2 Samuel 7:14 “I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:”

Many believe the concept of Israel ’s Messiah being the Son of God is strictly a Christian belief that began in the First Century; however, this teaching is rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures long before the coming of the Lord Jesus.  The Messiah being the Son of God is not Christian in origin but Jewish.

God’s everlasting covenant with King David established the first direct connection with Israel ’s King Messiah being the Son of God.  This happened in approximately 1000 BC.  Solomon sat on the throne of David as the King of Israel as the chosen son of God. He was the first king of Israel under this covenant and a type of the last king who would be King Messiah, the begotten Son of God.

We see in Scripture that God's everlasting covenant with David established the first connection to show King Messiah as the Son of God.  David's son Solomon sat on the throne as God's chosen son as well as Israel 's king.  Under this covenant, he became the first king of Israel and a type of the last king who would be King Messiah, the begotten Son of God.

God chose Solomon to sit as the first king of Israel , and therefore God declared him His son.  From this position, we can then see that Solomon becomes a type or picture of King Messiah.  He is the first king who leads directly to King Messiah.  However, the Son of God will sit forever on the throne of David.

Solomon as a type of King Messiah

King Solomon’s reign is a type or forerunner of the everlasting reign of King Messiah.  Six key issues emerge to show Solomon as a type of King Messiah which Jesus of Nazareth will fulfill.  The six characteristics include:

· Solomon built and reigned in the first temple of the Lord while King Messiah will build and reign in the final temple of the Lord.

· Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord over Israel while King Messiah will sit on the throne of the Lord over all the nations.

· Solomon, as King, ruled as the chosen son of God while King Messiah will rule as the begotten Son of God.

· Solomon’s rule brought peace to Israel while King Messiah will bring peace to all the nations.

· Solomon reigned in magnificent material glory while King Messiah will rule in the awesome glory of God.

· The covenant included the King of Israel being beaten and whipped for sin.

God's Everlasting Covenant with David

The Bible records the covenant God made with King David regarding his throne.  The Scriptures reveal two very important characteristics of this covenant.  First, God establishes an everlasting kingdom, and secondly God introduces a Father-son relationship with the king so that Solomon would reign as God’s chosen son.  This covenant is found in 2 Samuel 7:13-16:

2 Samuel 7:13 “He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. (14) I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

2 Samuel 7:15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. (16) And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”

In these verses, God makes it very clear that David’s throne and the kingdom will be forever and not simply limited to David and Solomon.  Both David and Solomon died about 3000 years ago, so this promise obviously could not be made exclusively to them, but God proclaimed that King Messiah would be of David’s seed.  There is no doubt that Messiah’s reign and His throne and His kingdom would be forever.

The Scriptures supporting 2 Samuel 7:13-15 give very important additional information about King Solomon and his reign.  King David reinforces that Solomon will follow him as king.  He then shows that Solomon is not to reign simply as the King of Israel, but he is to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel .  Thus Solomon represents the God of Israel on earth as the king over Israel .  Further, according to Scripture, God was to be Solomon's Father, and Solomon would be God's chosen son.  Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord over Israel as the son of God:

1 Chronicles 28:4 “Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:”

1 Chronicles 28:5 “And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel . (6) And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.”

While Solomon and the other kings would reign, their dominion was restricted to the land of Israel .  Only when King Messiah would take the throne of David as the King of Israel, would He reign over all the earth.

With the foundation that Solomon reigned over Israel as the son of God, we can compare this with King Messiah's reign.  King Messiah will have dominion over the entire earth and not only Israel .  All the nations will come under His authority, and He will rule them with a “rod of iron.”  While Solomon was the chosen son of God, King Messiah who rules over all the nations will be the begotten Son of God.  King David was Solomon's father, but the God of Israel is King Messiah's Father.  He will rule the nations with God's decree that He was begotten of God and not man:

Psalm 2:6 “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. (7) I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”

Psalm 2:8 “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (9) Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

God's promise to David was eternal.  It was not limited to David or Solomon, but it reached to the eternal kingdom of King Messiah .  The very authority of God’s word and character bridges this covenant because it originates from His holiness.

God promised to bring His begotten Son into the world to rule the nations as King Messiah.  And the Scriptures show that the begotten Son of God would reign forever as King Messiah based on the everlasting covenant God made with King David:

Psalm 132:11 “The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.”

Psalm 89:34 “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.(35) Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. (36) His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.”

The Bible states clearly in verse after verse that King Messiah will rule the nations forever from the throne of David.  Once again let’s look at 2 Samuel 7:13-16 and see how the Bible emphasizes the everlasting throne and kingdom. God directs this covenant to the begotten Son of God who will sit on the throne of David forever.

2 Samuel 7:13 “He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. (14) I will be his father, and he shall be my son....(16) And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”

In key Scriptures, the Bible shows that King Messiah will rule over the nations forever with awesome power.  All peoples of the earth will serve the glorious King.  He will sit on the throne of David to establish justice and judgment throughout the nations.  Based on the covenant with David and God's decree in Psalm 2:7, King Messiah will rule over the nations in everlasting dominion as the Son of God.  The Scriptures to show this follow:

Daniel 7:13 “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

Dan 7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

These Messianic verses show not only the supreme power of the Son of God, but also of His character.  The nations will see him as the mighty God and everlasting Father who will usher in a kingdom of unprecedented peace.

The Beating of The Son of God For Sin

The Scriptures clearly teach that Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord and ruled over Israel as the son of God. God warned that if Solomon sinned, he would be beaten with a rod and scourged with a whip as punishment. It is clear from the Scriptures that Solomon grievously sinned, but he was not beaten for this sin. Therefore the son of God, King of Israel was to be punished and beaten for his sin.

2 Samuel 7:14 “I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:”

Solomon committed some of the worst sins possible including worshipping the pagan god Molech. The worship of this pagan god even involved child sacrifice. In his disobedience against God, Solomon married many pagan wives who turned his heart away from the God of Israel. The wives led him into the worship of the pagan gods including offering incense and sacrifices to them.

Because Solomon sinned, he should have been beaten by rods and scrounged with a whip. The Scriptures show Solomon’s many sins:

1 Kings 11:1 “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; (2) Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. (3) ...and his wives turned away his heart. (5) For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

1 Kings 11:7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab , in the hill that is before Jerusalem , and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. (8) And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.”

There is no indication in the Bible that anyone had beaten or scourged Solomon for the all the sins which he had committed.  Who would be able to approach the King of Israel with a rod and beat him for the sin?  Who would be able to make Solomon stand still to be scourged with a whip?

The Bible fails to show that Solomon was beaten as 2 Samuel 7:14 states he should.  There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that anyone even attempted to do this.  God was very upset with Solomon’s sin, and after Solomon’s death, God had the kingdom divided into two sections.  Since this happened after Solomon's death, this was hardly the punishment demanded by 2 Samuel 7:14.

1 Kings 11:11 “Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

(12) Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.”

The Scriptures show that Solomon was due the punishment for his sin, but he never received it during his lifetime.  The Bible shows that it was King Messiah who received Solomon's punishment.  King Messiah, the begotten Son of God, took the punishment that King Solomon the chosen son of God deserved.

The final King of Israel took the punishment for sin that the first king deserved.  King Messiah was the one beaten with a rod, and He was scourged with a whip for sin.  He was beaten not for His own sin, but He was beaten for the sins of others.  King Messiah, the judge of Israel , was beaten with a rod on the face. The Lord Jesus, God’s servant, was whipped.  His back was scourged.  He took the horrible beating for sin that not only Solomon deserved, but which all of mankind deserved.

Micah 5:1 “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.”

Isaiah 50:6 “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.”

King Messiah was called God’s shepherd, a ruler over the nations.  However, the Scriptures show that God’s shepherd was to be smitten.  King Messiah, the Son of God was to be smitten just like the Judge of Israel was to be smitten with a rod upon the cheek.

Ezekiel 37:24 “And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.”

Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.”

By John McTernan: Defend and Proclaim the Faith
Blog: John McTernan's Insights at www.johnmcternan.name