of Israel’s history. Samuel anointed David, just as the LORD had commanded him, but the reign of Saul will not be challenged by Samuel or David.

1 Samuel 16:13 [13] Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

Saul’s life will be filled with many intrigues, but his ignominious end will be all of his own machinations. David showed extraordinary integrity by remaining true to Saul till Saul’s bitter end, even though David knew that he was the next rightful king.
The events between the day when David is secretly anointed by Samuel and David’s coronation over all the tribes of Israel are legendary:

He is anointed by Samuel at age 15.
He serves as a court musician for Saul.
He slays Goliath.
He becomes one in spirit with Saul’s son Jonathan.
He becomes Saul’s armor-bearer.
He is banished from Saul’s court during one of Saul’s fits of rage.
He is called back into service as a commander of 1,000.
His military exploits are legendary.
He is offered Saul’s daughter Micah.
He has to flee another fit of Saul’s rage.
An evil spirit possesses Saul and he pursues David.
David is a fugitive, crossing the border into Philistine territory, living on the land, hiding in caves.
After Saul’s death David returns to Judah to lead the southern tribes for several years of civil war against the northern tribes.

Through all of this, David refused to avenge Saul, though more than once he could have easily done so. (See 1 Samuel 24) When David finally does take the throne over all of Israel, he may do so with a clear conscience, knowing that God gave him his throne.
The symbolism that is seen in the contrast between Saul and David is pointing toward a more perfect King, Christ, chosen not by man but by God.
When Saul had finally died on his own sword, David’s trials were not over. He had a civil war on his hands. And it was also a holy war over who was the legitimate anointed King of Israel.
David will reign over the southern portion in Judea for seven more years before all the tribes can be united under his crown.

2 Samuel 2:2–11 [2] So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. [3] And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. [4] And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” [5] David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the LORD, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. [6] Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. [7] Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

[8] But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, [9] and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. [10] Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. [11] And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

The northern kingdom will unravel through infighting, but even on David’s side of the civil war there is cloak and dagger deception.

2 Samuel 3:26–28 [26] When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. [27] And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. [28] Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD for the blood of Abner the son of Ner.

When the southern and northern monarchies finally unite under David’s kingship, it cannot be attributed to David’s skill at diplomacy, but to God’s grace in David’s life and to God’s grace in bringing the north and south together despite their in-fighting. God had worked in David’s life to make David a noble man and God must have worked in the hearts of the elders of the tribes to bring them to this place where they are now eager to crown a man from the tribe of Judah to lead them. This is especially incredible given the fact that David’s general, Joab, had murdered the general of the northern tribes, Abner.

2 Samuel 5:1–5 [1] Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. [2] In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” [3] So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. [4] David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. [5] At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

David was wise enough and humble enough to know that it was God who made him king.

2 Samuel 5:12 [12] And David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

UNITED KINGDOM UNDER DAVID

David will unite the northern and southern monarchies into one monarchy under his crown.
He will take Jerusalem from the Jebusites. The tribe of Judah was not able to drive the Jebusites out of their allotment as the LORD had commanded.
David will make Jerusalem his capital city. Jerusalem is strategically located for ruling over the northern and southern halves of the promised land.
He will move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. This is hugely significant, because now the ark and the King are both located at Mount Zion. The throne of David and the throne of God are together.
Now he has consolidated the 12 tribes under one house, and he has brought the priestly house of Israel to the capital city.
David’s enemies have been subdued to the degree that he may rest from warfare.
David may now turn his attention to statecraft and the legacy of his monarchy.
This is the situation where we find David and it is one of the most incredible pictures of God’s grace in all of the bible, because David could not have orchestrated all of these moving parts to come together on his own. No man could! Just as Abraham and Sarah couldn’t bear a son in their old age without the miraculous intervention of God, neither could David have arrived at this point without God’s hand upon him.
These are also the days of command and promise fulfillment! The promises in the covenant with Abraham and the commands in Moses have reached an important stage of advancement. Deuteronomy 12:5–7 gives instruction to seek the place for centralized offerings. In contrast the Canaanites had multiple altars and shrines up and down the land, but a centralized altar to Yahweh would have less chance of being contaminated by syncretism. Moreover, it would stand as typological and representative of the oneness of Yahweh. David has now secured Jerusalem for just such a temple, or habitation of Yahweh to be constructed,

[5] But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, [6] and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. [7] And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

A celebration is now in order, for the proper place for a temple is identified and God has given David rest from all his enemies.

Deuteronomy 12:10–12 [10] But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, [11] then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD. [12] And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. (ESV)

THE COVENANT NARRATIVE

The narrative that tells of the covenant with David is found in 2 Samuel 7:1–17. Let us go through this passage verse by verse:

[1] Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, [2] the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” [3] And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”

Verse 1 is of enormous significance! God had given David rest. This means that Israel was also at rest. This represents:

national security and peace,
realization of key elements in the covenants of Abraham and Moses,
the completion of kingdom establishment work:

David has waged battle against the Lord’s enemies and he has defeated them.
He has taken Mount Zion from a major pocket of resistance in the land of promise.
He has brought the Ark to Mount Zion.
He has taken residence in his palace. This may be seen as a kind of Sabbath, like what God entered when He had completed His work of creation. The word “rest” is a term laden with this imagery.

David, now keenly aware that it was the LORD who had given him the victories and the uniting of the kingdom under his crown, is now zealous for God’s honor and he has the power to instruct his subjects to build a temple, with no expense spared.
David might have even sensibly considered that the tabernacle was no longer the appropriate dwelling place for God.

The sojourneying and fighting phases of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants are now complete.
The ruling phases of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants are now begun.
Everything that the children of Israel had been promised is coming to fruition.
Thus God should be given a permanent temple in the place of a temporal and mobile tabernacle.
Just as God had ascended to heaven to reign after creating the earth, now it would be fitting for God to ascend to His temple atop Mount Zion to reign after subduing all of His enemies.
But God is going to take David’s idea of a permanent house for Himself and promise a permanent house for David instead. Let that resonate.

The play on the word for house in chapter 7 is poetic.
The word is used 14 times in the covenant narrative.
The Hebrew word is bayith.
The KJV translates bayith in the following manner: house (1,881x), household (54x), home (25x), within (22x), temple (11x), prison (16x), place (16x), family (3x), families (with H1) (2x), dungeon (2x), miscellaneous (23x).
When David uses the word “house” he is clearly thinking of building God a permanent temple. When God uses the word “house” He is promising David a permanent royal dynasty. It just amazes us even now to read of this extraordinary situation.

We must also note the significance in Nathan the prophet.

Samuel had previously served as Saul’s prophet.
Samuel was a transition figure. Samuel began at the time of the Judges as a member of the Priesthood, and he doubled in the role of prophet and priest.
But Nathan is a prophet proper; he is not doubling up in his duties. This signifies that the statehood of Israel has formally begun, as now there are three fully installed offices: Priest, King and Prophet.

Nathan affirmed the heart of David in all his desires to honor the ark of God with a temple. As we will later see, God did not ultimately affirm David’s plan. But this does not mean that Nathan was a false prophet.

Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.” And Nathan was correct in his assessment of this. The LORD was indeed with David. This echoes the covenant with Abraham, where God promises that He will be with His people as their God (Gen 17).
God came immediately to Nathan, that very night, so that there would be no confusion over David’s plan. God did not send a second prophet, nor did God delay in waiting to stop David’s plan. God spares Nathan and David of embarrassment, showing that He is gracious to these two men of God.

[4] But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, [5] “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? [6] I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. [7] In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

God asked David: “would you build me a house to dwell in?” God does not need the help of men to enhance the renown of His name.
God has dwelt all these years in a tent as a mark of the intimacy with His people. This is a reminder of the original covenant with Abraham where God promised that He would be their God and they would be His people (Gen 17). Here God is reminding David that from the time of Moses He has been the God of His people in close and intimate contact.
Interestingly,

it will later be said of Jesus in John 1:14, that “the Word became flesh and dwelt [lit’ tabernacled] among us.”
the NT believer will become a temple: 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 [16] Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? [17] If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

If God had desired a temple He would have asked for it.
To be clear on this, we know from Solomon that God was not unhappy or offended by David’s desire to build Him a temple. 1 Kings 8:18 But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.

[8] Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. [9] And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

God is going to do something greater for David than David could have ever imagined. God is going to make David’s name great. And in making David’s name great, God has elevated David to the status of Abraham and Moses.

A great name is strictly the right of God to claim for Himself. Man does not make his own name great.
When God promises to make a great name for a man it involves the flow of blessing moving through that man. When God is making a man’s name great, God is essentially choosing that man to be a conduit and channel of His blessing.
Out of the pagan land of confusion, Ur of the Chaldees, God called Abraham to be a great name. This entailed blessings.

Abraham was the father of Israel;
the blessings of the land and the posterity where for Abraham’s children;
we are told that Abraham will bless all the nations;
Abraham will be the dividing line between blessings and curses from God. The nations may bless themselves by blessing Israel, or curse themselves by cursing Israel. Additionally we may say that Israel will also have its own active role in being a blessing to the nations.
David is now being raised to the level of Abraham, as a man in whom the blessings are channeled.

Out of the sheep pasture God took David to be the prince of Israel, the son of God, the victor King, the dynastic house from which Messiah will come to save his people and the world from sin.
The similarities here between Abraham and David are striking.

To Abraham, God gave great blessings.
Through Abraham, God promised that all his offspring and all the nations will be blessed.
To David, God has given the crown and rest from all his enemies.
Through David, Israel will never lack for a protector king, and the king will be Savior to the world.

[10] And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, [11] from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.

In David, God is advancing the Abrahamic promise accordingly:

The land is going to be protected by the establishment of the monarchy.
The promise of seed may be seen here as advanced because the people will be able to flourish without affliction from their enemies.
The surrounding lands will also benefit residually from the peace of Israel and the beneficent rule of a king who sits on the throne that is given to him by God for righteous rule of the region.

[12] When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, 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.

In antiquity, dynastic succession was very difficult to secure, even in the most powerful empires.
This promise was nothing short of amazing to David’s hearing.

The dynasty of David will last over 400 years before the last king to sit on his throne is carried away to Babylon.
The closest thing to this was the 18th dynasty of Egypt which lasted 250 years.
David will be laid to rest after a natural death, at the end of a full life.
David will be free to rule from a place that is free from the fear and distraction of being overthrown by intrigue. Sadly, this promise was corrupted by David’s own son, Absalom.
And David knows that his kingdom will be made secure by God’s own protection.
Israel and peace are synonymous, because the monarchical reign over Israel is liberated from the fears that the pagan rulers were acquainted with every day of their rule. Tyranny is the necessary mode of rule when the throne is vulnerable to various challenges, internal and external. But because the throne of Israel was protected by God, peace was made uniquely possible.

[14] I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, [15] but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. [16] And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” [17] In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Now the covenant of Abraham is advanced in a new way. God is going to establish a dynasty as a channel of all the prior covenant promises.
Moses was chosen by God as His agent in advancing the Abrahamic promises, by:

redeeming Israel out of Egypt,
leading Israel into the promised land,
and mediating the laws that Israel will need, pursuant to the promises to Abraham.

Now David is being chosen by God to begin a dynasty to rule and protect Israel.
Moses was chosen to advance the covenant as a leader and law giver. David is being chosen to advance the covenant as the protector King.
Moses was a temporary leader. He didn’t even get to enter the promised land, but only saw it from a distant mountain.
David is going to be the permanent covenant mediator.

This is HUGE! There is not another covenant mediator after the son of David.

Technically the prophets may be seen as covenant prosecutors, sent from God to summon Israel to judgement for their violation of the covenants, but that is not the same role as covenant mediator.
We have seen Adam as the federal head of all humankind and the type of the Christ who comes after him as the second Adam (1 Cor 15).
Noah was the representative of a perpetual general covenant of preservation.
Abraham was the covenant mediator of God’s blessing, to and through his family.
Moses was the covenant mediator of the national stage of the promise to Abraham.
Now David is the final covenant mediator of the kingdom stage of the promise to Abraham.

Isn't it amazing and wonderful that redemption history, from the time of David forward to the end of time, will proceed from the throne of David’s dynastic succession?
As far as the OT is concerned, this covenant is the climactic event.

The promises of the covenant with Abraham are consolidated under the Davidic monarchy.

David’s name, like Abraham’s name, is going to be made great by God, because God will be making David the channel for His blessing to His people and ultimately to the whole world.
The covenant with Moses advanced grace by making a way for God to tabernacle among His people and for His people to draw near to Him.

If His people draw near to Him and obey Him they will flourish in the land and they will be a blessing to the nations.
The covenant with David will advance grace by channeling all those promises and institutions through mediatorial and administrative oversight and leadership of the monarchy. When the king of Israel is righteous, there is blessing in the land.

God is giving the people of Israel rest from David’s enemies (verse 11). David is now assuming the role of protector of the people. The enemies of Israel are David’s enemies and he will deal with them for his people.

Just as every advancement of grace prior to David obligated obedience from God’s people, this covenant will likewise obligate fidelity to God, particularly from David’s own house. Verse says [14] I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
In the covenant with David, the land, seed and blessing promises are also going to be consolidated under the institution of the monarchy.

When the kings of Israel are in harmony with the covenant of Moses, they are keeping their part in doing what is pleasing in the sight of the LORD, and Israel will generally flourish in every aspect of all the promises that are in the covenant with Abraham.

The prophetic books, especially Ezekiel, paint a picture of both individual and corporate sin, but even in the prophets one gets the sense that the kings had it in their power to turn the hearts of the people back to God.
The historical books do not seem to paint a picture of a righteous king being led astray by an unrighteous people, but the opposite.
When the righteous king Josiah discovers the Law (2 Kings 22), he enacts a period of righteous rule and of restoration of temple worship which all the people respond to favorably.
The historical books paint a general picture of the entire land suffering under unrighteous kings. You do not get the sense from the historical books that it is the people who are leading Israel into apostasy, but rather it is the kings who take them down a bad road.
The exception to this interpretation is the book of Judges which ends with the statement: “in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Clearly the people were inclined to apostasy and the office of King is critical to curtailing those impulses. But the apostasy that we read about during the monarchical era seems to generate from the throne.

Jeremiah can promise that the New Covenant will be so very different from the Old Covenant in terms of tribal representation, because in the New Covenant each man will suffer the consequences of his own sin. But in the Old Covenant, everyone suffered the consequences of the king’s sin.

Jeremiah 31:27–32

[27] “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. [28] And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD. [29] In those days they shall no longer say:

“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

[30] But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

[31] “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, [32] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.

The New Covenant people of God do not bear the consequences of any sin committed by their King, because their King is without sin! Hallelujah!
In the New Covenant, the King bears the consequences of the sins committed by His subjects!

The Abrahamic promise of blessing is advanced in David accordingly:

The internal blessing will be advanced as the land produces abundantly, and the seed is nourished.
The external blessing will overflow to the nations surrounding Israel because God will be spreading peace to those nations through Israel’s strength of dynastic protection.
But when the kings do what is evil in the sight of the LORD all of this is threatened.

The blessing metric will show a decline both inside of Israel’s borders and outside of Israel’s borders.
As you read the historical books, you cannot help but feel that the overwhelming weight of the tragedy in the stories is cascading from the kings of Israel who did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
The prophets will warn the kings of Israel that the LORD is going to bring invaders from the north to punish Israel for her covenant infidelity.
Interestingly, the same prophets which warn Israel of foreign invasion, are also going to speak auricles of woe to the very nations that God is going to bring against Israel. This is consistent with the Royal Grant Covenant which we studied in Unit 1. We may recall that in the Royal Grant Covenant the curse is on those who would harm the servant.

This is significant, because the foreign nations might have been spared of God’s curse.
The curse of the nations was a fallout of the apostasy and subsequent chastisement on the kings of Israel.

In David we have yet another example of obedience being expected after God has given His promise. Promise is first given, and then promise carries with it an obligation to obey. The promise will not be taken from David if he disobeys, but David is nevertheless obligated to obey God’s laws.
The promise of the covenant with David can be kept by God unconditionally, but it is not without conditions.

In the covenant with David we see that God can make an unconditional promise that carries with it obligations, because He Himself enters into the human side of the covenant to make sure that the human obligations are fulfilled.
This is clearer in David than it is in the other covenants, although the same could be said of Abraham and Moses, because both covenants, especially Moses, anticipate and prefigure Messiah Jesus in types and shadows.
God is going to send His only begotten son to enter into the obligation side of this covenant.

Romans 1:1–4 [1] Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, [2] which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, [3] concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh [4] and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Paul says that Jesus is both God’s son and David’s son. As God’s son He comes to obey His Father in perfection. As David’s son He fulfills the obligations in all the covenants with Israel.
Because this covenant is connected to the previous covenants of Abraham and Moses, everything that is promised, together with the obligations attendant to those promises, are met and fulfilled for Israel in David’s son.
This is perhaps the most critical thing to understand in the covenants:

When we speak of covenants as having elements of both conditionality and unconditionality, we are not contradicting ourselves.
God is going to accomplish the conditionality of the covenant for His people. But that does not mean that God’s people have no obligation to God.
In Adam we noted that the blessings of the creation ordinances were given as commands; from this we concluded that in principle:

a loving God gives blessings and commands in one package;
we would not be able to enjoy God’s blessings without commands attached to them;
God would be depriving us of the maximum joy that can be had as humans if He did not give us commands and obligations with His blessings.

We also noted that the blessings of God are not quid pro quo.

Covenant obligations are not stated as “do this and then I will love you.”
Covenant obligations are more correctly stated by God as “I have loved you and blessed you, now live this way so that you may fully enjoy my blessings.”

THE PLACE OF THE LAW IN THE LIFE OF THE KING

When Moses died, he did not pass his role on to his son. Moses had a worthy successor in Joshua.
After Joshua, God worked through the Judges as the mediators of Israel, but this was a confused and difficult period of Israel’s history. You never get the sense from reading the Judges that Israel will be stable under this system.
Now God is going to raise up a household to lead Israel, from the one man David. Verse [16] And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
The kingdom that is led by a king will have a kind of stability that could not be achieved by a nation led by judges.
The mediatorial office of the throne of David was anticipated in the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 17:14

[14] “When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’

Isn’t it interesting that the Law anticipated the day, not when God would institute the office of king, but when Israel would want to set a king over them? King George recognized that this is a fundamental human impulse when he said these words to John Adams: “I pray, Mr Adams, that the United States does not suffer unduly from its want of a monarchy.”
The Deuteronomy 17 passage shows a continuity between Moses and David. The Davidic throne is secured in the covenant with Moses. When David gives his parting instructions to Solomon, we see that David understood the importance of keeping the covenant of Moses. 1 Kings 2:1–4.1

[1] When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, [2] “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, [3] and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, [4] that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

David knows that the legacy of his dynasty is contingent on the fidelity of his sons to the covenant of Moses. David was certainly well aware of the importance of the king's obedience to the word. David knew this from the example of his predecessor.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 13 So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. 14 He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

The mediatorial role of Moses is passing to David. The covenant is now consolidated under the Davidic monarchy. And the meditorial role of the Davidic monarchy is eternal. 2 Samuel 7:[16] And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
The covenant with David is for forever. The King of Israel is the eternal covenant mediator. It may sound like an overstatement to say that God’s people, both Old covenant and New covenant, are the subjects of the Davidic King, but the scriptures and tradition both seem to point to this. It is for this reason that I feel we may regard this covenant as yet active. And I feel very comfortable calling myself a subject of the Davidic King Jesus.
History attests that gentile believers gave their lives as martyrs for their refusal to denounce that Jesus was their King. NT gentiles were put to death for their refusal to burn incense in the Roman Temples and say Kaiser curios, “Caesar is Lord”, for that would have been an act of blasphemy against their King Jesus.
In Acts chapter 16 Luke describes the first Gentile convert of Europe, Lydia, as a worshiper of God prior to her conversion. That is to say that she had been exposed to the Hebrew scriptures, presumably through the community of Jews from her hometown Thyatira or possibly from her travels as a merchant of purple wares. It is notable that Lydia refers to Jesus as “the Lord” immediately after her baptism. Luke begins by informing us that Lydia was a worshiper of God and after being evangelized by Paul she is now a follower of the “Lord Jesus”. It is also notable that when the worshipers of God were meeting at the riverside outside the gate, they were not involved in anything controversial, but after it is learned that Paul has been converting the worshipers of God into followers of the “Lord Jesus”, Paul is beaten. This is because the statement “Jesus is Lord” is the same thing as saying “Caesar is not Lord.” Christianity made a counter imperial claim to the claim that was demanded by Caesar.

[11] So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, [12] and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. [13] And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. [14] One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. [15] And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

The author of Hebrews demonstrates that verse 7 of Psalm chapter two is an allusion to the Davidic throne. When the crown is passed to the next in line of the Davidic dynasty, he is begotten, into a divine son-ship status. The king of Israel is a son of God, in the sense that the king represents God to his people. The author of Hebrews is making this argument to a first century Jewish audience.

Hebrews 1:1–13 [1] Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. [3] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [4] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

[5] For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son, today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son”?

[6] And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God's angels worship him.”

[7] Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds,

and his ministers a flame of fire.”

[8] But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,

the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

[9] You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

[10] And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

and the heavens are the work of your hands;

[11] they will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment,

[12] like a robe you will roll them up,

like a garment they will be changed.

But you are the same,

and your years will have no end.”

[13] And to which of the angels has he ever said,

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

The mediatorial role of the king is also pointing toward the substitutionary atonement of Messiah. Whereas the sins of the people would be atoned for by the sacrifices in the covenant of Moses, the sins of the people will now be absorbed by the righteous king. This is pointing toward a Messianic King. 2 Samuel 7:14-17.

All of the king's will be required to obey God’s righteous standards. And when they do commit iniquity they will be disciplined with the rod of men. We will see the people of Israel carried off into exile after their kings have done what is evil in the sight of the LORD. Iniquity will bring chastisement, but God will be merciful in the midst of chastisement. He will not remove His love from David’s successors like He did from Saul.
The throne of David will never be taken away, in spite of the broken line of righteousness in his sons. Jonathan was more righteous than Saul, but Johnathon was not spared the judgement that was meted out on his father. David’s sons will be as unrighteous as Saul on his worst day, and yet they will be spared.
The relative righteousness of the king will be very impactful on Israel. The people will suffer when an unrighteous king is on David’s throne. And conversely, the people will flourish when the throne of David is occupied by a righteous King. The obedience of the King is very important, but it will not undo what God is going to do through the monarchy. Even the worst of the Kings cannot undo the promise that God has made to David.

THE DAVIDIC COVENANT DURING THE EXILE

One of the difficulties in understanding the covenants is explaining their promissory aspects during the time of the exile.
How do we understand the everlasting quality of the covenant of Grace or of God’s promise to Abraham in light of the fact that He allowed the removal of His people from the land?
How do we understand the everlasting quality of His promise to David when David’s heir was carried away to a foreign land? O Palmer Robertson tackles this question with the thought that failure and inadequacy was accounted for in what Christ would do to compensate for the representatives of the covenants:

“Just as the Levitical Priesthood anticipated the abiding priesthood of Jesus Christ; just as Moses and the school of the Prophets anticipated the prophet par excellence; so David and his throne anticipated the beneficent reign of the coming Messiah. It is in this context that the failure of the Davidic line must be understood. Inherent in every OT type was an inadequacy which demanded some more perfect fulfillment.”

Another way that we can make sense of the promises as everlasting, is if we see the unconditional and unilateral aspects of the promises as being typological of heavenly aspects that coincide with the earthly aspects of the promises.
If we are limited to understanding all of God’s promises as having an earthly realization only, with no heavenly realization, then we are stuck with a God that has failed to maintain His promises in an uninterrupted fashion, from the generation that first received His promises, straight through history. What we are left with is hundreds of years in the history of Israel that are bereft of the everlasting promise.
History shows that the throne was occupied according to the promise in the covenant and then it was unoccupied because of chastisement, also in the covenant. So, is there something contradictory in the covenant as it was stated? If the throne is unoccupied for any period of time after the covenant has been made, then it is not an everlasting promise. Now we might console ourselves with the anticipation of the promise returning in the future, but technically that only makes it an interrupted promise or a delayed promise, it does not answer to the original language of an everlasting covenant.
Is it possible that the giving of an earthly King was God’s way of showing His people a heavenly reality? In handout 2 we noted that the Father and the Son have purposed for the Son to redeem us. Paul speaks of the purpose of redemption in Ephesians as before the foundation of the world, and as a plan for the fullness of time that will unite things in heaven with things on earth. Ephesians 1:3–10. Jesus unites things in heaven with things on earth.
If the earthly covenants are representing a heavenly reality, then the earthly realities may fail while the heavenly reality continues to carry the promise. If the earthly covenants point to a heavenly reality, then the earthly covenants embody what is already a reality in heaven.
In this sense the covenant with David did not come to an end with Jehoiachin's deportation.
The exile was not the end of David’s dynasty, but it was the chastisement of the sons of David. And to be precise:

the line of David was still being preserved for Jesus,
and the throne was not unoccupied in heaven!

The NT will begin by reminding us that Jesus is the son of David. Matthew chapter 1 will even show that there was an unbroken genealogy between Jesus and David.
The prophet Amos said that the fallen tent of David would be restored (Amos 9). Interestingly, the first council of the Apostles in Acts 15 indicates that the Apostles understood this prophecy as being fulfilled by Jesus in their own day, not in a future time.

Acts 15:13–18 [13] After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. [14] Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. [15] And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

[16] “‘After this I will return,

and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;

I will rebuild its ruins,

and I will restore it,

[17] that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,

and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,

says the Lord, who makes these things [18] known from old.’

CONCLUSION

The Davidic dynasty provides further advancement of the covenants of law and promise and it is preparing God’s people to anticipate the Messianic king who will redeem them ultimately and climatically.
All the tribes will fail to trust and obey God, but from the tribe of Judah Israel will be shepherded faithfully.
When we come to the end of the historical books and the monarchy is in obscurity, the prophets will continue to use kingdom terminology in the glorious picture they paint of the restoration. They will speak of a restoration with imagery that is grand and sweeping.
But the reality of those days paints a different picture. The glory of Israel did not return to anything matching the glory of the days of Solomon.
All of this is moving the people of God closer to Jesus. The NT is going to refer to Jesus as “the son of David.”
God’s covenant of redemption cannot be thwarted even when men refuse to cooperate with it. Heaven will come down to earth, to make way for the promise to be fulfilled. If everything in God’s plan was dependent on earthly fulfilments in earthly power, the promises of God would fail. In Abraham we saw that the promises wouldn’t have even been launched if they depended on human power. This was driven home by the fact that God called Abraham after he and Sarah were too old to produce an heir; the one and most fundamental thing that was required in the fruition of the covenant.
We will recall that in Genesis 3:15, at the beginning of redemption history, Eve was given a promise. The promise that God gave Eve was for one of her own offspring who would avenge her. The God of promise had already designed history to bring about His covenant of promise to Adam and Eve. The Son had already covenanted with the Father to be their redeemer. The promise that God has made will need to be underwritten by a heavenly covenant. The people of the earth cannot be trusted to bring the promises in redemption to pass. God will intervene in history to bring about redemption. And even when He has made a way for atonement and reconciliation in His covenants, the people will yet fail. But in this promise to David, the promise to Eve is advancing one step further in redemption history towards Christ. The appointment of Jesus’s arrival was always set in history and now it is brought closer.
We saw advancement toward Christ in Moses, where the promise to Eve progressed in the details of Christ’s substitutionary atonement in various ceremonial laws.
In the covenant with David, God’s people are to be expecting a Messianic Savior King. All the blessings that God has promised His people will flow through the king and through the king’s fidelity to God. The king will be a son of God. The fortune of God’s people will now be moved from their fidelity to the law, to include also the king's fidelity to the law. The obedience to the law will still matter, but emphasis will now be transferred to the son of God. This is how the covenant with David prepares us to receive the righteousness of Christ through imputation. God’s mercy is advanced in this covenant by making a way for His mercy to pass to His people, even when they do not merit His mercy and grace.
Through the covenant with David, the righteousness standards that God’s people couldn't live up to, will be imputed to them through the representation of their Messiah King, son of David!
The covenant with David makes it possible for a second Adam to enter into the world as both the Son of God and the Son of Man, to fulfill God’s promise of redemption first given to Eve. And this is the only way the Kingdom promises can be fulfilled. Man can not accomplish the Kingdom promises in the covenant with David by his own human effort and strength any more than he could accomplish his own redemption. God will have to enter history to fulfill His promises.

Brad's Blog

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

GRACE THROUGH THE AGES - DAVID