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A
Matt. 1:1.
'Jesus'.
Son of David.
Emmanuel God with us.
B
Luke 1:32. The Throne of His father David.
C
Acts 13:34.
The sure mercies of David.
Resurrection.
D
Acts 15:16. I will build again the tabernacle of David.
C
2 Tim. 2:8. Raised from the dead ... the seed of David.
B
Rev. 5:5. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David
A
Rev. 22:16.'I Jesus' the Root and the Offspring of David.
Nothing more is claimed for this 'set out' than that it may enable the
reader to envisage the story. An arbitrary selection of such texts has no
Divine warrant, and is not to be confused with the legitimate structure of
any book or passage based upon inspired arrangement of words. The central
text may need a little care in its handling. The 'tabernacle' in the Greek
New Testament is the word skene, and gives us the English word scene. It has
a theatrical connection in classical Greek.
Now James ('Jacob' is his name in the original) was the last man to
introduce a pagan Greek concept into his quotation from the Old Testament
(Acts 15:16). James was quoting from the Prophet Amos (Amos 9:11,12), and
Amos did not and could not have used the Greek word skene, but used the
Hebrew word sukkah, as used of the feast of tabernacles, a foreshadowing of
the day to come when it will no longer be necessary to dwell in fortified
cities but when every man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
and none shall make them afraid (Micah 4:1 -7). James did not say that any
particular prophecy was at the moment being fulfilled, but that the coming in
of the Gentile 'agreed' with the tenor of much that had been foretold, and of
Amos 9:11,12 in particular. Peter was moved to speak of 'three tabernacles'
on the mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:4), for there he had a foreview of
the coming glory. Stephen, when he used the word skene in his speech, spoke
of 'the tabernacle in the wilderness' which Moses erected, not of any
'scene', and certainly with no reference to a Greek theatre, and in like
manner, nine out of ten references in Hebrews is to the tabernacle in the
wilderness, the exception referring to the tent dwellings of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob as willing pilgrims. (See also Millennial Studies No. 11 - the New
heaven and New earth9).
After having said so much, we return to the subject of David, and do
most surely see both in the kingdom of Saul, David and Solomon, a
foreshadowing of things to come. Saul was the people's choice, and by their
choice of Saul, they at the same time rejected the Lord (1 Sam. 8:4 -9),
although humanly speaking the failure of Samuel to train his sons was the
contributory cause, so frail, so failing is every human instrument. Saul,
though head and shoulders above his fellows, began in commendable modesty:
'Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family
the least ... ?' (1 Sam. 9:21). After his anointing the Spirit of the Lord
came upon Saul and he prophesied (1 Sam. 10:6), nevertheless in spite of this
seeming good beginning, and before Saul manifested the other side of his
nature, Samuel called the people together at Mizpeh, and again told them that
by their desire for a king they were rejecting the Lord. Nevertheless Saul