Peter Explains How David Understood His Prophecy.

(Bible Reading)
Peter Explains How David Understood His Prophecy.
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In my previous post, I posed several questions about the apparent of failure of God's promise in King David's reign and that of his successors. The sworn promise of an everlasting kingdom stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River is yet to materialise until today.

Where is David's kingdom today? And who is his chosen seed?

The answer is found in the testimony of Peter on the Day of Pentecost as he addressed a large crowd of Jews from various regions around the Mediterranean.

Read Acts 2: 29 - 36 (NASB and LXX Brenton will be used in this article).

Let us look closely at Peter's testimony.

In verse 29, Peter addressed the Jews, his fellow countrymen, as "brothers", saying that he wanted to speak to them plainly about their ancestor King David. Peter began by drawing attention to the significance of the following facts about the renowned King David:

King David had died.
King David was buried.
And his grave was with them to that very day.

Peter than pointed out that David was not only a king. He was also a prophet! (verse 30). As such, David knew exactly what God had promised him - alluding to the prophecies recorded in 2 Samuel 7: 12-13 and Psalm 132:11.

Psalm 132:11, 12 NASB
The Lord has sworn to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.
“If your sons will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I will teach them,
Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.”

Psalm 132:11 LXX
11 The Lord sware in truth to David, and he will not annul it, saying, Of the fruit of thy body will I set a king upon thy throne.
12 If thy children will keep my covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon thy throne for ever.

2 Samuel 7:12-13 NASB
When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

2 Samuel 7:12-13 LXX
And it shall come to pass when thy days shall have been fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, even thine own issue, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build for me a house to my name, and I will set up his throne even for ever.

A survey of the first passage shows us that:
God has made a solemn promise, He has sworn, and He will not turn back from it.
God swore that He will make on of David's sons as King. (Psalm 132:11).
David's dynasty will continue forever if his successors remain faithful to God's covenant. (Psalm 132:12)

Similarly, in  2 Samuel 7: 12-16, God promised to make sure that David's dynasty will continue forever.

2 Samuel 7:16 NASB
Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever;
your throne shall be established forever.

2 Samuel 7:16 LXX
And his house shall be made sure, and his kingdom for ever before me,
and his throne shall be set up for ever.

Coming back to the passage in Acts chapter 2, Peter explains in verse 30b that David, being a prophet, understood this sworn promise as something that God was going to do in the distant future rather than something that would happen immediately after his own reign. See verse 31a.

It is because of David's prophetic understanding of this Messianic promise in 2 Samuel 7, later recorded in Psalm 132, he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah in Psalm 16.

Psalm 16:10 LXX
because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
(Quoted by Peter in Acts 2: 27 and 31)

In other words, David's prophetic, messianic understanding of God's solemn promise of a son who would reign after him and whose kingdom would last forever is expressed in his prophetic statement in Psalm 16:10 that this successor is the everlasting Messiah whose body would not be left to rot in the grave.

Now, Peter points out, neither King David nor any of his descendants lived forever. Remember Acts 2: 29b which was stated earlier, that David's corrupted body remained in the grave until that very day. Clearly, the prophecy of the everlasting Messiah was not fulfilled in David's life.

Instead, this prophecy was fulfilled by the Jesus (Yeshua). Peter testifies in verses 32-33 that God had raised Jesus from death and this was witnessed by the apostles themselves.

Not only that, Peter also added one more point: after God had raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus had ascended to the right hand of God. (verse 33). Yes, the Messiah sits at the right hand of YHWH today.

In verses 34-35, referring to one more messianic promise from Psalm 110, Peter stressed the fact that it was not King David who ascended to God's right hand in heaven. Instead, David wrote of another, one whom David himself called Adoni (my Master).

Psalm 110:1 NASB
The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

Psalm 110:1 LXX
The LORD said to my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Who is David's master (Lord)? Which descendant of David sits at the right hand of God Almighty today?

Peter gives the answer emphatically in Acts 2: 36 (NASB):

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified."

Questions for Critics of Yeshua the Messiah

Reading from Psalm 89 (NASB, with LXX Brenton)

Psalm 89:3-4 NASB
3 I have made a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My servant,
4 I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne to all generations.

Psalm 89:3,4 LXX
3 I made a covenant with my chosen ones, I sware unto David my servant.
4 I will establish thy seed for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.

Verses 3 and 4 the above psalm by Ethan the Ezrahite says God has promised that a descendant of David will always be king and that David's dynasty (seed) will be preserved forever. (The term "dynasty" is used in the GNT).

Question 1: Where is this everlasting seed today?

For the last 2,000 years why was there no king over Israel? Even after the nation of Israel was formed in 1948, why wasn't David's dynasty restored? And why is Israel today governed by a secular government instead of one that governs according to the Torah of Moshe?

Next, in Psalm 89: 20 - 25, we read that King David was supposed to be anointed by God and that God would empower him to defeat all his enemies, extending his kingdom from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River.(see GNT version)

Psalm 89: 20-25 NASB
20 “I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,
21 With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him.
22 “The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 “But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him.
24 “My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted.
25 “I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers.

Psalm 89:20-25 LXX
20 I have found David my servant; I have anointed him by my holy mercy.
21 For my hand shall support him; and mine arm shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall have no advantage against him; and the son of transgression shall not hurt him again.
23 And I will hew down his foes before him, and put to flight those that hate him.
24 But my truth and my mercy shall be with him; and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 And I will set his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

Question 2: Where is this anointed king today?

Did King David become that all-powerful invincible King promised in the psalm above? Was David himself really that anointed, chosen One?

Furthermore, it is written in Psalm 89: 26 - 29 that God will make King David his first-born son the greatest of all kings.

Psalm 89:26-29NASB
26 “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
28 “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
29 “So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.

Psalm 89:26-29LXX
26 He shall call upon me, saying, Thou art my Father, my God, and the helper of my salvation.
27 And I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him for ever, and my covenant shall be firm with him.
29 And I will establish his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

Verse 29 reiterates the assertion made earlier in verse 4, that David's seed and his throne would be as permanent as the days of heaven, being established forever.

Question 3: Did David's seed persist?

King David had only one son who reigned after him, Solomon, who ruled over all 12 tribes of Israel for only a brief 40 years. (2 Chronicles 9:30-31). No sooner had Solomon's son Rehoboam ascended to the throne that Jeroboam ben Nebat led the 10 northern tribes to break away as "Israel", leaving Rehoboam with only the southern territory of Judah.

2 Chronicles 10:19 puts it alarming in a nutshell, "So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day."!

If David's descendant Rehoboam ben Solomon could not even hold dominion over the northern 10 tribes of Israel, how then can one call him him the first-born son, the greatest of all kings? (Psalm 89:26-29)

And how can we claim that King David has vanquished all his enemies? (Psalm 89:20-25)

Likewise, Israel today can't even take back control over the whole city of Jerusalem for herself, how can we say that King David has set his hand in the sea and his right hand in the river, alluding to his kingdom stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River?

Where is David's kingdom today? And who is his seed? The answer to these questions can be found in the testimony of the Apostle Peter to a large audience of Jews on the Day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2:29-36. I shall explore this answer in my next post.