The British-Israelites, represented by The Covenant Publishing Company in London and Destiny Publishers in Massachusetts, have long claimed that Queen Elizabeth II (and now King Charles III) is descended from King David of Israel and sits on his throne today. Herbert W. Armstrong -- founder of the Worldwide Church of God -- picked up on this idea in the 1920s and made it one of the principal doctrines in the Church's theology. Now dropped by the Worldwide Church of God, the idea remains alive in the Church of God International and the so-called Philadelphia Church of God.

BUT IS IT TRUE? The truth may be even more remarkable than we realize!! Is King Charles descended from David "the man after YEHOVAH God's own heart"? What are the REAL facts of Irish history?

First, let us notice a commonly held belief. In the much-circulated booklet entitled The United States and Britain in Prophecy, [2] the late Herbert W. Armstrong makes the following assertions:

"David succeeded Saul. David sat on the ETERNAL'S THRONE. David's son Solomon succeeded him, also sitting on the Eternal's throne. "Then Solomon sat on THE THRONE OF THE ETERNAL as king instead of David his father" (I Chron. 29:23; see also II Chron. 9:8).

"I wish here to impress another special point. Before Saul, the Eternal had been King over Israel. These human kings were sitting on the Eternal's throne....Jesus is both the "root" AND the "offspring" of David (Rev. 22:16). Since he was the "root," the throne was His before David was born. David merely sat upon the Eternal's throne. Secondly, since Jesus was David's lawful fleshly Son [literal descendant of David], this same throne shall once more become His right by inheritance, continuing David's dynasty. And so, when Christ returns to earth, David's throne will be doubly His right!

"Now we come to a seemingly incredible fact -- fantastic -almost unbelievable, but TRUE! While David was king, God made with him a perpetual covenant, unconditionally, which God cannot and will not break! This covenant is even more amazing, and less understood, than the unconditional covenant with Abraham!

"I want you now to plant firmly in mind the specific nature and character of the covenant the Almighty made with David. For it is a vital link in the purpose and mission of Christ -- an important KEY to Bible understanding!

"In II Samuel 23:1, 5, we find: "Now these be the last words of David....God...hath made with me AN EVERLASTING COVENANT, ordered in all things, and SURE." In other words, a covenant that shall endure forever and CANNOT FAIL!

"Turn back to the seventh chapter of II Samuel for more specific details. God gave David this covenant promise at a time when David was much concerned over the Ark of the Covenant dwelling in a tent. David wanted to build a great temple at Jerusalem.

"'And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?...When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels [Solomon], and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, AND I WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF HIS KINGDOM FOR EVER. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. AND THINE HOUSE AND THY KINGDOM SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOR EVER before thee: THY THRONE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOR EVER'" (II Samuel 7:4-5, 12-16).

Armstrong goes on to say [3]:

"Notice carefully these points:

"1) David's throne was set up and established with Solomon, David's son.

"2) The throne -- David's throne (verse 16) -- was established FOREVER in Solomon (verse 13). Observe that this nowhere says that when Christ comes, God will establish it in HIM forever. It says it was to be established forever IN SOLOMON.

"3) What if Solomon, or the children of Israel, disobey? Would that cancel this covenant? Verses 14-15 plainly say that if they commit iniquity, God will chasten them WITH THE ROD OF MEN, but will NOT break this covenant. The throne shall go on forever just the same!

"4) Notice particularly, in case of disobedience, God will NOT take the throne away as He took it from Saul. How did He take it from Saul? Saul's dynasty ended! No son of Saul ever sat on the throne. But Solomon's dynasty would not end. The punishment for disobedience would be chastening at the hands of MEN.

"5) Since God did firmly establish this throne with David and with Solomon, if David's throne ceased from existence, even for the length of one generation, could we say it had been established FOREVER as God here promised?"

Armstrong concludes:

"Here is the fact as little realized as any in the Bible! Almighty God made an absolutely binding -- just HOW binding we shall see! -- covenant with David, UNCONDITIONALLY guaranteeing that there should never be a single generation from that time forward when there would not be a descendant of David, in UNBROKEN DYNASTY sitting on David's throne, ruling over children of Israel! It was the promise of a continuous, unbroken dynasty-- all generations FOREVER -- that was guaranteed.

"This is hard to believe! Yet God promised and UNALTERABLY GUARANTEED just that! There were no conditions. Nothing that would happen could prevent it. The sins of the people were not to change it. The promise stood immutable!"

While this passage from the pen of the late Herbert W. Armstrong is convincing, it is based on only A FEW verses out of DOZENS that deal with the covenant between YEHOVAH God and David. And, furthermore, the meanings of some of the words quoted by the author need to be examined in more detail!

To arrive at the truth of YEHOVAH God we have to do what Paul admonished the Bereans to do: "These [the Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY to find out whether these things were so." (Acts 17:11). Also, Isaiah tells us that "precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." (Is. 28:10). If we follow these directives, we will arrive at a completely DIFFERENT conclusion than Herbert W. Armstrong did!

Armstrong stated that "In II Samuel 23:1, 5, we find: 'Now these be the LAST WORDS of David....God...hath made with me AN EVERLASTING COVENANT, ordered in all things, and SURE.' In other words, a covenant that shall endure FOREVER and CANNOT FAIL!"

What we must realize here is that the "OFFICE" of the kingship over Israel was promised to David forever -- NOT that someone of David's line would always fill that "office." Looking at it another way, the "OFFICE" itself exists forever even if the "office" is vacant from time-to-time!

Yeshua the Messiah is King "FOREVER" and DOES fulfill the covenant or "promise" to David, however, there is no promise whatsoever that DAVID'S RULING LINE would continue forever -- reigning uninterrupted over the people of Israel.

Psalm 89 shows that David's throne -- the office of the king would endure forever: "And his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky." (Verses 36-37). Since David fulfilled his end of the agreement, YEHOVAH God honored the covenant and has kept the "office" open, but for the office to be CONTINUALLY FILLED with someone of David's line a CONDITIONAL aspect to the covenant was added.

While II Samuel 23:5 shows that YEHOVAH's covenant with David was "ordered in all things and secure" at the time of David's death, I Kings 2 plainly shows that YEHOVAH's covenant with David's children was thereafter conditional!

Notice:

"And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the LORD may fulfill His word He spoke CONCERNING ME, saying, 'IF your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,' He said, 'YOU SHALL NOT LACK A MAN ON THE THRONE OF ISRAEL" (I Kings 2:3-4). [1]

In this charge to his son Solomon, David makes it VERY CLEAR that the covenant is CONDITIONAL -- conditional on the ACTIONS of those who came after David to sit on the throne of Israel! This CONDITIONAL ASPECT of YEHOVAH's promise to David is reinforced by many other verses in the Bible:

"The LORD has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: 'I will set upon your throne THE FRUIT OF YOUR BODY. IF your sons will keep My covenant and My testimony which I shall teach them, THEIR SONS ALSO SHALL SIT UPON YOUR THRONE FOREVERMORE'" (Psalm 132:11-12). [1]

In fact, YEHOVAH God fulfilled his promise to David when SOLOMON ascended the throne of Israel -- "The LORD has sworn in truth to David....'I will set upon your throne the FRUIT OF YOUR BODY.'" Solomon was the fruit of David's body! YEHOVAH God then says: "IF YOUR SONS will keep My covenant and My testimony which I shall teach them, THEIR SONS also shall sit upon your throne forevermore." In other words, if Solomon should keep YEHOVAH's charge, then HIS SONS would sit upon David's throne forever. As we all know, Solomon, in his old age, turned from YEHOVAH God and listened to the advice of his many wives. Therefore the covenant was technically broken -- but not by YEHOVAH!

Now look at I Kings 8:25:

"Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the PROMISES you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, IF ONLY your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done!'" [1]

Only with an understanding of the CONDITIONAL aspect of YEHOVAH's promise to David can we make any sense out of Psalm 89 [1] -- which otherwise seems totally contradictory! In the first part of this Psalm YEHOVAH God says: "I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 'Your seed I will establish FOREVER, and build up your throne TO ALL GENERATIONS.'" (Verses 3-4).

YEHOVAH God reinforces this a few verses later by stating: "My mercy I will keep for him FOREVER, and My covenant shall STAND FIRM with him. His seed also I will make to ENDURE FOREVER, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless in My loving kindness I will not UTTERLY take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I WILL NOT BREAK, NOR ALTER the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I WILL NOT LIE TO DAVID: his seed shall ENDURE FOR EVER, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky."

You might have noticed in the above that YEHOVAH God promised David his "SEED [DESCENDANTS] I will establish FOREVER," "His [David's] SEED also I will make to endure FOREVER." This, in itself, is very significant! Most kings at that time in world history had their children, etc., killed by rival claimants to the throne, and their line exterminated!

Greg Doudna, former Ambassador College student and now with the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University, notes:

"It might seem such a promise could be made to nearly anyone, and if that was all it was, it would hardly be significant. It would seem the promise to David was in having descendants who would BE king, not simply having descendants WILLING to be king.

"However, it was common for rival monarchies to slaughter whole families and every known living heir, in order to destroy future claimants. Herod is recorded as executing children at Bethlehem hoping to remove any descendant of David (Matt 2:16). After overthrowing king Ahab, Jehu killed Ahab's entire clan (II Kings 10:6-11). For good measure he then killed most of the extended family of a previous king of Judah (II Kings 10:12-14)." [4]

Doudna presents another example:

"Another example of this kind of normal, everyday palace behavior is found in II Kings 11:1-2, in which the mother of the king whose family had almost all been wiped out usurped rule herself and slaughtered the children of her own deceased son. Earlier, in the time of the judges, Abimelech was briefly made king of a city after slaughtering 69 out of 70 half-brother rival claimants (Judges 9:1-6). (One got away by mistake.)

"Even David himself, who received the promise of an EVERLASTING LINE OF HEIRS [NOT that his heirs would always SIT on his throne], turned over every remaining able-bodied male heir of Saul to be slaughtered (II Sam 21:7-9). The sole exception to whom David showed mercy was a son of Jonathan who was "crippled in his feet" (II Sam 9:13). Lameness ruled out coming before the Lord in offering of sacrifices (Lev 21:16-24), and in the Israelite view, would likewise have ruled out eligibility to be king (compare II Sam 5:8)." [5]

In light of this, it was not a trivial matter for David -- especially in the aftermath of his killing all of Saul's line -- to be promised by YEHOVAH God that HE would always have a descendant ABLE to be king.

Now, in the next part of Psalm 89 [1] we see the writer, Ethan the Ezrahite, WISTFULLY looking back into the past and CRYING:

"But you have cast off and rejected, You have been furious WITH YOUR ANOINTED. YOU HAVE RENOUNCED THE COVENANT OF YOUR SERVANT [DAVID]; YOU HAVE DEFILED HIS CROWN BY CASTING IT TO THE GROUND. You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin....YOU HAVE MADE HIS GLORY CEASE, AND CAST HIS THRONE DOWN TO THE GROUND."

Dr. James Tabor, in his article The Lord (YHVH) God and His Messiah, comments on Psalm 89:

"The hope and promise of the coming Davidic Messiah, the great and exalted King of Israel of the LAST DAYS, develops out of the Babylonian Exile. BY ALL APPEARANCES, as Psalm 89 so plaintively expresses it, Yehovah had BROKEN HIS COVENANT WITH KING DAVID. THE LAST KINGS OF JUDAH HAD BEEN TAKEN CAPTIVE AND SLAUGHTERED. (2 Kings 25). And yet, one by one, the Hebrew prophets begin to speak of a RESTORATION OF THE DAVIDIC THRONE and the coming of an ideal king, one they call a Branch or Shoot FROM THE 'STUMP' OF THE ROYAL LINE." [6]

Continuing Psalm 89, Ethan then asks:

"How long, LORD? Will You hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?...LORD, WHERE ARE YOUR FORMER LOVING KINDNESSES, WHICH YOU SWORE TO DAVID IN YOUR TRUTH?"

David met the "conditions" of the covenant, but his CHILDREN did not -- otherwise Psalm 89 would be contradictory! Ethan reveals that David's throne was "cast...down to the ground" because the evil actions of David's descendants caused YEHOVAH God to be furious with them. YEHOVAH "renounced the covenant of [His] servant [David]", interrupting the line of David filling the "office" that was itself everlasting because David upheld his end of the agreement.

Now we see that YEHOVAH God makes the same covenant or agreement with Solomon in I Kings 6:11-12: "Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: 'Concerning this house which you are building, IF you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, THEN I WILL PERFORM MY WORD WITH YOU, WHICH I SPOKE TO YOUR FATHER DAVID.'" [1]

Solomon, in his prayer of dedication for the new Temple, asked YEHOVAH God to keep his promise to David: "You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father [regarding the Temple]; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. Therefore, LORD God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, 'YOU SHALL NOT FAIL TO HAVE A MAN SIT BEFORE ME ON THE THRONE OF ISRAEL, ONLY IF YOUR SONS TAKE HEED TO THEIR WAY, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.' And now I pray, O God of Israel, LET YOUR WORD COME TRUE, which you have spoken to Your servant David my father" (I Kings 8: 24-26). [1]

If this isn't PLAIN enough, YEHOVAH repeats it again when He appeared to Solomon AFTER the dedication of the Temple:

"...the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. And the LORD said to him: "I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have sanctified this house which you have built to put My name there FOREVER, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. Now, IF YOU WALK BEFORE ME as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, AND IF YOU KEEP MY STATUTES AND MY JUDGMENTS, THEN I WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF YOUR KINGDOM OVER ISRAEL FOREVER, as I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' BUT if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do NOT keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, THEN I WILL CUT OFF [DESTROY] ISRAEL FROM THE LAND which I have given them; and this house [Temple] which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples" (I Kings 9:2-7). [1]

Obviously, if the nation of Israel was cut off and the Temple destroyed from the land -- so also would the throne be cut off and cast down. THE PROMISE TO SOLOMON WAS ALSO CONDITIONAL! What further proof do we need?

If we turn to Jeremiah 33 we will discover a real ENIGMA! Notice!

"For thus says the LORD: 'David shall NEVER LACK a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; NOR SHALL THE PRIESTS, THE LEVITES, LACK A MAN TO OFFER BURNT OFFERINGS BEFORE ME, to kindle grain offerings AND TO SACRIFICE CONTINUALLY'" (Verses 17-18). [1]

Every student of the Bible knows that for the period of time between the first and the second temple, and from A.D. 70 to the present, NO OFFERINGS OR SACRIFICES HAVE BEEN MADE BECAUSE DURING THESE TIMES THE TEMPLE DID NOT EXIST! How, then, do we interpret these verses in Jeremiah?

Greg Doudna was puzzled by these same verses:

"I remember the passage in Jeremiah 33:17-26, LINKING TOGETHER the EVERLASTING THRONE of David with the Levites offering sacrifices, as having been a question to me in my Big Sandy days. If the promise of the everlasting rule by the line of David necessitated the throne being transplanted to Ireland in order to continue, WHY WAS IT NOT THE SAME WITH THE LEVITES, whose PROMISED ETERNAL SERVICE as priests was likewise INTERRUPTED? Both promises are said in the SAME BREATH, LINKED TOGETHER in this passage. It was speculated in classes at Big Sandy that Christ AT HIS RETURN would indeed restore the Levitical, physical priesthood, for use by physical people during the millennium who did not yet have the Holy Spirit, and that as these people turned to Christ spiritually, the physical sacrifices would decline throughout the millennium. BUT WHERE WAS THE LEVTICAL, PRIESTLY SERVICE NOW, IN THIS AGE?

"The WCG answered this basically in [this way]:...there would always be Levites AVAILABLE to do Temple service. There are Levites now in Orthodox Judaism, but there is no temple. IN OTHER WORDS, THE PROMISES ARE INTERPRETED AS MEANING LEVITES WOULD HAVE DESCENDANTS AND WOULD BE ABLE TO SERVE AS PRIESTS." [7]

If the WWCG interpreted this part of the passage in Jeremiah 33 in this fashion, WHY in the world did they not interpret verse 17 in the SAME WAY to be consistent and logical? Because it didn't fit in with Herbert Armstrong's ideas regarding the throne of David!

Returning to Doudna:

"David was promised his throne would last forever (II Sam. 7:12-16). Since it is unthinkable that the biblical promise would fail, logic impelled the British-Israelites and Herbert Armstrong to the conclusion that David's descendants are TODAY ruling on the throne of England.

"MOST analysts have sought for a solution more in keeping with historical probability. It is explained that Jer. 33:17-26 shows the real meaning to be God's covenant would be BROKEN if David "shall not have a son [ABLE TO] reign on his throne." The same thing is said of the Levites in the same passage -- there would always be Levites serving as priests, which is explained to mean ABLE TO serve as priests. In other words, THE PROMISE TO DAVID WAS THAT HE WOULD HAVE DESCENDANTS ABLE TO RULE -- as well as have his line result in Jesus Christ, who is destined to rule forever." [8]

As Solomon grew old he departed from the ways of YEHOVAH God and started catering to the whims of his foreign wives. "Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem [Mt. of Olives], and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods" (I Kings 11:7-8).

Because of Solomon's apostasy YEHOVAH God tore the ten tribes from him and gave it to Jeroboam his servant. Jeroboam was not even of the line of Judah, but an Ephraimite! Notice what YEHOVAH God told Solomon:

"So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "BECAUSE YOU HAVE DONE THIS, AND HAVE NOT KEPT MY COVENANT AND MY STATUTES, WHICH I HAVE COMMANDED YOU, I WILL SURELY TEAR THE KINGDOM AWAY FROM YOU AND GIVE IT TO YOUR SERVANT. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR FATHER DAVID; but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I WILL NOT TEAR AWAY THE WHOLE KINGDOM, but I will give one tribe to your son FOR THE SAKE OF MY SERVANT DAVID, and FOR THE SAKE OF JERUSALEM WHICH I HAVE CHOSEN" (I Kings 11:9-13). [1]

In these verses we can PLAINLY see, once again, how CONDITIONAL YEHOVAH's promises to Solomon were! In fact, if it wasn't for the covenant YEHOVAH God made with David, YEHOVAH would have stripped the ENTIRE kingdom away from Solomon.

Also, note that YEHOVAH reserved ONE TRIBE for Solomon's son so "that My servant David may always have a LAMP before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there." (I Kings 11:36).

The "LAMP" before the eternal in Jerusalem referred to the descendants of David:

"Jehovah God established King David on the throne of Israel, and David proved to be a wise guide and leader of the nation, UNDER GOD'S DIRECTION. He was therefore called "the lamp of Israel." (2 Sa 21:17) In his kingdom covenant with David, Jehovah promised: "Your very throne will become one firmly established to time indefinite." (2 Sa 7:11-16) Accordingly, the dynasty, or FAMILY LINE, of rulers from David through his son Solomon was a "LAMP" to Israel -- 1 Ki 11:36; 15:4; 2 Ki 8:19; 2 Ch 21:7.

"When King Zedekiah was dethroned and taken captive to Babylon to die there, it appeared that "THE LAMP" was extinguished. But Jehovah had not abandoned his covenant. He merely held rulership on the throne IN ABEYANCE "until he comes who has the legal right [Christ]." (Eze. 21:27) Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the "son of David," was heir to that throne forever. Thus "THE LAMP" of David will never go out. Jesus is therefore an EVERLASTING LAMP as the one who possesses the Kingdom forever. -- Mt. 1:1; Lu 1:32." [9]

It should be realized that when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, YEHOVAH God no longer had a "lamp" before Him and David's dynasty then ceased to exist.

In the United States and Britain in Prophecy, Armstrong makes the following claims:

"Now consider a much misunderstood passage of prophecy. If you will begin reading at the 18th verse of the 21st chapter of Ezekiel, you will see plainly that the Eternal is here speaking of the captivity of Judah by the king of Babylon. And, beginning in the 25th verse, He says: 'And thou profane wicked prince of Israel [Zedekiah], whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the LORD God; REMOVE THE DIADEM, AND TAKE OFF THE CROWN [as did happen, through the first half of Jeremiah's commission]: this [the crown] shall not be the same: EXALT him that is low, and ABASE him that is high. I will OVERTURN, OVERTURN, OVERTURN, it: and it shall be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.'

"Let us understand this clearly. 'Remove the diadem, and take off the crown.' King Zedekiah, of David's dynasty, had the crown. This says it is to be removed. IT WAS REMOVED. He died in Babylon; his sons and all the nobles of Judah were killed.

"'This shall not be the same.' The diadem is not to cease, but a change is to take place -- the throne is to be overturned -- another is to wear the crown. God's promise to David is not to go by default!." [10]

Armstrong continues with his explanation:

"'Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.' Who is 'high'? King Zedekiah of Judah. Now he is to be abased. He is to lose that crown. Judah has been 'high,' while Israel has been 'low' -- these many years without a king (Hosea 3:4). The Pharez line has been 'high'; the Zarah line 'low'.

"'I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he comes whose right it is.' What was to be overturned? The diadem, and the throne. Not once -- it is to be overturned THREE TIMES. Overturning by abasing Zedekiah, the house of Judah, the Pharez line, and exalting, now, the house of Israel, and one of the Zarah line! The first of the three overturns was performed as the first half of Jeremiah's commission.

"'And it shall be no more.' Does this mean the throne -- the crown -- is to cease to exist? Not at all! How could it be overturned TWO MORE TIMES -- that is, TRANSFERRED from one to another, if it ceased to exist? How, after these three transfers of the crown, could it be given to Him -- Christ -- whose right it is, at His second coming, if it ceased altogether to exist? How could he who was 'low' now be exalted by the crown, if that crown was to be no more? No, the meaning is: 'It shall be no more OVERTURNED until the second coming of Christ'! And then it shall be given to Him!" [11]

This is an interesting thesis which, incidentally, Armstrong lifted -- almost intact -- from the book Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright, [12] by J. H. Allen! BUT, HOWEVER, THIS THESIS HAS BEEN DEVELOPED FROM AN INCORRECT UNDERSTANDING OF EZEKIEL 21! Let Greg Doudna explain:

"British-Israel theory bases much of its thinking regarding the throne of England on Ezek.21: 25-27, in which the LORD says of the crown held by Zedekiah, the final BABYLONIAN APPOINTED king of Judah, 'I overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him' (King James Version). Since Jeremiah was told he would be 'over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant,' it was concluded that Jeremiah 'built' and 'planted' the throne of David in Ireland, accomplishing the first of the three overturns (USBP, pp.86-88, 102). The second overturn was from Ireland to Scotland (c. A.D. 800, K. Kenneth). The third overturn was from Scotland to England (c. A.D. 1000, Edward I.). After this, the theory goes, it will be overturned "no more" until Christ's return, when he will receive the rule forever in Jerusalem.

"However, the word translated 'overturn' means, in the Hebrew, 'RUIN,' not 'transplant,' and this is how it is translated in the Revised Standard Version and other translations. This prophecy in fact predicts the same INTERRUPTION IN THE REIGN OF THE THRONE OF DAVID reflected in Amos 9: 11-12 and Acts 15: 16-18. 'Take off the crown...A RUIN, RUIN, RUIN I WILL MAKE IT; THERE SHALL NOT BE A TRACE OF IT until he comes whose right it is; and to him will I give it' (Ezekiel 21: 27)." [13]

The New King James Version renders these critical verses in the following manner: "Now to you, O profane wicked prince of Israel [Zedekiah], whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, thus says the LORD God: 'Remove the turban, and TAKE OFF THE CROWN; nothing shall remain the same. Exalt the lowly, and abase the exalted. OVERTHROWN, OVERTHROWN, I will make it [David's throne] OVERTHROWN! IT SHALL BE NO LONGER, until He [the Messiah] comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him." [1]

The New Berkeley Version translates these same verses in this fashion: "Thus says the LORD God: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; change is in process. Let the low be exalted and the lofty abased. RUIN, RUIN I will make it [David's throne]; only RUIN will remain; THERE SHALL NOT BE A TRACE LEFT OF IT UNTIL HE [THE MESSIAH] COMES, whose right it is; to Him will I give it."

Now look at the Septuagint: "And thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day, even an end, is come in a season of iniquity, thus saith the LORD; Thou hast taken off the mitre and put on the crown, IT SHALL NOT HAVE SUCH ANOTHER AFTER IT: thou hast abased that which was high, and exalted that which was low. INJUSTICE, INJUSTICE, INJUSTICE, will I make it: woe to it: such shall it be until he comes to whom it belongs; and I will deliver it to him."

According to Adam Clarke's Commentary, "the [word] avah, which we translate overturn, is thrice repeated here [Ezek. 21:27]; to point out, SAY THE RABBINS [rabbis] the THREE CONQUESTS OF JERUSALEM, in which Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah were overthrown." [14]

The biblical picture here is that there is a break or interregnum in David's Judaic line from the time of Zedekiah's downfall to the return of the Messiah. Amos prophesies what will happen when the Messiah returns:

"'On that day [at the return of Christ] I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,' says the LORD who does this thing." [1]

In the margin of my Bible the word "tabernacle" in verse 11 is explained as meaning "a figure of a DEPOSED DYNASTY"!

In Acts 15: 16-18 we find this repeated: "After this I will return and will REBUILD THE TABERNACLE [HOUSE, DYNASTY] OF DAVID which has fallen down. I will REBUILD ITS RUINS, and I will SET IT UP, so that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the LORD who does all these things." [1]

The throne of David has fallen, but will be restored again at the end of this age -- at the return of Yeshua the Messiah. The throne of David in Jerusalem is temporarily interrupted, NOT transferred to the house of Israel in exile. The throne of David in Palestine (Jerusalem) is now temporarily "trampled" and fallen.

Greg Doudna concludes by saying:

"The throne of David, then, biblically, is TEMPORARILY FALLEN, for a reason, but at the end of the time of Gentile dominion, at the day of the Lord, the time when 'all Israel will be saved,' the throne of David will be RESTORED forevermore. This is the view of the prophets, and of the apostles, and of Paul." [15]

We must remember, however, that YEHOVAH God's promise in Genesis 49:10 has NOT been abrogated -- the scepter has not departed from Judah, only from the line of David. GATHELUS, son of Calcol of the royal house of Judah, took the Coronation Stone to Spain in the days of Moses; and from there Heremon took it to Ireland and started a line of kings that has continued down to this day. King Charles III holds the scepter of Judah!

Now that we have examined the FACTS about the throne of David, we can answer the points laid down by Herbert Armstrong in the beginning of this article:

1) "David's throne was set up and established with Solomon, David's son."

Comment: True -- no problem here.

2) "The throne -- David's throne -- was established FOREVER in Solomon. Observe that this nowhere says that when Christ comes, God will establish it in HIM forever. It says it was to be established forever -- IN SOLOMON."

Comment: The word "forever" can mean "long duration," "long time" -- not necessarily forever without end or interruption! Also, the throne or David's ruling line was cast down to the ground, but not the "office" or the "job opening," if you will. "....You have made his glory cease, and cast his throne down to the ground." YEHOVAH God's promise to David was that there would always be someone [a descendant] ABLE to sit on the throne (fill the office) if YEHOVAH purposed to "rebuild its ruins" and "set it up" again. However, Amos makes it clear that this would not happen until the return of the Messiah. This is an important distinction! The Bible DOES SAY that when the Messiah comes, YEHOVAH God will RE-establish it in HIM [THE MESSIAH] forever. In the meantime, there is an INTERREGNUM..

3) "What if Solomon, or the children of Israel, disobey? Would that cancel this covenant? Verses 14-15 [of II Samuel 7] plainly say that if they commit iniquity, God will chasten them WITH THE ROD OF MEN, but will NOT break this covenant. The throne shall go on forever just the same!"

Comment: In Psalm 89 YEHOVAH God says, "If his [David's] sons forsake My laws and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will visit their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless in My loving kindness I will not UTTERLY take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail." The fact that YEHOVAH God said He would not UTTERLY take away from David indicates that He was going to take SOMETHING away from David. What was this "something" YEHOVAH was going to take from him? I Kings 11 explains:

"Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, 'Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you. I will surely TEAR THE KINGDOM AWAY FROM YOU and give it to your servant....However I WILL NOT TEAR AWAY THE WHOLE KINGDOM, but I will give one tribe to your son FOR THE SAKE OF MY SERVANT DAVID, and FOR THE SAKE OF JERUSALEM WHICH I HAVE CHOSEN" (Verses 9-13). [1]

Later, in verse 36, YEHOVAH says, "And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a LAMP BEFORE ME IN JERUSALEM, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there." When King Zedekiah was dethroned and taken captive to Babylon to die there, THE LAMP WAS EXTINGUISHED. YEHOVAH God, however, did not abandon His covenant with David -- He merely held rulership on the throne IN ABEYANCE "until he comes who has the legal right [the Messiah]." "Yeshua the Messiah, THE 'SON OF DAVID,' was heir to that throne FOREVER. Thus 'THE LAMP' of David will never go out. Yeshua is therefore an EVERLASTING LAMP as the one who possesses the Kingdom FOREVER."

YEHOVAH God certainly DID NOT break the covenant with David because David kept his end of the agreement until death! This was not true in the case of Solomon. Solomon fell into apostasy and, as a result, his line was cast down to the ground. The "office" or the "job" was still open, remember, but there was no one qualified to fill it in Jerusalem. Because of YEHOVAH's loving kindness and because of Jerusalem, YEHOVAH did not carry out the penalty for breaking the covenant until the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. The throne DID NOT go on forever -- it's held in ABEYANCE until the return of the Messiah and therefore still exists in principle.

4) "Notice particularly, in case of disobedience, God will NOT take the throne away as he took it from Saul. How did He take it from Saul? Saul's dynasty ended! No son of Saul ever sat on the throne. But Solomon's dynasty would not end. The punishment for disobedience would be chastening at the hands of MEN."

Comment: We have already covered most of this. YEHOVAH God certainly DID take the throne away from Zedekiah -- a descendant of Solomon through Rehoboam -- thus ending this line of Solomon. Another line of Solomon, through his son Menelik (born of his liaison with the Queen of Sheba) lasted much longer, but still ended with Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. One of his sons still lives, however, in Canada.

5) "Since God did firmly establish this throne with David and with Solomon, if David's throne ceased from existence, EVEN FOR THE LENGTH OF ONE GENERATION, could we say it had been established FOREVER as God here promised?"

Comment: A lack of understanding here! The REALITY of this point is that the "throne" never "ceased" in one sense -- it was merely "unoccupied" waiting for the Messiah to restore it, or "occupy" it. Interregnums in the reigning line of David did not mean the "office" was abolished! Read Luke 1:32: "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the LORD God will give Him the THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID." [1]

Notice what Greg Doudna reveals:

"The scriptural basis for having heirs of David in the BRITISH ISLES was to remove the perceived difficulty in conventional history of a descendant of David not ruling on earth, as was believed to be the everlasting biblical promise. But there are 'INTERREGNUMS,' as the Compendium [of World History, by Herman L. Hoeh] calls them, or instances in which, even by British-Israel theory, an heir of David WAS NOT REIGNING. For example, a non-Milesian Irishman named Cairbre Cinnchait, in A.D. 90, led the 'Firbolgs' people in a successful revolt against the Milesian kings' rule and took power. Milesian rule WAS NOT REESTABLISHED until A.D. 130....

"There was a GAP IN TIME between the removal of Zedekiah as last king of Judah and the time his daughter (or as the Compendium has it, her Irish son) began to reign in Ireland -- a 26 YEAR GAP according to the Compendium. Furthermore, there are many instances in which a line of Milesian kings ruled Ireland DIFFERENT THAN THE LINE OF 'TEA-TEPHI'/ HEREMON. From the Compendium, which follows the Ogygia, I counted a total of 38 NON-HEREMON, AND THEREFORE NON-DAVIDIC, KINGS ruling Ireland in the period 561 B.C. to A.D. 379, for a cumulative total of 315 YEARS OF NON-DAVIDIC RULE during the time David's throne was supposed to be reigning over Israelites.

"If these many 'gaps' in the years of Davidic rule in Ireland can be found acceptable, WHY NOT simply allow, for the sake of argument, a single gap or 'interregnum' of some 2500+ years between the fall of Judah and the coming of Christ to reign as everlasting Davidic king? How long can an 'interregnum' be before it is ruled unacceptable?" [16]

How long indeed!! Also, why can't there be interregnums in ANY line David may have established in different parts of the world?

If we look at the line of Ethiopian kings from Solomon and Sheba, we run into the same problem -- there were large "gaps" or interregnums. Grant R. Jeffrey, in his book Armageddon: Appointment with Destiny [17], points out that "for SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS following a Muslim invasion in the twelfth century, the Muslims then ruled most of Ethiopia. Finally the original Solomonic dynasty was reestablished in A.D. 1558 by a Jewish king and continued until Emperor Haile Selassie" (p. 116). We have already noted that there has NOT been a king on the Ethiopian throne since 1974; so this line, too, FAILS Herbert Armstrong's criteria that the line of David be in existence FOREVER!

The bottom line is, though, that the reign of the Davidic line in Jerusalem is TEMPORARILY INTERRUPTED. Another line of David, however, was established in the house of Israel in exile. Nevertheless, the royal line of Judah (through Zarah) DID go to Ireland (during the time of Moses) in the person of Heremon, who was the son of Gathelus and the great-great-grandson of Judah -- thus fulfilling the prophecy in Genesis 49:10: "The scepter shall NOT depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes...."

Bibliography:

[1] The Bible, NKJV.

[2] Armstrong, Herbert W., The United States and Britain in Prophecy. Worldwide Church of God, 1980, p. 49.

[3] Ibid., pp. 50-51.

[4] Doudna, Greg, Afterword on British Israelism., p. 131.

[5] Ibid., p. 132.

[6] Tabor, Dr. James, The LORD (YHVH) God and His Messiah. Genesis 2000, Charlotte, NC, 1992, p. 5.

[7] Doudna, Greg, Afterword on British Israelism, note 39, p. 142.

[8] Ibid., p. 131.

[9] Insight On the Scriptures, Vol. II. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. Brooklyn, NY. 1988, p. 195.

[10] Armstrong, Herbert W., The United States and Britain in Prophecy. Worldwide Church of God, 1980, pp. 86-87.

[11] Ibid., p. 87.

[12] Allen, J. H., Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright. Destiny Publishers, 18th Edition, Merrimac, MA.

[13] Doudna, Greg, Afterword on British Israelism, footnote 38, p. 142.

[14] Adam Clarke's Commentary, Vol. III. Note to verse 27, p. 482.

[15] Doudna, Greg, Afterword on British Israelism, footnote 38, p. 131.

[16] Ibid., pp. 127-128.

[17] Jeffrey, Grant R., Armageddon: Appointment with Destiny, p. 116. 

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