The Kingdom of Israel
The Kingdom Testimony spans Kings Saul, David and Solomon. These three Kings represent the life of Jesus or the journey of salvation.
In brief:
Saul represents the sinful nature and David escaped.
Life and ministry - 80 years: David 40 and Solomon 40.
Kingdom divided or broken on Solomons death.
This testimony reveals Jesus.
I'll explain the testimony in more detail:
BIRTH / REPENTANCE:
Saul tried to kill David and King Herod tried to kill Jesus. The King Herod part of the testimony is interesting:
“Saul was … years old when he became king; and when he had reigned two years over Israel” (1 Samuel 13:1). Jesus may have been two years old when escaping King Herod - symbolic repentance.
Translators cannot understand the chronology of Saul's life in 1 Sam 13v1 and often insert their own number for his age when made King. The Jerusalem Bible simply omits the verse entirely, and begins 1 Samuel 13 with verse 2.
A footnote explains: “The Heb. reads ‘Saul was one year when he became king, and he reigned over Israel for two years, which is absurd.”
The word 'son' is also 'one' in Hebrew. The number is actually missing from the text, or it appears that he was born King which is true of the sinful nature.
Therefore the Saul / David conflict represents the flesh / spirit struggle of repentance with regards to new birth.
David and Goliath is another example.
(For the final generation this is expected as WW3 - apocalyptic repentance).
LIFE AND MINISTRY:
King David's 40 year reign represents a born again Christian living victoriously.
King Solomon's 40 year reign represents the mature Christian with wisdom, serving in leadership later in life.
Just as a new convert must not be made a leader (1 Tim 3v6), so King David could not build the temple (1 Chron 22v8). This comes later in life, ie: the maturity of Solomon's time.
The 80 years of Kings David and Solomon is like Moses who was 80 at the time of the exodus. Things get messy towards the end.
Unfortunately there will be an apostasy later during the lifetime of the final generation. This is seen in King Solomon's pursuit of pleasure which led him into sin.
THE END:
The body of Israel was broken when Solomon died, divided in two, north and south. This is the moment of the cross at the end of the testimony. There will be a final antichrist who will attack the true Israel / temple in the end.
Jesus will return and save his people. We will rise into glory as Jesus did after his resurrection.
"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Rev 19v10.
An earlier Article:
The Kingdom of Israel
The Kingdom of Israel is at the centre of God’s plan of salvation. Perfect fulfilment comes through Jesus, but Israel’s Kings, Saul, David and Solomon foreshadow God’s greater plan, revealing Jesus.
Twelve large typological examples of Jesus surround the time of the Kingdom of Israel, six before and six after, placing the Kingdom at the focus of a great chiasm of history.
The pattern of Jesus’ life is revealed in the story of the Kingdom of Israel:
— The birth (the kingdom established),
— the life and ministry (the kingdom reign),
— and the death and resurrection (the Kingdom divided but Dividic line preserved).
The Kingdom of Israel began with King Saul, but Israel’s request for a king revealed their rejection of God.
Samuel was displeased when the elders of Israel asked for a King. God told Samuel: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” — 1 Samuel 8v7.
God warned them that a king would oppress them through taxation and etc (1 Sam 8v11-18).
King David was a man after God’s own heart, but even he sinned against God. The glory days of Israel reached their peak during the reign of King Solomon, and they enjoyed peace and prosperity.
King Solomon’s foreign wives lead him into sin, and when he died the Kingdom was cut in two. However the Dividic line was preserved.
(Resurrection is promised.)
Real, symbolic or apocalyptic
God’s true mission is to deliver us from the power of sin. Freedom from sin was revealed symbolically when God helped Israel to break free from the power of their enemies to enjoy peace and prosperity.
Real freedom begins with the freedom from guilt that comes through faith in Jesus, the forgiveness of sin. But in the Bible God uses typological pictures to present this spiritual truth symbolically.
The Kingdom of Israel only foreshadowed God’s true rescue mission. Sin still remained an ongoing problem in Israel until Jesus came to cast out the ruler of this world. (John 12v31).
Now we have freedom from guilt. It is invisible but by faith we know it in our hearts. However symbolic pictures of salvation in Scripture teach us spiritual truths in visible ways. In this way the typological stories of the Bible reveal Jesus ‘apocalyptically’.
Through apocalypse God presents invisible truth in outwardly visible ways.
Apocalypse means ‘revelation’ and Jesus means ‘salvation’. Therefore “The apocalypse of Jesus” (Rev 1v1) refers to God’s outwardly visible display of the salvation journey.
The appearance of the Kingdom of Israel is an example of one such ‘apocalypse of Jesus’. It was God’s ‘revelation of salvation’ to us. It always follows the pattern of birth, life, death and resurrection.
The main difference between Israel and Jesus is that Israel is for “signs and symbols” (Isaiah 8v18) to reveal the process, and the struggle, but Jesus is the real source of salvation.
The journey of salvation is a life long process, during which the true glory of God’s eternal kingdom remains hidden until the greater struggle where the ultimate victory will be revealed, the death and resurrection.
According to the book of Revelation, we can expect another symbolic or apocalyptic journey in the last days. It will depict the struggle that we have with sin and death, and the salvation that is available in Christ Jesus.
The journey always begins at birth or with an awakening, which involves an escape from an enemy or a life threatening calamity.
The symbolic enemy reveals sin or Satan, and in the last days we have reasons to believe this symbolic enemy will be war between nations, and the consequences of war — nuclear radiation.
Nuclear war will be the dragon in the last days, but God promises an escape for his people as a kind of miracle birth to begin a challenging journey of faith and obedience that will continue until a real rebellion, and the return of Jesus.
Birth
The birth of King Saul is not recorded. He ruled for about 40 years according to Acts 13v21, but the length of his reign was not recorded in the Old Testament either. However an apparent error in the Hebrew text appears to present his reign as an infant.
“Saul was [one ?] year old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel.” — 1 Samuel 13v1 (The literal translation of the Hebrew text).
The word ‘one’ is not there in the Hebrew, it is “ben” which means ‘son’ or ‘age’, but the number is missing.
A possible translation is ‘one year’, but keeping in mind that the Jewish system of counting is inclusive of the first year, perhaps a literal translation may be ‘first’ year or ‘birth year’.
This resembles the miracle child of Revelation 12v1-5 who is born to rule (from heaven). But in Saul’s case, the dragon that wants to devour the child the moment he was born devoured him. An evil spirit possessed Saul, and he became the enemy of David.
Saul’s age here is considered illogical, or impossible. The text is believed to be corrupt as the number is missing, but as it stands it suggests a miraculous reign from birth or as an infant, perhaps symbolically the birth or infancy of the kingdom of Israel.
A miracle birth was required for prophetic purposes, and although it didn’t fit the narrative it is there!
Themes Relating to Birth
There are several repeating themes that appear in other typological accounts of the birth, and which also appear here.
The following list could be discussed in much more detail to consider many relevant prophetic connections, but here I list some of the connections after a hyphen.
Signs and wonders relate to birth (1 Sam 10v1-9)
Saul received God’s Spirit in power. He prophesied and was changed into a different person (1 Sam 10v6, 9-12, 11v6).
— Pentecost, the birth of the churchWhen faced with an enemy (Nahash the Amorite) Saul cut a pair of Oxen into pieces sent them throughout the land (1 Sam 11v7).
— The covenant of parts in Genesis 15 (See Apoc. Abraham)The people turned out as one man (1 Sam 11v7).
— “Israel is my first born son” (Ex 4v22).300 thousand from Israel
30 thousand from Judah (v8)
— Three is a common sign at birth.The Lord rescued Israel that day (v13).
A storm hit during the wheat harvest, thunder and rain so that Israel would understand their wickedness in asking for a king. The people stood in awe and said to Samuel,
“Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die…” (1 Sam 12v16-25)
— a Mount Sinai moment.The birth of Saul as an intensional (?) corruption of the text (1 Sam 13v1).
“Saul chose 3000 men from Israel” (1 Sam 13v2a).
— 3000 people were saved on Pentecost
— 3000 people died at Mount Sinai etc.The trumpet was blown throughout the land (v3)
“They hid in caves, thickets and among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns.” (v6) “…quaking in fear.” (v7)
The Lord rescued Israel that day (1 Sam 14v23).
Due to fear Saul sinned by not waiting for Samuel before making sacrifice, so his Kingdom would not endure (1 Sam 13v7-14).
God gave them great victories over the Philistines and delivered them from their enemies on every side (1 Sam 14). But due to sin God was grieved that he had made Saul King, (1 Sam 15v11, 23, & 35).
The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. (1 Sam 16v14).
David and Solomon’s Echos
The pattern of Jesus’ life is revealed in David and Solomon, including the initial struggle, the blessed life and powerful kingship until a conspiracy.
David and Goliath
David and King Saul — a difficult beginningThe reign of Kings David and Solomon saw God’s promises fulfilled
However David sinned when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.
King Solomon also fell into sin when he loved many foreign wives.
Absalom’s conspiracy.
Sheba, a Benjamite rebelled. (2 Sam 20)
Judgement came on Saul’s descendants at the hands of the Gibeonites (2 Sam 21).
The Kingdom was eventually divided after King Solomon’s reign.
The Beginning
David’s defeat of Goliath was a miraculous rescue for Israel, and it began his rise to power. It resembles Revelation 12, the escape of Gods child from the dragon as he is snatched up to God and his throne to rule with a rod of iron (Rev 12v5).
In many ways David resembles Jesus as a King for God’s people, and now we follow.
The defeat of Goliath brings great celebration like that experienced by newly born again Christians. The escape at the time of birth relates to repentance, and salvation, but for the final generation we can consider world war three.
On one hand this is an awakening, a sudden life changing moment like Pentecost as a new journey begins, but on the other hand it begins a serious struggle.
David’s subsequent struggle with Saul was a very testing time, but David was patient and trusted God, and God delivered him. When Saul died, David was anointed as King and he was successful in establishing his Kingship (2 Sam 1-4).
Saul was possessed with an evil spirit.
Spiritually we fight sin.
Apocalyptically we will fight nuclear radiation.
After 7 years in Hebron David conquered Jerusalem and the ark was brought into the city with great celebration (2 Sam 5, 6). God made promises to David, the ‘Davidic Covenant’ of 2 Sam 7. Covenants often follow times of birth.
The Kingdom
The Lord gave David victories everywhere he went (2 Sam 8v6, 14). However he sinned when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed.
Nathan the prophet explained the consequences of David’s sin. The sword would never depart from David’s house and his wives would be violated. Then the child he had with Bathsheba died. (2 Sam 12v10-18).
Due to sin troubles continued in David’s house just as Nathan the prophet had said. But the Kingdom was passed on to David’s son, Solomon, and they enjoyed the most glorious days of the kingdom.
King Solomon was blessed with great wisdom, and ruled over all the lands God had promised to them. They lived in safety and had great wealth.
“The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the sea shore; they ate, they drank and they were happy.” — 1 Kings 4v20.
King Solomon built the temple (1 Kings 6) and brought the ark into the temple (1 Kings 8).
“However as Solomon grew old his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God has the heart of David his father had been.” — 1 Kings 11v4.
The End of the United Kingdom
The Lord raised up adversaries against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, and Rezon in Aram. Jeroboam, son of Nebat rebelled against the king, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh foretold that the Kingdom would be divided (1 Kings 11).
At the end of time an antichrist will also cause a rebellion and bring division in the world.
Israel was a united kingdom for three generations of Kings, but in the fourth generation the Kingdom was divided. Prophetic patterns for the 3rd and 4th generation reoccur several times in Scripture, and are believed to have special significance for the generation at the time of the end.
Given that we can live to see the third and forth generations it this pattern is consistent with Jesus’ promise in Matthew 24v34 that the generation won’t pass away until all these things have happened.
