Introduction
Will David physically return to this planet to reign as king? This document explores texts that speak of David in a future role. Some texts are long, but I have placed them to establish contexts and the environments of fulfillment, setting the name David in bold. Please read them carefully.
Texts with Clues of David’s Return to Power
The following texts only give clues that David will return to power; they are not strong proofs.
Psalm 89:1, literally rendered: Prudence to Ethan the Ezrahi. 2The graces of Yehovah are to hidden time. I will sing to generation and generation. I will make-known Thy faith via my mouth. 3For I said, “Hiding, grace will build the heavens!” Thou wilt foundation Thy faith via them! 4I cut a covenant to my chosen-one. I swore to David my servant, 5“I will establish thy seed unto hiding. And I will build thy throne to generation and generation,” Selah. 6And the heavens shall confess Thy Pele [Wonderful], Yehovah, even Thy faith in the congregation of Saints. 7For who in the sky will put-in-order for Yehovah? Will he be likened to Yehovah among the sons of gods? 8God is dreaded. In secret He multiplied Saints. And He is feared above all His surrounders. 9Yehovah Gods of hosts, who is like Thee, Stored-up-One of Yah? And Thy faith surrounds Thee! 10Thou art the ruler in the raging of the sea; when its waves arise, Thou wilt still them. 11Thou hast crushed Rahav like carrion; Thou hast scattered Thine enemies via the arm of Thy strength. 12To Thee are heavens—even to Thee is the land, the planet and her fulness. Thou foundedst them. 13North and South—Thou, Thou created them. Tabor and Hermon shall ululate via Thy Name. 14To Thee is an arm with valiance. Thou wilt strengthen Thine hand! Thou wilt elevate Thy right! 15Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne. Grace and Truth shall precede Thy faces. 16Happy is the people [singular], knowers of the blasting {shofar}. Yehovah, they shall walk in the light of Thy faces! 17They shall circle-dance all the day via Thy Name. And they shall be exalted via Thy righteousness. 18For Thou art the brightness of their strength. And our horn shall be exalted via Thy will. 19For our shield is to Yehovah. And our king is to the Holy One of Israel! 20Then Thou spakest in a vision to Thy Graced-ones. And Thou saidst, “I made-equal a help upon a Valiant-One! I elevated a chosen-one from the people. 21I found David my servant. I anointed him via the oil of my holy-one 22whom my hand shall establish His people. Indeed my arm shall strengthen him. 23An enemy shall not carry in him. And the son of evil shall not humiliate him. 24And I will cut-up his afflictors from his faces. And I will smite his haters. 25And my faith and my Grace is with him. And his horn shall be elevated via my Name. 26And I will put his hand also in the sea, and his right in the rivers. 27He shall call me, “My Papa! Thou art my God, and the Rock, my Salvation!” 28Indeed I—I will give him a firstborn, the Highest to the kings of the earth. 29I will guard my Grace for him to hiding. And my Covenant is faithful for him. 30And I will put his seed to the onward. And his seat is as the days of the heavens! 31If his children will forsake my Torah, and they will not walk in my justices, 32if they will secularize my statutes and they will not guard my commandments, 33and I will visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity with strokes. 34And I will not utterly cut-out my Grace from with him. And I will not lie via my faith. 35I will not secularize My covenant, and I will not change the proceed of my lips. 36I swore one via my Holy-One if to David I will lie. 37His seed shall be to hiding and his seat as the sun in front of me.
Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me! Hearken, and your being shall live! And I will make an everlasting covenant with you: the sure mercies of David. 4Behold, I have given him [for] a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
Texts That Seem to be Against David’s Return to Power
Some texts seem to speak against the idea that David will return to power. They don’t truly do this, but readers who are not careful might obtain this impression. These texts give ample leeway for the view that others from David will reign.
Psalms 89:4 I will establish thy seed to Hider, and build up thy throne to all generations.
Psalms 132:11 Yehovah vowed Truth unto David. He will not turn from it: I will set upon thy throne from the fruit of thy body. 12If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. 17I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. 18I will clothe his enemies with shame, but his crown shall flourish upon himself.
Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us! A son is given to us! And the government shall be upon his shoulder! And he shall call his name Pele {Wonderful}, Planner, Mighty-Valiant-one, my Father of onward, Prince of peace. 6There is no end to the multiplication of the government and to peace upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to establish her and to order her in justice and in righteousness from now and unto Hider! The zeal of Yehovah of Hosts will do this!
Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days come,” says Yehovah! “And I will raise a righteous Branch unto David. And a King shall reign and prosper. And He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6Judah shall be saved in His days, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name whereby He shall be called: ‘Yehovah Our Righteousness.’”
Jeremiah 33:1 And the word of Yehovah came unto Jeremiah the second time while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 2 “Thus says Yehovah the maker thereof, Yehovah that formed it, to establish it—Yehovah is His name: 3 ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not.’ 4For thus says Yehovah the God of Israel concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah that are thrown down by the mounts and by the sword, 5 ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but [it is] to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city! 6Behold, I will bring it health and cure. And I will cure them. And I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and Truth. 7And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return. And I will build them as at the first. 8And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. And I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me. 9And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the races of the earth that shall hear all the good that I do unto them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.’ 10Thus says Yehovah, ‘There shall be heard again in this place that ye say is desolate without man and without animal—in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man and without inhabitant and without animal, 11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them whom shall say, “Praise Yehovah of hosts! For Yehovah is good! For His Grace is to Hider!”—of them who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the House of Yehovah. For I will return the captivity of the land as at the first,’ says Yehovah. 12Thus says Yehovah of hosts, ‘A habitation of shepherds causing flocks to lie down shall be again in this place that is desolate without man and without animal, and in all his cities. 13The flocks shall pass again in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah under the hands of him who tells,’ says Yehovah. 14 ‘Behold, the days come,’ says Yehovah, ‘and I will perform that good speech that I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15I will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David in those days and at that time. And he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 Judah shall be saved in those days, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is what she shall be called: Yehovah our righteousness.’ 17For thus says Yehovah, ‘David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of the House of Israel, 18and the priests the Levites shall not lack a man before me to offer ascensions and to kindle gifts and to continually do sacrifice.’” 19And the word of Yehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20 “Thus says Yehovah, ‘If ye can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, 21my covenant also shall be broken with David my servant and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. And he will not have a son to reign upon his throne. 22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant and the Levites who minister unto me.’” 23And the word of Yehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 “Dost thou not consider what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families that Yehovah has chosen—He has even cast them off!’ Thus, they have despised my people, and they shall no longer be a race before them.” 25Thus says Yehovah, “If my covenant isn’t with day and night, I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and land, 26then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, and I will not take rulers from his seed over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! For I will cause their captivity to return, and I will have mercy on them!”
Texts That Speak of David’s Return
Other texts are far more blunt about David personally returning to reign, as are the following:
Jeremiah 30:8 “For he shall be in that day,” says Yehovah of hosts. “I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds. And strangers shall no more serve themselves of him! 9And they shall serve Yehovah their God and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. 10Therefore fear thou not, my servant Jacob,” says Yehovah. “And don’t be dismayed, Israel! For behold, I will save thee from afar and thy seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return and shall be in rest, and shall be quiet. And none shall make afraid. 11For I am with thee,” says Yehovah, “to save thee. Though I make a full end of all races whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee! And I will correct thee in measure. And I will not leave thee altogether unpunished.”
Ezekiel 34:20 Therefore thus says the Lord Yehovah unto them, “Behold, I, I will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. 21For ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns until ye have scattered them abroad. 22Therefore I will save my flock! And they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between cattle and cattle. 23And I will set up one shepherd over them. And he shall feed them—my servant David—he shall feed them! And he shall be their shepherd. 24And I, Yehovah, will be their God. And my servant David is a prince among them. I Yehovah have spoken! 25And I will make a covenant of peace with them. And I will cause the bad animals to cease out of the land. And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing. And I will cause the shower to come down in his season. They shall be showers of blessing! 27And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the land shall yield her increase. And they shall be safe in their land. And they shall know that I am Yehovah when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves from them! 28And they shall no more be a prey to the races. And the beast of the land shall not devour them. And they shall dwell safely, and none shall make afraid. 29And I will raise up a plant of renown for them. And they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land. And they shall not bear the shame of the races any more. 30Thus shall they know that I, Yehovah their God, am with them, and they, the House of Israel, are my people,” says the Lord Yehovah. 31 “And ye, my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men! I am your God,” says the Lord Yehovah.
Ezekiel 37:21 And say unto them, “Thus says the Lord Yehovah, ‘Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the races to where they are gone. And I will gather them on every side. And I will bring them into their own land. 22And I will make them one race in the land upon the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king to them all. And they shall no longer be two races. And they shall not be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23And they shall no longer defile themselves with their idols or with their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. And I will save them from all their dwellingplaces in which they have sinned. And I will cleanse them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 24And David my servant is king over them. And they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my justices and observe my statutes, and do them. 25And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant in which your fathers have dwelt. And they shall dwell in there—they and their children and their children’s children to Hider. And my servant David is their prince to Hider. 26And I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them. And I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27My Tent also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God and they shall be my people. 28And the races shall know that I, Yehovah, do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore!’”
Hosea 3:3 And I said unto her, “Thou shalt abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for a man. And I am also for thee. 4For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince and without a sacrifice and without an image and without an ephod and teraphim. 5Afterward, the children of Israel shall return and seek Yehovah their God and David their king. And they shall fear Yehovah and His goodness in the latter days!”
Conclusion
The Bible teaches that historic King David will personally return to reign over Israel. This reign will last a thousand years, known also as the Millennium. Other persons who will return to do functions include the prophet Elijah, and Avraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet, this list is hardly adequate. All Saints will be resurrected before the Millennium starts, and all Saints will have very active roles during the Millennium. If this is the case, it should hardly be a surprise that King David will be resurrected and will function as king over Israel for that period of time.