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idea of usurpation was very definite. Satan is the Prince of this world and the God of this
age, and his subordinates are called the "rulers of the darkness of this world".
The name Jezreel in II Sam. 2: 9 is associated with Jezebel and her awful end "by the
wall of Jezreel" (I Kings 21: 23). Jezreel was also the name given to the eldest son of
Hosea (Hos. 1: 4), and became a symbolic name for Israel (Hos. 1: 11), prophesying first
of all their "scattering" in judgment, and then their final "sowing", when all "men of
shame" shall be for ever put down and the true David, "the Beloved", shall reign from sea
to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
David reigned over Judah in Hebron for seven and a half years, and in II Sam. 5: 5
we read:
"In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he
reigned thirty and three years over all Israel."
According to Hebrew computation this makes 40 years (in I Kings 2: 11 the odd six
months are ignored), and as he was 30 when he began to reign (II Sam. 5: 4), we have a
total of 70 years associated with this great typical king. Ish-bosheth, on the other hand,
reigned only two years, and died at the hand of murderers at the age of 42 (6*7):
"Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when be began to reign over Israel, and
reigned two years" (II Sam. 2: 10).
These two years of usurpation should be viewed in the light of Hosea's prophecy:
"After two days will He revive us, in the third day He will raise us up and we shall
live in His sight" (Hos. 6: 2).
"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince,
and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without
teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God,
and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days"
(Hos. 3: 4, 5).
It is evident, we trust, that the seven years of David's reign over Judah, before he was
acclaimed King over all Israel, are prophetic of heaven's true King. He also has been
anointed and is King among His brethren, but the usurper still seeks to exercise dominion
over "all Israel", finding a place for his usurpation in the territory that lies "on this side of
Jordan"--the world and its attractive snares. The end, however, is fixed, for "after two
years" Israel seek the Lord and David their King, and the Millennial Reign begins.