Chapter 9: David’s Prophecies

King David was a prophet as well as a king. As a king, he had many years in which to contemplate the divine plan for the nations other than his own. And though he lived in an Old Covenant time, he had a New Covenant perspective and prophesied accordingly. Here is what David had to say about the nations in general:

Psalm 66:4 says,

⁴ All the earth will worship Thee, and will sing praises to Thee; They will sing praises to Thy name. [Selah]

Psalm 67 says,

¹ God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us— ² that Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy salvation among all nations[goyim]. ³ Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee; ⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for Thou wilt judge the peoples with uprightness, and guide the nations on the earth. ⁵ Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee. ⁶ The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. ⁷ God blesses us that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

Notice in verse 4 that the nations will “be glad and sing for joy” when God judges the people. Most people think of God’s judgment upon the nations as a condemnation that produces great fear and weeping. In verse 7 the summation is that God blesses “us” (that is, Israel) in order that “all the ends of the earth may fear Him.” No doubt Peter had this in mind when he preached in Acts 3:25, 26,

²⁵ It is you who are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ²⁶ For you first, God raised up his Servant, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

In other words, God blesses “us” by turning us from our wicked ways, so that we will have a testimony and gospel with which to bless the other nations. Without God’s “blessing,” we cause the nations to blaspheme God and to reject Him (Isaiah 52:5; Rom. 2:24).

Psalm 72:11 says,

¹¹ And let all kings bow down before Him, all nations serve Him.

This is echoed in Rev. 15:3, 4 in the Song of Moses:

³ . . . “Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. ⁴ Who will NOT fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; for all the nations will come and worship before Thee, for Thy righteous acts have been revealed.”

The question in verse 4 is rhetorical, for it is inconceivable that any person would not fear and glorify His name in that day. It is only a matter of time before the glory of God is revealed to all mankind.

Psalm 78:71 speaks of “Israel His inheritance.” But Psalm 82:8 says,

⁸ Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is Thou who dost possess [inherit] all the nations.

All the nations are God’s inheritance—not merely Israel or Judah. Likewise, God will give the nations as the inheritance of the righteous, for we read in Psalm 2:8,

⁸ Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.

In the New Testament we find that this is not given to genealogical Israelites, but to those who believe in Jesus Christ and who are found worthy to rule those nations righteously. Jesus says in Matt. 5:5, “the meek [humble] will inherit the earth,” putting the qualifications for rulership upon character, not upon genealogy. In this, Jesus only quoted David in Psalm 37:11.

So we see David himself understanding that all nations belong to God and form His inheritance. He does not intend to destroy His inheritance, but to bring joy to it through righteous judgment.