Two Sons of David, Part II

Yes it is true, that there are two passages (1Kings 8:20 and 2Chr. 6:10) which say that Solomon was the fulfillment of the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 of the kingdom of a “seed,” a son, of David. But we have noted that at least part of that prophecy does not fit Solomon.

But then there is another son of David who does have a throne which will last forever. That is Jesus of Nazareth.

“but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” Heb 1:8 WEB

Also this Jesus Son of David is building a spiritual house of God. As the Hebrew author says,

“but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.” Heb 3:6 WEB

and again,

“Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1Cor 3:16 WEB

So Christ is building a house, a temple, to God, made up of people; and His throne lasts forever. Then lastly the author of Hebrews quotes 2Sam 7:14 and says it applies to Jesus Christ.

“For to which of the angels did he say at any time, …
I will be to him a Father, And he will be to me a Son?” Heb. 1:5 WEB

Notice that part of 2 Samuel 7 applies only to Solomon (such as being chastened by the rods of men), and part only to Jesus (such as an eternal throne, and never losing the loving kindness of God).

Also we can see that parts of 2 Samuel 7 apply to BOTH Solomon and Jesus, but in different ways. For instance, 1.) Solomon built a literal temple, but Jesus is building an eternal spiritual temple. 2.) God was like a father to Solomon, but God was Jesus father.

So this means you can have more than one subject in a prophecy! You can have a dual subjects in a prophecy, or a double meaning! In this case we have two sons of David in one prophecy, and for instance both a literal and spiritual temple in this prophecy!

The passage in 2 Samuel 7 is discussed in more detail in “Prophecy Principles” in the section on “Type and Anti-Type, Symbol and Fulfillment,” and it charts how the passage goes back and forth between the two subjects.

Many time we like to have a single line of division between our subjects, but that is often not the way it is in Bible prophecy. So in this prophecy there is no single line of division between the two subjects. The text goes back and forth between the two subjects with no single line of division, much as in a human conversation.

Some are dogmatic that a prophecy can only have to do with one subject, and only one subject. As you can see, that is just not true. In fact double meanings are a common device in Bible prophecy, with one subject often said to be a “type,” that is to say it is symbolic of, the second subject. Thus it is easy to speak of the Solomon as a “type” of Jesus. That is to say, he is symbolic of Jesus. And strangely to us, in Greek the fulfillment is often called the “anti-type” (anti-tupos). “Anti” in Greek has the main idea of replacement. The fulfillment “replaces” the symbol.

WEB is the World English Bible, is a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version of 1901

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