the scanty notices preserved in Chronicles indicate the existence of a thorough system of internal administration, though they do not enable us to determine its details. (c) Religious organization. Religious institutions, no less than secular administration, occupied the care of David. He was himself the head and leader in religious movements1, realising thereby the true ideal of the theocratic king, in complete contrast with Saul's antagonism to both prophets and priesthood. Gad "the Seer" and Nathan " the Prophet" were his confidential advisers: the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar2, were among his most honoured counsellors. The Priests and Levites were classified, and told off for the performance of various duties "in the service of the house of the LORD3;" some were trained as singers and musicians under the leadership of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun1; others had the duty of watching the gates assigned to them"; others again were constituted guardians of the treasury®. These more elaborate arrangements were made in the later years of David's reign, in connexion with his preparations for the Temple. 15. The main results of David's reign may be briefly summed up as follows. (a) He consolidated the tribes into a nation, binding together the discordant elements of which it was composed into a vigorous unity, not without struggles and opposition. Short as was the duration of this unity, it gave a new strength and new aspirations to Israel. (6) By his conquests he secured to Israel the undisputed possession of its country, thereby ensuring the free field which was indispensable for the expansion and development of the nation, and through it of the true Religion which had been entrusted to its guardianship. In these two points Saul had to some extent anticipated him, and made his success possible. (c) But the noblest result of David's work was the harmonious union of all the highest influences for good which were at work in the nation. For once 1 See 2 Sam. vi. 1-19, with the parallel passages in 1 Chron. 2 See Introductory note to ch. vi. I 3 Chr. xxiii., xxiv. Ꮣ 1 Chr. xxvi. I—19. 4 I Chr. xxv. 6 I Chr. xxvi. 20-28. the religious and the secular powers acted in perfect cooperation, each contributing to the other's efficiency. The Theocratic Monarchy was to be no absolute despotism. Its king was the representative of Jehovah, and his power was limited by this relation. He must therefore act in obedience to the Will of Jehovah, communicated to him through the prophets. This was the ideal for which Samuel laboured. Saul was rejected for his proud endeavour to assert his own independence. David, though not without lapses and failures, on the whole realised the ideal, and was Israel's greatest, because truest, king. (d) Consequently, as will be seen further presently (Introd. Ch. VII.), his reign was always looked back to as the golden age of the nation, the type of a still more glorious age to which the national hope looked forward as the crown and consummation of its destiny. Himself a warrior, he led the nation to victory; himself a prophet, and the pupil of one of the greatest of the prophets, he sympathised with the prophetic work, and yielded himself, without losing his royal dignity, to prophetic guidance; himself, though not by descent a priest, performing priestly functions, he was the patron of the hierarchy; and thus for a brief space, all the strongest and noblest powers of the nation were brought into harmony, and full scope given to their influences. 16. It remains to speak of David's character. "In the complexity of its elements, passion, tenderness, generosity, fierceness-the soldier, the shepherd, the poet, the statesman, the priest, the prophet, the king—the romantic friend, the chivalrous leader, the devoted father-there is no character of the O. T. at all to be compared to that of David1." It was this manysidedness of character, combined with the variety of experience through which he passed, which has made his Psalms a manual of devotion for minds of every character and of every age. Rich and varied as are the tones of the many voices which combine to form the Psalter, they are scarcely more rich and varied than the tones of the single voice of him who was its 1 Dean Stanley in Smith's Dict. of the Bible. Founder; passing as they do through every variation of jubilant praise and thanksgiving, unshaken trust in God, keenest suffering, bitter sorrow for sin, heartfelt repentance. Men have wondered that the man who fell into such grievous sins should be called "the man after God's own heart," and regarded as the greatest king of Israel. His crimes were those of many an Oriental despot: but the sequel of those crimesthe earnest repentance, the prayer for renewal, the discipline of years by which the blessing of "a clean heart" and "a right spirit" was realised1—could have occurred nowhere but under the influence of true divine teaching. The whole matter is excellently summed up by "a critic not too indulgent to sacred characters" in an often, but not too often, quoted passage: "David, the Hebrew King, had fallen into sins enough: blackest crimes: there was no want of sins. And thereupon the unbelievers sneer and ask, ‘Is this your man according to God's heart?' The sneer, I must say, seems to me but a shallow one. What are faults? what are the outward details of a life, if the inner secret of it, the remorse, temptations, true, often baffled, never ended, struggle of it be forgotten?...David's life and history, as written for us in those Psalms of his, I consider to be the truest emblem ever given of a man's moral progress and warfare here below. All earnest souls will recognise in it the faithful struggle of an earnest human soul towards what is good and best. Struggle often baffled, sore baffled, down as into entire wreck; yet a struggle never ended; ever with tears, repentance, true unconquerable purpose, begun anew 2." 1 See Maurice's Prophets and Kings, p. 66. CHAPTER VII. THE TYPICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DAVID'S REIGN AND LIFE. I. The whole of the Jewish dispensation was designed by God to be a preparation for the coming of Christ1. Many of its institutions, ordinances, events, and characters, were typical: that is to say, they were intended to be as it were outlines drawn beforehand to prefigure and foreshadow Christ, and to prepare men's minds to expect His coming. 2. The Kingdom of God in Israel was typical of the Kingdom of God afterwards to be established in the world; and the King of Israel was typical of Christ, the King of that universal kingdom. The characteristics of his office, as interpreted by a succession of prophets, led men to look for One who should perfectly realise the ideal, which had been imperfectly realised by the best of their human kings2. 3. The Theocratic King3 was typical of Christ in the following respects: (1) His distinctive title was "the LORD'S Anointed:" and under this very title men were led to look for the coming Deliverer as the MESSIAH or the CHRIST. (Lk. ii. 26; John iv. 25.) (2) He was the visible representative of Jehovah, who was Himself the true King of Israel; the instrument of the Divine government, through whom He dispensed deliverance, help, 1 See Introd. Ch. v. 2 See Riehm's Messianic Prophecy, p. 59 ff. 3 The ideal form of government for Israel was a Theocracy, or direct government by God without any human ruler (see Ch. v. § 4). Theocratic King is a convenient term to describe the true position of the King of Israel as God's vicegerent, ruling a kingdom which was not his own but God's. See the strong expressions of 1 Chr. xxviii. 5, xxix. 23. 4 The Heb. word for "the Anointed One" is Mashiach, which was transliterated in Greek as Merolas or MESSIAH, and translated by o Xplorós, the Anointed One, THE CHRIST. and blessing. He would therefore be a conquering king, before whom no enemies could stand, if he was true to his calling1. So Christ came as the representative of God, with supreme authority in earth, delegated to Him by His Father, and destined finally to conquer all His enemies 2. (3) His will was therefore to be in perfect harmony with the will of God; and his kingdom would be, in proportion as it realised its purpose, a kingdom of righteousness and peace3; foreshadowing imperfectly what was never perfectly accomplished except by Christ1. (4) In virtue of this intimate relation to God he received the lofty title of God's Son5, a title given to no other individual, signifying God's parental care over him, and the filial obedience due from him to God. This title is a most striking anticipation of the mysterious relationship of Christ to God. (5) He was not only the representative of God to his people, but as the head of his people, he was their representative before God. So Christ as the Son of man, the second Adam, is the representative of the human race. (6) As the head of a kingdom of priests (Ex. xix. 6), he had a priestly character, although he did not exercise all priestly functions. In this also he was a type of Christ, the "Highpriest over the house of God" (Heb. x. 21). (7) He was not only to be ruler of Israel, but "head of the heathen," prefiguring the universal dominion of Christ. 4. In these respects any king of Israel, who at all fulfilled his office, was to some extent a type of Christ; and David, i. 1 2 Sam. vii. 9, 10; Ps. lxxxix. 22, 23. 2 John i. 18; Matt. xxviii. 18; 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25. 3 See note on 2 Sam. xxiii. 3; and cp. Ps. lxxii. 1-7; Ps. ci. 4 Ps. xl. 7, 8; John iv. 34. 5 2 Sam. vii. 14, note; Ps. ii. 7, lxxxix. 26, 27; Acts xiii. 33; Heb. 5 This is sometimes questioned, but was certainly the case at least with David and Solomon. David wore priestly garments, and both he and Solomon dispensed priestly blessings, and claimed the right to appoint and depose high-priests (2 Sam. vi. 14, 18, viii. 17; 1 Kings ii. 27, viii. 14, 55) Cp. also Ps. cx. 4. 7 2 Sam. xxii. 44; Ps. lxxii. 8-11. |