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both church and civi l government-the overall SPIRITUAL
CODE-was the TEN COMMANDMENTS, spoken by God
directly to all the congregation, written with the very
finger of God in tables of stone.
For severa! generations after Ieaving Egypt, God was
their King! (This history is found through the books of
Moses, Joshua and Judges.) Each tribe kept separate by
itself, but together they formed one nation in much tbe
same manner as the United States is one nation com–
posed ofindividual states.
Each tribe occupied its own land, or district. The
Levites became the priestly tribe, mingling throughout
the other tribes, having no inheritance in the land and
no separate territory (except for cities) of their own. To
offset this, however, the children of Joseph were divided
into
two
tribes- Ephraim and Manasseh-thus leaving
twelve distinct and separate tribes, each occupying its
own territory or province,
in addition to
the Levites who
were sprinkled among the tribes.
All these years the birthríght and the sceptre remained
within the one nation-the birthright, of course, being
handed down through the tribes of Ephraim and Manas–
seh, the sceptre with Judah.
Dlssatisfied With God
The children of Israel were human, even as you and
1.
They continually grumbled and complained. Their car–
nal minds were hostile to God and Hís laws, even as
human minds today (Rom. 8:7). Soon they became dis–
satisfied with God as their King and demanded that a
man
should be their king as
in
the Gentile nations
around them. So today, we want to be like the non–
Christíans around us instead of conforming strictly to
the ways of God as we are instructed in His Word!
Human nature has ever bee.n thus.
When the elders of Israel carne to Samuel demanding
a man be made their king, it naturally displeased Sam–
uel, their propheí. But the Eterna! said: "Hearken unto
the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for
they have not rejected thee,
but they have rejected me,
that 1 should not reign over them.
...
howbeit yet
protest solemnly unto them, and show them the
manner of the king that shall reign over them" (1 Sam.
8:7-9).
Saul was their first human king. He refused obedience
to God and was finally rejected. He was slain in batt le.
His sole surviving son, Ishbosheth, was slain after a reign
of only two years
(IJ
Sam. 2: 10). However, Ishbosheth
never reigned over Judah. With this short reign over part
of Israel, Saul's dynasty ceased. That is how God re–
jected him. His dynasty was cut off!
David's Dynasty Forever
David succeeded Saul. David sat on the
Eternal's throne.
David's son Solomon succeeded him, also sitting on the
Eternal's throne. "Then Solomon sat on
the throne ofthe
8
Solomon sat on the Eternal's throne.
God promised that Solomon's dynasty
would never end; it would be
continuous and unbroken through all
generations forever.
Eterna/
as king instead of David bis father" (I Chron.
29:23; see also II Chron. 9:8).
J
wish here to impress another special point. Before
Saul, the Eterna! had been King over Israel. These
human kings were sitting upon the Eternal's throne. The
Eternai- "LoRo"- is Jesus Christ who was with the
Father before the world was (John 17:5 and 1:1-2, 14).
Jesus is both the "root"
and
the "offspring" of David
(Rev. 22: 16). Since He was the "root," the throne was
His before David was born. David merely sat upon the
Eternal's throne. Secondly, since Jesus '?'as David's Iaw–
ful fteshly Son, tbis same thJ;one shall once more become
His right by inheritance, continuing David's dynasty.
And so, when Christ returns to earth, David's
~hrone
will
be doubly His right!
Now we come to a seemjngly incredible fact- fantas–
tic-almost unbelievable, but
true!
While David was
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1979