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Introduction

We have established the fact the Covenant is foundational and central to all Old Testament scriptures. They are, in truth, the Old Covenant Scriptures. Inside the most holy shrine of the nation, there stands a gold-plated trunk that contains the two tablets of stone that Jehovah had inscribed with his own finger. By its side lay the Book of the Covenant, the nation's copy of the law and the statutes that they had 'signed up to'.

We have seen too that Jehovah provided a 'maintenance element' of the Covenant in the Covenant of Levi; the priestly covenant; The priests being responsible for the safe-keeping of the Covenant Documents and their propagation.

• Malachi 2:4–7 ASV

  And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant may be with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts. (Malachi 2:4–7 ASV)

• We see too that Jehovah entered into a Dynastic Covenant with the house of David. There are many covenants associated with David...

  • with Jonathan the son of Saul

    Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. (1Samuel 18:3 ASV)

  • with Jonathan and his descendants

    And they two made a covenant before Jehovah: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house. (1Samuel 23:18 ASV)

  • with the elders of Israel at Israel

    And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel unto my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all that thy soul desireth. And David sent Abner away; and he went in peace. (2Samuel 3:21 ASV

    So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah: and they anointed David king over Israel. (2Samuel 5:3; 1Chronicles 11:3 ASV)

The Transition from Theocracy to Monarchy

• The Times of the Judges

  Before the transition to monarchy, the Covenant-Nation had a more direct form of Theocracy. (Rule by God) This was a continuation of Jehovah being 'king in Jeshurun' as we saw in the last study, but the move to monarchy was a downward step.

  Some Bible scholars refer to the period of the Judges as the 'Charismatic' period of Israel's history. This is not the modern use of the word 'Charismatic' but a way of describing that Israel's 'rule' came through men and women who were uniquely endowed with specific enabling by a 'rush" of the Spirit of Jehovah upon them.

  Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 18:5; 1 Sam 10:6, 10; 11:6; 16:13; 18:10

  Or the statement that the Spirit of Jehovah clothed himself with Gideon.

  But the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him. (Judges 6:34 ASV)

  • digging deeper

    Are there differences in how the Spirit empowers people?

    In both Testaments, the Holy Spirit comes upon people to empower them for acts they could not do themselves or at the very least could not do as well themselves as when empowered. While many of the references are to God's Spirit empowering to prophesy (and most people seem to default to this example), the Spirit empowers in many other ways.

    https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/13330/are-there-differences-in-how-the-spirit-empowers-people

    

  That story is found in the book of 1Samuel. Prior to having kings Israel had "Judges". "Judges" were individuals whom God raised up at times of particular danger to lead the people in the wars of self-defence. It created a cyclic pattern. The covenant nation abandoned its covenant and although God allowed them to continue in the land they could not enjoy it as real tenants. Other nations controlled them and exacted fines and taxes from them that crippled their development. In their distress, they called on their covenant God and in his covenant mercy, God intervened by raising up a "Judge".

  These "Judges" had their roots in particular family tribes but they drew other family tribes into their bands and the foreigners were overthrown. In the prosperity that followed the covenant nation generally relaxed its keeping of the covenant and God gave them into the control of yet another foreign oppressor and so the wheel turned another revolution...

  The solution to the nation's need was staring them in the face. All they had to do was to turn to God and keep the covenant. God would have kept the oppressors at bay, but as so often with human beings they decided that the solution was to 'change the method'!

  Instead of this hand-to-mouth dependence upon God why not be like the other nations and have someone who would take the responsibility of leading, carrying the responsibility on his own shoulders? Hence the choice during the time of Samuel the last of the judges to opt for a king.

  The nation had a faultline that would ultimately result in two nations; David brought them all together under his personal rule. It was a great time and marked the greatest fulfilment, to date, of the Covenant Nation's control of its own destiny and its own 'leasehold land'. The Civil War rumbled on for a while but finally, the whole nation rallied to David and proclaimed him the king:

  • 2Samuel 5:1–3 ASV

    ¶ Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and Jehovah said to thee, Thou shalt be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah: and they anointed David king over Israel. (2Samuel 5:1–3 ASV)

  In all, he reigned for 40 years and his reign became the golden age in the memory of the nation. This is important; the idea of David reigning over a united nation will enter into the nation's psyche and will become part of the language through which God will convey deeper concepts.

• The Monarchy under David

  If we think through some of the implications of the scriptural record we will see another transition during this time; the transition from Tabernacle to Temple, and a vastly more complex pattern of services with instrumental music and choirs.

  In fact, the monarchy began at a time of priestly dysfunction. The ancient ritual of Yom Kippur, the Day of Propitiation/Atonement, required that an animal/s be sacrificed on the prescribed altar and that the blood of these animals be sprinkled on the Propitiatory/Mercy Seat. However, decades before David came to the throne the sacred Ark of the Covenant had been lost in battle, and when it returned it was not brought back to the now permanently, now settled, Tabernacle but remained separated from the Tabernacle and the rest of the priestly functions.

  It would seem that for the latter part of Samuel's time as Judge and High Priest, and the whole of Saul's reign and most of David's reign, more than 120 years, Yom Kippur had not been undertaken in the proper manner. For this period the Sacrificial Altar and the Ark of the Covenant had been separated by some 20 miles. No animal blood had been sprinkled on the Propitiatory, no Scape Goat had carried away all the sins of the Nation. There had been no authentic Day of Propitiation for more than a century.

The Davidic Covenant

• God says 'No'

  This is the account of the building of the Temple. It is instructive in many ways especially as a revelation of the character of David, but we will not pause to study that here. David had a desire, from God, to build a Temple worthy of God's greatness. He received, from God, the plans for the design of a magnificent building. He accumulated, from God-given victories a fabulous store of materials and funds to build the Temple. He received encouragement, from a prophet of God, to build the Temple... and then God said. "No".

  • Isaiah 55:8–11 ASV

    For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:8–11 ASV)

• God says 'Yes'

  Even as God says 'No' he brings a promise that captures David's heart and imagination

  • 2Samuel 7:8–17 ASV

    Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be prince over my people, over Israel; and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a great name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first, and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will cause thee to rest from all thine enemies. Moreover Jehovah telleth thee that Jehovah will make thee a house. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. (2Samuel 7:8–17 ASV)

  • Sometimes, 'no' is better than 'yes'.

    David's 'house for God' would have been a physical Temple', but God 'house for David' is the promise of dynasty that would last 'forever'.

• More than a promise

  in fact, it is more than a promise it is a covenant. Later in the history of the nation and the Davidic dynasty was under threat we have it spelled out very clearly;

  • 2Chronicles 21:5–7 ASV

    Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. Howbeit Jehovah would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children alway. (2Chronicles 21:5–7 ASV)

So together with the idea of the United Kingdom under David we now have the idea of a never ending United Kingdom under the Davidic dynasty. This is yet another colour added to the artists palette.

We now have three interconnected covenants operating at the same time and then, often hidden, one that continues out of sight. The Sinai covenant, the Levitical covenant, and the Davidic covenant became interdependent. However, the original covenant with Abraham and his Seed continued unseen, working its way through to a combination in the person of Jesus Christ; The Son of Abraham, the Son of David.

We shall need to tread carefully as we try to copy these ideas into a larger canvas. To go back to an old illustration, each of these covenants will provide different colours on God's palette to enable the painting of a stunning scene, what do we still have need of some more colours before that painting can be completed.

• In this Chapter 7 of "The Better Covenant"

  we saw the link between the Sinai covenant and the land of Israel. We saw that the people of Israel only ever had a tenancy agreement and never owned the land freehold.

  We saw the way that the Sinai covenant began to function as a tenancy agreement and the threat of losing the land if the tenancy agreement was breached.

  We saw the addition of yet another covenant to the Sinai covenant, the Davidic covenant of monarchy, and added it to our artist's palette in preparation for the final masterpiece.