David Embodies God’s Justice
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Key Verse: “David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people.” Selected Scripture: |
DAVID’S RIGHTEOUS REIGN over Israel, as stated in our Key Verse, was centered in the fact that he justly and fairly executed God’s laws among the people. In this, he was typical of the coming reign of righteousness of Jesus Christ and his bride, the church. When the angel Gabriel announced the coming birth of Jesus to Mary, he gave us this important truth, saying, “Thou shalt … bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS … and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.”—Luke 1:31,32
Shortly before David’s reign ended and he fell asleep in death, he spoke in a prophetic way of Christ’s eventual kingship, as recorded in II Samuel 23:1-7. In verses 1 and 2, David says that he was “anointed of the God of Jacob,” and that the “Spirit of the Lord” was with him, guiding his words, as king over God’s typical people. Jesus, at the beginning of his earthly ministry, made a similar statement concerning himself, quoting from the prophet Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, … he hath anointed me.” (Luke 4:18) In the case of both David and Jesus, having God’s anointing and his Spirit was an assurance that they were the Heavenly Father’s choice as ruler over his people.
David continues by saying that one who is selected to rule over men must be just, and rule with fear, or reverence, for God. (II Sam. 23:3) One so guided, he says, “shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds.” (vs. 4) These are again prophetic words, speaking of Christ. He is the “light of the world.” (John 9:5) Light represents the enlightenment of truth, and so it will be in Christ’s kingdom. He will rise, symbolically speaking, as the sun to enlighten mankind to the knowledge of God and his ways. This will also be a time without the storm clouds of trouble which are found throughout the earth today—as David says, “a morning without clouds.”
By his own admission, David knew that his rulership was “not so with God.” (II Sam. 23:5) That is, it was not a peaceful time without clouds. Much of David’s reign was spent fighting against the enemies of Israel. Yet, in the same verse, he claimed the promise of God’s “everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire.” David here spoke of the everlasting Abrahamic Covenant, in which God promised that in due time, a seed would come, through which all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14) Though he was of the lineage of Judah, the tribe through which the seed was promised, David prophetically spoke of a future day when the antitypical seed of Abraham would come on the scene.
The Apostle Paul spoke of the seed of the Abrahamic Covenant promise with these words, “Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say ‘and to seeds,’ as if speaking of many, but ‘and to your seed,’ since He spoke of only one—and this is Christ.” (Gal. 3:16—Weymouth Translation) It is through this covenant arrangement that David, and all mankind, will eventually say, “This is all my salvation, and all my desire.”