Course:
From Genesis to Jesus
IV. Israel's Shepherd - Priest and King
a. The Lord's Anointed
b. Capitalizing Jerusalem
c. Everlasting Covenant
d. Covenant Remembered
V. Entering the Kingdom
a. The Shape of Things Under Solomon
b. Psalms and Wisdom
VI. Two Nations Under God
a. North-South Divide
b. Raising Prophets
c. Good Kings, Bad Kings
d. Punished by Babylon
e. Writing in Exile
VII. After the Exile
a. Restoration and Rebuilding
b. Persecution and Revolt
c. Hasmonean Times
d. The Consolation of Israel
VIII. Study Questions
IV. Israel's Shepherd - Priest and King
a. The Lord's Anointed
The Lord rejects Saul as king, although He allows his reign to play out to its bitter end. In the meantime, he dispatches Samuel to quietly anoint a successor, "a man after [the Lord's] own heart" (see 1 Samuel 13:14) - David, son of Jesse, grandson of Ruth's son Obed, an anonymous shepherd boy living in Bethlehem.
The Spirit of the Lord rushes upon David at his anointing (see 1 Samuel 16:13) and through a series of seeming coincidences, he winds up in Saul's court. David is brave, but also God-fearing, as we see in the famous episode with Goliath. He knows that, as he says, "the battle is the Lord's" and that "it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves" (see 1 Samuel 17:32-51)
As First Samuel continues, David's humility and meekness, his faithfulness to God, stands in sharp contrast with Saul's growing paranoia and jealousy, which causes him to hatch murderous plots against David (see 1 Samuel 18:11; 19:9-17).
Given two chances to kill his sworn enemy Saul, David refuses. Why? Because, he says, no matter what a scoundrel Saul is, Saul remains "the Lord's anointed" king (see 1 Samuel 24, 26).
When Saul and his sons meet their shameful end at the hands of the Philistines (see 1 Samuel 31), David mourns and turns to the Lord for the guidance (see 2 Samuel 1-2:4).
After routing the remaining forces loyal to Saul, David is anointed king by all the tribes of Israel who bind themselves to him with a covenant oath: "Here we are, your bone and flesh" (see 2 Samuel 5:1).
They call him God's chosen shepherd-king (see 2 Samuel 5:2). This is the first time this image is used in the Bible to describe Israel's leader. It will become an important image in later prophecies and in Jesus' own self-understanding.
b. Capitalizing Jerusalem
As shepherd and king, David is a great political and spiritual leader.
Ordering his military power and strategy to religious purposes, he routes the Jebusites to establish his capital in Jerusalem.
How did he settle on Jerusalem? The Scripture doesn't exactly tell us. Perhaps he recalled the story of Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem, who celebrated a liturgy with bread and wine on behalf of Abraham (see Genesis 14:17-23).
Perhaps he understood Moses to be referring to Jerusalem when he commanded the building of a central sanctuary in "the place which the Lord, your God chooses as the dwelling place for His name" (see Deuteronomy 12:4-5,11). Although Moses never mentions Jerusalem by name, Rabbinic lore held that the city of God's name was the city that Melchizedek ruled, which the Psalms of David identify as Jerusalem (see Psalm 76:3).
In any event, David calls Jerusalem Zion and the City of David. Once he has captured it, he retrieves the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord which, as he says pointedly, "in the days of Saul we did not visit" (see 1 Chronicles 13:3).
Dressed in a priest's ephod, David leads all Israel in a joyous religious celebration of the Ark's return, offering sacrifices, blessing the people and breaking bread (see 2 Samuel 6:13-19; 1 Chronicles 15:25-29).
With the Lord having been established - "taken up his dwelling in Jerusalem" (see 1 Chronicles 23:25) - David then restored the priesthood. He made the descendants of Aaron to be "officers of the holy place and officers of the divine presence" (see 1 Chronicles 24:3,5,19).
He established the Levitical priests "to minister before the Ark of the Lord - to celebrate, thank and praise the Lord, the God of Israel" every morning and evening, and also on feast days (see 1 Chronicles 16:4; 23:25-32).
As he is portrayed in the First Book of Chronicles, especially, David is both a holy priest and a righteous and brave king.
In fact, you should read the two books of Chronicles alongside the books of Samuel and Kings. They tell the same story from two different perspectives. The Chronicles aren't simply a rewriting of the political and personal dramas recorded in Samuel and Kings.
Beginning with Adam, the chronicler gives us a liturgical history of ancient Israel, showing us that from the start God intended His people to be a priestly people, offering praise and sacrifice and living by His decrees.
Chronicles describes David as God's ideal leader - the priest-king, the righteous ruler who composes psalms, leads the people in worship, and is a teacher of God's wisdom. In the Davidic Kingdom, we are given a glimpse of the world as God means it to be - a communion of the sacred and secular, of law and worship, religion and culture, Church and state.
c. Everlasting Covenant
God makes His final covenant of the Old Testament with David. He promises to establish David's kingdom as an eternal and everlasting dynasty, promises that David's heirs will sit on his royal throne forever. He promises, too, that He will regard David's heir as His own son.
Be sure to spend some time reading over this covenant oath (see 2 Samuel 7:8-16; 1 Chronicles 17:7-14). These are among the most important verses in all the Bible.
God's promises here will give shape and direction, hope and drama of the remainder of the biblical narrative - all the way through the end of the New Testament.
If that sounds hard to believe, look ahead to the last page of the Bible. There you'll hear Jesus talking about this covenant, saying that He himself is the fulfillment of that covenant: "I am the root and offspring of David" (see Revelation 22:16).
Why do we call it a "covenant" when God doesn't use the word? Because David himself will later say that God here was swearing an "eternal covenant" with him (see 2 Samuel 23:5). David's "covenant" is also celebrated in the Psalms of David (see Psalm 89:4-29; 132:12).
Let's pull apart the several promises of this covenant, and review them in order:
1. The Lord will establish a house for you: "House" means royal dynasty, so this means that David's kingdom will be a dynasty.
2. I will raise up your heir...and make his kingdom firm: David's son will rule over his kingdom.
3. He shall build a house for my name: David's son will build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant.
4. I will be a Father to him and he shall be a son to Me: The son of David will be adopted as God's own son. This is the first time that the idea of divine sonship is applied to one individual. While God had referred to Israel as His first-born son, no one as yet in the Bible has been called "son of God."
5. If he does wrong, I will correct him...with human chastisements, but I will not withdraw my favor from him: If David's son breaks His Law, God will send punishments but will never disown him as He disowned Saul.
6. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever: David's dynasty will never end. There will always be an heir of David seated upon his throne.
d. Covenant Remembered
This covenant isn't simply a reward to David for his faithful service.
We have to understand this as the final in the line of covenants that God has been making with His people throughout the salvation history recorded in the Bible. In effect, it is a covenant enacted to fulfill the covenant God made with Abraham.
Remember why God liberated the Israelites from Egypt? For the sake of His covenant with Abraham (see Exodus 2:24; 6:5).
God promised to make Abraham the father of a host of nations, and promised further that kings would stem from Abraham's line of descendants. He promised that He would be their God and that they would be His people for all time, and that all the nations of the world would find blessing through his descendants (see Genesis 17:4-8; 22:15-18).
The Mosaic covenant, the covenant God made with Moses at Sinai, marked what we might describe as "the first stage" of God's plan to fulfill His covenant with Abraham (see Exodus 33:1; Numbers 32:11; Deuteronomy 1:8; 9:5; 30:20).
The covenant with David furthers God's covenant plan by which all the world would be made children of Abraham, blessed and beloved sons and daughters of God (see 2 Kings 13:23; Psalm 102:45; Jeremiah 33:26).
Notice the reasons that God gives for the covenant with David. It is not for David's sake but - as the Lord repeats three times- for the sake of "My people Israel" (see 2 Samuel 7:8,10,11).
This recalls the language God used throughout the story of Israel's liberation from Egypt (see Exodus 3:7,10; 5:1; 6:7; 7:17, 9:1; Leviticus 26:12).
Listen carefully also to David's prayer in response to the Lord's oracle. This is his vow of allegiance to God's covenant.
It's filled with echoes and quotations from Moses - all stressing that, as David says: "You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Yours forever and You, Lord, have become their God" (compare 1 Samuel 8:22-25; Exodus 15:11-13,16-17; Deuteronomy 4:7,34; 7:6; 26:17; 29:12).
The covenant with David is a continuation of the great redemptive work of the Exodus, the establishment of God's holy people Israel - a saving work undertaken in fulfillment of God's covenant promise to Abraham.
As David says: "He remembers forever His covenant which He made binding for a thousand generations - which He established for Jacob by statute, for Israel as an everlasting covenant" (see 1 Chronicles 16:14-18).
V. Entering the Kingdom
a. The Shape of Things Under Solomon
The Davidic covenant is the climactic event in Old Testament salvation history. Of course, the fulfillment of God's plan awaits the coming of Jesus and establishment of the Kingdom of God, the Catholic Church.
But we can detect in the Davidic Kingdom, especially as it takes shape under the reign of David's son, King Solomon, the qualities and character that God intends for His family on earth - an intention that will only finally be realized in the Catholic Church.
Solomon's is a monarchy ruled over by God's son (see Psalm 2:7), who is both a priest and a king (see Psalm 110:1,4). At the right hand of the King is his mother, the Queen, who intercedes for the people with the king and is a trusted adviser to the King (see 1 Kings 3:19-20; Proverbs 31).
The day-to-day affairs of the Kingdom are administered by a prime minister, variously called the royal "vizier," the "superintendent" or "master of the palace." He is considered to be "a father to the inhabitants" of the Kingdom (see 1 Kings 16:9; 18:3; 2 Kings 15:5; 18:18,37; 19:2; Isaiah 22:22).
The Davidic Kingdom is an international empire, a worldwide kingdom, stretching to the ends of the earth and embracing all nations and peoples (see Psalm 2:8; 72:8,11).
In an echo of God's promise to Abraham and his descendants, the Scriptures tell us that by the Davidic King and Kingdom "shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed, all the nations" (see Psalm 72:17).
The Kingdom, with its capital in Zion, Jerusalem, will become the mother of all nations, "one and all born in her" (see Psalm 87:5), all made sons and daughters of God in a worldwide family.
It is a Kingdom that rules, not by military might, but through liturgy and prayer, wisdom and law. The liturgy and worship of the kingdom is shaped by the eternal presence of God in the Ark in the Temple at Jerusalem.
Solomon built the Temple on Mount Moriah (see 2 Chronicles 3:1). Recall that Mount Moriah was where Abraham was sent to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac (see Genesis 22:2). It is very interesting that these are the only two places in the Bible where Moriah is mentioned, and Calvary, where Jesus is crucified, is one of the hills in the Moriah range.
The Temple, atop the holy mountain of Zion, is the "dwelling place....[of] the God of gods" (see Psalm 84:2,8; 1 Kings 8:27-30). In His shrine, heaven and earth meet (see Psalm 78:68-69).
Another feature of the Kingdom is the "everlasting priesthood" that God promised to Phineas, the grandson of Aaron (see Numbers 10:13). Solomon restored this by making Zadok high priest and his sons "officers of the holy place and officers of the divine presence" (see 1 Kings 2:35).
The Temple was to be more than a shrine for the chosen people of Israel. It was to be a house of prayer for all peoples. This is what Solomon prayed for - that "all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, may fear You as do Your people Israel" (see 1 Kings 8:41-43).
A new form of worship characterizes Solomon's Temple and the Davidic Kingdom.
Prayer in the Kingdom becomes a personal encounter with the living God: "Bring me to Your holy mountain, to your dwelling-place. Then I will go into the altar of God...I will give You thanks....thanking Him in the presence of my Savior and my God" (see Psalm 43:3-5).
The liturgy of Moses and Sinai required animal sacrifices and offerings for the people's sin. In the liturgy of Zion, the people bring "a sacrifice of thanksgiving," known in Hebrew as todah, translated as eucharistia in Greek (see 1 Chronicles 16:4,7-37).
Passover, the feast that characterized the liturgy of Sinai, recalled God's saving deeds in the Exodus. The todah, too, is a celebration of remembrance, often involving the offering of unleavened bread and wine. It is a prayer in which the believer proclaims God's saving deeds, gives thanks for God's salvation, and swears himself or herself to a life of praise and self-sacrifice.
Echoes of the todah can be heard throughout the Book of Psalms, the royal prayers and songs of the Davidic Kingdom. For instance, in Psalm 116: "For He has freed my soul from death...To You I will offer sacrifice of thanksgiving...and My vows to the Lord..." (see Psalm 116: 8,17-18; 50:13-15; 40:1-12; 51:17).
In the thanksgiving sacrifices of the Davidic kingdom we see the true dimension of worship - the way God wanted men and women to serve Him from the beginning. Not in abjection and in servitude, not with the blood of animals, but with their whole hearts, their whole lives made a sacrifice of praise and thanks, their whole lives given over to the will and the heart of God:
"For You are not pleased with sacrifices, should I offer a holocaust, You would not accept it. My sacrifice, O my God, is a contrite spirit, a heart contrite and humbled" (see Psalm 51:18-19).
"Sacrifice or oblation You wished not, but ears open to obedience....Holocausts and sin-offerings You sought not....To do Your will, O my God, is my delight, and Your Law is within my heart!" (see Psalm 40:7-9).
b. Psalms and Wisdom
Look for this spirit of self-offering and thanksgiving as you read the Book of Psalms.
Traditionally associated with David, many of the psalms were doubtless written by him. All of them reflect his heart which, as we've seen, reflects the Lord's own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14).
Prayed daily, even hourly, the psalms were intended to give God's covenant people a new heart - that heart of David, that heart of the Lord.
The psalms teach God's royal sons and daughters how to pray - how to praise, thank, petition, and pledge faithfulness to their Father. The psalms teach God's people the history of their salvation and of God's faithfulness to His covenant plan (see Psalms 78; 105-106; 135-136).
Underlying all the varieties of psalms is the Father's desire to instill in His children a love for His ways and His Law: "You will show me the path of life, fullness of joys in Your presence" (see Psalms 16:11).
The psalms teach God's people to seek His wisdom in His Law (see Psalms 37:31; 90:12). In this, the psalms are closely tied to the other great spiritual legacy of the Davidic Kingdom - the biblical wisdom literature.
The Psalms are associated with David. The Bible's wisdom literature - the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, Wisdom and Sirach - is associated with David's son, Solomon, who traditionally is held to be the author of four of the books.
The wisdom of Solomon was a divine gift (see 1 Chronicles 1:7-12). And his reputation for being a wise man drew the Queen of Sheba and "all the kings of the earth" to seek audiences with him and to pay him tribute (see 1 Kings 10:1-13, 24-25).
Think of the wisdom books as recording the kinds of things that Solomon told the Queen and the kings of the nations.
Read in their place in the Bible, the wisdom books function as a sort of fatherly instruction - God the Father, through His divine son the king, teaching His worldwide family how live. This is seen most clearly in Proverbs, which is presented as the advice of a father to his son (except for Proverbs 31 which is said to be a Queen Mother's teaching to her son, the king).
As you read the wisdom literature, understand that, like the psalms, these books are designed to instruct and to form the children of God's worldwide family.
This is the meaning of the strange passage in David's prayer of thanksgiving for His covenant - "This too You have shown to man" (see 2 Samuel 7:19). The phrase in Hebrew is "torah 'adam" - literally, "the law of mankind." This is what wisdom is - God's law, given through His king, for all men and women.
The Davidic Kingdom was established to be a universal, worldwide, eternal kingdom. The wisdom literature aims to effect the moral and spiritual formation of this kingdom. It is the charter of the new human family that God wants to create through His covenant with David.
The wisdom books are meant to instruct people like Job, a righteous non-Jew who, in his extraordinary sufferings, seeks saving knowledge and redemption: "Whence, then, comes wisdom" he cries, "and where is the place of understanding?"
He finally arrives at the answer: "The fear of the Lord is wisdom" (see Job 28:20,23,28).
This is the refrain you will hear running beneath all the practical counsel and advice found in these books: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord" (see Proverbs 9:10)
Of course "fear of the Lord," doesn't mean cowering in fright before the Lord. It means reverence and awe, the loving trust of a child: "All wisdom is fear of the Lord. Perfect wisdom is the fulfillment of the Law" (see Sirach 19:17).
The Law given to Moses is seen in the wisdom literature as the perfect reflection of divine wisdom. At times, you will even see Wisdom depicted as divine Person - a communication of God, who "created her...poured her forth upon all His works" (see Sirach 1:7-8; Proverbs 8).
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