The Confusion About Kings In Old Israel

One of the pathworn areas of confusion, in this subject of the Kingdom of God, is that of kings in the national covenant. The fact of kings arising to rule in the national kingdom is justified by the statement that God promised Abraham that kings would come out of him. But an important qualification is that God promised “Abraham” not “Abram”, in the Covenant of Promise, not in that national covenant, that kings would come out of him. This witness was carried on in Jacob when he was confronted by the Lord, and his name was changed to Israel. It was then the promise was made that kings would come out of his loins. It is true that Benjamin was born after this, and that Saul, the first king in national Israel was a Benjamite, but the prophetic testimony surrounding Benjamin himself is significant. He was the only son born to Israel; the others were born to Jacob. His mother wanted to name him and did call him, Ben-oni, “The Son of My Sorrow,” because her labour was hard, and she died after giving birth to him. But Israel called him Benjamin, “The Son of the Right Hand,” because his birth had prophetic prospect of the blessings that God had promised him. Rachel was not buried in the cave in Macpelah as were Sarah, Rebeka, and Jacob her husband. She was buried along the way at Bethlehem. The situation involving the birth of Benjamin and the death and burial of his mother was itself a testimony of the Seed of the Woman and the birth and death of Christ. This distinction of when, under what circumstance, and with what prophetic tones, the promise for kings was made , is just as important and valid as that between the two covenants. We must bear in mind that the seed of one covenant was natural, the other spiritual. Christ was the seed in the Covenant of Promise, and through Him the promise was to be realized. God said nothing to Abram, in Genesis 15, about kings coming out of him.

They Have Rejected Me, For I Was Their King

The fact is that God did not want kings in national Israel. He planned to rule over them as king with His judgments mediated by judges. The idea was man's and, like the temple, was a carnal one that did not see God's plan. Of course God knew that it was going to happen, but that is not the same as saying that He wanted it that way, as we cannot say that God wanted man, in the Garden, to fall. Samuel was displeased and voiced his complaint to the Lord, who told him, in 1st Samuel:

1Sam. 8:9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

1Sam. 8:10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.

1Sam. 8:11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horse men; and some shall run before his chariots.

1Sam. 8:12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.

1Sam. 8:13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

1Sam. 8:14 And he will take your fields, and your vine yards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

1Sam. 8:15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vine yards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

1Sam. 8:16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.

1Sam. 8:17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.

1Sam. 8:18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

1Sam. 8:19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;

1Sam. 8:20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

1Sam. 8:21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.

1Sam. 8:22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.

It is hard to imagine how God could more clearly have established His attitude or His intende d purposes in the matter. The demand for a king was, according to God's own interpretation, not only a rejection of Samuel and of judges, but a rejection of God as their king. It was a thing which He said they had been doing all along anyway through the worshipping and serving of other gods. This was a foolish thing and one which was going to bring great hurt and bondage upon them as is always the case when men decide to serve this world and make its systems their ruler, but it was their choice to make. If they would not take the counsel of God and Samuel His servant, then let them not come crying to Him when the thing turned out the way He said it would. This is a situation that God tolerated but did not want; that is evident. And it is even more evident that this is not the coming development that God spoke to Abraham of when He talked of one who would come and bring blessing upon all the nations of earth, not curses upon the nation.

The Covenant of Promise, Confirmed Before, In Christ (Gal. 3:13-18)

The prophecy for kings to come out of Abraham was altogether a “Covenant of Promise” situation. Christ was to be the first King, just as He was the child who was to be born and by whom the covenant was confirmed. The long succession of kings were to be in the spiritual seed, Abraham’s seed through the new birth, and faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:26-29.) Again, this being a part of the new, the eternal, and the spiritual, the natural seed of the national covenant had no part in the inheritance of it. (Gal. 4:28-30) The divinely intended and prophesied kings in the Covenant of Promise are of Christ, and after Christ, Who was the beginning, the spiritual sire of the race. They were before Him only in the sense of prophetic type and testimony. The Apostle Paul talked about these children of Abraham who would be kings when he said, in Roman's 5:17,

“For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God...”

The Apostle John said it in a more literally direct manner, in Revelation 1:5,6, and 9, when he said:

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness, and the first begotten of the de ad, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father... I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ...”

There are a multitude more of indirect references to the same matter. The purpose here is to bring together substantial Biblical support for the validity of the point that the Messianic title, “the Root and the Offspring of David,” is a New Covenant reference and has nothing to do with Israel of the Old Covenant. The kings God promised Abraham and Israel were to follow Christ, not precede Him, and they were to be of the people of promise, not the natural seed. Christ alone was to come by way of the national lineage and to present Himself to the nation. This was because of God’s Word to the fathers. But in the prophesied rejection the national situation was to dissolve with only the remnant being spared.

The rebellion, the stubbornness, the disrespectfulness on the part of the nation in rejecting God as their ruler and demanding their own unenlightened and self-inflicting way bears faint, if any, resemblance of the glorious plan of God in Christ to redeem fallen man and establish His eternal Kingdom with him. The national situation went sour from the start, in Saul, just as Samuel was instructed to tell them that it would. It got a momentary reprieve in David who, as a man of faith, was a type of Christ and a representative, as so many before him had been, of the New Covenant in contrast to Saul who represented the people of the flesh. But these were only symbolic types just as David himself, a little later, became analogous of the Old Covenant as a warring man, in contrast to Solomon, who, as a man of peace, represented Christ and the Covenant of Promise. Yet God did not reverse Himself because of David and decide suddenly that kings in Israel were a good thing. David was not the one with whom God had promised to establish His kingdom forever — any more than was Solomon his son after him. The truth of God's promises to these men is to be understood only in the prophetic typology and what and who they represented in these various roles. Do you think for a moment that God was pleased with the moral character of Solomon? He was not, any more than He was pleased with the material quality of the tabernacle, or the literal cleansing qualities of blood from animals . The thing that pleased the Father in all of them was the prophetic witness of the coming Christ, He being the One in whom God was well pleased.

The Old Testament Fate of David and His Sons

In fact, so wicked was the spiritual character of king David that, before the few years of his earthly reign were over he had committed murder and adultery, and God, as a punishment, had told him that He was going to take the life of his child. The conditional promise that God had made with David concerning national kings — If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel (1 Kings 2:4) — was soon voided because of the unfaithfulness of his descendants. In 1 Kings, chapter 11, Ahijah the Shilonite found Jeroboam alone, one day, and grabbed his garment and tore it in twelve pieces. He told Jeroboam to take ten pieces and keep them, because, he said: . . . for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul de sireth, and shalt be king over Israel (v. 29-37).

From that day to the time that kings dissolved in the nation, a de scendant of David never again sat on the throne of Israel. It is true God divide d the kingdom and made a kingdom of Judah, over which the de scendants of David continued to rule, but this again was for the basic purpose of maintaining the testimony of the two covenants. Judah and Jerusalem XE "Jerusalem" were symbols of the heaven XE "heaven" ly and the eternal XE "eternal" . They spoke of the elect, and David, the man of faith, after God’s own heart, for all his fallen nature and his evil XE "evil" de eds, was one of the Covenant of Promise XE "Covenant of Promise" , and a type of the spiritual seed, and of Christ the coming King.

The Crown Falls From the Head of David

As far as the natural was concerned, even the kingdom of Judah did not go well. The kings got progressively worse and worse, and, de spite a brief revival in days of Asa and Hezakiah, finally de teriorated to the point to where in the reign XE "reign" of Zede kiah, the situation was beyond toleration or repair. It was at this time, just before the Babylon XE "Babylon" ian captivity, that God sent the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy to the kingdom of Judah, and told him to say that because of their profanity and wickedness that the time had come to put an end to their iniquity. So the time had come to take away the diade m (Mits-neh’-feth = the sign XE "sign" of holy authority and honor) and to remove the crown XE "crown" and that there would not be any more of that foolishness XE "foolishness" . I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come, whose right it is, and I will give it to Him. (Ez. 21:25,26.) God said that this was the end of the situation of national kings. No longer would God honor David or his natural line, nor would He protect them from harm. He was going to overthrow the whole mess. When Christ, the seed of Abraham, the Son and the Root and the Offspring of David, the Lion XE "Lion" of the tribe of Judah, came along, the Kingdom XE "Kingdom" would be given to Him. He was the only one Who ever had the right to rule and to reign. The disrespectful and wretched de cision of foolishness and self-infliction by the nation in de manding a king like the other nations had gone much too far. It would go no further.

As verse 20 indicates, the message is to Judah in Jerusalem XE "Jerusalem" . The teaching was that Christ was coming to establish the New Covenant and to reign XE "reign" over God's Kingdom XE "Kingdom" in the earth. Part of the prophetic truth was that He would come to the Circumcision first and offer Himself to them as King, but this, like the whole Covenant of the Law, was a conditional thing, with their failure well prophesied in advance. It would have called for the same thing that the blessings by law de mande d: perfection, righteousness XE "righteousness" , unde rstanding, obedience, and all of these other things that the law was de sign XE "sign" ed to show that man, apart from Christ, did not possess. Again we must keep in mind that there was no eternal XE "eternal" inheritance in the Covenant of Promise XE "Covenant of Promise" coming to these people because of their natural birth, or the National Covenant. The offer, unde r the conditions of the Law Covenant, was inde ed to be made to Israel, but their rejection was prophesied far in advance. Most often we feel that it would have been nice if they could only have accepted Him. This is, of course, entirely backwards. The real issue was whether He would accept them, and of course He could not and would not. It was both impossible for them to accept Him or to be acceptable to Him, yet He kept His part of the bargain.

Where is He?

Christ did inde ed come as King of the Jews. The wise men said, “Where is He that was born King of the Jews?” Pilot asked Him, “Art thou a King then?” His answer was to the effect that He was. Over His Cross it was written, “This is Jesus, King of the Jews.” It is often taught that if they had accepted Him He would have been their King, but this is not so. The fact is, He was their King. Their rejection only pointed up their unbelief and the failure of the law as a covenant because it was weak through the flesh. The opportunity for the nation to accept Christ as their King is forever gone. It was the crown XE "crown" ing failure that led up to their house being made de solate, and the Kingdom XE "Kingdom" being taken from them. No one will ever know Christ as a man after the flesh, and as a Jew again (II Cor. 5:16). The old is gone, and the new is established. If any man knows Christ now, he is of the New Creation. The old things are gone now, everything is new, and everything is of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, not by His ministry as a Jew to the Circumcision to fulfill the promises made to the Jewish XE "Jewish" patriarchs (Rom. 15:8), but by His de ath and resurrection and the New Covenant of His blood made , though Abraham and his Seed, to all nations of Earth. This is the Covenant of Promise XE "Covenant of Promise" which existed from the beginning in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile. This is the covenant in which the child XE "child" ren of the bond woman XE "woman" had no inheritance. This is the covenant in which God promised Abraham that kings would come out of him.

Christ On The Throne of King David

God had promised David that He would raise up his son, Christ as it turned out, to sit upon the throne of David, and that He would establish His Kingdom XE "Kingdom" forever. This too, though it was not unde rstood in such a manner by those of that day, was a reference to the New Covenant, and the Kingdom of God, heaven XE "heaven" ly and eternal XE "eternal" in nature, though it made its appearance spiritually on this earth. Jesus had told the Jews that the coming would not be with outward observation. The Kingdom was going to be within, a kingdom of the heart, and of the spirit, in its earthly manifestation. They did not unde rstand that, any more than did Peter and the other Apostles, before the Holy XE "Holy" Ghost came to enlight XE "light" en them at Pentecost. Then Peter not only unde rstood, but explained the matter plainly to the Jews at Jerusalem XE "Jerusalem" , when he spoke these words of David's prophecy XE "prophecy" in Psalm 16, concerning Christ:

“...Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy XE "Holy" One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life XE "life" ; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both de ad and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne: He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, wwhich ye now see and hear. For David is not ascende d into the heaven XE "heaven" s: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:27-36).

St. Peter’s explanation was that the prophecy XE "prophecy" to raise up Christ to sit on the throne of king David was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, and His being exalted by the Father to His right hand, and His being made not only Christ, but Lord, or King. He, Christ, in turn, shed forth the Holy XE "Holy" Ghost into the hearts of His child XE "child" ren in this earth, as was being witnessed of at that very time. This was the Kingdom XE "Kingdom" within that Jesus testified of, that which He was talking about when He said there were some of them who would live to see the Kingdom of God come with power. This was what He meant in the 1st chapter of Acts when He was speaking to them of things concerning the Kingdom of God. “You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” God raised Him up and made Him King, in the resurrection and the exaltation, where He began to reign XE "reign" , is reigning, and shall reign until the final enemy, which is de ath, is de stroyed at the resurrection of the de ad. Then He will de liver up this earthly phase of the Kingdom to the Father, and Himself be subject to Him (I Cor. 15:23-28). Doubtless David did not understand all that was involved, but nonetheless the Holy Ghost used him, as a prophet, to foretell these truths. St. Peter said, “he, seeing this before...,” when he quoted from the 16th. David’s natural seed did not keep God's covenant and did not inherit the national throne to perpetuity. Christ the spiritual seed was perfect as a Servant, as a Witness, as a Sacrifice, and as a Son. He inherited the everlasting Covenant of Promise XE "Covenant of Promise" and sits on the throne of that Kingdom. He shares with His children by faith and through grace, this great heritage of the saints of which we shall speak more particularly in the near future.

This was how God, through the Covenant of Promise XE "Covenant of Promise" and the Seed which was Christ, had planned the establishing of kings from the star XE "star" t. This great eternal XE "eternal" purpose and plan of God from eternity past, which He concluded to perfection, must not be confused in its promise, its prospect, or its performance, with the carnal lampoonery of man in the Old Covenant. A more tragic and hurtful miscalculation than that confusion can scarcely be imagined.

A Review of “Kings Among God’s People”

1. It was in the New Covenant that God told Abraham kings would come out of him.

2. It was against God’s will and advice that there came to be kings in the national kingdom.

3. God’s promise to David, in I Chronicles 17, was that the kingdom of his son, the One Whom God would call His Son, would be established forever.

4. National kings ceased, from the house of David, to sit upon the throne of Israel, and the kingdom of Judah was eventually overturned by God.

5. The conditions by which God promised to allow a man from the house of David to sit on the national throne, were broken by David and by his sons.

7. Along with the Apostles, we are companions in the Kingdom XE "Kingdom" of God.

9. The resurrection of Christ, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father, was the fulfillment of the promise and the prophecy XE "prophecy" that God, of the fruit of David's loins according to the flesh, would raise up Christ to sit upon the throne of king David.

11. The giving of the Holy XE "Holy" Ghost was the fulfillment of Jesus' statement that some of His disciples would see the Kingdom XE "Kingdom" of God coming with power in their life XE "life" time.

How To Identify The Two Covenants In The Prophecies

So now we know about the existence of the two covenants and their substantial witness and testimony in the books of the Law. The things that we have brought to light have only scratched the surface of the rich and voluminous symbolism in the Law. We can find this testimony the sacrifices commanded, the contrast between the earthen altar and the altar of stone in Exodus 20:25, 26, the wilderness wanderings and the cutting off of the first generation as opposed to the Land of Promise and the blessing of the second generation, the witness of the various feasts, and on and on. Unless we are teach expositorily the entire Old Testament, we must be selective in our focus. Admittedly the ones we have looked at are some of the easiest with which to make the point.

One of the poorliest understood considerations is that of the presence of the Old and the New Covenant in the prophets. We want to look at that a little. The purpose here will be to try to establish the point that the News Covenant is on prophetic display, and not to exhaust all of the avenues of studying it.

Direct Identification

Many times the prophets spoke directly about the spiritual people. The spiritual people, in this connotation, are those that are contrasted with the national, or the natural. The contrast is not between the spiritual and the physical, for the spiritual people are physical realities, just as the national people were. When the spiritual people are referred to in this direct way, they are usually identified by terms which have already been established and which can be interpreted, by the New Testament writings, as talking about the Covenant of Promise. Let's take a few examples and explain them in the light of this point. To avoid meaningless footnoting, let it be stated that emphases are added by me. In cases where their are italicized words in the text, that will be noted.

“I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.” (Psalm 89:1-4)

“Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of the anointed. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for ever more. For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.” (Psalm 132:8-18)

In the first instance we have an extension of the promise made by God to David in I Chronicles 17. The phrases, "forever,” “to all generations,” “my chosen,” “I have sworn,” identify the covenant that He is talking about. It is the New Covenant of Promise. In the second instance more of the same is evident. “...into thy rest,” “...the ark of thy strength,” “...priests...clothed with righteousness,” “saints shouting for joy,” “...the face of thine anointed,” “...the Lord hath chosen Zion...This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it...I will clothe her priests With salvation...” are all phrases which identify the covenant for us. No single one of these statements could be accurately made about the natural seed and the Old Covenant. In addition, we have New Testament Scriptures, as in Acts 2:30, 21, to interpret for us. There are many times when this type of identifying of the New Covenant occurs in the books of the prophets.

Identification by Contrast

There are other times when the prophets set forth the New Covenant by contrasts. That is to say, that they will use two names such as Jacob and Israel, Judah and Ephraim, etc., with one name representing the Old Covenant and the other the New. If we are familiar with these terms and what they have represented symbolically in past uses, and if we are careful to note what is said about each when the prophets use them, it is fairly easy to determine which name is representing which covenant. Again we will use a few simple and direct illustrations to make the point.

"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

“I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

"As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee." (Psalm 87)

Here the prophet identifies the Covenant of Promise by contrasting Jacob, the Old Covenant, with Zion. He goes on to talk about the new birth, righteousness by faith, the salvation of the nations, the everlasting kingdom, the book of life, the eternal joy and rejoicing, and the fountain of life, all exclusive properties of the New Testament of Christ’s blood.

“The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow in the valley of Jezreel.

“And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah. and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle by horse, nor by horsemen.” (Hosea 1:2-8)

In this instance Israel represents the Old Covenant and Judah the New. God's mercy and His salvation through Christ is witnessed of. God will not save the natural seed because of their covenant and their failure. That was what it was all about. But He will save the spirutal seed because of grace and mercy. That is what the New covenant is all about. It is contrasted to the natural kingdom and natural warfare and it is pointed out that no such devices will be employed in this triumph that God will bring through Christ.

We have already talked about the contrasts between Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob and Israel, Zion and Sinai, as we found them there in Jeremiah 30, and 31, so we will not repeat them, but cite them again as an example of this matter. A careful reading of the prophets will disclose many more. One thing must be kept in mind as we read these things. It is mandatory that we apply the interpretations given by the New Testament writings both to these prophecies, and to the analogies used by the prophets, if we are to understand the meaning. Much misdirection and confusion has resulted in attempts to gain understanding from a literal analysis of what the prophets said, and nothing more. If the prophets themselves did not understand what they meant (I Pet. 1:9-13), if the Holy Spirit was teaching things which were to find their fulfillment in Christ and the New Covenant (Acts Z:29-30, Acts 15:15-18; Heb. 9:8-10, Mat. 8:16-17), and if the meaning of these things was not to be, and could not be understood until God decided to reveal their mysterious meaning in the days of the Apostles (Eph. 3:3-11, I Cor. 2:7, Col. 1:26, Col. 2:2,3), then we certainly have no right to expect to understand unless we use something more for enlightenment than they had.

Two Covenants in One Prophecy

This is particularly true in those prophecies where one statement comprehends both covenants, and prophetic statements concerning each are intermingled. Another depth of complexity is reached when some statements in such passages have application to both covenants, and some do not. In the cases where they do, it is necessary to separate between the temporal prospects and fulfillments of the national covenant, and the eternal character of the Covenant of Promise. In the instances where they do not, we must sort out which belongs to which. The assignment is to keep from attributing a statement to the wrong covenant. Additionally, in cases where both covenants are in view, we must not to confuse the nature and the prospect of the New with that of the Old simply because of what the language seems to be saying. Remember that in prophetic passages, and in light of metaphors, allegories, symbols, and os forth, the wording can vary greatly in its meaning. But the truths concerning the covenants never vary. No salvation was ever promised, and nothing eternal was ever given by the Old Covenant. And the prospects of the New Covenant are only of salvation and that which is eternal. That is all that Christ and the Cross brings. There is nothing in the New Testament that is not of salvation and eternity. If it is not saved and if it is not eternal, it is not part of the New Covenant. On the other hand, if it is saved, and if it has to do with that which is truly eternal, it cannot be part of the Old Covenant and the natural. The important considerations in this whole matter continues to be the separateness of the two; they are not heirs together.

This may sound confusing, and, to some extent at least, I guess it is. But if take a case in point and examine it carefully we will see that, while it does call for thoughtfulness, thoroughness, and carefulness, it is not really all that bewildering. The following quotation is taken from Zechariah 14:4-11. I am not going to attempt to exhaust all of the thought that is provoked by this passage since doing so, and explaining it carefully, would be a paper in itself. That would be all right, of course, but it is not our goal of the moment. What I want to do here is to substantiate what I have said.

Zech 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

Zech 14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

Zech 14:6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:

Zech 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

Zech 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

Zech 14:9 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

Zech 14:10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamins gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the kings winepresses.

Zech 14:11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.”

Part of the prospect of the Covenant of the Law was that Christ would come and offer them, on the same terms as the Law described, the kingdom. (Daniel 9:27, Romans 15:8). We will give a thorough going over to that part of the 9th chapter of Daniel at a little later time, but Christ was to come to the nation. When He did, it was prophesied that His feet would stand on the mount of Olives. Twice in Matthew, twice in Mark, twice in Luke, and once in John it is recorded that He went up to the mount of Olives. He rested there, He taught there, and He prayed there. When He was in the Jerusalem area the Mount of Olives was sort of His headquarters, and His retreat. The record of the fulfillment of the national prospect of this prophecy is clear.

“All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepress.”

Zechariah began to prophesy in the 2nd year and the 8th month of Darius the Mede. Less than a month before that, the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem had been completed. (Hag. 2:1) Some years later, in the reign of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah received permission and substance to go and rebuild Jerusalem. For an exact breakdown on just who built what part of the wall, and how long it took, one would want to study the 3rd chapter of Nehemiah. A remnant of the Jews did go from Babylon back to Jerusalem and, along with Nehemiah the Governor, Ezra the Priest, and Haggai the Prophet. They restored the Temple, and the City, and they inhabited it, in spite of the bitter opposition of the Ammonites and the Moabites. It is of more than passing significance that no prophet ever wrote after that event and spoke of a rebuilding of the City of Jerusalem; and none ever spoke of a restored temple beyond that time, except Christ who said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” That is not to say that the prophets did not speak of things that would happen after those days, but it is to say that nothing concerning a national restoration was prophesied after that time.

Now let us take up the matter of the application of this prophecy to the Covenant of Promise.

“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east...” A very brief and much less than adequate run down on olives and olive trees will be in order. Olive oil, olive trees, and olive branches have been in the vanguard of biblical symbolism from the earliest Bible times. There are many and varied ways in which they are used, but there is a simple conformity that runs throughout. The oil represents the Holy Spirit and His various ministries, whether it be fuel for the lamps, healing, or whatever. The tree represents God's witness, His work, or His people as a whole, and the branch, first being Christ, the Righteous Branch, represents His people individually as they are related to the tree, and to the root. Additionally it will be realized that the mountain, or the hill, symbolizes holiness, righteousness, or life on a high spiritual plain. It represents fellowship or harmony with God. It was on the mountain tops that God met with man. Looking up to the tops of high mountains was an experience in the old days that answers to lifting up our hearts and our hands to God. It was this symbolism that the Psalmist used when he said, “I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help.”[1] Also there is symbolism in the use of the term “the east.” It was the direction from which wisdom came. Putting it all together it comes to this: The olive trees on the Mount of Olives which was before Jerusalem on the east, supplying the city with oil for its lamps and its healing, is analogous to the heavenly mountain of Zion in the New Covenant from which the heavenly Jerusalem, which is, according to Revelation 21:9, 10, the Church, draws its wisdom, its light, and its spiritual healing. This is all from the Holy Spirit who is ministered to us by Christ, just as the oil was ministered to the candles by the candlestick. We have this picture painted for us in Hebrews 12:22-24, and Rev. 1:12-20.

“And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”

The valley outside the City of Jerusalem, the valley of Jehosophat, is that place outside the gate where the people of God do battle with the hosts of Satan. While they are out there in the midst of this great struggle there is a cleft in the mountain into which they may run for safety. It is characterized as the mount of Olives, the place of wisdom, of strength and of healing. It represents the running into Christ and hiding in the cleft of the rock, that place that was made for us when his body was riven. It is also the comfort and protection of the Spirit. The word Azal means adjoining, the thought being that the cleft in the mountain reaches all the way to the city gates. In other words the child of God, in one sense, is never exposed to the destructive forces. When he is outside the gates of the City he is in the cleft of the rock. It is in this valley outside the gates that Christ and His saints do battle with Satan and his hosts.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark: but it shall come to pass, that at evening it shall be light.”

This is speaking of the Church in this world, shining in the darkness of this world until the day dawns and the brilliance of eternity rises forever. (I Cor. 13, Rev 1, 11 Pet. l)

“And it shall be that in that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.”

This is of course taking about the Heavenly City. The living waters going out is a the preaching of the Gospel. It is for the former and the latter sea. The sea are the masses of the people gathered before God. It makes reference to the truth that the righteousness of Christ by faith has been declared for the remission of the sins of the people of faith who lived before, and with whom God forbore until Christ's sacrifice was made, as well as for the remission of sins now for those who have lived at that time and since. (Rom. 3:25, 26) “In summer and winter shall it be,” speaks of the super natural character of the New Covenant, and the fact that in the spiritual harvest (the feast of Pentecost commemorated the beginning of harvest season) there are no seasons; it is always harvest time. The harvest is ripe, Jesus said, in spite of the fact that it is four months until harvest season.

“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one." Of course the Covenant of Promise is for all nations of earth. There is no wall of division any more. Additionally there is only one name under heaven by which men may be saved, and every man under heaven may be saved by it.

“All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate, unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepress."

In my studies on the subject, the term "from Geba to Rimmon" seems to indicate the entire expanse, or all of Judah. In much the same vein, the locations of the wall seem to be the four corners and seem to indicate the complete encompassing of the city. This may well speak of the work of Christ in establishing His people in the land and His setting up of the Heavenly City. But if the foregoing is somewhat obscure as to whether or not it makes reference to the heavenly Jerusalem, there is certainly no such problem with this which follows:

“And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.”

Of course this is not referring to any earthly city of a natural character. If it were, it would be totally inaccurate since all that is earthly and mortal will be destroyed when the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and all the works that are in it will be burned up and dissolved. This is the Heavenly City which has not yet become a physical reality, but which has none the less become a spiritual reality. This follows the teaching mold as all truths about the present reality of eternity and eternal life in our midst and available to us. You and I, who are in Christ, have not yet become physically immortal, and a part of eternity, but who have become so spiritually through the new birth.

Zechariah 14 is probably as demanding as it gets in discerning the Covenant of Promise and its superiority over the Covenant of flesh in the Old Testament Scriptures. Even so, it is clear that here is an instance where the prophet speaks of both the Old and the New Covenant in the same passage. One has to have ulterior motivation or be comepletely without spiritual discernment not to see that. We may find it difficult to always know where to draw the lines. But if we are well versed on the individual nature of the two covenants, the promises and prospects of each, what the New Testament interprets about them for us, and if we keep in mind that they are both present in the prophecies, then we will have the problem of misappropriating the obvious properties of the one to the other. Not all places where the Covenant of Promise is included in the prophecies will conform, by any means, to these simple guide lines. There are mixings of these devices, and there are other devices used by the Spirit. Yet it give us pretty good basis for the fact that the Covenant of Promise is clearly seen when they are looked at from the New Testament perspective. And most importantly, for our study of the Kingdom, the covenants are to be kept separate, since they have very little more in common than the pages upon which they appear.

Some Points In Review:

2. The same things may sometimes be said of both covenants but the basic difference of temporalness on the one hand, and eternalness on the other must be understood as always being implied.

3. If the future of Jerusalem, Zion, and the land, etc., of the New Covenant is being shown, it has nothing to do with, and implies nothing concerning, their earthly, temporal, symbolic counterparts.

The Promise To Send The Messiah To The Nation And Its Fulfillment.

We know, then, that there are two covenants—the spiritual and the natural, or the national — and that there is a clear distinction between them. There are the people of the Promise, and there are the people of the flesh. And not only are there two covenants, which is generally concede, but they have no common ground — a point which is not as readily accepted. Even so, the Old Testament Scripture is clear that they are to be kept distinct and separate. They do not share common promises, nor a common inheritance.

We have looked at a number of testimonies of the Scripture assigned to make that point. One of the clearest of all was given by the Lord in the eighth chapter of John when He was talking to the Pharisees about their spiritual bastardism. They replied that they were not born of fornication, but that they were the sons of Abraham. The Pharisees were not intending to speak purely of the natural birth process in their answer. They were giving the discussion a religious and spiritual connotation. They did not mean to say that they had natural fathers and were therefore not bastards. They were arguing that they were religiously legitimate because they were descendants of Abraham with whom the covenant was made. In continuing with them Jesus said, in verse 37:

“I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” (John 8:37-45)

In these verses, Jesus told them that they were Abraham's children and that they were not the children of Abraham. Jesus was not confused on the subject, but was making reference to the two covenants and saying:

1. They were the children of Abraham as pertaining to the old creation and the flesh.

2. They were not Abraham’s children in the Covenant of Promise because the were not born again and were not part of the Covenant of Promise made in genesis 12.

Being nationally the children of God did not make them spiritually the children of God; they were the children of the devil and could not have been further from Him. Evidently they thought that being born the natural seed of Abraham gave them some spiritual standing with God, because they said: “. . . We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God."“ This was not the case, however. They were children of the devil, enemies of God, and in condemnation.

God did indeed promise to send the Messiah to the national people. But if this was to benefit them it called for responsible behavior on their part. They must recognize Him, obey Him from the heart, love Him, and follow Him. These, according to the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, were the conditions that must be met if blessings were to result. Of course this was not possible with them, any more than were the rest of the demands of the Law, which were all comprehended and put on trial in this one event.

No Promise in the Covenant of Law

That was the problem with the Law as a covenant; it was weak through the flesh. The prophecy concerning them was that if they did not meet these conditions, if they continued to fail, to refuse to repent, if they continued in an ungodly way; then they would be cut off, and that without remedy. This was spoken by the prophets in a number of places; the first being in Deuteronomy 28. Another instance where it was taught with clarity was at the end of Lamentations. All throughout the writing, Jeremiah was lamenting the failure of the national people, and the judgements that had taken place upon them because of it. He pleaded with the Lord to turn them and to restore the newness and the glory of the kingdom in former times. But no such restoration was promised. He ended the book by saying:

There is no light in the darkness; no optimistic note of better things to come for the nation.

The Natural Application

This same candid appraisal is found in the book of Hosea. God told Hosea to take a wife from the Gentiles, which he did, and by whom he had a son. His name was called Jezreel, which means: "God sows," or "God has sown." The message of the moment was to the house of Jehu. God had established him to root out and destroy the wicked Ahab and his house. This Jehu did, with a great slaughter, but not in a spirit of righteous judgement, as Samuel had slain the wicked king Agag. Instead Jehu sought to further his own ambitions. Soon he was defying God, and showing contempt and irreverence. In order to gain favor of a political nature he retained the worship of the golden calf because it was very popular. Through Hosea's prophecy, God was foretelling that He would bring judgement upon Jehu as He had Ahab before him.

The Spiritual Application

The long range, spiritual message was quite a different one. The Gentile wife, and the son named Jezreel were prophetic testimonies that God, because of the evils and the unbelief of Israel, was going to take away the kingdom from them by taking away the Old Covenant, and establishing the New through Christ, of whom Jezreel was a type.

“for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horse, nor by horseman. Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah she conceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.”

The teaching is clear enough. A time would come when God was going to take away the children of Israel. He would forsake them utterly. He would not be their God, and they would not be His people. As for Judah, they represented the Covenant of Promise, and the elect, whom God would save by Christ, through grace and faith. Isaiah had said that unless the Lord of the Armies had left a remnant the natural seed would have been completely destroyed; they would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. There would not have been anything left at all. And so God, while promising to forsake them utterly, and not allowing them to be His people anymore, did speak of some of Israel who would unite with Judah in the latter days, to comprise that group who would be called "the sons of the living God.” God was not talking double talk, nor contradicting Himself when He said this. The teaching was that the national covenant was going to be done away, and with it the national people as the people of God, but a remnant of the natural seed would be spared. We shall talk more about this remnant, and St. Paul's treatment of this passage in Romans, shortly on. To avoid repetition I do not want to take it up now. But let me inject a point which we will prove as we go along. The promise to spare a remnant was not a promise to preserve or perpetuate the national situation, the natural kingdom, and the covenant of flesh. He was simply saying that from the divine, sovereign point of view, His judgement upon these people for their wickedness and unbelief would not be absolute. He would not blind every Israelite's eyes to the truth, but would permit some of them to see it, and be saved. So the cutting off of the national people was fully prophesied. Malachi, speaking of Israel's ingratitude, and impending judgement, and also of the coming of Christ and the New Covenant of His blood, said:

“For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Mal 4:1)

Another place where this truth is manifested is in the 9th chapter of Daniel (Of course this text is quite in dispute, and one which I feel warrants a chapter of explanation in the course of this discussion). In it God prophesied that the time would come when the Messiah the Prince, because of the overspreading of the abominations of the children of Israel, would make their house desolate. The ministry of Jesus to His earthly people was from His baptism in the river Jordan on his thirtieth birthday until His crucifixion at the Feast of the Passover some three and one half years later, during which time He was fulfilling these prophetic truths. We have the record of Christ's cutting off the national people just as it was prophesied.

In the 21st chapter of Matthew Jesus gave the parable of the landowner who had gone into a far country, and who had sent back His servant to collect the profits of his kingdom. After several disorderly experiences in Which his servants were beaten and otherwise shamefully treated, he sent to them his own son, reasoning that they would surely treat him with respect, and comply with the instructions that he carried from his father; but instead of this they killed him and threw him out of the vineyard reasoning within themselves that now that the heir was dead the inheritance would be theirs. The obvious implication is that they thought the master did not know, and they intended to misrepresent what had happened when he got back.

Then Jesus asked them what they thought that landlord would do when he returned, and they said that they thought he would miserably destroy those wicked servants. Again Jesus asked them a question:

“. . . Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whomsoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Mat. 21:42-44)

In this teaching Jesus, indicated that the Jews were the builders who rejected the stone who was sent down from heaven to become the cornerstone of the spiritual building. Nevertheless it was God's eternal plan and purpose to use this Stone as the Head of His building. Thus, instead of changing the building stone and letting the builders have their way and build it as they wanted to, He would take the kingdom from them and give it to a people who would obey Him and submit to His will and plan.

Another place is in the 23rd chapter of Matthew, where Jesus was talking to the Jews near Jerusalem shortly before His capture and crucifixion. He was identifying their rebellion, telling how this was the generation of Israelites upon whom all of these prophesied judgements was going to come, and lamenting their failures, in light of all they might have had if only they had known and obeyed. After this debate reached its climax with the Pharisees in verses 29 thru 33, He said to them:

“Wherefore, behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them "shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matt 23:34-39)

This is what Daniel had said. The Messiah would come and confirm the covenant with the national people but in the middle of the week, because of their abominations, He would cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and make their house desolate. Here, then, is the record of the fulfillment of that prophecy. A little later, in chapter 24, Jesus said to the disciples:

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” (Matt. 24:15-22)

Here Jesus says that when their house was desolated because of their evils, and they no longer enjoyed the divine protection of God as His people, they would come in for a persecution at the hands of their enemies such as never had been known. When men understood that God was not going to come to their defense they would vent out this bitterness that had built up through the centuries. Later in this very chapter, in the 34th verse, He told them that they would see this, among other things, come to pass in their time, or at least, during that generation, which it did as we know. The Gospel of Luke records, in chapter 21, and verse 20:

“But when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand,"

"For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."

"...for there shall be great distress upon the land, and wrath unto this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Nations, until the times of the Nations be fulfilled.”

It is not my purpose here to contend that the great tribulation spoken of by Jesus has application only to the nation of Israel, but it does have “an application” to the national Israel. They are called, “This People,” and are contrasted with the Nations or the Gentiles; (the two terms being identical) and it is something that began happening in that generation and was to continue until the time of the Nations is fulfilled.

There is a chapter planned for dealing with the subject of “The Time of the Nations, or, Gentiles,” and what is meant by the City of Jerusalem being trodden down of the Nations until the time of the Nations be fulfilled. Daniel also declared this when he wrote of the city being over-run by the people of the Messiah Prince. I do not want to get into that at the moment, but rather to make the point that this desolation — this cutting off — was something that was to happen, and did happen. Jesus said that there would be no end, no reversing of it nationally; and that the only way the Israelite would ever see Him again was to come to Him as an individual, in faith, recognizing Him as the Messiah, or the Christ, as those faithful along the road had done earlier in the 21st chapter. Daniel put it a little differently, but intended the same meaning, when he said that the desolation would continue until the end of the war, and that it would be until the consummation of the ages. Until that, time the predetermined tribulation would be continually poured upon these desolate people. And so it has happened, as the Holy Spirit had warned and prophesied in numerous Scriptures and times.

Antoehr pasage about the cutitn off of the nation and the trouble that would follow, is Jeremiah 11, where God said, after He had discovered a conspiracy against Him in Judah and Jerusalem:

“Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble . . . Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble . . . Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young man shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.” (Jeremiah 11:11,14,22,23).

The temporal message was to Judah and Jerusalem, and the priests of Anathoth. They were leading them in idol worship in the streets of Jerusalem, and among other things, God was promising to completely remove the men of Anathoth from the priesthood for their part in it. But in the prophetic sense, the men of Anathoth directed attention to the national covenant as the religious system by which God would accomplish His work in the world. It was completely corrupt and defiled, and He was going to take it away and destroy it completely. There was to be no remnant whatsoever; nothing was to be left. A situation of complete desolation, forsakenness, and rejection would develop, and for which there would be no remedy.

[1] The exegesis that wants to separate this verse into two parts and say that David was not looking for his help from the hills but merely looking up; the tops of mountains and question, where does my help come from? Is not a sound one in my view and I discount it as significant in commenting on this verse. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”, God declares in a great Messianic prophesy of Christ. God came down and Moses went up on Sinai, Elijah went up on Carmel to meet the Lord. Abraham went up on Moriah to meet the Lord, and Christ went up on Calvary to join man to God. In the Old Testament metaphor, men looked up to God in prayer because they believed that was where He was. So do we, or at least, I do.