We come now to the seventh of the eight great covenants which God made with His people Israel, the Davidic Covenant.  In importance, it ranks equally with the Abrahamic Covenant, as it guarantees the unconditional continuation of the Throne of the Lord, ruling over the unconditional continuation of the nation established in Abraham.  This is born out by Jeremiah, where both of these factors are recorded in his 31st and 33rd chapters.
So having promised and established the nation which was to be God’s Kingdom on earth, under the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant, God now proceeds to establish the KING to govern that nation.
But having said that, it is vitally important to remember that from the very formation of the nation of Israel, God was their King. If the people had not demanded a king like unto what the other nations had, this covenant would never had been necessary.  And this is how the change came about, as recorded in I Samuel 8:1-22;
 

8:1  “And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
2  Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba.
3  And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
4  Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
6  But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
8  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
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.
10  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
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 horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
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.
13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
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.
19  Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
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.
21  And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.
22  And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.”

It is of the greatest importance that we note the progression of events.  Up to this time, as previously noted, God had been Israel’s King, ruling through His appointed Judges.  The system under which the nation operated was an “autocracy”.  It was never God’s intention for His people to be ruled under the present system of a “democracy”. There was to be no such system as government by “the church and state”.  Under God, there would be no political parties; no Parliamentary committees.  The nation would be governed by God-appointed Heads of Departments who would govern on God’s behalf in accordance with God’s Laws, commandments, statutes, and judgments.  When the final judge, Samuel, became old, he appointed his two sons as judges in order to take some of the burden from himself.  But they took advantage of their position to gain personal advantages at the expense of the people.  Things haven’t changed one bit, have they.  The people became so indignant at this situation that they demanded a king, just as the other nations had a king ruling over them.  It says a lot as to the extent to which the nation had sunk, in that they didn’t even consider returning to God as their king.  But of course, they couldn’t see God,  and so couldn’t partake of all the pomp and ceremony which attached to a human king.
That it was God’s purpose, in His foreknowledge of what the future held, for Israel to always have an earthly king to represent Him and reign over them in a monarchal form of leadership and government, is clearly foreshadowed and established in the Word.  In I Chronicles 5:1-2 we read;
 

5:1  Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
2  For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)

Then in Genesis 49:9-10 we read of Jacob’s prophetic blessing regarding Judah;
 

“Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

So we find;

1. The king was to come from the tribe of Judah.

2. His emblem, or symbol of identification would be the LION.

3. He would find ultimate fulfilment in “Shiloh”, which is a description of the Messiah, the PRINCE OF PEACE as foretold in Isaiah 9:6;
 

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.”

This emblem of the UNICORN, irrespective of arguments as to what it was, or from whence it came, became associated with the other symbol of the king, the LION.  Together, these two symbols, the LION and the UNICORN, were incorporated into the Coat of Arms of their “latter day” descendants.

The Kingly Line Chosen.

Saul was the first king of Israel, chosen by the people and confirmed by God.  However, he was from the wrong tribe.  God had promised that the future kings of Israel, which incidentally would include their final King, our Lord Jesus Christ, would come from the tribe of Judah, whereas Saul was a Benjamite.  This departure from the rule was deliberately allowed by God as a lesson to Israel.  Saul was a “warrior”.  He clearly did not accept that he was God’s representative upon the throne of Israel, but acted as though he was a king in his own right.  He is said to have stood head and shoulders above any other man, being probably about 6ft.10in. tall.  (As an aside to this, if David was only a stripling of a lad as he is usually portrayed when he went to fight Goliath, then why would Saul have offered to loan David his own suit of armour which would have been made to fit a man of his own height?).  It was because of his decision to do things his own way, instead of how God had instructed him, that God revoked his kingship.

We read in I Samuel 15:34-35;
 

“Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.   And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

“And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me.”

Thus the stage was set for the establishment of God’s selection for the kingship over His people. The Lord spoke to Samuel  in I Sam. 16:1;
 

“And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.”

Thus, in I Samuel 16:11-13 we read;
 

“And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.”

Thus commenced the chosen Kingly line or house of David as the Throne of Israel on earth.  David possessed all the required conditions.  He was chosen of God, not by popular choice of the people.  He was of the tribe of Judah.  He was a shepherd who followed the “Great Shepherd”.  The Spirit of God was upon him.  What more could he desire?
Thus the Davidic Covenant was made.  We read the details of it in II Samuel 7:8-16;
 

8  Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
9  And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
10  Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,
11  And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
12  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13  He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
15  But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”

From the above, we note the following facts;

1. It was UNCONDITIONAL.  It didn’t matter what anyone did or said, there were absolutely no conditions associated with this Covenant whereby it could ever be revoked either by man or by God Himself.

2. It was EVERLASTING.

3. It was established with David AND HIS SEED AFTER HIM . 

4. It was a LITERAL promise, made of a LITERAL kingly line.

5. It cannot be “spiritualised” into referring only to Christ, as it speaks of God’s chastisement upon the king should he do that which is not right in God’s sight.

6. The descendants of David would enjoy a father/son relationship with God.

7. If the king did that which was wrong, he would be chastened by men.

8. God’s mercy would NEVER be taken from David.

9. David accepted God’s promise as being literal, in that his “house” would be ESTABLISHED forever, CONTINUE forever, and be BLESSED forever.

It is quite clear from a reading of I Chronicles 28:5 that Israel is “the kingdom of the Lord”.
 

“And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.”

It is equally clear as to the full nature of the throne over that kingdom.  We read in I Chron. 29:23;
 

“Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.”

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

We read of the ratification of this prophecy in Luke 1:32-33;
 

“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

Let us recognise, and fully understand, that the occupant of the Throne of David, from its inception to the time when Christ comes to occupy it, is therefore Christ’s representative, the TRUE Vicar of Christ, as opposed to the FALSE vicar of Christ of the Church of Rome.

1. By the endless continuation of day and night.

2. By the ordinances of heaven and earth.

3. By the promise that David would never want a man to sit upon this throne.  Especially note that this does NOT say that a descendant of David would always be sitting upon this throne, but that there would always be one of his descendants available to sit upon it.  This is recorded in Jeremiah 33:17-26;
 

17  “For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18  Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
19  And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,
20  Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
21  Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
22  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
23  Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
24  Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
25  Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
26  Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.”

But there was another covenant made by God in order to set His seal upon the covenant He had made with David.  It is recorded in II Chronicles 13:5;

“Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?”

“Why salt” we may ask?  Well salt is used as a preservative, and God used this analogy to assure us of His intention to preserve for all time, the unconditional nature of the covenant which He had made regarding the continuation of the throne of David over Israel upon the earth.  Now knowing in His foreknowledge that the Throne of David would end as far as its situation in Palestine in the reasonably near future, why would God have made this extra covenant if He didn’t intent to continue the literal line and seed of David throughout their captivities, their migrations to the west, and their final settling in the other place which He had appointed to Israel in the future years as at that time?  His intentions are quite explicit as recorded in II Samuel 7:10;

 
“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.”

Thus the Throne continues.  After the division of Israel into the northern and southern houses, and in accordance with God’s stated purpose, the throne remained with the tribe of JUDAH, as He had promised.   It is of the utmost importance to remember that Judah and the Throne cannot be separated.  Wherever we find this throne, then Judah must also be there.
So now for a bit of history.  The last king to occupy this throne in Palestine was Zedekiah, at the time of the final captivity of the remainder of the House of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar.  Zedekiah had attempted to make a treaty with a neighbouring country against Nebuchadnezzar, but his plan was found out.  Nebuchadnezzar immediately retaliated by executing Zedekiah’s sons in front of him, poked out Zedekiah’s eyes, and took him captive to Babylon where he later died.  Interestingly, it had been prophesied of Zedekiah that he would go to Babylon but not see it.  But Nebuchadnezzar made a serious miscalculation   Under his rules, only a son could succeed to the throne on the death of his father.  Daughters did not count.  So as far as he was concerned, the royal line of Zedekiah was terminated by the death of his only two sons, and would finally cease with Zedekiah’s death.  But he reckoned without the law governing succession in Israel, where, if there was no son to succeed the king, then the eldest daughter succeeded to the throne.  The principle is exactly the same as that which happened to our own Royal family.  King George VI had no sons to succeed him, so his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, succeed to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II.  The Book of Jeremiah records how that prophet had taken the king’s daughters to Egypt for safety reasons.  It has been suggested that these were not necessarily Zedekiah’s daughters, but those of the king which preceded him. But this does not alter the fact that the elder of these two young princesses automatically became the new official monarch over Israel on the death of the king.  The Biblical account leaves this group in Egypt.  But ancient Irish history records what happened thereafter.  They record that soon after the death of Zedekiah, a prophet from the east, whom they called the Ollam Fodhla, together with a scribe named Bruch, (Baruch), and two eastern princesses landed in Ireland, accompanied by a special stone which they referred to as “Lia Fail”, and which we now know to be the “Stone of Destiny.”  This “Ollam Fodhla”, according to ancient Irish tradition was no other than the prophet Jeremiah.  As well as the “stone”, he is recorded as bringing with him a harp, and an ark, or chest. The princesses to which we referred were of the Royal line of Pharez, son of Judah, and twin brother of Zarah, the one who had the red cord tied around his wrist at birth.  Apart from a few references within genealogies, the only reference to him is found in Genesis 38 and 46.  From there, he disappears from the Biblical account.  But history records his descendants crossing Europe, through Spain, where the ancient city of Zarah-gassa was founded.  The name means “the stronghold of Zarah”, and is now known as Saragossa. They finally settled in Ireland.
At this stage of our study I would like to add a few thoughts regarding the significance of the red cord which the midwife had tied around the hand of Zarah.  When the time came for the birth of the twins, subsequently named Zarah and Pharez, Zarah’s hand came forth, but soon after started to retract within the mother.  Even though he had not been fully born, he was still considered to be the firstborn, and in order to identify him as such, this red cord was tied around his hand.  The incident is recorded in Genesis 38:27-30:
 

“And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.”

This “red thread” became a national symbol of Zarah’s descendants.  It was initially used by the kings of Zarah, and in time graduated to use on all government and legal documents   If you were to enter the offices of any lawyer today you would find all documents tied with the “red tape”.  We use the phrase repeatedly in regard to “government red tape”.
But the symbolism didn’t stop there.  The red tape finally was extended to cover the entire hand, until today we have the “Red Hand of Ulster” encircled by a red cord - a hand, red from the blood of birth, circled by a scarlet thread or cord.  This became the national symbol of Zarah - Judah’s descendants in what is now known as Ulster, or Northern Ireland, the greatest thorn in the side of Rome who is doing everything possible to destroy this people who have stood so steadfastly against the amalgamation of all Ireland into one nation under the sway of the Roman Church.
Descendants of the tribe of Dan were also resident in Ireland, referred to in their ancient records as the “Tuatha De Danann”, meaning “the tribe of Dan".  The ships of the Tuatha De Danann are accredited with bringing Jeremiah, the princesses, and Jacob’s Pillar to Ireland.
One of the princesses, named Tea Tephi, eventually married Eochaidh, the Heremon or king of Ireland, and of the tribe of Zarah, and thus the two houses of Zarah and Pharez were reunited.  The name of the capital where the coronation took place was “Lothair” but was changed later to “Tara”, the Harp of David becoming the national emblem.  Archaeological excavations on the mounds of Tara have also revealed that ancient Tara was not only the Royal Seat or Capital of the Celtic Kings, that came from Spain, but it was also the nerve centre of the country.  Whilst there are several variations in some of the details, which can be expected after such a long period of time, the essential facts remain.  (The above details have been taken with grateful  appreciation from the book “Jacob’s Pillar” by the imminent archaeologist E. Raymond Capt.  M.A., A.I.A., F.S.A., Scot.)
From here it is simply a matter of history.  The throne went from Ireland to Scotland and thence to England, and James VI of Scotland became James I of Great Britain, thus combining the two houses of Ephraim/England with Judah/Scotland.  The LION and the UNICORN were now together.  The two sticks of Ezekiel 37:15-22 had now been joined;
 

“The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?  Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”

Significantly this entire sequence of events fulfilled the prophecy of Ezekiel 21:27;
 

“I will overturn, (from Palestine to Ireland), overturn, (from Ireland to Scotland), overturn, it (from Scotland to England): and it shall be no more, (overturned) until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”  (emphasis added.)

Is it just a coincidence that the coronation ceremony of our present British Monarchs is almost identical with that used at the coronation of King Solomon?  In both ceremonies, just to quote one instance, when the new Monarch is presented to the people, they all cry out, “God Save the King”.
Is it just a coincidence that the Royal Coat of Arms contains the two emblems of the two leading houses of Israel - Joseph/Ephraim and Judah - the very same symbols of the Unicorn and the Lion?
Is it a coincidence that the two motto’s on the Coat of Arms, translate into English as “God and my Right”, referring to the birthright promised to the descendants of Abraham, and “Evil be to him that evil thinketh”, the very promise made by God to Abraham in Genesis 12:3;
 

“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:”

Is it just a coincidence that the Royal Standard is divided into four sections, one with the Lion of Judah, two with the young lions thereof, and one with the Harp of David?
 

Judah is, and must be, where the THRONE is, otherwise the Throne cannot be David’s.

1. We must recognise and accept our IDENTITY as God’s people Israel.

2. We must accept our RESPONSIBILITY as God’s people Israel.

3.    We must accept our ROLE as WATCHMEN IN ISRAEL.

Finally, we must, with all our hearts and minds, look forward to that Great Day when He whose right it is returns to take to Himself that same Throne, and reign over His people with justice and with righteousness for evermore.
 

“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”   Amen.