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The First Principles of the Oracles of God
(A series especially addressed to new readers)
No.28.
"In Isaac shall thy seed be called."
pp. 5 - 10
The history of the true seed has now been before us from Adam to Abraham. We
have seen the line descending from Adam through Seth to Noah, and through Noah to
Shem, and from Shem through Eber, Peleg, and Terah to Abraham. Abraham's son
Ishmael is repudiated, and Isaac the child of promise, the child of resurrection power,
carries forward the great purpose. This process of selection and repudiation still goes on.
Isaac has two sons Esau and Jacob, but Esau is set aside. Jacob has twelve sons, but
Judah, the son of Leah, the first wife of Jacob, is chosen as the channel through whom the
seed should come. Judah is the ancestor of David the King, and it is sufficient for
Matthew's purpose that he shows that "Jesus" was the `Son of David and the Son of
Abraham' to prove that the promise concerning the true seed had at length been fulfilled.
With the opening of the N.T. we leave promise and begin fulfillment, and as our
salvation and hope are bound up with the realization of the promises of God concerning
the seed, we must give our attention to the unfolding of this great theme.
We observe that throughout the Gospels, Christ is referred to as `the Son of David',
but when we consider the testimony of Paul, he avoids the title `Son of David' and uses
the deeper and more significant title "The Seed of David". At first sight this distinction
may savour of `hair-splitting', for He Who is the Seed of David must also be his Son.
Yet on the other hand it is also true that He Who is the Son of David may not necessarily
be his `seed' in the full significance of that term as we shall see.
We all know that Solomon was a son of David, and most of us would remember
Nathan and Absalom, but how many of us know that in the genealogy given in
I Chron. 3: 1-9 there are nineteen sons of David named? Six were born in Hebron,
four were born in Jerusalem, and nine are listed without specifying either the name of
their mother or the place of their birth. Even this list of nineteen sons is not complete, for
the chronicler adds `besides the sons of the concubines' (I Chron. 3: 9).
In the course of time David's strength began to fail, and claimant voices began to be
heard regarding succession to the throne.
"Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king" (I Kings 1: 5).
Nathan the prophet visited Bathsheba and warned her of the danger and advised her to
go to the king and say:
"Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, assuredly
Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then doth
Adonijah reign?" (I Kings 1: 13).