1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. 2In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out and in. Yahweh said to you, ‘You will be shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be prince over Israel.’” 3So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David king over Israel.
4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
6The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “The blind and the lame will keep you out of here,” thinking, “David can’t come in here.” 7Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. This is David’s city.
All the tribes of Israel came to David asking him to be their king. David wins the previously unconquered city of Jerusalem. He renames it Zion and establishes it as the capital city and builds his home there.
This was the pinnacle of Jewish history, they were a family under Abraham, a people under Moses, a nation under Joshua and under David they were an empire. A people united and strong with a capital and a king who served God. Even the Ark of the Covenant had been returned from the Philistines and was now residing in Jerusalem. Then God said to David I will establish a royal dynasty through you and your throne will be secure forever. What a promise of hope that God established with David that day, a hope that he could hold onto forever.
As we get to know the history of the people of Israel, it doesn’t take much to work out that things went wrong again after this. David sinned, civil war broke out the empire began to fracture. In all of this God never removed his promise from the royal line of David. There were days when that promise was harder to see and difficult to believe, days when it seemed that all hope was lost, but God kept his promise. The royal line of David was secured forever when Jesus (from the house of David) ascended into heaven and took his rightful place at the right hand of God. Securing hope for all. It is vital for us to remember that God’s love and promises withstand the good days and the bad days, the days when we are at our best and the days when we are at our worst. There will be a time in our own history that we will look back on high points and low points but at every stage we will see that God has loved us and kept his promises.