Even though the Israelites started out under a theocracy (rule by God), the people became restive under this form of government when the aging Samuel established his corrupt sons as judges (I Samuel 8:3). Samuel complied with the peoples' request to give "us a king to judge us like all the nations" (I Samuel 8:5), and Israel's government soon changed to a monarchy (rule by a king or queen). Under its first king, Saul, Israel became a political confederation of its twelve tribes.

Over time, though, Saul's leadership faltered. God replaced him with David, of the tribe of Judah. To this king, God makes an extraordinary, unconditional promise:

I [God] took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. . . . Also, the LORD tells you that He will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, 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 his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. (II Samuel 7:8-9, 11-16, emphasis ours throughout; see also I Chronicles 17:7-14)

The prophet Jeremiah reaffirms that David's throne will rule Israel, and will do so forever: "For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel'" (Jeremiah 33:17). This prophecy, which in context is part of a prophecy about Israel in the Millennium, emphasizes that there will always be a monarch ruling "the house of Israel." David's throne, the authority of his dynasty, is not limited to the tribe of Judah, whence David himself sprang, but extends over the entire house of Israel (see also II Chronicles 5:2). We should not expect, therefore, to find David's dynasty in a Gentile nation, as God says it will rule Israel.

The promise of an eternal throne—an everlasting dynasty—is a reaffirmation of what Jacob, by faith, had come to understand centuries before. Speaking of Judah's descendants in the "last days," he prophesied that "the scepter shall not depart from Judah" (Genesis 49:10). For a time, Judah would not bear rule, but once God placed the scepter in Judah's hand, we can expect that that dynasty would rule ever after. Clearly, God placed the scepter in David's hand. We can therefore count on David's dynasty to rule over Israel in perpetuity.

The same faith that worked in Jacob was at work in David when he speaks confidently of God's steadfast love to his posterity. In Psalm 89:35-37, David says that God has "sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky. Selah."

God's promises of power to David and of wealth to Joseph are not contradictory, for there is an important distinction between the birthright and the scepter. As we saw previously, God chose Joseph—specifically, his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh—to receive the great physical blessings associated with the birthright. We see this in Jacob's blessing of Joseph's boys (Genesis 48:12-20), as well as in the blessings listed in Deuteronomy 33:13-17. To use Jacob's words, the birthright blessing would be "up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills" (Genesis 49:26). This is a promise of great wealth and prosperity.

Yet, God chose Judah to serve as the scepter tribe—the tribe that would bear rule over the descendants of Abraham. The psalmist Asaph writes that God "rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved" (Psalm 78:67-68). In verses 70-71, he pinpoints David as the first king to come out of Judah: "He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance."

Perhaps the most remarkable part of the house of David is the ownership of David's throne. I Chronicles 29:23 records that, after David's death, "Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father." David and Solomon sat on God's throne!

The Queen of Sheba provides a second witness to this incredible truth. This apparently Gentile woman understood a vital fact about Solomon's throne: "Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on His throne to be king for the LORD your God!" (II Chronicles 9:8).

Remarkably, God twice refers to David's throne as His own. It is His in the sense that Christ will eventually inherit it. Christ, "the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1), will return to earth, claiming His rightful place as "King over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:9). In Isaiah 9:6-7, the prophet Isaiah writes of the "Prince of Peace" who will eventually sit on David's throne:

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. . . . Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.

This Son, whom we know is Jesus Christ, is the Shiloh of Genesis 49:10, where Jacob prophesies, ". . . to Him shall be the obedience of the people." Christ is of the lineage of David (Luke 3:23-31), and will ultimately sit on David's throne forever. Summarizing, David's throne is:

• an everlasting one (II Samuel 7:15-16),
• the throne that Christ will claim upon His return (Isaiah 9:6-7), and
• the throne ruling over "the house of Israel" (Jeremiah 33:17).

This knowledge is the key of David. It is a vital search criterion to determining the whereabouts and identity of Israel. Looking in aggregate at the promises God made to the patriarchs and to David, we begin to grasp their almost unimaginable scope. Israel will have

• an everlasting inheritance of land (Genesis 13:14-15; Genesis 17:8),
• an everlasting dynasty to rule that land (II Samuel 7:15-16; Genesis 49:10), and>
• an everlasting King to rule the inhabitants of the land (Isaiah 9:6-7).

These are specific search criteria. In no way can these characteristics be applied to just any historical kingdom or to just any group of people. We are beginning to zero in on Israel today. Next time, we will focus on David's son and heir, Solomon.