Before we end these many corroborating items, it is well to set out in plain
statements about this descendant Messiah ben David from David the ancient
king of Israel, that he is the King David of the Millennial Reign, even Jesus
Christ. It goes without
saying that the Messiah was to be descended of King David. And to the Jewish
mind today, that makes him of the blood of Judah, as Boaz was the father
of Obed who was the father of Jesse who was the father of David. This is
an absolute. Christ through Mary is of the bloodline of the Kings of Judah.
Judah's patriarchal blessing so establishes that the 'sceptre' shall not
pass from between his feet. This is why the Jews persist in their strong
argument that David and the kings of his line are of the blood of Judah.
Coming from 'between his feet' means that these promised rulers would be
born of the genetic bloodline of Judah, and David was of such. To this fact
there is no argument.
But, though being of the bloodline of Boaz, David was also leagally and
rightfully in the eyes of God the seed of Joseph of Egypt. Boaz, the father
of Obed, but performed the obligations of the Law of Moses to act as the
surrogate father in raising up seed to the dead Mahlon, his
Ephrathite/Ephraimite kinsman. And David's promise to have the
Messiah, the shepherd and stone of Israel to come of his posterity was by
right given to David because he was leaally and rightfully of the seed of the
house of Joseph. It was Joseph's blessing that stated, 'from thence will
come the shepherd and stone of Israel'. It is only by David's Ephrathite
descent as the seed of Mahlon that this part of the responsibility of the
Abrahamic Covenant could have come upon king David.
David, whom the Lord loved dearly, had the potential to unite all of Israel
as no other could have done. David was of the house of Joseph of Egypt as
heir to the rights and blessings of the house of Mahlon and Elimelech,
Ephrathites, that is Ephraimites. The lands of Elimelech and his sons
Mahlon and Chilion where redeemed by Boaz in order that they might be passed
on to the heir of that house in the first born son of Ruth by his surrogate
performance. And it was not only the rights of the land of the house of that
Ephrathite family which passed to Obed and thence to the family of Jesse and
on. It was the blessings of the covenant promises of the fathers which
included the right of ancestry to the Messiah.
The Messiah was never intended to be divided. David stood to combine the
strength of the two houses of Jacob in his posterity. In David were the
bloodline of Judah and the rights of Joseph combined. But dispite the Lord's
great love for David and even David's great love for the Lord, it was David's
weaknesses which made him to fail in fulfilling this great potential to its
greatest fulfillment.
We most often consider David's greatest 'sin' and failing. And that is his
treatment of Uriah which caused his death and has prohibited David from
obtaining the Kingdom of God. That is the greatest personal tragedy of
David's life. But in conjunction with that involvement and beyond, the
other acts of king David, which are not commonly set forth, have effected
the very potential in David which both the house of Joseph through Eophraim
and house of Judah had in such a king. And despite King David often being
considered as Israel's greatest king in the temporal sceme of things, it
is David's failure upon such as the spiritual and righteos matters in which
David did fail. Thus what profit a man if he gain the world if he looses
his soul and divine potential both during his life and after death?
Bathsheba was of child, and David sought to cover his sin of adultry by
setting Uriah, his good and faithful Shemite millitary captain, in position
to be killed, which he was. This child, the first born of Bathsheba by
David, could not be the ancestor to the Messiah. This was David's further
wrench set in the works of the potential of David as the king of all Israel,
both of Ephraim and Judah, for that child of ill-conception would have
forever marred the ancestry of the Messiah in ill-legetimacy. Thus that child,
not only to the anguish of David, but to God, would suffer death in infantcy.
Not only did David arrange the death of Uriah, but David further 'displeased'
the LORD because he then took Bathsheba to wife. And that is not all. David
by doing so, fully intended that her son would be fully recognized as being
David's son in right and position in the royal house of David. What problems
this would cause in the eternal sceme of things can only be imaged to have
such an ill-conceived child as the ancestor of the redeemer of the world.
Thus the Lord would have Nathan the prophet sent forth to call David upon his
sins. Most consider that the prime concern here was David. It was not. Even
though David was guilty of arranged murder, God was not going to require
David's mortal life at that time. David would remain king. What was of
concern was the fact that David had placed Bathwheba's ill-conceived son in
line to the throne of Israel. And it is to this end that the message of
Nathan was effective in the action that it would require the life of an
inocent child. Even David seems to substancially miss the significance of
having caused the life of an inocent child to also have been cut short.
After confronting David with the famous case of the ill gotten ewe lamb given
in verses 1-6 of Samuel 12, Nathan exposes and confronts David as follows:
Here again, while the greatest and greater sins were that of the murder of
Uriah, adultry with Bathsheba and coveting thy neighbor's wife, it seems
to be the lesser performance after the fact of taking Bathsheba to wife
after the death of Uriah with the intent to make her son legitimate that
the displeausre of the Lord is concerned with. This would seem a petty
concern considering the grossness of the other sins. But what might seem
the honorable thing to do of legitimizing the child and wedding the widow
was not where this was going. Israelites and others oftened wedded the
widow of those they killed, it was almost obligatory. But the Lord's
great displeasure would soon be stated. David's act of marrying Bathsheba
which would legitimize her firstborn son in the house of David was an act of
'dispising' the plan of God. To an extent not fully understood, it would so
mar the 'inheritance' of the Messiah to cause many not to be receptive to the
Gospel of Christ. As it was it would now cause the life of an inocent infant
child to be take early by the hand of God.
Whether that first born child would have been considered Uriah's or whether
it was becasue of the distain that would be cast upon the linage of the
Messiah is not fully made clear. But for some cause, if the child was left
to live, it would be the cause of blasphemy against the Messiah's prosition
in the eternal sceme of things. Consider the following continuations of
Nathan's confrontation of king David.
Here David submits to Nathan's statement as to David's guilt. David even
seems prepared to suffer the required punishment for the sin, which David
had prescribed as death. But Nathan states to David that 'thou shalt not
die' for the Lord did not need to take away David's life. David's eternal
losses would be a great enough burden for David to bare. What would be
required to do was now next to be stated by Nathan.
Because of what David had done by bring the ill-concieved child into the
house of David, by right the promised house of Joseph by whom the Savior
was to come, eternal consequences where in the balance. The enemies of the
LORD would 'blaspheme' the ancestry of the Messiah. And this would
effectively cause the lose of many souls, as it would be too great of a
stumblingblock to overlook in accepting the gospel, the eternal plan of
salvation. Thus the life of one child to be taken home to Christ early
was seen in that same balance by which the life of Laban was taken by
Nephi. It was better that this one soul suffer an early death, than for
hosts of people not accepting the gospel because of the blaspheme spread by
the enemies of the LORD, which would have included Satan and his angels.
Next, almost immediately upon Nathan's withdrawal, the child is taken sick.
And David begins to fast and plead for the life of the child as the thought
of the child's death caused by what he had done was grevious for David to bear.
Acts have continuing consequences. Not only did the direct acts of David
cause the death of Uriah but they set into effect that the child conceived of
his lust would suffer death in infantcy. As an infant, tht child was an
inocent victim. Had he lived, the blemish of ill-conception would have
caused many to blaspheme the name of the Messiah, God, as a result of him.
Rather than cause the child and the child's posterity including the Messiah
and God the Father's Holy Name to become a blaspheme in the mouths of men,
Jehovah took that child back home to himself. It was David's continued acts
which further would eat into the now shattered potential set up for David to
fulfill.
David had not only had Uriah slain but he then took Bathsheba to wife. Some
might consider this the 'honorable' thing, since the woman was with child.
But upon David rested more than just a temporal kingship. His chosen heir
would become the ancestor of Christ. And David would, as foreknown to God,
have favored his son of Bathsheba. This caused the removal of the
illegitimate conceived son from the scene by the hand of the Lord to preserve
the name of God and the salvation of the world. It was in David's nature
and weakness that he would have chosen that firstborn son as his heir just as
sure as he did select Solomon, the next born son of Bathsheba to follow him
as king of Israel.
Solomon, though also son of Bathsheba, was in the eyes of man concieved in
legetimacy, for David was properly married to Bathsheba at the time of that
conception. And though the preference of others, including perhaps even God,
would be for David to have chosen another of his sons of another wife, this
was not going to be David's desire. Joab, David's faithful captain and
nephew, the son of David's sister, would favor and support Adonijah, another
of Daivd's sons to asend to the throne of Israel. This would not happen and
because of this support, Joab was latter put to death by Solomon.
As previous set forth in item number 22 concerning Israel's
or Ephraim's claim in David, Joab had protested to David concerning David's
slighting of Ephraim and selection of Judah over Ephraim. Thus the once
valent and faithful David did continue in his actions which did thwart what
would have been a grand plan of uniting all of Israel under David, the
rightful heir of Ephraim/Joseph and the bloodline of Judah.
Further concerning 'David', it should be clearly resolved that Christ is
the David of the Millennial Reign. Often is heard that a latter-day 'David'
will be raised up. And even in the realms of LDS scholarship is it supposed
that a mortal named 'David' would be raised up to fulfill some grand purpose.
And what is worse, is that these seekers after a mortal latter-day 'David'
do begin to associate various scriptures which in true should only be
associated with Jesus Christ, his Second Coming and his subsequent Millennial
Reign, with this latter-day mortal contrived individual.
Part of this misconception is also had as a result of the Rabbinical Jewish
Midrash of creative utterance. The Jewish Midrash is but a Rabbinical
license to 'fleshout' the scriptures with whatever interpretive imaginations
they desire to concock. The two Messiah theory is born of such contrived
imaginations.
"For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will
break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers
shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the LORD their
God, and David their king, whom I will
raise up unto them" ~ Jeremiah 30:8-9
"¶Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and
Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called,
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." ~ Jeremiah 23:5-6
"And I will set up one shepherd over them,
and he shall feed them, even my servant David
: he shall feed them, and he shall be their
shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and
my servant David a prince among them; I
the LORD have spoken it." ~ Ezekiel 34:23-24
"Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God,
and David their king; and shall fear the
LORD and his goodness in the latter days." ~ Hosea 3:5
Now this king David of the latter days has been a puzzlement to many, Jew,
Christian and LDS scholar alike. Perhaps partly hiden in the role of
Jehovah as advocate and authorized representative of God the Father to man
and partly in such non-inspired translations which may muddle it further,
is the true understanding of our Godhead and immediate God Jehovah. Thus it
seems to some that God will raise up and select a mortal servant by the name
of David to rule and reign in the latter days, one who they consider other
than Christ. But one must remember the 'divine investature' by which Christ
as the God of the Old Testament was anointed by the Father and did work.
Christ, in being God's legal representative, has and had that 'power of
attorney' to speak and act for the Father as though he is the Father, and
Jehovah did often speak as though being the Father and in so dong did often
refer to himself in the second person. Let us not forget that even our Lord
Jesus Christ in all his greatness does but give the glory to the Father
who hath anointed him to be his serving servant to all mankind as the
Redeemer and Savior of man who is our God the representative of his LORD
and our Father in Heaven, who is GOD.
This understanding of Christ being King David of the latter days gives new
meaning and inference to the Star of David, Christ is that star.
Here, in the forgoing verses, the LORD is God the Father, Elohim. The servant
of Elohim of the latter-days who is called by the name of David, is none
other than the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In other words, our Lord's LORD is
Elohim, the Father. And our immediate mediating Lord God of the Old Testament
is Jehovah. And Jehovah, in being God the Father's advocate, mediator, and
representative by divine investature or 'power of attorney' acts and speaks
for his Father as though he is his father upon various occations. For it is
by the power, selection and appointment by God the Father, who anointed his
first born son in the spirit, to be our immediate 'go between'. And Christ
holds and exercise all the power and authority of God the Father as if he
were God the Father. And he acts and speaks accordingly.
Thus this latter-day Daivd is none other than God the Father's selected
servant of us all. It is the anointed Son of God. He is the suffering
servant and the servant king of the latter days and Millennial Reign. This
David is Jesus Christ. The Jews have lost grasp of this fact to the point
of confusing the facts that there is not to be a Son of God, but only a
mortal redeemer, a Messiah ben David, raised up in the latter-days to
redeem and restore Israel. And many no longer believe in a Divine Messiah,
the Son of God. Through their having rejected him once, they have almost
lost all connection of truth with him. And their doctrine, the doctrine of
the Rabbis, the Talmud and Midrash, is but half truth rapped in corrupted
vain concepts of men.
Now to this end, I again quote an authority upon the matter who sets clearly
forth who this anticipated David of the latter-days is.
Elder McConkie does clarify well that King David in the last days is the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is discussed further in previous items such as item
41 in conjuction with other matters. What is of
significance here is that the 'servant' of the LORD, that is the
servant of God the Father, is his son Jesus Christ. The Jews knew this
servant to be the rightful heir of Joseph of Egypt. And they once understood
that the ancient king David shared a dual ancestry. He was of the blood of
Boaz, but he was raised up as the of the linage of the promised seed of
Joseph, being the rightful and legal seed of Mahlon the Ephrathite.
Now, as is often the case, 'worthy' descent is not requisite through all the
generations. A case in point is that of Abraham. Abraham's immediate
fathers where not of a righteous nature. Yet Abraham did seek after and
obtain the blessinss of the fathers. And they were preserved through his
seed down to Isaac, Jacab, Joseph and Ephraim. And I would suspect from
thence through such as Joshua, Elimelech, Mahlon, Obed and Jesse. David's,
Solomon's amd many of the linage kings were wicked as power did corrupt them.
But the covenat promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who by Mary and
perhaps Joseph the carpenter's step-parentage did qualify him as the Son of
David the son of Joseph of Egypt, the promised Messiah.
This understanding about the ancient king David and his relationship to the
Millennial King David who is Christ, is credical to understand. David, in
his 'fallen' state of various sins and short comings, did make many wrong
temporal decisions. Among these were in relation to Bathsheba, Uriah, the
taking of Bathsheba to wife, the known indent of placing Bathsheba's first
born son on the throne of Israel, the actual placement of Bathsheba's son
Solomon upon the throne as God knew he would do, and the rejection of
Ephraim as Israel and the selectin by preference of Judah over Ephraim and
the greater right which Ephraim had in David, that is Mahlon's legal ancestry
over Boaz's surrogate bloodline.
This is only a short relevant summary of David's failings. Others not so
relavent can be taken from a further study of the scriptures. The one valent
and youthful righteous performing David whom the Lord did love, would fail
in his latter years. David still loved the Lord and acting accordingly in
many respects despite his many faults. And the Lord still loved David. But
Daivd's potential to unite and consolidate Israel through his combined right
of birth through Joseph and bloodline of Judah, never did eventuate. Not at
least until and through the riegn of Christ in the Millennium. And the
corrupted muddle and lack of understanding that Messiah ben David and Messiah
ben Joseph is but one and the same has thus occured. Men have potentials and
the level of our achievement in the Lord is based upon our own failings
and successes. Israel's historical past had great potential to have been
far more glorious and our resulting understanding far more enlightened. That
lack rests upon us not the Lord. The Lord would have provied it if man would
have so rised to the occaston. David did not.
"And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house,
and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had
done displeased the LORD." ~ 2 Samuel 11:27
"¶And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives
into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel
and of Judah [by right of dull ancestry, both house of Ephraim
and Judah did reconize David as their king]; and if that
had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such
things [whatever thou would]. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment
of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with
the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife
, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now
therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast
despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite
to be thy wife." ~ 2 Samuel 12:7-10
"Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of
thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them
unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel,
and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the
LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou
shalt not die." ~ 2 Samuel 12:11-13
"Howbeit, because by this deed [the deed of marrying Bathsheba and
legitimizing the ill-concieved child] thou hast given great occasion to
the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee
shall surely die." ~ 2 Samuel 12:14
15 ¶ And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and
it was very sick.
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither
did he eat bread with them.
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that
the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not
hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David
said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his aapparel, and came into
the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread
before him, and he did eat.
21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst afast and weep for the child,
while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be
gracious to me, that the child may live?
23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not
return to me.
24 ¶ And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and
he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
"And David my servant shall be king over
them; and they all shall have one shepherd:
they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and
do them." ~ Ezekiel 37:24
The Star of David
"The wresting of the written word assumes that someone of prophetic stature
will arise in the Church in the last days, to preside as a Second David, and
prepare the way before the Second Coming of the Son of Man. That there may be
one or many brethren called David who preside over the Church in this
dispensation is of no moment. The scriptures that
speak of King David reigning in the last days are Messianic, they have
reference to the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ." ~
Bruce R. McConkie, 'A New Witness for the Articles of Faith', p. 518