Lampe on Church History: The Church under Kings before the Division

I.  The third period, wherein all the tribe of Israel were yet conjoined under their first Kings, numbers one hundred and twenty years, expressly set down in Scripture.  For, it gives to Saul forty years, Acts 13:21, which there is no necessity of uniting with the years of the prefecture of Samuel; just so many to the kingdom of David, 2 Samuel 5:4, and again just so many to the kingdom of Solomon, 1 Kings 11:42.

II.  Wearied by the Israelite Theocracy under the Judges, they asked for a King, after the example of other nations, which the Lord granted with indignation,[1] namely, Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin.  The beginnings of his kingdom were auspicious enough, with victories over the Ammonites[2] and the Philistines.[3]  But, when Saul, with war undertaken against the Amalekites, had shown himself rebellious against God, he is rejected, and David is anointed as King by Samuel.[4]  Since David’s fame was growing with the victory won over Goliath and the Philistines,[5] he is driven about by Saul, who, having been forsaken by the Spirit of God, and with the result that he consulted the Witch of Endor, a known conjurer, committing suicide with the war wage unsuccessfully, left the kingdom vacant for David.[6]

III.  David, acknowledged as King first by the tribe of Judah, and finally by the rest, with Abner acting as mediator,[7] transfers the imperial seat to Jerusalem, or Cadytis, a great city of Syria according to Herodotus,[8] unto the citadel of Zion, seized from the Jebusites;[9] and he, rejoicing in his many successes, offends God most grievously in his sin with Bath-sheba,[10] whence a great field of evils sprung up to him.  Before his death, David made Solomon his successor, who excelled all the Kings of the East in wisdom, riches, and magnificence, and reigned in peace,[11] having friendship with Hiram King of Tyre,[12] with the King of Egypt, whom they call Vaphris, whose daughter he married,[13] and with the Queen of Sheba herself.  The coins that are produced bearing their names ought to be regarded as spurious.

IV.  In these times the Church obtained a most propitious increase, having been sent into the fullest possession of the inheritance of Canaan, which had been promised to the Fathers;[14] and things are far more clearly instituted than hitherto concerning the Messiah and His redemption and kingdom.  To this principally pertain the promises exhibited to David, and his Psalms, with other Songs of θεοπνεύστων/inspired Men, among whom are mentioned Heman and Ethan, Ezrahites, Asaph and also Jeduthun, bound together in one Volume:[15]  and also the writings of Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs.  The words of Samuel, Nathan, and Gad are also put on record, 1 Chronicles 29:29, which some nevertheless think to be the same with the Books of Samuel as extant.  It is likely that some things pertaining to Solomon have perished.  Meanwhile, the Odes of Solomon, and the Book of Wisdom, and the rest of that note, we dismiss as spurious.

V.  The external worship of God also put on new splendor.  For David set the Priests and Levites, who were going to perform the sacred rites, into certain orders, and added other things that were concerning the worship of the Deity.  The Ark of the Covenant was carried from Kiriath-Jearim to the house of Obed-edom, from there to the city of David, and finally into the temple,[16] which was most splendidly built and piously initiated by Solomon.

VI.  And yet there was still not sufficient care in effacing the relics of idolatry in Israel, especially when Solomon himself, bewitched with love for foreign women, opened a new gate to it.[17]

[1] 1 Samuel 8; Hosea 13:10, 11.

[2] See 1 Samuel 11.

[3] See 1 Samuel 13; 14.

[4] See 1 Samuel 15; 16.

[5] See 1 Samuel 17; 18.

[6] See 1 Samuel 28-31.

[7] See 2 Samuel 2; 3.

[8] Histories, book 2, section 159, book 3, section 5.  Herodotus (c. 484-c. 425) was a Greek historian, sometimes called “The Father of History”.

[9] See 2 Samuel 5.

[10] See 2 Samuel 11.

[11] See 1 Kings 4; 10.

[12] See 1 Kings 5.

[13] 1 Kings 3:1.

[14] See Genesis 15:8; 2 Samuel 8.

[15] See 1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 6:33-43; 25:1-6; Psalm 39 title; 50 title; 62 title; 88 title; 89 title.

[16] 2 Samuel 6; 1 Kings 8:1-11; 1 Chronicles 13; 15:1-16:1; 2 Chronicles 5.

[17] 1 Kings 11.