Episode Transcript
God has a plan, and He is working it out. From creation to the establishment of a land for the purpose of restoration. As He gets closer to vanquishing death, God is teaching humanity about righteousness, peace, and true justice. In the chapter of the story we see today, God makes another advance against humanity’s great enemy. He establishes a king in the land. Why do you think God would place a king in the land He gave to Israel?
First of all, God knew He would eventually place a king in Israel. Four hundred hears before He established a king, God told Israel He would—even predicting that Israel would ask for a king like the other nations,
When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).
So, when we read about Israel asking for a king later in
the story, we know that God has already told us that it will happen according to His own plan. He first grants a king who will not obey His Law, Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 1-31). Then, after Saul’s death, He gives Israel a king who will have Israel’s best interests in mind. I want to look at God’s promise to David.
Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’ In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David (2 Samuel 7:8-17).
Look at the promises God makes David:
I will make you a great name.
I will appoint a place for My people so that they will live and not be disturbed or afflicted by the wicked any more.
I will give you rest from all your enemies.
I will make a house for you.
I will establish the kingdom of your son.
I will establish the throne of your son’s kingdom forever.
I will correct your son when he strays by the sword of other nations.
My lovingkindness will never depart from your son.
David’s house and kingdom shall endure before Me forever.
David’s throne shall be established forever.
Look at the reason God provides for wanting to establish a good king over Israel (Number 2)—so that Israel will live and not be disturbed or afflicted by the wicked any more. Throughout this story, we have seen God taking steps against wickedness and death in a way that does not leave humanity behind. When He chose Israel, we saw that He chose one nation as a starting point. In His interaction with Egypt, we saw that Israel is only a starting point. Eventually, all the nations of the earth including Egypt and Assyria will worship God and the earth will have peace—that’s the end game. God takes steps toward His endgame patiently because He does not delight in the destruction of the wicked or desire that anyone perish, but all come to repentance (cf. Ezekiel 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9). Then, He gave Israel a land by which the nation was to be prosperous, a negation of the curse upon the ground in Genesis 3. Not only is God never again going to curse the ground (Genesis 8:21-22), He is actively taking steps to rid the earth of the curse that came through Adam (cf. Revelation 22:3). Now, He establishes a king in order to ultimately remove all disturbances and afflictions by wicked people against His chosen people. That will be the end result of God establishing a king. I don’t think that the world has gotten there yet. I do believe that, if we look at history, we see the whole world coming more in line with Israel instead of against it—evidence that God is fulfilling His promise to Noah, Abraham, and David. One day, all persecution and wickedness will cease altogether. Indeed Egypt’s treatment of the Israelites would never be revisited. History shows that Nero was worse than Hitler. After Hitler, a majority of the nations recognized the statehood of Israel. The whole world once stood against Israel. In our day, we see a vast majority of the world standing alongside Israel. Take a look at these maps:
Israel Becomes a State in 1948-49
These maps come from various sources and don’t tell the whole story. There are doubtless challenges in evaluating data against the growing awareness of world powers to Israel’s existence throughout history, the growing population of the world, and the flux of diplomatic relations. Still, we can see that Israel has gone from being the enemy of the entire world to being a friend of the vast majority, just as God said He would do. The whole world has become aware of Israel. Israel has been established amongst all the world powers as an official state. Comparatively, there is much less relative violence against Israel today than there was when God made this promise to David. We have the privilege of being able to confirm the promises of God and the reliability of Scripture by looking at history to see how it lines up. God is accomplishing His work. We can trust the Bible.
God promised David that his throne would be forever, the authority among the nations by which God would rid the whole world of oppression and wickedness. In the New Testament, a descendant of David is born who claims to be the Prince of Peace and the one upon whose shoulders all governments rest (cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33). When we get to that part of the story, we will see what it means that this Jesus reigns on David’s throne forever.
