LECTURE V.

THE FURTHER UNFOLDING OF THE ORIGINAL PROMISE BY THE PROPHET NATHAN'S MESSAGE TO DAVID CONCERNING HIS SON, TAKEN IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPHETIC PSALMS.

BY THE REV. FIELDING OULD, M.A.,

INCUMBENT OF CHRIST CHURCH.

2 SAM. vii. 18, 19.

"Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord; and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?”

THE subject which has been assigned to me in this course of Lectures is probably the most interesting, if it be not the most difficult, as compared with those which have preceded, to treat judiciously. That subject is, "The further unfolding of the original Promise (viz. of full restoration by the seed of the woman) by the Prophet Nathan's message to

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David concerning his son, taken in connection. with the Prophetic Psalms." May the Lord graciously assist us, by the accompanying energy of his Holy Spirit, in a profitable meditation upon the wide field of Scriptural inquiry on which we are about to enter; and grant that it may issue in the further promotion of His glory, and our own increased acquaintance with the deep things of God!

Without further preface, I proceed to remark, that it seems hardly possible for any one to read the historical portions of the Old Testament, without perceiving, that some at least of the persons who are the subjects of its narrative, are typical characters, introduced not so much for their own sakes, as to direct the attention of the church to events yet future. They seem exhibited in the mirror of the old revelation as a sort of living, embodied prophecy; as characters in whom we are permitted to discern the faint but not obscure outline of another and far different personage. Of this class we were doubtless intended to regard the instructive prediction respecting the Son of DAVID, the peaceable successor of the fruit of his warrior parent's victories. Of him we can surely say, with the strongest and most conclusive assurance, that "a greater than Solomon is here."

All who are familiar with the New Testament

are aware, that the Apostle Paul expressly applies the prophecy before us to the Lord Jesus Christ; and, in his application, comments upon it in such a way as to afford us a key to the interpretation of all similar passages. When asserting, in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, the divine and consequently the super-angelic nature of the Son of God, he says, in direct reference to "Unto the 14th verse of the chapter before us, which of the angels said he at any time. . . .. I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son ?"* From this authorised use of the prediction we not only learn that in Solomon we have a type of the Lord Jesus Christ; but further, that this was the admitted principle of interpretation amongst the Jews in the days of the Apostle. The Epistle to the Hebrews, we may remark, is highly argumentative and controversial. It is not probable, therefore-I had almost said possible—that the Apostle would have introduced a matter of doubtful disputation in order to remove a doubt. Had the Jews not then generally admitted the application of such passages to the then expected Messiah, it is not likely, to say the least, that the Apostle would have employed the argument in question.

Hence, then, we are furnished with an inspired

* 2 Sam. vii. 14, with Heb i. 5.

key for the wide unfolding of those varied predictions respecting the house of David, which display the history and fortunes of this world “for a great while to come." Upon this inspired principle I propose to examine the statement contained in our text, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?"

The Lord God had done great things for David; and yet all, it seems, was trifling in comparison of what he here solemnly promises to accomplish in his behalf. It was surely something to have been exalted from a lowly sheepfold to a glorious throne: instead of the shepherd's crook, to be invested with a regal sceptre; to be lifted from companionship with "the few sheep in the wilderness," into that condition of dignity, that all the neighbouring kings were his subjects or his tributaries. But even all this was, in his sight, "a small thing," yea, as nothing in comparison of the stupendous exaltation promised to his Son. But however transcendant the grandeur of Solomon might be; however surpassing when beheld "in all his glory;" yet would it not admit of being thus compared with that of David. It could not be strictly affirmed,