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Priesthood, in so clear a light, that it is impossible that a Christian instructed in the word should mistake, or say that the sacrificial pre-eminence of the family of Aaron held the same place in the ways of God, subsequent to the establishment of royalty, as it did before. Moreover, we have seen, in detail, proofs to the contrary. In like manner, Solomon sends back Abiathar to his own house, and when David, without troubling himself about the priesthood, places the ark in Sion, an all-important change-he places the Priests in Gibeon before the altar; and there were none before the ark (see 1 Chron. xvi. 37, to the end of the chapter). We find also (2 Sam. vi. 17, 18), this character of Melchizedek showing itself in measure in David. If we closely examine the change, we shall see how vast was its import. The expression (1 Sam. ii. 35), "He shall stand, or shall walk before His Anointed," has already revealed this. The ark taken captive-where is the glory? Ichabod being the state of Israel, in such sort that the Priesthood was a nullity, as to its original exercise; for without the ark there was no day of atonement for Israel, God interposes in an extraordinary manner by means of prophecy, which was a sovereign means on His part, and announces to the afflicted and downcast people, in the. person, and by the mouth, of Hannah, that there was a new means of blessing; that He

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The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his King, and exalt the horn of his Anointed.

Here, in the presence of the priesthood, and on the eve of the capture of the ark, a new character, that of the Anointed, is introduced. The anointing had before been distinctively attached to the priesthood. The high priest had been the Anointed. Now it is another

who is distinctively the anointed, it is the king; and this connects itself with the character in which the Christ was to appear. The king being thus distinctively the anointed, the high priest, who had been so previously, walks before Him. He (the priest) is still in office, but He is no longer the centre of the system. The king, type of Christ, has taken his place.

Let us examine this in another point of view. It is certain that God, in His determinate counsel, designed to glorify His Son, even in the kingdom of Israel, and in that of the world. But on the other hand, the people ought to have remained before God, by the means of the high priest, without a king being needed for the maintenance of its order. The Lord was their King. Consequently God permitted the sin of the people to ripen, ere he established His anointed. Now the priesthood, as we have seen, and as all the Levitical system testifies, was the centre of all the relationships of the people with God-the link of the chain which was near the throne of the Lord. The Lord was Himself King in Israel; but Israel needed to see a king, to be like the nations. The notion that the sin was simply in desiring a king like the nations, and that the thing was not evil, because it was foreknown of God, cannot be admitted for a moment: "And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them" (1 Sam. viii. 7).

At the same time, God presents before the people what will be the consequences; but the people say," Nay, but a king shall reign over us:" "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Sam. viii. 5, comp. with xii. 12).

Now, already, before this request, the high priest had, if one may so say, disappeared. Samuel offered sacrifices here and there; but at length God established His king, His anointed, as we have seen, and in such a position (for he was the type of Christ) that it is said by the Holy Spirit, "Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king” (1 Chron. xxix. 23).

We see here, the anointed of the Lord seated upon the throne of the Lord. The high priest walks before him. This it is which will take place when the Kingdom shall be established. Without the least doubt Christ will be the Head and Centre of it. The question here, is not of the high priest, type of the Heavenly Priesthood (a thought which properly applies only to the tabernacle, as we see in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the Apostle speaks only of the tabernacle), but of the position of the high priest in the presence of the king. Christ must have that place of king. David and Solomon are the types of this-in suffering, in victory, and in glory -sitting upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel (1 Chron. xxviii. 5). Now, previously, the Lord had been Himself their King, and the high priest abode before Him. The people rejected God, that He should not reign over them. Their iniquity gave occasion for the accomplishment of His designs in grace, even as it befalls us. But before this act of the people, the high priesthood itself had failed, and all the order to which it pertains was dissolved. The ark was taken, and consequently, the relations of God with the people broken, so far as that depended upon their faithfulness. That order, such as it had been, was not restored. The tabernacle never received the ark. The king became the anointed; and he it is who arranges as to the ark, and the high priest must walk before him. Now, to say, in the face of changes of such a kind as this, that external splendour placed the high priest in more glorious position, deserves no reply. It was worth while developing these things by reason of their intrinsic value.

These remarks will already have enabled us to understand what was the royal authority truly willed of God, and what was the royal authority, which was chosen by man; but we will cite some passages to make it perfectly obvious.

First, I do not see exactly that royalty was in failure during the reign of Saul. The King fell by the hands of the Philistines, but Saul was no more an unbeliever at the close than at the commencement; sin came to its maturity in him; his heart hardened itself: alas! this is

the history of man. But Saul never stood by faith; and the royal authority was not in worse plight at the close than at the commencement. He was disobedient, and God withdrew His favour from him as an individual, but I see not in what the royal authority, as such, failed. It is true, indeed, that the judgment which we have to form upon this, in measure, depends upon the principal question, viz. that of the character of the royal authority of Saul, and to what point we can call it the royal authority willed of God. This we will now examine.

Samuel sees so distinctively the will of the people in this matter, that he says (in substance in the terms of which I have made use), "Now, therefore, behold the king whom ye have chosen" (1 Samuel xii. 13). This royal authority-was it that which was willed of God? The Spirit of God by Moses had anticipated the occasion in which the people of God would ask for a king, and had given rules to be observed when the occasion occurred-but the will of God is not found there (Deut. xvii. 14-29, etc.).

It is clear that nothing can happen without the will of God. But it is certain that the establishment of Saul was not, morally, according to the Divine will. Several passages in the Book of Samuel furnish unanswerable proofs of this. "The thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. Now therefore hearken unto their voice; howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them "(1 Sam. viii. 6, 7, 9).

Then Samuel recounts the oppressions which they must needs endure at the hand of the king, and adds: "And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day" (1 Sam. viii. 18). But "ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king" (1 Sam. xii. 12).

We see here passages which shew, with the most entire evidence, that unless the Lord willed that the

people should reject Himself; unless, which is impossible, that He willed a great sin (see 1 Sam. xii. 17, 19), that it is not possible that God willed the royalty of Saul. There is a collateral proof that this was not the royalty willed of God, viz. in that the entire responsibility of maintaining its relationship with God is left to the people (see end of chap. xii). But the people having shewn that they could not do without that intermediate power could not walk with God in direct relationship; and God having also manifested the evil-the door opens for the accomplishment of his counsels in Christ: for there was a royalty which had its place in the counsels of God,-even that of Christ,-whose forerunner and type the Lord Himself raises up, without the will or thought of the people finding any entrance whatsoever. We have already seen the manner in which God (in Psalm lxviii.) passes from his judgment upon Shiloh, by the which he had abandoned the tabernacle for ever, to his own choice, viz. to David and to the place of his throne in the midst of his people-the place chosen for his abode; comp. Psa. cxxxii. 17, where it is written" There will I make the house of David to bud; I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.”

Such was the royalty willed of God. "The Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord commanded Him to be captain over His people" (1 Sam. xiii. 14), and again (xvi. 1), " Fill thine horn with oil, and go; I will send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons." Having anointed him, it is David who is the true chief and leader of Israel, even during the reign of Saul. The Lord also said to him, speaking of Solomon, "I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee" (1 Chron. xvii. 13). And in Psalm lxxxix., where the bounties of God concentrate upon David, type of the true well-beloved.

Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: with whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

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