Parallells Between Davidic Kingdom & Catholic Church

Charles Hatchko

This is from Dr. Scott Hahn's "Reasons to Believe; How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith" pg 156-157, 168-170

1. The Davidic monarchy was founded upon a divine covenant, the only human kingdom of the Old Testament to enjoy such a privilege (see 2 Sam 8:11-16).
2. The Davidic monarch was the Son of God.  The familial relationship of the king to God is expressed in Nathan's oracle, but again in other places (see Psalm 2:7).  The son of David received the grace of divine sonship at the time of his anointing.
3. The son of David was "the Christ,"  that is, "the messiah," since mashiach in Hebrew literally means "the anointed one" (see 1 Sam 16:13; 1Kgs 1:43-48; 2 Kgs 11:12; Ps 89:20-39).  His anointing with oil made him a priest and a king, "a priest for-ever after the order of Melchizedek" (Ps 110:4).  Melchizedek was priest-king in the Jerusalem of Abraham's time (Gen 14:18; Ps 76:2).
4. The House of David was inextricably bound to Jerusalem, particularly Mount Zion, which was the personal possession of King David and his heirs (2 Sam 5:9).  More than the capital city for the monarchy, Jerusalem became the spiritual center of God's people, and the place of pilgrimage for Israel and all the nations (Is 2:1-3).
5. The Temple was the visible sign of the Davidic covenant and God's kingdom.  Building the Temple was central to the terms of the covenant, and the same Hebrew word for "house" was used to describe not only David's dynasty, but also God's dwelling place, which was to serve as a "house of prayer for all peoples" (Is 56:7; Mt 21:12-15).
6. The Davidic King was to rule over all twelve tribes of Israel--but also over all the nations.  It was only under David and Solomon that both Judah and all the northern tribes were united as one kingdom and freed from foreign oppression (see 2 Sam 5:1-5; 1 Kgs 4:1-19).  The Lord also decreed that the Davidic king was to rule over all the nations (Ps 2:8, 72: 1-17), and welcome gentile pilgrims to Jerusalem (1 Kgs 8:41-43, 10:1-24), from all over the world.  The Davidic Kingdom at Zion thus marks the first time Israel was called to welcome gentiles as an integral part of their covenant with God.
7. The monarchy was to be everlasting.  One of the most prevalent emphases in the Psalms and histories is that David's dynasty will be eternal (see 2 Sam 7:16).  Not only the dynasty, but also the life span of the reigning monarch was described as everlasting (see Ps 21:4).

Along with those seven primary features, we should note three secondary elements.  Though these were not mentioned explicitly in Nathan's oracle, they are found throughout the histories and hymns of the House of David.  Again, they will become even more important under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.

1. The Queen Mother became an important part of the royal govenment.  It starts with King Solomon in 1 Kings 2:19  "So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah.  And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king's mother; and she sat on his right."  Note, here, that everyone bowed before Solomon, but Solomon himself bowed down before his mother.  From that point on, the Queen Mother became a permanent fixture in the kingdom, a symbol of the continuity of david's royal line.  she also served as one of the king's most important advisers.  Indeed, Proverbs 31 is identified as the advice of the queen mother of King Lemuel: "The words of Lemuel, king af Massa, which his mother taught him."  When the prophet jeremiah address the king, he addresses his mother as well, such was her authority: "Say to the king and the queen-mother..." (Jer 13:18; see also 2 Kgs 24:15).
2. The "prime minister"or chief steward became a distinct office in the royal government.  The king had many servants (in 1 Kgs 4:7 there are twelve), but one man was chief among them and stood between the king and his other ministers.  Almost two centuries after David, Isaiah prophesised a transition in the royal government in which one prime minister would be replaced by another (see Is 22:15-25).  From his prophecy, we can tell that everyone in the kingdom could identify the prime minister: "he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah."  The sign of the prime minster's office was the keys of the kingdom.  "And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open."
3. The thank offering or "sacrifice of thanksgiving" became the primary liturgy celebrated at Temple, much more than the sin offering (see Ps 50:13-14, 116:17-19).  The thank offering (Lev 7:12-15) included unleavened bread and wine freely offered to God in gratitude for deliverance.  Ancient Jewish teachers predicted that, when the Messiah came, no other sacrifice would be offered: the thank offering alone would continue.  The word for "thank offering" is todah in Hebrew, but is translated as eucharistia in many Greek translations of the Scriptures and in the writings of ancient Jews, such as Philo and Aquila.

Let's revisit those seven primary and three secondary features of God's covenant with David, and let's see how well Jesus fills the role.

1. The Davidic monarchy was founded upon a divine covenant.  God's covenant with David, as described in Nathan's oracle ( 2 Sam  7:9-16), provides all the content of the angelic description of Jesus in Luke 1:32-33.  Later, Jesus associates His kingship with a "new covenant" (Lk 22:20) and states that a kingdom has been assigned (literally, "covenanted") to Him by the Father (Lk 22:29).
2. The Davidic monarch was the Son of God.  Jesus is the natural, not merely adopted, Son of God (Lk 1:35), and the title is used of Him throughout the New Testament
3. The son of David was "the Christ." Christ" is indeed the preferred title of Jesus, from the first line of the New Testament onward.  Indeed, He is the "Lord's Christ" (Lk 2:26), a title applied only to kings in the Old Testament (see 1 Sam 16:6).
4. The House of David was inextricably bound to Jerusalem.  The climactic scenes of Jesus' ministry occur in Jerusalem--His trial, passion, and death.  The Gospel makes it clear that the word of God should go forth "from Jerusalem" to the ends of the earth (Lk 24:47).
5. The monarchy was also bound to the Temple.  Luke's Gospel begins in the Temple.  Jesus' childhood is set there.  Jesus cleanses the Temple and evicts the moneychangers.  For most of the Gospel he is traveling there (9:51-19:27), and the climax is reached when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, where he cleanses--and teaches within--the Temple (Lk 19:45-21:38).
6. The Davidic king is destined to rule all twelve tribes of Israel--but also all the nations.  The Gospels show--by many signs--that Jesus intends to restore the unity of the twelve tribes.  He appoints twelve Apostles, and He promises that they will judge "the twelve tribes of Israel" (Lk 22:30).  Key figures, such as the prophetess Anna, from the tribe of Asher, represent a faithful remnant from the "lost" northern tribes (Lk 2:36).  And Jesus gained a "multitude" (Lk 19:37) of followers from the former lands of united Israel by preaching in Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.  By His entryinto Jerusalem, he has formed a reunited kingdom.  Yet Jesus' kingship extends over all the nations.  Simeon announces that He will be a "light of revelation to the nations" (Lk 2:32).  Luke traces genealogy back to Adam rather than Abraham.  Jesus heals gentiles as well as Jews (e.g., Lk 7:1-10).  He predicts that "men will come from east and west, and from north and south" to sit at the table in the kingdom of God (Lk 13:29).  He commands that "forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Lk 24:47).
7. The kingdom of David was to be everlasting.  The angel Gabriel promises Mary that Jesus "will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Lk1:33).

The three secondary characteristics find fulfillment in the Gospel as well.

1. Mary appears as Queen Mother when she advises her royal son (Jn 2:3), when she pleads the cause of His subjects, when she receives foreign dignitaries with Him (Mt 2:11), and when she stands with His court of twelve royal ministers, the Apostles (Jn 19:25; Acts 2:14).
2. Jesus appoints Peter as prime minster using the very terms used in the appointment of the "steward" who governs "the household of David" as vice-regent (see Mt 16:19; Is 22:15-25).  The king bestows authority symbolically with "the keys."
3. Jesus renews the sacrifice of Thanksgiving, the todah, by His own offering of bread and wine, the eucharista, the Eucharist.  indeed, whenever we find Jesus breaking bread, we see Him "giving thanks" (e.g., Lk 24:30-35; Jn 6:11).

No one who believes the Gospels can deny that Jesus' contemporaries awaited a Messiah-king from the house of David.  No one who believes the Gospels can deny that Jesus presented Himself as the awaited Davidic king.

If Jesus is the Davidic king, his kingdom must be, in some sense, a Davidic Kingdom--the Davidic kingdom.  Jesus' "kingdom of God" did not supplant or replace the everlasting kingdom created by the covenant with David.  Jesus' kingdom was that kingdom, and is that kingdom, brought to fulfillment.

For only David's kingdom was called the "kingdom of Yahweh" (1 Chr 28:5).  The Old Testament authors understood that the reign of the house of David was based on a divine covenant in which the son of David was also declared to be the Son of God (2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7).  Therefore, the kingdom of David was the manifestation of God's rule over the earth--that is, God's everlasting kingdom for Israel and the nations.

But where is that kingdom today?  Indeed, where has it been all the years since Jesus' ascension?  For the Christian apologist, ancient or modern, there is perhaps no more important question.