h any
of the tribes of Israel," we find in 1 Chron. xvii. 6, "With any of the
judges of Israel,"--a parallel passage which very well explains the
main text. The tribes come into consideration through their judges,
who, in the Book of Judges, always appear as judges in Israel, and
procured a temporary [Pg 137] superiority to the tribe from which
they proceeded.[3] The [Hebrew: wbTi], which has been doubted, is
rendered certain by 1 Kings viii. 16. (Compare, moreover, Ps. lxxviii.
67, 68.)--The reason why no such word came to any one of these
tribes is, that the superiority of none of them was permanent; the
election of all of them was merely temporary. The continuance of the
tent-temple was intended to indicate that the state of things was, in
general, provisional only, and that a new order of things was at hand.
The creation of a settled sanctuary was to be coincident with the
establishment of an abiding kingdom, to which the grace of God was
vouchsafed. It was an evil omen for Saul that the erection of a fixed
sanctuary was not even mooted under him. The close of Ps. lxxviii.
likewise points out the intimate connection of the kingdom and the
sanctuary.

Ver. 8. "_And now, thus shalt thou say unto David My servant: Thus
saith the Lord, of hosts, I took thee from the sheep-cote,_[4] _from
behind the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel._ Ver. 9.
_And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all
thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a great name like
unto the name of the great men that are upon the earth._ Ver. 10. _And
I gave room unto My people Israel, and planted them, and they dwell in
their place, and they shall no more be frightened, and the sons of
wickedness shall afflict them no more as heretofore._"

Seven divine benefits are here enumerated,--one in ver. 8, which forms
the foundation of all the others, and three in each of the two
following verses,--in ver. 9, what the Lord has given to David,--in
ver. 10, what, through him, He has given to Israel. These benefits are
so many symptoms that a _definitive_ order of things has now taken the
place of the _provisional_ one, and that, hence, the moveable sanctuary
will now be soon followed by the settled one. In the first member of
ver. 10, there is an enumeration of the benefits which the [Pg 138]
people have already received through David; in the second and third
members, an enumeration of the benefits to be constantly be