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2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers,

The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept.

Blessings,

Jeff

The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's consider these possibilities.

I have no idea who my 13th great grandfather was or where he lived.  But the Davidic line is not just any ancestral line.  The existence of the kingdom itself is based on what God did in making David king.  While author of Chronicles is writing after the exile, this history was known to him.  After all, the only reason Manasseh is on the throne is because of this covenant.  So it seems likely that Manasseh would have known.  In addition, there were the prophets always calling Judah back to obedience.

On the other hand, the Book of the Law was nearly lost as Manasseh's grand-son is king when a copy if found in the temple.  The foundation of the nation is Moses and the law.  It takes a fair amount of effort to loose track of the foundational documents, but it can be done. After all, some people think the Constitution is a living document and the words can be re-interpreted to fit modern ways without using the amendment process.

Either way, it comes down to that age old question first raised in the Garden.  Did God really say...?  The written Word and history tells us that He did make this covenant with David.  It is each generation's duty to know, obey and submit to God's revealed will. 

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