Throne of David, The Odds

“The Place” – Five Big Promises From Mt. Sinai

Mt. Sinai, famed as the mountain top where God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, five big promises were also made by God at Mt. Sinai about “the place.” Actually prophecies, they were key to the Hebrews’ destiny and the building blocks to the future Messiah.

The place – five promises: lead the Israelites to the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the place for their descendants to possess; the place to establish a kingdom; the permanent place for His Name to dwell; the exclusive place for Israel to observe the Passover; and the place for the Judgement Seat of Israel.^[1]

God didn’t say exactly where the place would be. Great faith in these promises was required for a fledgling nation of people who had just fled the only life they had ever known. The Hebrew nation failed the first step.

Moving to the place seemed like an impossible task, especially for a ragtag nation of former slaves without a military. Doubts and lack of faith by the Exodus generation would cost them from seeing God’s promised land.^[2]

Finally the Hebrew nation prepared to enter Canaan and sent spies on a recon mission and they found the land was occupied by many enemies with their kings and militaries. Nothing new…along their journey to the place, local inhabitants went to war to defend their lands to keep out the Hebrews.

Enemy nations, they found, all had a king with a Seat of the Throne within its fortified city, the monarchy’s base of power, and protected by a military. A new kingdom for the Hebrews would require the same: dominion over a land with boundaries, a fortified city, a king with a Seat of the Throne, and a formal military.

A permanent place for the Name of God to dwell required a temple. Fundamental to a theocracy, this temple had to be located near the king’s throne in the nation’s capital to be protected against heathen enemies.

According to the Law, the Passover was to be celebrated at its appointed time requiring sacrifices to be offered by the priests of God at a central permanent place of worship. This temple would need enough open space to accommodate tens of thousands of people and priests who would attend the annual Passover to offer sacrifices.

For a theocratic government, the Judgement Seat also had to be located in close proximity to both the Throne and its temple.^[3] The most important and most complicated cases of the nation were to be judged in the place God chose.

None of these promises and expectations seemed like the remotest reality to the Israelites who, after 400 years, were starting from scratch after escaping from under the harsh rule of Pharaoh. Yet, against all odds over the coming centuries, these five prophetic promises did become a reality.

Israel conquered its enemies and took possession of the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob where each of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were allotted their own land regions.^[4] Their formidable rag-tag military protected the nation even before the establishment of a kingdom.

A king, the most famous in Hebrew history born in Bethlehem in the lineage of Judah, fulfilled the royal prophetic blessing of Judah. At first the giant-slayer, King David, ruled without a Seat of the Throne until he conquered and occupied the fortified city of Jebus or Salem, soon thereafter to be called Jerusalem.

King Solomon, son of David, built the the Temple on Mt. Moriah still known to this day as Solomon’s Temple. Its Western Wall remnants have become a most holy place in Israel today.^[5]

Consecrated and blessed by King Solomon, the new Temple in Jerusalem was where the first sacrifice was offered on its permanent alter. The sacrifice was miraculously ignited by fire sent down from heaven.^[6]

Passover was then observed at its appointed time at the Temple where sacrifices were offered by the priests of God.^[7] Generations later, King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple and pillaged its gold contents.

During the Persian Empire, the Temple was rebuilt, its gold contents returned. The observance of the annual Passover resumed until Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD.

Lastly, the capital city of Jerusalem became the Judgement Seat of Israel under the reign of Solomon where both civil and criminal cases were decided. In a theocratic government, God’s Law served both as the civil and criminal code.

Civil cases were initially decided by King Solomon on the porch of the his palace. Cases were eventually moved and judged in the Hall of Judgement.^{^[8]}

Criminal cases involving the highest level of offenses, including capital death cases, were tried in the Temple Court accessed through the Chamber of Hewn Stone.^[9] The Chamber built into the northern wall of the Temple served as the meeting place for the 70 elders of Israel, eventually the Sanhedrin.^[10]

Isaiah’s prophecy of “My Servant” described a cruel sacrificial-type judgement that could only be rendered in the Judgement Seat of Israel. This court during the period of the Second Temple was rebuilt after the Babylonian captivity.^[11]

God’s five big promises given at Mount Sinai laid the ground work for Israel’s future in the place and eventually the foundation of various Messiah prophecies. Over the coming centuries prophets Isaiah, Zechariah, Jeremiah and Micah would give prophecies foretelling details about the Messiah who would come from the House of David.^[12]

All five promises made by God at Mt. Sinai about “the place” came to pass. What are the odds it was all just an extraordinary coincidence?

Updated November 15, 2023.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:
[1] Deuteronomy 1:6-8, 39; 17:8-10, 14. CR Genesis 17, 22, 35, 49; Exodus 19:6; 23:20; Deuteronomy 1:8, 12:11, 16:2, 17:20.
[2] Deuteronomy 1:34-40; Numbers 14:26-35. “The Twelve Tribes in Canaan.” Maps Database Source. map. 2020. <https://mapdatabaseinfo.blogspot.com/2018/05/32-map-of-promised-land-joshua.html#
[3] Deuteronomy 17:8-10. CR Exodus 18.
[4] Deuteronomy 3:12-17.
[5] 1 Kings 6; 2 Chronicles 3.
[6] I Chronicles 6; Leviticus 9; Nehemiah 11.
[7] Exodus 12:14-15; Leviticus 23:4-8,; II Chronicles chapters 8, 29, 34-35:19; Ezra 6:16-22. Coulter, Fred R. cbcg.org. The Christian Passover. Chapters 12-13, Part 1. n.d. <https://www.cbcg.org/booklets/the-christian-passover/chapter-twelve-when-and-why-the-temple-sacrifice-of-the-passover-was-instituted-part-one.html>
[8] 1 Kings 3, 4, 7.
[9] Schoenberg, Shira. “Ancient Jewish History: The Sanhedrin.” 2017. <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-sanhedrin> Shachter, J. and Freedman, H. “ Sanhedrin.”
[10] Exodus 18; Deuteronomy 1, 17; II Chronicles 19:8:4-11. Shachter and Freedman. “Introduction to Sanhedrin.” Soncino Babylonian Talmud. <https://israelect.com/Come-and-Hear/sanhedrin/index.html> Ariel, Yisrael. “The Chamber of the Hewn Stone.” The Temple Institute. 2014. <https://www.templeinstitute.org/illustrated/hewn_stone_description.htm> Ariel, Yisrael. “Blueprints for the Holy Temple.” <http://www.templeinstitute.org/blueprints-for-the-holy-temple.htm>
[11] Isaiah 52-53. Sanhedrin 16a, 17a. Shachter, J. and Freedman, H. “Sanhedrin.” Josephus. Antiquities. Book IV, Chapter VIII.14; Book XX, Chapter IX.4. “Ancient Jewish History: The Beit Din.” Jewish Virtual Library. 2017.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-beit-din>
[12] Isaiah 7, 9; 11; Jeremiah 23, 33; Zechariah 3, 6, 12.

Jerusalem – the Messiah Connection

Jerusalem, an ancient, world-famous city with no natural wealth or strategic value – no harbor, no navigable waterway, no major trade routes, militarily isolated with valleys on all four sides, not even a natural water source within its walls – an improbable city in the desert.^[1]

Happenings of great religious significance began at the place about 1000 years before the future city would ever come to be called Jerusalem. Its entire existence is based almost solely on its religious heritage.

A 2000-year history preceded the era of Jesus of Nazareth. It produced a legacy of kings, births, deaths, prophecies, angels, sacrifices, blessings, wars, exile and restoration.

It all began when one day God instructed Abram to move from Haran in Canaan to an unnamed location. By faith, he and his family resettled in a strange land near Salem whose King was Melchizedek and also a priest of God.^[2]

During these years, God blessed Abram, changed his name to Abraham and promised he would become the father of a great nation.^[3] His miraculous-born son, Isaac, would be the first step in fulfilling God’s promise.

Isaac would pass on his father Abraham’s blessing to his own son, Jacob whose name was changed by God to Israel.^[4]Many years later Israel, along with his 11 sons and their families, moved to Egypt under the protection of his long lost son, Joseph, who had become the second most powerful man next only to Pharaoh.

Over the next 400 years, the 12 tribes of the Children of Israel became slaves of Egypt. Meanwhile back in Canaan during the absence of the clan of Israel, the Jebusites occupied Salem coming to be known as Jebus.^[5]

Fleeing Egypt through the Red Sea, the Hebrews arrived at Mt. Sinai. Five big promises in the Law given to Moses atop Mt. Sinai were tied to the place. All required a city – a new homeland for the city; the throne for a king; a permanent place for His Name to dwell; a permanent place to observe the Feasts; and the place of the judgment seat of Israel.

God just didn’t yet say exactly where the place would be.^[6]As a visual sign of His promise, God sent an angel in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night to lead them to the place that He had chosen.

First fulfillment of the five big promises was a return to the land of Abraham, “The Promised Land,” when the Hebrews crossed the Jordan River. Hinting at the city location of the place, God twice called out the occupants of Salem – the Jebusites:^[7]

^{EX 23::20, 23} “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.… “For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites…”_(NASB)

^{EX 33:1-2} “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’” I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.”_(NASB)

A kingdom would become the second of the five big promises tied to the place.^[8]God predicted to Moses the Hebrews would one day want a king to rule them like the other nations and when that time came, He would choose the king from among their own people.

As predicted, centuries later the people wanted a king to lead them like the other nations. Instead of God choosing their king, the Hebrews chose their own first king, Saul, by casting lots.^[9]

As time would bear out, the people’s choice failed. Saul did not seek God’s guidance and it would cost the lives of himself and his three sons on the battlefield. With Saul’s failed kingship and death, Israel accepted God’s choice for a new king, David, son of Jesse of Bethlehem.^[10]

Promise of a kingdom for Israel had only been partially fulfilled. David was a king without a place for his throne and he had an eye on Jebus still occupied by the Jebusites. Up to this point, every attempt by the fledgling nation to defeat the Jebusites had been unsuccessful.^[11]

David had become famous as a skilled warrior and giant slayer while serving in King Saul’s army. As King himself, David gathered the people of Israel from the surrounding areas to form a large army, went to war with Jebus and took the city.

Salem – Jebus – was now called the City of David becoming known as the City of Jerusalem. A city with no logical reason for existence, Jerusalem became the capital of Israel and the throne of King David fulfilling two more of God’s promises.

Fourth of the promises was fulfilled in Jerusalem which encompassed Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. The Temple was built by King Solomon on Mt. Moriah, the place where the Passover was only to be celebrated at its appointed time.^[12]

Next to the Chamber of Hewn Stone where the Sanhedrin routinely convened became the place of the highest court in the land, the Judgement Seat of Israel. It was there final judgments were made to enforce God’s Law for criminal offenses that included capital death cases.^[13]

An interwoven trail of blessings, testing of faith, much drama, prophecies made and fulfilled over the course of a millennia, all climaxed with the glory days of Jerusalem under King David. Splendor would be short lived – the end of David’s reign marked the beginning of the nation’s deterioration.

Spiraling out of control, the downhill slide led to the point all would be eventually lost. Jerusalem with its Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and its select inhabitants were exiled to Babylon.

A millennium after its height of glory during David’s reign, a comeback for Jerusalem came under King Herod. Jesus of Nazareth appeared on the scene, born in the same town as David, Bethlehem, and in the royal lineage of King David.

Consistent with multiple Messiah prophecies, his life culminated with Jesus being placed on trial in Jerusalem and crucified, consistent with multiple Messiah prophecies. Were they just multiple coincidences or was Jesus the promised Messiah?

Updated November 4, 2023.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:

[1] Gersch, Lili Kalish. MyJewishLearning. “Whose Jerusalem?” photo. n.d. <https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/whose-jerusalem> “Jerusalem .” New World Encyclopedia. “Jerusalem Archaeological Sites: Biblical Water Systems.” Jewish Virtual Library. 2014.
[2] Genesis 11-15. “Historical Timeline.” The Biblical Zionist. 2009. <http://www.biblicalzionist.com/timeline.htm> Uittenbogaard, Arie. “Salem meaning | Salem etymology.” <http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Salem.html#.U5SQqCjyTih> Josephus. Wars of the Jews. Book VI, Chapter X.
[3] Genesis 17.
[4] Genesis 32, 35.
[5] I Chronicles 11; Judges 1, 19; Joshua 15; Psalms 76.
[6] Exodus 23, 33; Deuteronomy 12, 17.
[7] Deuteronomy 3:12-22. Ryrie Study Bible. Ed. Ryrie Charles C. “Laws relating to conquests” ref. Ex. 23:20-33.
[8] Deuteronomy 17.
[9] I Samuel 10.
[10] I Chronicles 11.
[11] I Chronicles 11.
[12] I Chronicles 17:8-13. Josephus, Antiquity of the Jews, Book VII, Chapter III.1-2. “The Temple.” The Victor’s Place. photo. Feb. 2. ? <https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrCwOUslAdjzRoASQ0PxQt.;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3BpdnM-?p=The+Temple%2C+Jerusalem&type=yhs-adk_sbnt_appfocus1_sm_ff&param1=20210118&param2=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&param3=searchmanager_%7EUS%7Eappfocus1%7E&param4=%7Efirefox%7E%7E&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&grd=1&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt#id=96&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fvhoagland.files.wordpress.com%2F2021%2F02%2Fdsc00129.jpg&action=click>
[13] Deuteronomy17. Edersheim, Alfred. The Temple – Its Ministry and Services. 1826 -1889. <https://ccel.org/ccel/edersheim/temple/temple.i.html> Exodus 18; Shachter and Freedman. “Introduction to Sanhedrin.” Soncino Babylonian Talmud. <https://israelect.com/Come-and-Hear/sanhedrin/index.html> Ariel, Yisrael. “The Chamber of the Hewn Stone.” The Temple Institute. 2014. <https://www.templeinstitute.org/illustrated/hewn_stone_description.htm> Ariel, Yisrael. “Blueprints for the Holy Temple.” <http://www.templeinstitute.org/blueprints-for-the-holy-temple.htm>