Return from Exile

As the biblical narrator tells what follows the story of David, the kings and wars of Israel, through the Assyrian assault, the Babylonian assault and exile, and the dramatic return to Zion, the legend of David is elevated. 

When the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in Samaria, many Israelites fled to Judea, and into Jerusalem, and then the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem itself. This was at the end of the 8th century BC, during the reign of the celebrated king Hezekiah…

The scenario is described in Kings and the prophets: “Your land is a waste, your cities burnt down; before your eyes, the yield of your soil is consumed by strangers— a wasteland as overthrown by strangers!

The Daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard… Had not the LORD of Hosts left us a remnant, we should be like Sodom, another Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:7-9) 

This is a picture of a remnant, in Hebrew literally the word is like a thing or person that remains, like a survivor. And so the picture is like something that was almost cut off, and then rebirthed, rising from the ashes if you will.

Remember his name: Hezekiah will be commemorated later in Judaism as a foreshadowing of the Messiah, a small messiah, or even as the messiah king redeemer himself.

2 Kings tells us that king Hezekiah led a spiritual reckoning among the people before G-d, as the enemy threatened to destroy them. He prayed, and the LORD answered, and destroyed the enemies (19:30-35):

“And the remnant of the House of Judah that escaped shall yet again take root downwards, and bear fruit upwards. For a remnant shall come forth from Jerusalem, survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts shall bring this to pass. 

Assuredly, thus said the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not enter this city. He shall not shoot an arrow at it, or advance upon it with a shield, or pile up a siege mound against it. He shall go back by the way he came, he shall not enter this city declares the LORD.

I will protect and save this city for My sake, and for the sake of My servant David. That night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp, and the following morning they were all dead corpses.”

Apocalyptic Feeling

These wars and these words are a new thing. The existential tension is so heavy. The northern kingdom utterly destroyed, great empires coming and going and shifting the entire world order. Not just the relatively small petty local wars against the Philistines and the internal battles of strife between tribes of Israel.

This felt apocalyptic. It was a world war. Reality was changing, and the prophetic literature begins to depict David, the seat of David, and Jerusalem the city, as one, as a plant, cut off, but not uprooted, and then the root will shoot up again. 

Here are some passages from that broad era of tension between the northern Israel Kingdom and the Judean Kingdom, an era that peaked in the days of Hezekiah and the Assyrians, and afterwards David is elevated to greater levels with the movement led by Zerubavel:

Hosea 3:4-5: “For the children of Israel shall remain for many days, having no king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor pillar, nor efod, nor terafim: afterwards the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall come trembling to the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.”

Latter days can also be interpreted as eschatological or ‘end times’ prophecy, but literally refer to the days to come, just after the current times.

Amos 9:11-12: “On that day, I will establish the fallen booth of David, I will mend its breaches and establish its ruins, as in the days of old.” The word translated “days of old” is olam, literally, world or everlasting … suggestive of an eternal promise of sorts, later used as prophetic and apocalyptic meaning. 

Micah 5:1: “And you Bethlehem of Ephrath, least among Judah, from you one shall come forth to rule Israel, whose origins are from the days of old” (again, in Hebrew olam, מקדם, מימי עולם) The passage continues: “He shall stand and shepherd by the might of the LORD (against Assyria)… and (his lords) will shepherd Assyria’s land with swords…

The remnant of Jacob that was among the nations, amidst many peoples, will be like a lion among beasts of the wild…” This is apparently creatively referring to Hezekiah and hopes for the future in that time. The powerful message remains though, and will lead smoothly into the Zerubavel content.

Isaiah 11:1: “And a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, a twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of the LORD shall alight upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and valor… He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, nor decide by what his ears perceive… And on that day, the stock of Jesse that stands will be a banner for the peoples, to it shall the nations seek…”

Isaiah brings more content that is ecstatic describing the future or the hope for the future for the Davidic king. The motif of the plant is clear, and this is again, before the return to Zion from Babylon. This is still from the days of Hezekiah. The stump is the small territory of Judea, of Jerusalem, that is saved from Assyria.

Enter Zerubavel 

This feelings and these metaphors continue when the Bablyonians actually destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in the beginning of the 6th century BC, sending the young dethroned king Jehoiachin into exile, along with other Judeans, and later killing the new king, the uncle, Zedekiah.

Later in that same century, the Persians rose to power over the Babylonians and authorized a return to Zion and rebuilding of the Temple, led by the grandson of Jehoiachin, Zerubavel. 

The prophet Jeremiah is from the days of the destruction of Judea by the Babylonians, and the exile of Jehoiachin 6th century BC, continues the plant motif and the shepherd motif:

“And I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them, and they shall fear no more… Behold the days are coming, declares the LORD, and I will establish for David a righteous plant, a king shall reign and prosper…” (23:4-5) 

Ezekiel, the priestly prophet in Babylon describes a leader and shepherd of Israel, David the servant of the LORD, a king and leader. 

Zerubavel and the return to Zion inspired a wave of prophetic literature in the Bible, continuing and creatively developing the legend of David. The name Zerubavel literally means ‘seeded in Babylon’, meaning, born in Babylon.

If you read the prophetic literature as written in the times of Hezekiah and Zerubavel and referring to them, you feel the power of the words and events. I imagine the people ecstatically revisiting the prophetic literature of the previous era, as they returned to Zion, with the heir to the throne, of the Davidic dynasty.

Zechariah is where we find the prophetic literature describing Zerubavel, the son of David. The words are powerful as well, but noticeably describe another figure, an anointed one, a priest, Joshua son of Jehozedak, with the other anointed one, the king, Zerubavel son of Shealtiel.

They are both “olives” (chapter 4), alluding to the oil and anointing. But Zerubavel is also described as the plant, who will grow out (6:12-13).

This is a book of visions and angels delivering messages, prophetic beyond the classic prophetic writings such as Jeremiah. Not all of the passages are clear, not all the passages fit the narrative of the legend of David, but are compelling and will challenge later messianists, including the 2 messiahs - priest and king;

and the Zechariah 9:9 passage: “Rejoice greatly O’ daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem, behold your king comes to you, righteous and triumphant (literally saved), humble, riding upon a donkey…”;

And in chapter 12 “and the LORD shall save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem against Judah, and on that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that stumbles among them on that day shall be like David and the house of David shall be like the divine, like the Angel of the LORD before them”, and so on.

Eternal Son 

Finally, David is commemorated iconically also in the Psalms, including some fairly fantastic. Besides the many references to David, as the writer of the Psalms, or as the represenatitve of any person, the subject, as David, praising God or enduring dire circumstances.

Psalm 2 speaks of the king, the messiah, the son, adopted are reborn to God. Psalm 110 writes of David, for whom the LORD destroys his enemies, while he sits at His right hand, and he is born by God from the dew of dawn. Perhaps these contribute to the legend of David as divinely blessed.

But Psalm 89 is perhaps the most compelling, it also utilizes the term messiah, describing David: “I made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, forever (olam) I will make your seed and build your throne for generations” (4-5) … “I have found my servant David with my holy oil I have anointed him” (21) … “my faithfulness and mercy will be with him and his horn will be raised by my name” (25) …

“he will call me my father you are my God the rock of my salvation, also I will have him as the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth, forever (olam) I will keep my mercy to him and my covenant will be steadfast to him… and I will forever put his seed and throne as the days of heaven” (27-30) And so on.

What is particularly important, is that “messiah” becomes synonymous with the legend of David, the figure David, a futuristic David, divinely graced, or son of.