Answering Islam - A Christian-Muslim dialog

The Coming of Israel’s Divine Shepherd King Pt. 1a

Sam Shamoun

 

One King

The Hebrew Bible proclaims that a time shall come when Israel shall have one king who will reign over them and, by extension, over the entire world:

“And say to them, So says the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their land. And I will make them into one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be to them all as a king; and they shall no longer be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore. And they shall no longer defile themselves with their idols, with their detestable things, or with all their transgressions, and I will save them from all their habitations in which they have sinned, and I will purify them, and they shall be to Me as a people, and I will be to them as a God.” Ezekiel 37:21-23

 

Messianic Son of David

The OT writings state that this king shall be the Messiah, the Son of David, who is prophetically called David:

And My servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be for them all, and they shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes and perform them. And they shall dwell on the land that I have given to My servant, to Jacob, wherein your forefathers lived; and they shall dwell upon it, they and their children and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.” Ezekiel 37:24-25

“May My exiles sojourn among you, Moab. Become a hiding place for them from before the plunderer, for the milking has come to an end; the udders have vanished; the tramplers have ceased from the earth. And the throne shall be established through loving- kindness, and there shall sit thereon in truth in the tent of David, one who judges and demands justice and performs righteousness.” Isaiah 16:4-5

“Incline your ear and come to Me, hearken and your soul shall live, and I will make for you an everlasting covenant, the dependable mercies of David. Behold, a witness to nations have I appointed him, a ruler and a commander of nations.” Isaiah 55:3-4

“And it shall be on that day, says the Lord of Hosts, [that] I will break his yoke off your neck, and I will break your thongs, and strangers shall no longer enslave them. And they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will set up for themAnd their prince shall be from them, and their ruler shall emerge from their midst, and I will bring him near, and he shall approach Me, for who is it who pledged his heart to approach Me? says the Lord.” Jeremiah 30:8-9, 21

“Be exceedingly happy, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold! Your king shall come to you. He is just and victorious; humble, and riding a donkey and a foal, the offspring of [one of] she-donkeys. And I will cut off the chariots from Ephraim, and the horses from Jerusalem; and the bow of war shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace to the nations, and his rule shall be from the sea to the west and from the river to the ends of the earth.” Zechariah 9:9-10

In a Jewish commentary we find this interpretation regarding the above passage:

Behold! Your king shall come to you: It is impossible to interpret this except as referring to the King Messiah, as it is stated: “and his rule shall be from sea to sea.” We do not find that Israel had such a ruler during the days of the Second Temple.

just and victorious: saved by the Lord.

and a foal of she-donkeys: as in (Gen. 32:16)"and ten foals. (The Complete Jewish Bible With Rashi Commentary; underline emphasis ours)

 

God Almighty

Shockingly, these same God-breathed Scriptures testify that it is Yahweh himself who is going to personally come to Jerusalem to rule as King of all the earth:

“And I will form a covenant of peace for them, an everlasting covenant shall be with them; and I will establish them and I will multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary in their midst forever. And My dwelling place shall be over them, and I will be to them for a God, and they shall be to Me as a people. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, Who sanctifies Israel, when My Sanctuary is in their midst forever." Ezekiel 37:26-28

“And he led me to the gate, a gate that faced eastward. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and its sound was like the sound of abundant waters, and the earth shone from His glory. And it was like the appearance of the vision that I saw, as the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city, and visions like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the Lord came to the House by the way of the gate that faced eastward. And a spirit lifted me and brought me to the Inner Court, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the House. And I heard [Him] speaking to me from the House, and a man was standing beside me. And He said to me, Son of man, [this is] the place of My throne and [this is] the place of the soles of My feet where I shall dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel forever, and the House of Israel will no longer defile My Holy Name, they and their kings with their harlotry, and with the corpses of their kings in their high places.” Ezekiel 43:1-7

“All around it amounts to 18,000; and the name of the city from that day will be ‘The Lord is There.’” Ezekiel 48:35

The prophet Zechariah goes so far as to prophesy that the nations will have to go up to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles in order to come before Yahweh to worship him there!

And the Lord shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the Lord be one, and His name one… And it will come to pass that everyone left of the nations who came up against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to prostrate himself to the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the festival of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whoever of all the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to prostrate himself to the King, the Lord of Hosts-upon them there shall be no rain.” Zechariah 14:9, 16-17

With that said we are now ready to continue to the next section.