n whom the Davidic house attains to
its fall destiny, the channel through which the mercies of David flow
in upon the Church. For the latter interpretation, however, is decisive
the evident reference to the divine promise to David, in 2 Sam. vii.,
especially vers. 15, 16: "And my mercy shall not depart from him (thy
race) ... and constant ([Hebrew: namN]) is thine house, and thy kingdom
for ever before thee, thy throne shall be firm for ever;" compare Ps.
lxxxix. 29: "My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant
is constant in him." Ps. lxxxix. 2, 50: "Lord, where are thy former
mercies which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?" likewise suggest
that, by David, not simply Christ is to be understood, but the Davidic
family. The constant mercies of David are, accordingly, the mercies
which have been sworn to the Davidic house as _constant_, which,
therefore, can never rest until Christ has appeared with His
everlasting Kingdom, in which they find their true and full
realization. In the expectation of the Messiah from the house of David,
the prophecy under consideration goes hand in hand with chap. xi. 1,
where the Messiah appears as a twig which proceeds from the cut-down
tree of Jesse; and with chap. ix. 6, according to which He sits on the
throne of David. This passage alone is fully sufficient against those
(_Ewald_, _Umbreit_, and others) who advance the strange assertion,
that the Prophet had altogether given up the idea of a Messiah from the
house of David, and had distributed His property between Cyrus and the
prophetic order, [Pg 348] or the pious portion of the people. It is of
the greatest importance for the explanation of those passages which
treat of the Servant of God, and forms a point of union for the
Messianic passages of the first and second part. The passage before us
is quoted in Acts xiii. 34: [Greek: hoti de anestesen auton ek nekron,
meketi mellonta hupostrephein eis diaphthoran houtos, eireken. hoti
doso humin ta hosia Dabid ta pista]. [Greek: hOsia Dabid], _sancta
Davidis_, are the sacred, inviolable, inalienably guaranteed mercies
and blessings which have been promised to the house of David. As
certainly as these must be granted, so certainly Christ, who was to
bring them, could not remain in the power of death.

Ver. 4. "_Behold, I give him for a witness to the people, for a prince
and lawgiver of the people._"

Here, and in ver. 5, we have the expansion of the mercies of David.