Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Davidic line - Tribe of Judah


Davidic line

The Davidic line (also referred to as the House of David) (known in Hebrew as Malkhut Beit David (מלכות בית דוד) – "Kingdom of the House of David") refers to the tracing of lineage to the King Davidreferred to in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament. The term "House of David" referring to the Davidic dynasty appears many times in the Bible.[1]
History
Upon being chosen and becoming king, the custom in the times of the Tanakh was to be anointed with Holy Oil poured on the head. In David's case, this was done by the prophet Samuel:

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
Now he [David] was ruddy, and with beautiful eyes, and goodly to look upon. And the Lord said: 'Arise, anoint him; for this is he.' Then Samuel [the prophet] took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward ... (1 Samuel 16:12–13)
In Hebrew, the anointing is called meshicha (meaning "pulling") and a king (melekh or melech in Hebrew) is referred to as a Moshiachor Messiah or a Melech HaMashiach meaning "the anointed king". The procedure of anointment, in David's case, is said to symbolize the descent of God's holiness (kedusha) upon the king and as a sign of a bond never to be broken.
The monarchy was vouchsafed to the House of David by God in the Book of Samuel:
And Nathan said to the king: ... Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones that are in the earth... and I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord tells you that the Lord will make you a house. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to Me for a son; if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for ever.' ...Then David the king went in, and sat before the Lord... 'now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken it; and through your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever.' (2 Samuel 7:1–29)
Initially, David was king over the Tribe of Judah only and ruled from Hebron, but after seven and a half years, the other Israelite tribes chose him to be their king as well:
Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying: 'Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you that did lead out and bring in Israel; and the Lord said to you: You shalt feed my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.' So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel... (2 Samuel 5:1–3).
As well as in the Book of Chronicles:
So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Samuel ... (1 Chronicles 11:3)
And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord. ... All these, being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a whole heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. (1 Chronicles 12:24 and 12:39).
All subsequent kings in both the ancient first united Kingdom of Israel and the laterKingdom of Judah claimed direct descent from King David to validate their claim to the throne in order to rule over the Israelite tribes.
After the death of David's son, King Solomon, the ten northern tribes of the Kingdom of Israel rejected the Davidic line, refusing to accept Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and instead chose as king Jeroboam and formed the northern Kingdom of Israel. This kingdom was eventually conquered by Assyria who exiled them, to disappear from history as The Ten Lost Tribes.
Genealogy of the kings of Israel and Judah.svg
The Exilarch
Following the conquest of Judah by Babylon and the exile of its population, the Babylonian Exilarchate was established. The highest official of Babylonian Jewry was the exilarch (Reish Galuta, "Head of the Diaspora"). Those who held the position traced their ancestry to the House of David in the male line.[2] The position holder was regarded as a king-in-waiting.
Hasmonean monarchy
The Hasmoneans, also known as the Maccabees, were a priestly group (kohanim) from the Tribe of Levi. They established their own monarchy in Judea following their revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty. The Hasmoneans were not considered connected to the Davidic line nor to the Tribe of Judah. The Levites had always been excluded from the Israelite monarchy, so when the Maccabees assumed the throne in order to rededicate the defiled Second Temple, a cardinal rule was broken. According to scholars within Orthodox Judaism, this is considered to have contributed to their downfall and the eventual downfall of Judea; internal strife allowing for Roman occupation and the violent installation of Herod the Greatas client king over the Roman province of Judea; and the subsequent destruction of the Second Temple by the Emperor Titus.
With the end of the monarchy, following the destruction of both the Temple of Solomon and the Second Temple, the line of the monarchy was carefully preserved and guarded.
Jewish interpretations
In Jewish eschatology, the term mashiach, or "Messiah", came to refer to a future Jewish King from the Davidic line, who is expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age.[3] [4] [5] The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah", or, in Hebrew, מלך משיח (melekh mashiach), and, in Aramaic, malka meshiḥa.[6]
Orthodox views have generally held that the Messiah will be descended from his father through the line of King David,[7] and will gather the Jews back into the Land of Israel, usher in an era of peace, build the Third Temple, father a male heir, re-institute the Sanhedrin, and so on. Jewish tradition alludes to two redeemers, both of whom are called mashiach and are involved in ushering in the Messianic age: Mashiach ben David; and Mashiach ben Yosef. In general, the term Messiah unqualified refers to Mashiach ben David (Messiah, son of David).[3] [4]
Christian interpretations
In Christian interpretation the "Davidic promise" of a Davidic line in 2 Samuel 7 is understood in various ways, traditionally referring to the genealogies of Christ in theNew Testament. One Christian interpretation of the Davidic line counts the line continuing to Jesus of Nazareth via adoption of Joseph of Nazareth, according to the family tree of the kings of Judah in Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 (the later part of which is not recorded in the Hebrew Bible). Another Christian interpretation emphasizes the minor, non-royal, line of David through Solomon's brother Nathan as recorded in Gospel of Luke chapter 3 (entirely undocumented in the Hebrew Bible), which is often understood to be the family tree of Mary's father. A widely spread traditional Christian interpretation relates the non-continuation of the main Davidic line from Solomon as related the godlessness of Jehoiachin in the early 500s BC, where Jeremiah cursed the main branch of the Solomonic line, saying that no descendant of "[Je]Coniah" would ever again reign on the throne of Israel (Jer. 22:30).[8] This same "curse" is also considered by some Christian commentators as the reason that Zerubbabel, the rightful Solomonic king during the time of Nehemiah, was not given a kingship under the Persian empire.[9]
David the Prince
In Mormon eschatology, Latter-Day Saints express in the belief of a Davidic prophet by the name of David who would come in the last days to prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord including the building of the Third Jewish Temple.[10]
See also
References
  1. Examples can be found in: 1 Kings 12:201 Kings 12:26 1 Kings 13:2, 1 Kings 14:8,2 Kings 12:1–19,2 Kings 17:21,2 Samuel 3:1, 1 Samuel 19:11HE, 1 Samuel 20:16,2 Samuel 3:6,Isaiah 7:2,Jeremiah 21:12,Zechariah 12:7, Nehemiah 12:37,Psalms 30:1,Psalms 122:5, 1 Chronicles 17:24, 2 Chronicles 10:19, etc.
  2. Max A Margolis and Alexander Marx, A History of the Jewish People (1927), p. 235.
  3. Schochet, Rabbi Prof. Dr. Jacob Immanuel. "Moshiach ben Yossef". Tutorial.http://moshiach.com. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. Blidstein, Prof. Dr. Gerald J. "Messiah in Rabbinic Thought". MESSIAH. Jewish Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  5. Telushkin, Joseph. "The Messiah". The Jewish Virtual Library Jewish Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  6. Flusser, David. "Second Temple Period". Messiah. Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  7. See Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: "The Real Messiah A Jewish Response to Missionaries"at the Wayback Machine (archived May 29, 2008)
  8. H. Wayne House Israel: Land and the People 1998 114 "And yet, Judah has also been without a king of the Solomonic line since the Babylonian exile. Because of Jeremiah's curse on Jehoiachin (Coniah) in the early 500s BC (Jer. 22:30), the high priests of Israel, while serving as the ..."
  9. Warren W. Wiersbe -The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament - 2007 p1497 "Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah, Matt. 1:12; Coniah, Jer. 22:24, 28), and therefore of the royal line of David. But instead of wearing a crown and sitting on a throne, Zerubbabel was the humble governor of a ..."
  10. 'David, Prophetic Figure of Last Days'
Sources
  • The Holy Bible: 1611 Edition (Thos. Nelson, 1993)
External links

Tribe of Judah 


According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Judah (Hebrew:שבט יְהוּדָה, Modern Shevet Yehuda,Tiberian Shevaṭ Yəhûḏā ; "Praise") was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel.
Biblical account
The Tribe of Judah (Yehudah), its conquests, and the centrality of its capital in Jerusalem for the worship of the one true God, Yahweh, figure prominently in the Deuteronomistic history, encompassing the books of Deuteronomythrough II Kings, which most scholars agree was reduced to written form, although subject to exilic and post-exilic alterations and emendations, during the reign of the Judahist reformer Josiah from 641–609 BCE.[1]
According to the account in the Book of Joshua, following a partial conquest ofCanaan by the Israelite tribes shortly before 1200 BCE (the Jubusites still held Jerusalem),[2] Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Judah's divinely ordained portion is described in Joshua 15 as encompassing most of the southern portion of the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem.
The Book of Samuel describes God's repudiation of a monarchic line arising from the northern Tribe of Benjamin due to the sinfulness of King Saul, which was then bestowed onto the Tribe of Judah for all time in the person of King David. In Samuel's account, after the death of Saul, all the tribes other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul, while Judah chose David as its king. However, after the death of Ish-bosheth, Saul's son and successor to the throne of Israel, all the other Israelite tribes made David, who was then the king of Judah, king of a re-united Kingdom of Israel.
The Book of Kings follows the expansion and unparalleled glory of the United Monarchy under King Solomon. However, on the accession of Rehoboam,Solomon's son, in c. 930 BCE, the ten northern tribes under the leadership ofJeroboam from the Tribe of Ephraim split from the House of David to create theNorthern Kingdom in Samaria. The Book of Kings is uncompromising in its low opinion of its larger and richer neighbor to the north, and understands its conquest by Assyria in 722 BCE as divine retribution for the Kingdom's return to idolatry.[3]
The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the House of David. These tribes formed the Kingdom of Judah, which existed until Judah was conquered byBabylon in c. 586 BCE and the population deported.
When the Jews returned from Babylonian exile, residual tribal affiliations were abandoned, probably because of the impossibility of reestablishing previous tribal land holdings. However, the special religious roles decreed for the Levis andKohanim were preserved, but Jerusalem became the sole place of worship and sacrifice among the returning exiles, northerners and southerners alike.
Territory and main cities
According to the biblical account, at its height, the Tribe of Judah was the leading tribe of the Kingdom of Judah, and occupied most of the territory of the kingdom, except for a small region in the north east occupied by Benjamin, and an enclave towards the south west which was occupied by Simeon. Bethlehem and Hebronwere initially the main cities within the territory of the tribe.

The lion is the symbol of the Tribe of Judah. It is often represented in Jewish art, such as this sculpture outside asynagogue
The size of the territory of the tribe of Judah meant that in practice it had four distinct regions:
  • The Negev (Hebrew: south) – the southern portion of the land, which was highly suitable forpasture
  • The Shephelah (Hebrew: lowland) – the coastal region, between the highlands and theMediterranean sea, which was used foragriculture, in particular for grains.
  • The wilderness – the barren region immediately next to the Dead Sea, and below sea level; it was wild, and barely inhabitable, to the extent that animals and people which were made unwelcome elsewhere, such as bears, leopards, and outlaws, made it their home. In biblical times, this region was further subdivided into three sections – the wilderness of En Gedi,[4] the wilderness of Judah,[5] and the wilderness of Maon.[6]
  • The hill country – the elevated plateau situated between the Shephelah and the wilderness, with rocky slopes but very fertile soil. This region was used for the production of grain, olives, grapes, and other fruit, and hence produced oil andwine.
Origin
According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and of Leah. Some Biblical scholars view this as an etiological mythcreated in hindsight to explain the tribe's name and connect it to the other tribes in the Israelite confederation.[7] [8] With Leah as a matriarch, Biblical scholars regard the tribe as having been believed by the text's authors to have been part of the original Israelite confederation.[8]
Like the other tribes of the kingdom of Judah, the tribe of Judah is entirely absent from the ancient Song of Deborah, rather than present but described as unwilling to assist in the battle between Israelites and their enemy. Traditionally, this has been explained as being due to the southern kingdom being too far away to be involved in the battle, but Israel Finkelstein et al. claim the alternative explanation that the southern kingdom was simply an insignificant rural backwater at the time the poem was written.[9]
Character
As depicted by the Deuteronomists and post-exilic writers, the tribe of Judah was the leading tribe of the Kingdom of Judah. David and the royal line belonged to the tribe, and the line continued after the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in the Exilarchs. The traditional Jewish belief was that the (Jewish) Messiah would be of the Davidic line, based on the LORD's promise to David of an everlasting throne for his offspring (Isaiah 9:6–7, Jeremiah 33:15-21, 2 Samuel 7:12–16, Psalms 89:35–37).
Indeed, many of the Jewish leaders and prophets of the Hebrew Bible claimed membership in the tribe of Judah. For example, the literary prophets Isaiah, Amos,Habakkuk, Joel, Micah, Obadiah, Zechariah, and Zephaniah, all belonged to the tribe. Later, during the Babylonian Exile, the Exilarchs (officially recognised community leaders) claimed Davidic lineage, and when the Exile ended,Zerubbabel (the leader of the first Jews to return to Yehud province) was also said to be of the Davidic line, as were Shealtiel (a somewhat mysterious figure) andNehemiah (one of the earliest and most prominent Achamenid-appointed governors of Yehud). In the time of Roman rule, all the holders of the office of Nasi (prince) afterShemaiah, claimed Davidic lineage, through Hillel, who was rumoured have maternal lineage from the Davidic line.
In Matthew 1:1–6 and Luke 3:31–34 of the New Testament, Jesus is described as a member of the tribe of Judah by lineage. Revelation 5:5 also mentions an apocalyptic vision of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Fate

The Lion of Judah on the municipal emblem of Jerusalem
As part of the kingdom of Judah, the tribe of Judah survived the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians, and instead was subjected to theBabylonian captivity; when the captivity ended, the distinction between the tribes were lost in favour of a common identity. Since Simeon and Benjamin had been very much the junior partners in the Kingdom of Judah, it was Judah that gave its name to the identity—that of theJews.
After the fall of Jerusalem, Babylonia (modern day Iraq), would become the focus of Jewish life for 1000 years. The first Jewish communities in Babylonia started with the exile of the Tribe of Judah to Babylon by Jehoiachin in 597 BCE as well as after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.[10] Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in AD 135 after the Bar Kokhba revolt and in the centuries after.[10]
Ethiopia's traditions, recorded and elaborated in a 13th-century treatise, the "Kebre Negest", assert descent from a retinue of Israelites who returned with the Queen of Sheba from her visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem, by whom she had conceived the Solomonic dynasty's founder, Menelik I. Both Christian and Jewish Ethiopian tradition has it that these immigrants were mostly of the Tribes of Dan and Judah;[11]hence the Ge'ez motto Mo`a 'Anbessa Ze'imnegede Yihuda ("The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered"), one of many names for Jesus of Nazareth. The phrase "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered" is also found in the Book of Revelation.
[12]
See also
References
  1. Finkelstein, Israel (2002). The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts. Simon & Schuster. pp. 369–373.
  2. Kitchen, Kenneth A. (2003), On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) (ISBN 0-8028-4960-1)
  3. Finkelstein, Israel (2002). The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts. Simon & Schuster. pp. 261–265.
  4. 1 Samuel 24:1
  5. Judges 1:16; Matthew 3:1
  6. 1 Samuel 23:24
  7. Peake's commentary on the Bible
  8. Jewish Encyclopedia
  9. Finkelstein, Israel (2002). The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts. Simon & Schuster. pp. 138–140.
  10. [מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת "עם ישראל - תולדות 4000 שנה - מימי האבות ועד חוזה השלום", ע"מ 95. (Translation: Mordechai Vermebrand and Betzalel S. Ruth - "The People of Israel – the history of 4000 years – from the days of the Forefathers to the Peace Treaty", 1981, pg. 95)
  11. 11.
  12. 11. Amos 9:7 http://biblehub.com/amos/9-7.htm. לוא כבני כשיים אתם לי בני ישראל נאם־יהוה הלוא את־ישראל העליתי מארץ מצרים ופלשתיים מכפתור וארם מקר׃ "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?"
External links
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)