Saturday, December 11, 2004 Fish, Wine, & Oil
Venerable Daniel the Stylite
Kellia: 2 Samuel 7:1-4, 8-16 (2 Kings 7:1-4, 8-16 LXX) Epistle: Ephesians 1:16-23 Gospel: St. Luke 12:32-40
2 Samuel 7:1-4, 8-16, especially vs.16: "And your house and your kingdom
shall be made sure for ever before Me; your throne shall be established for ever." Considering all the royalty that have
come and gone on earth, the many nations that have seen the light of God's sun, and the crowns that have tumbled into the
dust, one can see that God's promises to King David are most remarkable when measured against history. In fact, the
Kingdom of the Son of David has an ineffable significance, for the eyes of faith know that all the kingdoms of this world
shall "become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever" (Rev. 11:15). That
knowledge gives this passage from 2nd Samuel (2nd Kings LXX) an importance far beyond an interesting study in Hebrew
antiquities!
The Lord promised David: "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before Me" (vs. 16). In the
Septuagint (LXX), the word is "oikos," which connotes "household," or in the case of a king, implies his "dynasty," as the
"house of Romanov" or the "house of Tudor." The implication of the term promises a continuity of blood lineage. Both
St. Matthew and St. Luke, with variations in what they report, carefully place the Lord Jesus within the blood lineage of St.
Joseph, the spouse of the Theotokos, which they trace back to King David.
Of greater significance, however, is the lineage of the Virgin Mary since the Lord was conceived in her without earthly
father. In the tradition of the Holy Fathers: "she, being like a precious stone, was of royal lineage, having descended from
David, who placed a stone in his sling and with it killed Goliath, which stone foreshadowed the Rock that is Christ. And
she was fashioned, as it were, from aromatic woods of cedar and cypress, being of priestly ancestors as well, who offered
God sweet-smelling sacrifices. Her father, the holy righteous Joachim, was the son of Barpaphira, who traced his ancestry
to Nathan, the son of David" (see 2 Sam. 5:14). Second, God promised David "that I will raise up thy seed after thee, even
thine own issue, and I will establish his kingdom...and I will set up his throne for ever" (2 Sam 7:12,13 LXX). Measured in
historical terms, the dynasty of David apparently ended with the Babylonian exile, for the Hasmonean kings did not lay
claim to Davidic ancestry, yet the Apostolic witness is careful to declare such a bloodline for the Lord Jesus. Even if the
Hasmoneans had claimed to have Davidic blood, their throne was superseded by Idumeans in the Herods, and all kings of
Judah were abolished by the Romans. Rome settled her doubts about Jesus, for Pontius Pilate believed that he had
eliminated Him as a royal threat. How the Lord of history thwarts empires! "Come, let us all extol David...the grandparent
of God; for from him...did shine forth Christ!"
Most wonderful is the final element in the Divine promise to David, for the Lord promised David that his Son, Who would
establish an everlasting kingdom, would have an enduring love relationship between Himself and God His Father. God
specifically promised David: "I will not take My steadfast love from Him" (vs. 15). The Lord Jesus, great David's greater
Son, in His prayer to His heavenly Father, affirmed an eternal loving relationship between Himself and His Father for all to
consider forever: "I have declared unto them [the Disciples] Thy Name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith Thou
hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (Jn. 17:26). Who could doubt that the essence of the relationship between
the Lord Jesus and God the Father was and is and shall always be anything but love?
Let us celebrate the memory of David the Prophet-king of true worship, so that being saved from error by his teachings,
and by God's true promises to him, we may glorify Christ Who shone forth Incarnate from the Virgin to save our souls.
