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II. According to the Prophets

A. A New Exodus

In the eighth century, amid the confusion of a shattered monarchy, foreign invasion, and forced exile, Israel’s major and minor prophets first began to envision the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom.

Though these prophecies were delivered over the course of many centuries, their "format" is often very similar. In fact, often the prophecies seem deliberately patterned to evoke and recall Israel’s Exodus from Egypt.

In the "new Exodus" foretold by the prophets, God, out of compassion for His suffering people, will raise up a new David-like king to lead the people out of exile and restore them once again in the land under a reunified Northern and Southern Kingdom.

Hosea, writing from the Northern Kingdom in the 8th century B.C., said that the people would return to God under the banner of "David, their king" (see Hosea 3).

The people of "Israel" (the Northern Kingdom) shall be gathered together with the people of "Judah" (the Southern Kingdom). Whereas once they were called "Lo-ammi" (Hebrew for "no people"), when the Davidic King restores them they will be called "children of the living God," Hosea promised.

This echoes God’s actions in the Exodus, where He called Israel his "first born son" and consecrated them as "My special possession, dearer to Me than all other people" (see Exodus 4:22; 19:5-6).

In Hosea’s prophecy we also hear an echo of the divine oath sworn to Abraham. Like the descendants of Abraham, the restored Kingdom of Israel will be more numerous than the sands of the sea (compare Hosea 3; Genesis 22:17).

Prophesying during this same period in the Southern Kingdom, Micah did not mention David by name, but spoke of a new ruler to be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah; this ruler would "shepherd" Israel and lead "the rest of his brethren" to "return to the children of Israel" (see Micah 5:1-4).

David, as all who heard Micah’s prophesy would know, was born in Bethlehem Ephrathah and was a "shepherd" (see Ruth 4:11,17; 1 Samuel 16:1,11). The promise of a reunion with the "children of Israel" is likewise the promise of a reunified kingdom.

B. From Zebulun and Naphtali

Amos, who ministered in Judah circa 750 B.C., also foresaw the "restoration" of God’s people and the raising up of "the fallen tent [kingdom] of David" (see Amos 9:11,14).
During the chaos of the eighth century, the prophet Isaiah likewise evoked the image of a new David.

He recalled the beginning of the end of the Davidic Kingdom in an obscure prophecy that, as we will see in our next lesson, becomes important in Matthew’s Gospel.

"First He degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the end He has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles" (seeIsaiah 8:23; Matthew 4:15).

As the initial hearers of his prophecy would have known, that part of the kingdom where the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali lived was first attacked by the Assyrians and the tribes were hauled off into captivity (see 2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26).

This area, then, marked the beginning of the kingdom’s end. The final end of the kingdom, as we saw above, came in the sixth century B.C., when Jerusalem was seized by Babylon and the remaining tribes were driven into exile (see 2 Kings 24:14).

Isaiah prophesied that Zebulun and Naphtali, the lands first to fall into the darkness of degradation, would be the first to see the light of God’s salvation.

That salvation would come, he said, with the birth of an heir to David’s throne. The new king’s dominion would be vast and would endure "both now and forever," Isaiah said (seeIsaiah 9:5-6).

Elsewhere, Isaiah prophesies the sprouting of a new shoot from the root of Jesse (seeIsaiah 11:1-16; see also Isaiah 55:3-5). Jesse, of course, was the father of David (see Ruth 4:11,17; 1 Samuel 16:1,11). Isaiah, then, is prophesying the coming of a new son of David.

As the Spirit rushed upon David when he was consecrated by Samuel (see 1 Samuel 16:13), "the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon" this new shoot of Jesse (see Isaiah 11:2).

This new David will lead a new Exodus, Isaiah foretells - drying up the Sea of Egypt and making in its midst a "highway" for the scattered and exiled tribes to come back to Israel.

This new Exodus is envisioned as not only a restoration but a reunification of the Davidic Kingdom. The prophet speaks of a gathering of "the outcasts of Israel" from all the nations - "from the four corners of the earth." In this new gathering of "the remnant of His people," God will heal the rivalry between Ephraim (symbol of the Northern Kingdom) and Judah (symbol of the Southern Kingdom).

Jeremiah, who prophesied amid the corruption of Jerusalem in the early seventh century B.C., also spoke of God raising up "a righteous shoot to David." His prophecy, too, alludes to a new Exodus that will restore and reunify the house of Israel (see Jeremiah 23:5-7;30:8-9; 33:15).

C. David in Exile

The prophet of the Exile, Ezekiel, also promised a new David.

Ezekiel sees this new David as a "shepherd" who would gather the scattered sheep of the flock of Israel

He, too, sees this David figure delivering Israel from bondage and exile and restore them to their homeland.

He sees too that this restoration to the land will announce a permanent reunification of the kingdom. "I will take the Israelites from among the nations to which they have come and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land….Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms" (see Ezekiel 34:24-30;37:12,21-28; 16:59-63).

Ezekiel said that God would in those days make a new covenant with the people, an everlasting covenant of peace, and would dwell forever among them in the sanctuary. Isaiah, too, had looked forward to the day when God would "renew the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David" (see Isaiah 55:3-5; 42:6; Jeremiah 31:31-34).

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