on as does the God of the Deists and Rationalists to the God of
the Christians. The question here arises. Who is to be understood here
by "David their king?" Some interpreters refer it, after the example of
_Theodoret_ (t. ii. p. 2, p. 1326), to [Pg 288] Zerubbabel: but by far
the greater number of them, following the Chaldee ("And they shall obey
the Messiah, the son of David their king"), understand, thereby, the
Messiah. It is true that the latter exposition is quite correct as to
its substance, but not as to the form in which it is commonly
expressed. From the words, "They shall return and seek," it is evident
that the Messiah is here not called David as an individual, as is done
in other passages, _e.g._, Jer. xxx. 9. For the return presupposes
their having been there formerly, and their having departed; just as
the seeking implies neglecting. The expression, "their king," also
requires special attention. In contrast to the "king" in ver. 4
(compare viii. 4, "They have made a king, and not by Me, a prince, and
I knew it not"), it shows that the subject of discourse is not by any
means a new king to be elected, but such an one as the Israelites ought
to obey, even now, as the king ordained for them by God. The sound view
is this: By the "king David" the whole Davidic house is to be
understood, which is here to be considered as an unity, in the same
manner as is done in 2 Sam. vii., and in a whole series of Psalms which
celebrate the mercies shown, and to be shown, to David and his
house.[4] These mercies are most fully concentrated in Christ, in whose
appearance and everlasting dominion the promises given to David were
first to be fully realized. The prophet mentions the whole--the Davidic
family--because it was only thus that the contrast between the apostasy
and the return could be fully brought out; but that, in so doing, he
has Christ especially in view--that he expected a return of the
children of Israel to David in Christ, is shown by the term [Hebrew:
baHrit himiM], which, in the prophets, never occurs in any other sense
than the times of the Messiah. (Compare, regarding this expression, the
remarks on Amos ix. 1.) This reason is alone sufficient to refute the
reference to Zerubbabel; although so much must indeed be conceded, that
the circumstance of part of the citizens of the kingdom of the ten
tribes adhering to him, the descendant of the house of David, may be
considered as a prelude of that general return.