Tracing God's Hand: The Royal Road to King David

letters that children have written to their pastor -

Dear Pastor:

Please say in your sermon Peter Peterson has been a good boy all week. I am Peter Peterson. Sincerely, Pete, age 9

Are there any devils on earth? I think there may be one in my class.—Carla, age 10

I know God loves everybody but He never met my sister. Yours Sincerely, Arnold, age 8

I’m sorry I can’t leave more money in the plate, but my father didn’t give me a raise in my allowance. Could you have a sermon about a raise in my allowance? Love Patty, age 10

Children are a must for the continuance of humanity - but with that reproduction comes, continuity, heritage, progeny,

With that continuity, heritage, and progeny — accompanies all of the drama, stories, and history.

As the saying goes:

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

It’s easy to fall prey to the “grass is greener” disease over family’s status and wealth but as Dr. Seuss reminds us:

“You ought to be thankful a hole heaping lot, for The places and people you're lucky you're not!”

― Dr. Seuss, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

Someone came up with Ancestral Mathematics In order to be born, just going back 12 generations, you needed:

2 parents

4 grandparents

8 great-grandparents

16 second great-grandparents

32 third great-grandparents

64 fourth great-grandparents

128 fifth great-grandparents

256 sixth great-grandparents

512 seventh great-grandparents

1,024 eighth great-grandparents

2,048 ninth great-grandparents

For you to be born today from 12 previous generations, you needed a total of 4,094 ancestors over the last 400 years.

Think for a moment - How many struggles? How many battles? How many difficulties? How much sadness? How much happiness? How many love stories? How many expressions of hope for the future? - did your ancestors have to undergo for you to exist in this present moment...

David must have thought of that at some point in his life as...

It was the Psalmist David, that sweet singer of Israel, who testified;

Psalm 16:6 KJV 1900

6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; Yea, I have a goodly heritage.

Psalm 16 is according to Charles Spurgeon, “is usually understood to mean THE GOLDEN PSALM” some refer to it as a jewel or precious.

It is a Messianic Psalm meaning it refers to the Messiah or to Christ - this becomes acutely clear when you get to Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. We may come back to talk about this when we talk about David’s descendants - but for now I want us to focus on David’s heritage.

He talks about THE LINES

“The lines are fallen unto me” – Refers to measuring lines used to divide land;

In Joshua 13-21 after the conquest of Canaan Joshua was given command from God to divide the land

This was done through casting lots (seen as a way of determining God’s sovereign will) Josh 18:6,10

Once the tribe received its portion by lot, surveyors (these were appointed men Josh 18:4-6) would go out and measure and mark boundaries using measuring lines

The word translated as "lines" in Psalm 16:6 is חֵבֶל (chebel), which literally means: Measuring cord or rope Also translated elsewhere as lot, portion, or boundary

These cords were used:

To measure distances and allocate boundaries between tribal lands, family inheritance plots, and sometimes even fields within a clan.

To mark out a person's inheritance physically and legally.

By David’s time, these "lines" became a symbol of divine apportionment—not just of land, but of life circumstances.

Metaphorically David, a shepherd boy turned king, is reflecting on how he believes that God has sovereignly placed him where he is.

David's life, purpose, and inheritance have been laid out by God.

The “pleasant places” aren't only the land he rules—they include his:

relationship with God,

his future hope.

And more importantly for our discussion tonight his ancestral line (Ruth 4:18–22),

While there are many places we can go to find the genealogy of David

1 Chron 2:3–3:24, Traces line of Judah

Ruth 4:18-22, Shows brief line to David

Matthew 1:1-17, - Lists 3 sets of fourteen generations. 14 from Abraham to David, David to Babylon Exile, Exile to Messiah (Jesus) - Traces genealogy of Christ (Joseph’s family tree - Begins with Abraham and ends with Jesus)

Luke 3:23-38. - Traces genealogy of Christ (Mary’s lineage - Begins with Jesus and goes back to Adam)

Both Matthew and Luke are showing Jesus as a true descendant of King David.

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future. Alex Haley Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/scott_hall_1001887

David’s lineage is sometimes referred to as a Dynasty, or the “root of David” or a “branch”

I would like us to see it as a road with the names as destinations along that road.

When we travel - we don’t stop at every town, village, and city along the road - but there are some that we do.

When I was young, my dad’s family lived in southern MO around Peace Valley, and later my oldest brother Russell started pastoring there - so we would make frequent trips there. We had a Mobile gas station right by the University of Rolla that we would stop by nearly every trip. It was about half way. On our latest Deputation trip this past fall, we stopped at that same Mobile station.

But there were many other towns and cities and villages and gas stations and rest areas we did not stop at.

I am not so much interested in all of the names, we are not going to stop at all of them but I do want us to take the royal road to David and stop at a few places along the way.

Sometimes when you take a trip there are multiple routes to the destination - I love how our old Tom Tom and now Google Maps would let you select the shortest and quickest way to navigate to your destination

So I am going to take the shortest route to David and that is found in the book of Ruth.

Ruth 4:18–22 KJV 1900

18 Now these are the generations of Pharez [fay-rez]: Pharez begat Hezron [Hez-run], 19 And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, 20 And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, 21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, 22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

I want to look at this great list of destination points on the royal road to King David

Pharez - The name means “breach” and no doubt refers to the interesting manner of hi birth.

Pharez was the firstborn of twin sons of the scandalous relationship of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar (Gen 38:27-29) Both Judah and Tamar would have immigrated to Egypt from Canaan when Jacob came to see Joseph.

Judah had violated both the law and the custom of levirate marriage by refusing to permit his third son to marry Tamar (who had been widowed by his two older sons)

Tamar disguised herself as a sacred prostitute, having relations with Judah producing the twins Pharez and Zerah.

During the birth, the midwife saw Zerah’s hand and tied a scarlet thread on it, but it was Perez who “broke out” first

Pharez is acknowledged in the Bible and by Jewish ancestry as the son of Judah and in all the genealogies his name is prominent (Ge 46:12; Num 26:20-21, 1 Chr 2:4-5)

During Naomi’s time he was considered to be a great person -

When Boaz married Ruth the elders who were witnesses to the ceremony blessed them with this blessing: Ruth 4:11-12

Ruth 4:11–12 KJV 1900

11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem: 12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.

The people and elders rather than just saying “CONGRATULATIONS” to the married couple - they speak this blessing over them:

Ruth 4:12 “12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.”

When the elders say, “Let thy house be like the house of Pharez,” they are invoking a powerful spiritual parallel:

A broken past redeemed by God’s providence.

A Gentile woman (Tamar was a Canaanite; Ruth was a Moabite) brought into the covenant family.

A line that leads to kingship and, ultimately, the Messiah.

this was no ordinary blessing. It was a prophetic utterance, saying, “Boaz, may your union with Ruth—an outsider—be used by God to bring forth greatness, just as He did with Judah and Tamar.”

There is an interesting scripture Deut 23:3-6 that forbids any Moabite up to the 10th generation from entering into the Tabernacle or Temple. And yet we find that David was the one who talked about how glad he was to go into the Sanctuary.

I really struggled with this earlier this year in my devotions when I read this - then it dawned on me - that was through the father’s side. Since Ruth was a Moabite, but Boaz was an Israelite then it is the ethnicity of the father, in this case Boaz, that makes this law not to apply to David

As we continue on our journey we find the next stop is Hezron [hez-run]

The Bible is pretty brief when it comes to data about Hezron

We do know he was the founder of the Hezronite Clan a prominent family in the tribe of Judah.

He could have possibly been one of the 70 that went down to Egypt with Jacob.

Hezron is the son of Pharez and a grandson of Judah, although 1 Chronicles 4:1 mentions him as a brother of Pharez or Perez

Not much on this stop along our journey - so we will keep going.

Ram is one of those don’t blink or you’ll miss it stops. His mention only seems to be to show the family line that continues through Judah. Not much else is recorded about him

Next stop: Amminadab

Amminadab is the son of Ram - His notoriety in the tribe of Judah is that his daughter, Elisheba, married Aaron, the brother of Moses (Ex 6:23)

This also made him the grandfather to Eleazer, the high priest following Aaron

In this marriage you have the union of priest and royalty.

During David’s reign there is a priest by the same name who helps bring the Ark of the Covenant back.

On the next stop we meet Amminadab’s son, Nahshon

Nahshon was called a prince - he was one of the princes of Israel who helped lead the people through the wilderness. (Num 1:7;2:3;7:12-17;10:14)

Exodus 14:21 tells us that Moses stretched hid rod out over the Red Sea and that a strong wind was sent from God to part the waters.

Rabbinic Tradition teaches that when they came to the Red Sea everyone was fearful to step into the water, so Nahshon ran to the front and when he the water was up to his nose it parted and they all crossed. Midrash (Sotah 37a),

They will often cite Psalm 114:3 “3 The sea saw it [him], and fled: ....”

Now my instinct is to throw that into the pile of fabricated stories - but he was obviously looked to as a great man, a strong person, and a tremendous leader.

His death would have occurred during the wilderness wanderings.

Numbers 1:7 mentions Nahshon is listed as the prince or leader of the tribe of Judah during the first census in the wilderness - this is shortly after the Exodus from Egypt.

Forty some years later they take the second census in Numbers 26 and Nahshon is no longer mentioned as the leader of Judah, instead his son, Salmon is listed

Next stop is Salmon

Salmon is noted for marriage connection to Rahab - the woman from Jericho who hid the Israelite spies and is rescued when they take over.

Matthew 1:5 “5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;”

Next stop is Boaz - we are probably most familiar with Boaz who married Ruth the Moabitess woman. He serves as the kinsman-redeemer for Ruth. He becomes the great-grandfather of King David

Some of the last verses of Ruth are so touching Ruth 4:13-17

Ruth 4:13–17 KJV 1900

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. 14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. 16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. 17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

What does all of this mean to me? I want us to recognize three things:

God Puts Us Just Where We Need To Be (Esther several years after David will be told that she is her position for “such a time as this” so you and are are put here for our time and can be and will be used of God no)

God Can Use Us Where We Are No Matter the Circumstances

Several years ago Phil Vischer made the VeggieTales series popular - telling Bible and moral stories with veggetables. In one of those films they included the song, to help kids who were scared, “God is Bigger than the Boogie Man”

Can I just tell you tonight that God is bigger than your circumstance.

God can take the ordinary, seemingly non-important and insignificant details and events of life and link them together to form one of the most amazing chains in the Bible or to use the metaphor we have been using tonight

We can trace God’s hand all along the royal road to King David

the songwriter put it: “His hand in all my life I see.”