Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them ; I the Lord have spoken it.
THERE is nothing so comforting to an afflicted soul, as to contemplate the promises of God : indeed they were given to us for this very purpose, that they might be our support and consolation in the time of trouble. The same may be observed with respect to the prophecies that relate to Christ ; they were delivered to the Church in seasons of peculiar trial, as encou- ragements to the saints to hold fast their profession. It was under circumstances of this nature, that the glorious prophecy before us was revealed. Both the ecclesiastical and civil governors of Israel had greatly oppressed the poor, and especially the godly : but God afforded them seasonable support, by declaring, that he would not only espouse their cause, but would raise up to them a Shepherd, and a Governor of a very different description, even the Messiah himself, who should redress all their wrongs, and bring them into the possession of perfect happiness.
Such being the occasion of the words, we proceed to consider them,
I. As fulfilled at the first coming of our Lord —
It is undoubtedly the Messiah that is here called "David"—
[David himself had been dead many hundred years ; nor has there been any other person after him, to whom this ap- pellation was ever given. But Christ is frequently spoken of in the prophets by the name of David a; and to him the cha- racters, here annexed to that name, most eminently belong. He is called by that name, because David was a very distin- guished type of him. David was chosen by God from a very low state, and was anointed to be king over Israel. He was also made a prophet of the Most High God ; and, under the in- fluence of the Holy Spirit, often spake as actually personating
a Jer. xxx. 9. Ezek. xxxvii. 24, 25.