The Divine Covenants

The Davidic Covenant (Part 1)

 Before we dive into a study of the Davidic Covenant it will be useful to discuss the connecting links between the Sinai Covenant and The Davidic. As we have said over and over earlier, the various covenants recorded in the Old Testament are the way God chose to unveil the principal stages of His plan of mercy toward His created race.

The laws given for the regulation of Israel, God’s chosen people, took on a definite form sometime before the death of Moses, who, because of his sin, was not allowed to lead his people into the Promised Land. Because of his removal, he was instructed by God to choose Joshua as his successor.

Under Joshua there were many events that we recall from the scriptures:

· There was the experience of the spies and Rahab.

· The crossing of the Jordan River

· The fall of Jericho,

· The sun standing still

· The division of land among the tribes,

· The creation of the cities of refuge

· Finally the burial of Joshua in the Promised Land

Under Joshua, the conquest of Canaan was largely successful and the land was divided between the several tribes of Israel but the conquest of Canaan was not complete nor was the inheritance fully secured. By the way, the English equivalent of “Joshua” is “Jesus”. And it is difficult not to notice the type we see here that it was Joshua who led his chosen people into the Promised Land.

Joshua had no successor. Thinking typically, isn’t that interesting? If you are missing the point, then I ask you, Who is Jesus’ successor?

One of the reasons that there was no successor to Joshua is that each of the tribes had its own rulers that for a time was sufficient for orderly self-government. But then the people fell into idol worship and, of course, this displeased God, so divine punishment followed.

· Judg 2:10-15, After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger  because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

The book of Judges is a narration of the disasters and sins of the people and of the means God used to deliver them. God raised up judges to rule and by and large this was successful. It is interesting that most of the judges were military officers. Do you know that since 1948 when Israel was once again constituted as a nation, most of their prime ministers have been military officers and leaders?

So the book of Judges is mainly a summary of the official acts of these judges. During the periods when information is not available, it is assumed that these were periods of peace and prosperity and the worship of God was common. It was during such a time that the Book of Ruth speaks.

During this period Israel supplied a striking type of the kingdom of God as it now exists under the Gospel. They were a people under the government of God, under His authority and enjoying access to His mercy-seat (through their high priest). It is much the same today where we as believers enjoy fellowship with God through our Great High Priest. But Israel did not understand their position and did not appreciate the privileges they had, so they became discontented and stiff-necked. This deprived them of the blessings that were within their reach.

Samuel was the last of the Judges and even from birth he was consecrated to God and God was with him even from birth.

· 1 Sam 3:19-21, 19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

Since Moses, no one exercised greater influence than did Samuel. He was able and his administration was prosperous. As he got older he prepared his sons to succeed him. But his sons were quite different.

· 1 Sam 8:2-3, But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

And the people were dissatisfied with the sons.

· 1 Sam 8:4-5, So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.  They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."

The people also became anxious for more military conquests and they wanted a king like their neighbors had. This turned out to be a renunciation of the plan of God, and in fact of God Himself.

· 1 Sam 8:6-8, 6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

This demand that was presented to Samuel was fully anticipated as we see in Deut 17:14-20.

· Deut 17:14-20 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites.  It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees  and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

God gave them their own desire. Presumably so that they would learn how well off they were under God as their King.

So Saul became their first secular king. His reign was a disastrous one. He was lacking both morally and spiritually. He was rash, self-willed, jealous and he disobeyed the command of God. He finally took his own life. Now notice the words in Hosea 13:11.

· Hosea 13:11 So in my anger I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away.

We are here looking at an illustration of how the Israelites expressed their discontent with having God as their King, their demand for a human king, and how God takes this evil desire and attempts to have the Israelites learn a lesson from it. So God chastens them by appointing Saul as their king.

This disastrous experience became the means of unfolding, by new types, the future reign of the Messiah, His kingdom, and the beneficial effects of His administration. The first of these types was the selection of a successor to Saul as king. God chose a man after His own heart; none other than David himself.

But first let’s take a look at what gave rise to the Israelites seeking a king like other nations. The leadership of Samuel’s sons had been corrupt in their judging and as a result the people demanded a king. This was a sinful move on the part of the people because it was a rejection of God as their King. Yet God allowed this and the underlying principle here is that God accomplishes His holy purposes even by the free actions of sinful men. But you may ask, “Why did God not give them a king who would not have resulted in the people rejecting God as King?” Well, God’s purpose was to show that rebellion was in their hearts, and to remind them that He is sovereign.

At the time that David was selected to be the successor to Saul, he was a very young man, the youngest of his father’s sons. This honor was yet seven years in the future but David continued to serve Saul as if he knew nothing of the kingship that awaited him. This was a demonstration of the meekness of David, meekness in the best sense of the word.

In the early years of his reign he was notably successful in defeating the enemies of Israel. Once the land had become peaceful he turned his attention to the need for a permanent place for the ark. Jerusalem had been chosen as the residence of the king and David concluded that the time had come for him to build a permanent place for the worship of God.