2 SAMUEL AND LAND 2 PETER, R.

We noticed last month that first Samuel is a continuous type of the history of God's kingdom on earth, from Adam's fall to the end of the present dispensation. We found that Saul's reign, to the anointing of David, pictures Israel's history from the giving of the law to the anointing of Jesus. Saul failed to judge Amalek, as Israel under law failed to subdue "the will of the flesh;"and Samuel had to hew Agag in pieces "in Gilgal," as God, by His Son's cross, "crucified" the " old man."

Saul does not figure merely the Jew's failure to glorify God in earthly government, but represents "the first man," and thus also the Gentile. When Christ came, not Israel and Judah alone, but Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome had all been tested upon Jehovah's earthly throne, and had all been weighed in the balance and found wanting.

This explains the type of the present dispensation found in the latter part of first Samuel, from the anointing of David to Saul's death. There were two rival kings, both anointed of God. Saul, tested and condemned, yet permitted to occupy the throne of outward power, seemed to be successful, and drew the multitudes after him. David, approved by God, yet rejected and persecuted by man, had as followers only a little band of men of faith, who had been taught of God. Like Saul, the " powers that be" are "ordained of God," yet serve their own will instead of His who has anointed them with the power they possess. The son of Jesse, on the other hand, pictures Him whom God has raised from the dead and made "both Lord and Christ," but who for 1900 years has been treated by the kingdoms of this world as Saul treated David.

Just as the Saul who persecuted David was the same Saul who rejected Samuel, so have the world-powers since Calvary fully proved their kinship with Israel, Judah, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, whose scepter they have inherited. Saul had the light of David's ways, experienced David's mercy, acknowledged David's title to the throne, and sometimes made a truce-which he soon broke. So have the world-powers had the light of Christ for nearly 2000 years, as they have held their thrones through His long-suffering; but while some have professed to be "Christian," and have made temporary covenants of peace, as in the times of Constantine and the Reformation, yet their heart has remained the murderous heart of Saul, and their mind, like Saul's, has continued to be " enmity against God." As Saul turned to familiar spirits, and perished at the hands of the Philistine, so will the "Christian" powers soon embrace the "doctrines of demons," and fall into the snare set by the " Synagogue of Satan." Alas! human history makes the type only too clear!

This much in review may help us to understand second Samuel, which is a type of the brief but awful dispensation which will follow the present one. In both books we see David's failure, side by side with his faith ; but we must remember that David typifies the people in whom Christ dwells, as well as Christ Himself. The perfections speak of Christ; the failures belong to His people.

I. The reign in Hebron (2 Sam. 1:-4:) pictures the dawn of a new dispensation. The mourning over the fall of Saul and Jonathan (1:) suggests the sadness which already is upon us, who now see the " Christian " powers, and the world-church in which Christians are entangled, rapidly declining into apostasy and ruin. David mourns, even though Saul's fall is the signal for his own triumph.
But at once the word to him and to his men is to " go up . . . unto Hebron" (2:1-7)-that Hebron, "built seven years before Zoan in Egypt," which symbolizes our place and joy in heaven ! We have here a figure of the rapture of the saints, which will immediately follow the spiritual fall of Christendom when, as Laodicea, she is spued out of Christ's mouth. David's anointing in Hebron, by the "men of Judah " ("praise"), suggests Rev. 4:and 5:, where the Lion of the tribe of Judah, amid the praises of His glorified saints, takes the book of God's counsels into His hand for execution.

The seven and a half years of David's reign in Hebron may suggest the heavenly aspect of the coming scene. Heaven will acknowledge its King throughout that period; but on earth there will be tumult and rebellion. This earthly aspect, of the gradual establishment of the kingdom, comes before us in the rest of second Samuel. The kingdom of Ishbosheth and Abner, Saul's successors, and its collapse (2:8-4:), remind us of Rev. 6:, where the rise of an imperial power is symbolized, as is its fall (we believe), in the concluding verses of the same chapter.

2. David's return to Jerusalem (5:-9:) after the tribes of Israel come to him at Hebron, figures, we doubt not, the setting up again of Jehovah's earthly throne amidst a repentant Jewish remnant in the last days. Only a part of Jerusalem is wrested from the Jebusite, as only a portion of the Jews will turn to Christ; yet the Philistines are defeated, as an apostate Christendom will be witnessed against by regenerated Jews. There is confusion and delay in bringing up the ark; yet at last it comes- Christ tabernacling in Jewish hearts ! Can we wonder that "David" dances and shouts?

David's desire to build a house to Jehovah may reflect the hopes of the Jewish remnant, as the first temple is erected after their return to their land. But this will not abide ; their faith must be purified; after which Jehovah will build for them, and not they for Him. The wars of David, in this section, no doubt picture the spiritual triumphs of the Jewish remnant during the first half of the last " week " of years of which Daniel speaks. David's kindness to the house of Saul reminds us that the grace of Christ in that day will extend to a "great multitude" from the Gentile nations, as well as to a remnant out of every Israelitish tribe (compare Rev. 7:).

3. David's sin (10:-12:) is in no sense typical of Christ, but may figure the sin of the Jewish nation, brought home to the conscience of the remnant in the last days. Can we not interpret the parable? Bathsheba, "daughter of the oath," whose father was Eliam, " God of the people," may well represent the inheritance which Israel's God had sworn to give to Israel. The Jews, coveting the blessing but hating the Blesser, murdered Him to whom it really belonged, as David had Uriah slain. Uriah, "Light of Jah," the Hittite, "Terror,"-the "Terror" which made them afraid,-thus figures Christ as the faithful Heir whom wicked husbandmen slew in order to seize the inheritance.

When the Jewish remnant is brought back, in the last days, the Spirit of God will press home their sin in its full bitterness, even as Nathan says to David, " Thou art the man !" Nor will they at first inherit, but will be chastened and scattered again, and made to realize that a hope conceived in sin must fail, even as the firstborn of David and Bathsheba perishes. Only when they come back, fully self-judged and forgiven, can "the daughter of the oath " become theirs, and Solomon, the offspring of their better hopes, establish their glory forever!

4. Absalom's rebellion (13:-20:) pictures the events of the last half of Daniel's "week." But first we have the sad story of Tamar, Amnon, and Absalom which is another parable of the last days, though we may be able to interpret it only in a general way. If Tamar, the king's daughter, represents Jerusalem, her humiliation at the hands of her own brother may picture the shame and corruption which the grieved remnant will see wrought in the city by their own kinsmen; the Jews. Absalom represents the hand of blood and violence which makes the disorders an excuse for its own cruelty. Absalom flees, but soon returns and steals the heart of the people. So will the influence of the godly remnant wane at Jerusalem, until at last Antichrist leads the nation into complete apostasy. It is this which will occupy the final three and a half years of Daniel's last seven, and in the picture before us it is represented by the open revolt of Absalom and Ahithophel.

5. The three years' famine (21:1-14) pictures the same period from another stand-point. Men will lack the word and grace of Christ:gross darkness will cover the people. The execution of Saul's seven sons and grandsons suggests the judgment of the seven-horned beast. Their burial out of sight lifts the curse from the land.

6. Complete victory (21:15-24:) follows, as the judgment of various other nations will follow that of the beast and false prophet. David's ode of triumph can then burst forth, while the roll of his mighty heroes is called. How glorious will be the fulfilment of this picture ! The numbering of the people, as a type, we interpret as a picture of the grace of Christ in identifying Himself with His people. To " number" them was to bring into view all their sin and failure, as individuals and as a nation. Yet the remnant will realize that the true David has done this, yet only in order to bear their curse Himself – purchasing the threshing-floor of the "Jebusite" with His own blood, and offering there burnt-offerings and peace-offerings which present His people to God in the fragrance of an eternal " odor of rest " !

I Peter sets forth the divine relationships of the Christian, and their power to carry him through a hostile world, (1) We are God's elect, set apart to obedience and to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ,-the Father's begotten ones, with a living hope, a heavenly inheritance, and God's present preserving power (1:1-21). Therefore we can endure fiery trial, and rejoice. Have we not that which prophets longed for and angels wonder over? Let us, then, gird up our loins, be holy like our Father, and reverence His governing hand and will. (2) We are born of God's word, are nourished by it as the babe by its mother's milk, have been builded into God's spiritual house, are a holy priesthood to praise Him, and a royal priesthood to show His praises to others (1:22-2:10). (3) In all our ways, therefore, let us practically prove that we are a holy people, set apart to God (2:11-3:9). (4) And let us arm ourselves with the mind of Christ, and be prepared to suffer, in a world of evil-doers, for righteousness' sake and for Christ's sake, only taking care not to suffer as evil-doers ourselves (3:10-4:6). (5) This practical godliness is all-important, because the testing and judgment of all things is at hand, and that which first of all will be tested and judged by God is that which professes to be His house and to be "Christian" in character (4:7-5:).

2 Peter emphasizes the truths of the first epistle,-the fact that Divine Power has given us "all things" pertaining to life and godliness, making us partakers of the divine nature; that we should therefore walk in godliness and in love, making our calling and election sure; and that to this end we should keep the bright hope of a coming glory before our souls, taking heed also to the prophetic word which points toward it (1:). We next see the reason for this emphasis:the growth of a great system of false teaching and false profession, which is not really delivered from the world's pollutions, but is going on to partake of the world's doom (2:). This chapter is an awful arraignment of " Christendom " as we now know it. But more (3:):the entire present age and cosmos, moral and physical, is doomed to destruction while we, as Christians, are really called to inherit what is beyond this-a new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness! Heirs of such a scene, how spotless, how blameless we should keep ourselves, during our present sojourn here!