The Royal House of the Kingdom

Though the kingdom belonged to Jehovah, "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath deathlessness dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, or can see"—1 Tim. vi. 15; though He is Israel's "eternal, incorruptible, and invisible King"—1 Tim. i. 17; yet he had predetermined that his kingdom should be ruled by a visible representative of his majesty. He resolved, however, that the occasion of developing his purpose of choosing a Vicegerent, should be a manifestation of their disaffection to himself—1 Sam. viii. 7. He provided for the exigency in the Mosaic law, saying to Israel, "When thou art come unto possession of the land, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me;" thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose—one front among thy brethren^* shall thou set king over thee: thou may'st not set a stranger over

^* Type of Jesus. Hence, of necessity, a mortal man, and of the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh. Jesus was chosen of God, who raised Him up from the earth to sit on David's throne-the earth here being typical of the low condition in which He was horn, though of the royal house; and this again is typieal the saints who are of the lowly and despised, though of the royal house a so, by induction into the name.

page 21 thee who is not thy brother—Deut. xvii. 14. Hence the law contemplated the establishment of the kingly office, which was at some future period to be inherited by the Seed of Abraham, Who is to possess the gates of his enemies, and in whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed—Gen. xxii. 17-18. But neither the Covenant confirmed to Abraham, nor the Covenant promulgated through Moses defined the tribe and family whence the person should be manifested as the progenitor or father of the Seed; though it was understood in Israel from the prophecy of Jacob that He should come of the tribe; of Judah^* and that there should be "unto him the obedience of peoples."

To determine, then, the things which were undefined in the Covenant with Abraham, and the superadded Covenant with Moses, Jehovah availed himself of the rejection of himself by the Nation, to choose for it a king from whom Shiloh should descend to rule the Tribes when established under the new Covenant of the kingdom. He gave them a king in his anger and took him away in his wrath: Saul—Hos. xiii. 11. He then chose a better man—David, the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah. He was born in the twenty-ninth year of Eli's judgeship, and was eleven years and three months old at the capture of the Ark by the Philistines at the battle of Ebenezer. In the eighteen years and seven months which succeeded, he killed the lion and the bear,^† smote Goliah, was anointed^‡ Jehovah's king elect to rule his people Israel, and passed through much tribulation, that he might inherit the kingdom if approved, Saul was killed in battle, and David succeeded him, first as King of Judah, and two years afterwards as sole King of Israel. He^| had long wars with the surrounding nations, which at length ended in their conquest, and an enduring peace. In his career as a king, raised up to execute Jehovah's vengeance upon the heathen, he acquitted himself as a man, "after God's own heart," and with all his faults, as one of

^* The Christ being of Judah, the saints by Adoption are of the tribe of Judah and the house of David, because included in the name.

^† David the type of the Christ his appearing and kingdom.

^‡ David the type also of the Christ in his humiliation, who was anointed as king, in the anointing of the Holy Spirit without measure, but not crowned.

^| David, the type of the Christ manifested with his saints in the pouring out of the written judgments. Solomon, of the Christ in peace, after the execution of the written judgments.

page 22 whom the world was not worthy, because he honoured God by devout and earnest faith in his "Word," which He has magnified above all his Name—Heb. xi. 32-35; Psa. exxxviii. 2; Acts xiii. 22.

David being approved as a suitable progenitor of the "Seed," Jehovah made an everlasting covenant with him, which he confirmed by an Oath. By this he established the sovereignty of his family over Israel for ever."

—Psa. Ixxxix.

Hear, again, the word Jehovah sent to David by Nathan, concerning his Seed, who was to bear Jehovah's name.

"It shall come to pass when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy Seed After thee who shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a temple and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. I will settle him in my house (temple), and in my kingdom for ever; and his throne shall be established for evermore"

—1 Chron. xvii. 11-14.

From this covenant it is clear as a sunbeam that David was to have a Seed who should be both son of David and Son of God; that this Seed should be a king and heir to all David's prerogatives; that the throne and kingdom of Israel should be everlasting in David's family; that his Seed should be raised up from the dead to sit upon his throne; that he should then build a temple, and that he should be settled in that temple for ever, i. e., be a priest there continually.

Paul makes it absolutely certain that "the Seed after David of his sons "is the Lord Jesus, and not Solomon, by applying the saying in the covenant, "I will be his Father and he shall be my Son"—Heb. i. 5—To the Christ. And that David himself so understood it, is obvious from innumerable passages in his writings. David believed the Son here spoken of was to be raised from the dead to sit upon it; he was to be an immortal king, and an undying priest after the Order of Melchisedek. Peter declares this, for in reasoning upon what David wrote in the 16th Psalm, he said: "David being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh He Would Raise Up the Christ to sit upon his throne; he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that his dead body was not left in the tomb, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God Raised Up"—Acts ii. 30. Being raised from the dead, and therefore Son of God according to a holy spiritual nature, which he should possess in common with the angels, than whom he was then no longer "lower," he saw him in possession of his dominion as Jehovah's king in Zion, with the nations for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession—Psa. ii. 6-8. He discerned also what would be his own character and that of his Government, for, says he concerning him, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever page 24 and ever, the Sceptre of thy kingdom is a righteous sceptre; thou lovest righteousness, and hatest iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness (holy spirit) above thy fellows"—Psa. xlv. 6. And when thus sitting upon his throne in Zion, he beheld him with the eye of faith, as one who had subdued his enemies, and become the Royal High Priest of his kingdom. Speaking of his Son and Lord, he says, "Jehovah shall send the rod of thy strength from Zion"—"Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies."^* "Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek"—Psa. ex. Jehovah swore this, when He swore to David, that he would settle him in his house and in his kingdom for ever.

Thus, by "The Word of The Oath" was David's family constituted the Royal House of the kingdom, under both constitutions or covenants, old and new; and the transfer of the priesthood declared from Aaron and his sons to David's Son for ever. Hence the carrying out of this purpose necessitated the future abolition of the Covenant of Sinai, and the introduction of a constitution better suited to the case.