Israel's Golden Years

by E.H. Merchant, Leicester, England | Category: Across The Bible Centuries | Jul 1988

"What one nation in the earth is like ... Israel?" Their 3000 years of history, back to king David, is proudly proclaimed in the national flag, the Star of David.

David became king (of Judah) when Saul died, leaving the nation in a demoralized, disunited state - defeated by the Philistines and with a weak man, Ish-bosheth, ruling the other ten tribes.

The next eighty years were the most glorious in all Israel's history. David united the tribes, enlarged the nation's territory by military campaigns, and revived the national spiritual life. He accumulated vast quantities of material to be built into a new house for God, received the plan for the house, and passed all on to his son Solomon.

The events of David's 40-year reign show us his godly character, and illustrate principles which reach down to us today. For example, had He wished, the Lord Jesus could have pointed to David's example of "do good to them that hate you", in the way he repeatedly spared the life of his enemy Saul, showed the kindness of God to Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth, and mercy to Shimei. Alongside we see different principles operating in the swift retribution brought down on the Amalekite who claimed to have put an end to Saul, who to David had always been "the LORD's anointed", and on Rechab and Baanah, wicked men who slew "a righteous person (Ish-bosheth) in his own house upon his bed" (2 Sam. 4:11).'

A period of forty years would not pass without troubles and difficulties, not all of which were the consequences of failure on David's part. One grievous situation he inherited from Saul was a three-year famine inflicted by God to call attention to a murderous assault some time earlier by Saul on the minority Gibeonite people, who had lived among the Israelites since Joshua's time. The things written aforetime are for our learning, and here we have an important principle for our instruction. Some 200 years before, Joshua had made a covenant with this tribe, and when their deception came to light he laid it down that the covenant must stand, and the Gibeonites be allowed to live securely, but in servitude, among Israel. Saul, however, in an excess of zeal and ignoring the ancient covenant, had put to death many of them. God could not let this dishonourable deed go unpunished; alas, the sin of the father had to be paid for by the death of some of his sons and grandsons. The land was then healed, and Israel learned that God requires of His people honourable dealings; their word to be their bond. David gathered up the bones of the seven victims, together with those of Saul and Jonathan from Jabesh Gilead, and gave them all an honourable burial in the family tomb; a gracious attempt to soothe the grief of those bereaved.

Three failures on David's part are recorded, again for our learning, and what a wealth of divine instruction they contain, with evidence of God's forgiving character, so that we might ourselves have hope.

To his credit, when the two sections of the nation were united under his kingship, David brought the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim, near the Philistine border, where it had lain neglected since the Philistines had sent it back many years earlier. But a salutary lesson had to be learned - that the passage of time had not invalidated God's instructions relating to the transporting of the ark. The rejoicing of 30,000 chosen men from all Israel, and all the accompanying music, only disguised the fact that a new cart was a Philistine mode of transport. It was not God's way, and was fraught with danger. Poor Uzzah paid with his life for his rashness and for the king's error, and the whole operation failed (2 Sam. 6:7). Three months later the ark was successfully brought up to the city of David, to, a central place in the nation; this time carried by the Levites, as God had commanded Moses. Willing men, not unintelligent beasts, were the ones to bear the burden of the service of God.

Also instructive to us are God's dealings with David in the personal matter of his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. It was a sad story of David first neglecting his duty, being suddenly tempted, and falling into sin. The attempted cover-up failed, through Uriah's loyalty as a soldier, and David had him killed through a simple stratagem in the battle. What blacker story could be told, and it is this good man David who is guilty; but how he pays for his sin!

The Lord loved David too much to let him be destroyed by these sins. The prophet was sent to make David face up to what he had done, and, realizing the enormity of his actions, David dissolved in contrition. "I have sinned against the LORD", and if against the Lord, against the victims also.

We are thankful for the remainder of 2 Samuel 12, for it teaches us much we might not otherwise learn.

David pleaded with God that Bathsheba's baby should not die, but God is wiser than men and would not spoil the rest of David's life by leaving this constant reminder of his sins, and an occasion for men to revile God over it. God had better things in mind for David and Bathsheba.

So the baby died, and David was comforted by the confident revelation that in death the child had gone to the abode of departed souls, where David would himself arrive in due course, both to await God's gracious purposes in resurrection (2 Sam. 12:23). This scripture is uniquely a comfort to believing parents who lose young children, or, by extension shall we say, whose children never reach a state of responsibility before God.

Finally from these events, an object lesson is drawn as to the manner and consequence of divine forgiveness of His people's sins. On David's repentance, the Lord had put away his sin and he would not die, but the child would die. When this happened, the matter was closed between the Lord and David, so the latter was free to come into the house of the Lord and worship. Repentance brought forgiveness, and forgiveness involved restoration. And so we have Psalms 32 and 51.

Forgiveness did not, of course, obliterate the sin as though it had never happened, and David in later years had to suffer the consequences in his own family. Amnon raped Tamar, Absalom avenged her, and David was powerless to act judicially, being compromised over the Bathsheba matter. Absalom went on to covet the kingdom, revolted treasonably, and was slain. We see the anguish of David's heart as he mourned, "0 Absalom, my son, my son" (2 Sam. 19:4). It is still true that "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7).

Through it all, David was a man after God's heart, in his yearning love for His house. Many of his psalms are built around God's house, and he had great spiritual understanding of the reality of God's presence wherever the ark of the covenant was. He was unhappy that it had only Curtains around it. God had His reasons for not allowing him to build a house; David humbly submitted, as we all must, to the will of God, and proceeded to amass an enormous store of precious materials, both publicly and privately owned, for Solomon to use later.

We come to the third and last of David's recorded failures as king, and it is remarkable how God in divine mercy turned each of them to good account in connection with the ark and the house. Firstly, He graciously gave David a second opportunity to bring up the ark; secondly, He forgave David's sins and proceeded to bless the marriage of David and Bathsheba with a second son, whom the Lord loved and named "Beloved of Jah"; he it was who built the temple. Lastly there was David's mistake in insisting on a census. When he humbled himself before God as the one responsible, and the destroying angel was halted over Ornan's threshing floor, God instructed him to build an altar on the site. David had long sought a site for God's house; this was it. He insisted on paying Ornan for the threshing floor and his oxen saying, "neither will I offer

offerings unto the LORD my God which cost me nothing"; an important principle for all time (2 Sam. 24:24).

Much less is written about Solomon's reign. He established his kingdom by removing disloyal men (as warned by his father). Then, using almost unlimited resources in men and materials, he proceeded to construct an absolutely magnificent building as a dwelling place for the God of Israel among His people. What nation in all the earth was like Israel? Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple showed humility and spiritual perception, declaring that the temple of God was to be the spiritual centre of the nation.

In his early days Solomon prayed for "wisdom ... that I may go Out and come in before this people"; an example for all leaders, that "if any

lack wisdom, let him ask of God..." (Jas. 1:5 AV).

The pomp and glory of Solomon's kingdom, however, cost the nation very dearly in terms of his burdensome levies of men and supplies (as Samuel had warned) and after Solomon's death the people rebelled and the kingdom was divided, so soon after its years of glory. It is different with us; God Himself supplies the needs of His people, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, and we for our part return our thank-offerings to Him.

E.H. Merchant, Leicester, England | Jul 1988
Across The Bible Centuries