was chosen.  His reign saw him persecuting David, and ended ultimately in his

seeking to the witch of Endor and his tragic death as a consequence (1 Chron.

10:4 and particularly verses 13 and 14).

The Lord, Who knew the hearts of all men, even in the second year of

Saul's reign, told Saul through Samuel that his kingdom would not continue,

but that He had already sought Him a man after His own heart (1 Sam.

13:13,14), and presently after further manifestations of the degeneracy of

Saul, sent Samuel to Jesse at Bethlehem where David the youngest of the

family was anointed 'and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day

forward' (1 Sam. 16:12,13).

Before David came to the throne, and while he was yet a 'stripling', he

enacted a forecast of the triumph of his greater Son.  Goliath, the giant

with his armour of brass and iron, went down before young David armed only

with a sling and a smooth stone out of the brook.  Here he foreshadowed the

same prophetic scene that formed the Image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.  There,

the Colossus symbolizing Gentile dominion is struck by 'a Stone cut out

without hands' (Dan. 2).

David's kingship is divided into two phases.  First he was anointed

king over the house of Judah at Hebron (2 Sam. 2:1 -4); secondly by all the

tribes of Israel (2 Sam. 5:1 -5) reigning the same number of years as did

Saul, namely forty years.  After a life in which he sometimes stood out as a

type of Christ, and sometimes revealed that he was a man of like passions as

ourselves, David chose Solomon as his successor, saying:

'I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon

thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my

stead' (1 Kings 1:30).

In 1 Chronicles 28 and 29 the closing words of David are recorded.

He

had in his heart a desire to build a house of rest for the ark of the

covenant of the Lord but God had said to him:

'Thou shalt not build an house for My name, because thou hast been a

man of war, and hast shed blood' (1 Chron. 28:3),

and so David's kingdom could not foreshadow the reign of universal

but the reign of Solomon could, and did.

The name Solomon means 'peace' and it was given to him on purpose, for

said the Lord:

'His name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto

Israel in his days' (1 Chron. 22:9).

This is the outstanding character of his reign.  This reign of peace

stimulated the industry of Israel.  Such was the wealth of Solomon that it is

'Silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon' (2

Chron. 9:20).

We read that the Lord had made Solomon king over a people like the dust

of the earth for multitude (thereby anticipating the future day of Israel's

'fulness'), and Solomon was assured by the Lord that wisdom and knowledge