CHAPTER V.

THE DAVIDIC PROGRAMME.

E come now to the fifth section of the Divine pro

WE gramme of universal history given to and through

David, king of Israel.

That the writings of this remarkable man were largely prophetic there can be no question to any Christian believer, since the Apostle Peter calls him "a prophet," and our Lord Himself asserts that David in the Psalms spoke by the Holy Ghost and wrote of Him-a thousand years before the Christian era,1

We hope in this chapter to justify these sayings, by showing the demonstrably prophetic character of the Davidic foreview, and its strict and most wonderful accordance with the facts of history, as far as these latter have as yet gone. Only a part of the programme is at present fulfilled; onethird of it is still future. The evidential argument arises of course solely from the two-thirds which already are accomplished.

David was, not only a prophet, but a king; and this fact naturally colours the special revelations given to him. God selects for His varied service instruments equally varied; and just as He chose a patriarchal father to be the channel of the revelation as to "the Seed" in whom the world shall be blessed, just as He chose the founder and lawgiver of the Jewish nation to receive and impart the foreview of that 1 Acts ii. 30; Luke xxiv. 44.

people's national history, so He chose a monarch to be the medium of His prophetic revelations as to the glorious kingdom of God and its King. The foreview given to David is not an indefinite or general one, like that presented to our first parents, not a mere ethnic outline, like that given to Noah; it is a more advanced and complex revelation, a right royal programme for which a king was the fit channel. It consists of a promise about a kingdom and its king, and of a covenant confirmed by a solemn oath of Jehovah, as was the Abrahamic covenant previously. How appropriate, then, that this section of the Divine programme of history should be given to the father and founder of a royal dynasty destined to reign and rule for centuries, to the first true king of God's chosen people!

David was this, though he had, it is true, been preceded on the throne of Israel by Saul. But that son of Kish knew not how to obey, and could not therefore govern. God, whose word he rejected and despised, in due course rejected him from the throne he was unfit to occupy. Not from the tribe of Benjamin, but from that of Judah was to be the ruler of Israel. It was of this tribe that Jacob had foretold, "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." David, unlike Saul, belonged to this royal tribe, and, with all his imperfections and failures, he had a right royal heart and did right royal work, faithfully shepherding, defending, and governing the people whom God committed to his care, subduing all their enemies, providing both for the ark and worship of Jehovah and for the Levitical service and priestly courses, as well as for the glorious temple to be afterwards built by Solomon.

David was a man of a large, powerful, and richly various nature; he had a mind keen to perceive, a heart quick to feel, a conscience tender-though once, alas! seared as with a red-hot iron by sin-capable of being aroused into vigorous

action and of exerting mighty control; he had eyes to weep in bitter contrition, a tongue to utter confession and prayer, a voice and lips to sing songs of tender pathos, of humble trust, or of triumphant exultation; he had feet to dance. before the Lord for joy, a soul to be awed into silent veneration or to thrill with magnificent triumph, as the occasion might demand. He had also a sensitiveness which rendered his loves and his friendships warm and intense, which made filial ingratitude an agony to him, which caused sorrows and fears in anticipation to be a very real torture to his spirit. He could sink to the very lowest depths of woe and rise to the highest heights of enjoyment. The human element was in him rich and strong, while the spiritual side of his being was even stronger; and the strange, varied experiences of his life called successively into play every part of his intense and vivid nature. Religious reverence, holy faith and courage, mental and moral superiority, tender affection, powerful passions, compassionate kindness, inflexible severity when demanded by justice, executive ability and ruling talent of the first order,-all characterized in marked measure Israel's first great king; and he had, in addition, the literary ability and musical skill which made him memorable as the sweet psalmist of Israel. He was no mere official monarch; no selfish, luxurious tyrant, oppressing his people, but a thoroughly natural, sympathetic, loving, large-hearted, Godfearing man, who underwent most remarkable and unique experiences. The events of his life were ordered in Divine providence that they might give occasion to thoughts, feelings, and anticipations, the natural expression of which would prove-unconsciously to himself for the most part-to be

prophecy.

What was the state of things when this fifth section of the Divine programme was indicated to David, and to mankind through him? Some five hundred years had passed away since the days of Moses. Joshua had in the meantime di

vided to the people their Canaan inheritance, and during his life and the lives of his contemporaries Israel had answered the end for which it had been chosen of God, steering clear of idolatry and maintaining inviolate its monotheistic creed and worship. Among other peoples and nations polytheism and image-worship of the grossest kind everywhere prevailed, and had become systematized. Each country had its own special gods. The Zidonians worshipped Ashtoreth, the Ammonites Moloch, the Moabites Chemosh, and so on. After Joshua's days defection had gradually set in among the Israelites. One after another the tribes fell into idolatry, and adopted the gods of their neighbours; and then, as Moses had predicted, came punishment and calamity wars were waged on Israel by their heathen enemies, and the God whom they had forsaken suffered them to experience defeat after defeat, and servitude after servitude. Yet again and again He delivered them, raising up for them judges who governed and guided the people aright as long as they lived. These servitudes and deliverances alternated up to the days of Samuel the prophet, in whose old age the people first asked a king. Weary of their distinctive theocracy, they wished to be like their heathen neighbours. "We will have

a king over us, that we may be like all the nations." God gave them their desire, foretelling at the same time that its gratification would bring them into future trouble, as proved to be the case. Overruling their evil for good, however, according to His wont, He revealed, in connection with the establishment of the Jewish kingdom and to its first great king, the grand outline we have now to consider, of the present and future kingdom of God.

The Adamic and Noahic programmes were brief, occupying each but a few verses; the Abrahamic and Mosaic were longer and fuller, extending to entire chapters, and comprising many distinct and separate revelations given at considerable intervals. This Davidic programme as to the

kingdom and its king is still more ample. It is embodied, first, in certain direct revelations made to David, and, secondly, in the Book of Psalms, numbers of which are wholly devoted to it, while others contain features of it more or less amplified. It is consequently a very extensive and detailed programme, and we must present it only in outline. in an exceedingly condensed form, selecting the main, fundamental predictions alone out of the mass, and then comparing that part of the programme which has been fulfilled with the history which has fulfilled it.

As given to David in its first brief and comprehensive form, it is found in 2 Samuel vii. The story is there related of how David had desired to build a house for the Lord, and of how Nathan the prophet was sent to the king to tell him that, for certain reasons, the erection of the temple was to be left to his son Solomon. This he did, and he then added:

And

"Also the Lord telleth thee that He will make thee an house. when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. . . . And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever."

"I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that hath gone out of My lips. Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven" (Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4, and 34, 35, 36, 37). "The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. ever here will I dwell; for I have desired it. . make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for Mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame : but upon himself shall his crown flourish" (Ps. cxxxii. 11, 12, 13, 14, and 17, 18).

teach them, their For the Lord hath This is My rest for There will I