Some notes on the future “Davidic king”

I think that this discussion needs some further work:

There are other things that have yet to occur with regard to Pal­estine or Israel. The ancient King David evidently lost his exaltation as a result of transgression, so his blessings and role are to be given to another. “The Priesthood that he received,” said the Prophet Joseph Smith, “and the throne and kingdom of David is to be taken from him., and given to another by the name of David in the last days, raised up out of his lineage.”[1] Several of the ancient prophets seem to have known of this important figure. “Alas!” wrote Jeremiah,

For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.[2]

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely.[3]

The prophet Zechariah used a man by the name of Joshua, the son of Josedech, as a visual aid to make his point:

Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH…and he shall build the temple of the Lord: Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne.[4]

Hosea appears to have known of a Davidic king who would fol­low a period of apostasy, a period in which the Israelites would have neither a functioning state nor a functioning priesthood.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.[5]

The prophet Ezekiel, writing from Babylonian exile, knew a great deal about this figure of the latter days.

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… [I] will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judg­ments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. More­over I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multi­ply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.[6]

The emphasis on unity is noteworthy. “Ephraim shall not envy Judah,” writes Isaiah, “and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.” “They shall be no more two nations,” declares Ezekiel, “neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”[7]

[1] History of the Church 6:253; compare Doctrine and Covenants 132:39.

[2] Jeremiah 30:7-9.

[3] Jeremiah 23:5-6.

[4] Zechariah 6:12-13; compare 3:8.

[5] Hosea 3:4-5.

[6] Ezekiel 37:21-28.

[7] Isaiah 11:13; Ezekiel 37:22.

Posted from Newport Beach, California