Having established from the scriptures the reality of the covenant that God made with David the king, the nature of the promises made and the utter irrevocability of these covenanted obligations that God had sworn unto his servant David, we must now proceed to examine sacred history to see how God has kept his. word. The proponents of British-Israelism have recognized the irrefutable nature of these truths but have postulated their fulfillment in the proposed genealogical line that extends from David the king through the last king to sit on the throne of the Southern Kingdom, namely Zedekiah, and on to the present ruling house on the throne of England (See Appendix 1). It will be the purpose of this chapter to clearly demonstrate that this is against all scriptural evidence and constitutes a radical denial of Jesus Christ as the "Son of David."

The first point that we would like to make is that the proposed historical development of the House of David, as set forth in the British-Israelite genealogy (See Apendix 1), is based upon the principle of female succession to the throne rights of the House of David. From Princess Tea Tephi, the supposed daughter of King Zedekiah, through Queen Victoria and on to the present Queen Elizabeth, their succession depends on no less than eight female successions to the crown. The Bible, however, allows for none. That part of the constitution of the Hebrew Republic that sets forth the constitutional requirements for the monarchy (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) does not allow for female succession to the throne. It is a requirement that the king be a `brother,' he is forbidden to be a polygamist, and the male pronoun is consistently used.

This was all of divine arrangement, and the scriptures that place the woman under subjection to the man do not contradict themselves and the word of God knows nothing of thronepersons, unisex, and all those infidel, rationalistic, egalitarian principles that are at present seeking to overthrow any remaining vestige of a scriptural social order. Thus Isaiah declares, as he mourns over an apostate people, "As for my people, children are their oppressors, AND WOMEN RULE OVER THEM. O my people, them which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the war of thy paths" (Isaiah 3:12). To Isaiah, female succession was a curse, a judgment of God, and the fruit of apostasy. In the sacred history of the nation, both before and after the division of the kingdom, there is only one instance of a woman on the throne of David, and that is the case of the murderous usurper Athaliah. For this vengeful woman, after the Lord had in his judgment cut off her husband by a horrible disease, and had raised up Jehu to assassinate her son, slew the rest of the seed royal (save one whom the Lord in his providence spared that he might keep his covenant with his servant David) that she might personally rule on the throne that she had brought to such ruin by her idolatries and corruptions. But the nation, in recognition of that divine covenant whereby the sons of David only have a right to the throne of their father, overthrew Athaliah, slew her, and placed the proper heir on the throne of which the scriptures say, "And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the KING'S SON SHALL REIGN AS THE LORD HATH SAID OF THE SONS OF DAVID" (11 Chronicles 23:3). It is only by defending such principles in the face of these and other scriptures that the theory of our opponents can stand.

But not only can the daughters of David not succeed to the throne, but they also can not even be heirs to any of the royal prerogatives. Thus this precludes any notion of a daughter of the House of David inheriting the succession and passing it on to her husband or son, who would then sit on the throne. The question of female right of inheritance had long troubled the Hebrew Republic from its inception and Moses had taken the question directly to Jehovah, who had legislated his will in the matter personally. Originally there was no right of female inheritance whatsoever. When this was questioned by the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27), Moses brought their cause before the Lord, who declared, "If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter." This did not include throne rights, which the scriptures clearly forbade elsewhere, but only pertained to the inheritance of the land. But even this was curtailed by further divine legislation on the matter. For the tribe of Manasseh petitioned the federal government under Moses that if this were allowed to stand, a woman could inherit, marry outside of her tribe and transfer the land from one tribe to another, and no tribe would be secure in their inheritance as given in the original division of the land. When Moses took their cause Before the Lord, the Lord decreed, "This is the thing which the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry. So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every, one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every, daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers" (Numbers 36).

Thus, even if one could establish the right of female succession to the throne ( For a complete scriptural refutation of this principle see John Knox's "First Blast Against The Monstrous Regiment of Women") as a Biblical principle consistent with God's covenant with David, the cause of the British-Israelites would still be hopelessly lost. For their whole case rests on a daughter of the House of David marrying a heathen monarch, the Irish King Herremon, and thus transferring the throne of David to the British Isles. And even if some would dispute that the Irish are one of the ten lost tribes, since the conjectures of our opponents are limited by neither truth nor reason, it would still not avail, as, scripturally, daughters were immediately disinherited when they failed to meet the condition of marrying within the tribe of their father. Thus on the principle of female succession alone we find the laboriously built up dynasty of our opponents collapsing like a house of cards. There is no foundation to it.

However, there are still more serious errors in the British-Israelite account of the successors to David's throne. For it is all based on Princess Tea Tephi (if such a one ever existed) inheriting the throne rights of her father Zedekiah, the last monarch of the House of David, to sit on David's throne. But the problem with this position is that Zedekiah himself was not the lawful heir to David's throne and had no right to sit on it himself, much less transmit that prerogative to any of his daughters. To establish that, let us trace the Biblical account of the succession of David's throne. At David's death, both by his own choice as the firstborn son of his favorite wife, Bathsheba, and by the choice of God as announced through Nathan the prophet, Solomon ascended to the throne. Because of Solomon's apostasy in his old age, God determined to rend the kingdom from him. Yet on account of his covenant with David he delayed it till Solomon's death and maintained the throne of David over at least the Southern Kingdom (I Kings 1 1:1 1-13, 29-39). Solomon's apostasy also produced political as well as spiritual problems, especially high taxes, and when his son would not promise constitutional reform, the prophesied division of the kingdom took place, but the continued existence of Judah under the throne of David was evidence of God's faithfulness to the house of his servant David. From there on we can trace God's providential care over the Davidic dynasty, often judging it for its sins, cutting off various wicked kings and reprobate sons of David, yet never making a complete end for the sake of his servant David. We have already noted God's providential preservation of this royal house in the days of Athaliah, and we can trace this on to the days of King Josiah. For already, in the days of Hezekiah, God's irrevocable judgments were pronounced on the Southern Kingdom and the royal house of David, and Hezekiah was told concerning the latter, "And of the sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon" (II Kings 20:18). And Josiah himself was told,

"Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place" (II Kings 22:20). The condition of the covenant had not been kept. and God could no longer, not even for the sake of his servant David, bless the iniquity that prospered on the throne of

David. The seed of David must go into captivity and be chastised, the sons of David must bear the price of their idolatries, the sins of Ammon and Manasseh must be visited and the land must be cleansed of innocent blood. Yet, as we shall see, God in his grace and mercy, in his covenanted faithfulness, will not make a complete end but will yet in righteousness raise up a seed to sit on the throne of David.

Now Josiah had four sons (I Chronicles 3:15). Of these sons three ascended to the throne. The firstborn son, however, Johanan by name, never ascended to the throne at all, and whether this was by reason of a premature death or some disqualification for the throne, the scriptures do not speak, though it may well have been the former, as he is never mentioned at the time of the subsequent successions to the throne. At the time of Josiah's death, the other three sons, Jehoiakim, Jehoahaz (Shallum) and Zedekiah (Mattaniah), were aged 25, 23 and 10 years old respectively (II Kings 23:31, 36; II Kings 24:18). The people first chose Jehoahaz as their king, but he only ruled for three months. He was forcibly deposed by Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, who placed his older brother Jehoakim on the throne for political reasons. As Jeremiah prophesied, Jehoahaz, or Shallum as he was called, was taken captive to Egypt and "He shall not return thither any more: But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and .shall see this land no more" (Jeremiah 22: 11-12). And there Jehoahaz died, apparently leaving no heir to the throne of his fathers and leaving the eldest son Jehoiakim with the undisputed birthright, where perhaps it had belonged all the time. Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years, till he was killed as a judgment for his wickedness. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him to the throne. His reign was wicked and brief and was terminated after three months when he surrendered to the besieging Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar and was taken captive to Babylon. The latter placed his uncle, Zedekiah, the last son of Josiah, on the throne as a puppet ruler under Babylonian suzerainty. However, the right of succession was clearly Jehoiachin's and he was the legal king of Judah. As long as he either lived or left an heir to the throne, he was the rightful possessor of the throne of his fathers. In contrast, Zedekiah ruled only as a vassal of Babylon. haying no legal right to the throne. Thus again the British-Israelite succession is weighed in the balances and found wanting, and any claim to the throne of David through the line of Zedekiah must be rejected as an usurpation.

That the true succession is through Jehoiachin and not Zedekiah is brought out by both scripture and history. The scriptural genealogy of the royal seed of the House of David traces the line of succession from Josiah through Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), Pedaiah and Zerubbabel, the Prince of Judah, who returned after the captivity and was the first governor of Judah after the exile (I Chronicles 3:15-19). This ought to settle the issue beyond all dispute for those who believe the scriptures are the inerrant word of God, and that is all that we are attempting, for we despair of persuading infidels of anything. As Napoleon stated it, "Men will believe anything, as long as it is not in the Bible." But certainly the scribes who compiled and edited the sacred historical books of the Bible were most familiar with the laws of succession that would apply to the case. They would know who was the lawful heir, and in all this they were guided and kept from all error by the inspiration of the Spirit of truth—the same Spirit of truth that inspired the prophet Ezekiel to witness to the kingship of Jehoiachin in captivity and the same truth that was recognized even by the pagan monarchs of Babylon.

Jehoiachin, together with his mother Nehushta, his wives, and ten thousand of his leading citizens came out of the city to receive their judgment from the lips o/ Nebuchadnezzar himself--permanent deportation to Babylon. More treasures were takers from the Temple (cf. Dan. 1:2 for the sacred vessels taken in 605 B.C.), leaving just enough sacred furniture for religious ceremonies to he carried on under the high priest Seraiah and the puppet king Zedekiah (II Kings 25: 13-18).

Among the captives takers to Babylon at this time was a young priest named Ezekiel. Five years later, at the age of thirty, he began to prophesy to the exiles in Babylon, explaining why Jerusalem was doomed to destruction and why the Shekinah Glory had departed from the Temple (Ezek. 1-33). Ezekiel continued to date his own ministry in terms of Jehoiachin's reign (Ezek. 1:2), because as long as Jehoiachin lived he (not his uncle Zedekiah) was Judah's legitimate king. However, Jeremiah made it clear that Jehoiachin was the last legitimate king of Judah, ‘for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah" (Jer. 22:30).

A remarkable series of Babylonian tablets have been discovered which list foreign prisoners who received rations from the royal storehouse from 595 to 570 B. C.

It seems probable that towards the close of Nebuchadnezzar's reign Jehoiachin was involved in some treasonous plot; for when Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B. C., his son Evil-merodach "did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king o f Judah out of prison; and he spoke a kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life: and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life" (II Kings 25:28-30). We can understand this as Evil-merodach's effort to gain favor with subject peoples, especially the Jews, who might be tempted to revolt alter the death of his powerful father.

Thus we see that neither God nor man, neither secular nor sacred history will affirm or support the British-Israelite contention that the right to the throne of David was ever received or passed on by Zedekiah, the puppet ruler of Babylon.

The Bible is the word of God. Therefore the Bible is sometimes an unfathomable book. There always continue to be mysteries connected with the understanding of that which God has declared. "Known unto God are al! his works from the beginning." but with man it is not so. As the scriptures through the ages gradually unfolded God's plan of redemption, that which once tested the faith of the faithful became clear and wonderful as God grants more light to his people concerning his eternal purposes. Not only has this precious testing of the faith and patience of God's saints been a blessing, teaching them to walk by faith and not by sight and to trust for all things in the works of an Almighty, Omniscient God who doeth wondrously, but it also serves to separate the sheep from the goats, the people of God from those rationalistic and atheistic scoffers that have always scoffed at the promises of God. The Apostle Peter spoke of these, saying, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (I Peter 3: 3-10). But there should be no such unbelief found in the children of Abraham, in the progeny of the father of the faithful, in the seed of him who, "Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Romans 4:19-21). To those who believe that "the foundation o/ God standeth sure," there should be no staggering at any of the supposed difficulties in God fulfilling his covenanted word with his servant David.

Having traced the succession of that throne which God had declared should stand forever, thus far from David the King to Jehoiachin, we now come to that part of the succession which must have for many centuries tried the faith of those Old Testament saints who had their hopes in the covenanted mercies of the God of Israel, "even the sure mercies of David." Now as David on his deathbed reminded Solomon, the covenant did have a condition annexed to it, and although the Lord, for the sake of his servant, David, was merciful, and although one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, yet the Lord was not slack concerning his promise, even the promise to visit the iniquity of David's house. Thus the long-suffering of the Lord that endured the horribly wicked reigns of Manasseh and Ammon was finally wearied with the wickedness of Jehoiakim and his son Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), and the House of David was seemingly irrevocably cut off as well as being cast down by the might of Babylon. This is the final great problem of the succession that we must deal with before we can find him who has the key of David.

For many years the prophet Jeremiah had been calling the nation to repentance, lest God in judgment cast down Judah, the remnant of the nation over which the throne of David was yet established. The warnings were given in the spirit of mercy, for "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which l purpose to do unto them; that them may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin" (Jeremiah 36:3). And in his mercy the Lord commanded Jeremiah, "Take a roll of' a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, " that there might be a written record to call the nation to repentance. And in the providence of God this scroll was used of God to convict the Princes of Judah of all the national sins and to fear the judgments pronounced by the Lord through the word of the prophet Jeremiah. But when they caused the scroll to be read in the presence of the king, King Jehoiakim, there was a much different reception. For after a few paragraphs an impatient and impenitent king hardened his heart against the righteous decrees of God, and cut the scroll up in pieces and cast them in the fire and burnt them. This was no son of David, for although David himself had sinned grievously, although he had done things worthy of death, yet when the prophet of God. Nathan, said unto him, "Thou art the man," David had repented and had wept over his sin as he penned the fifty-first psalm, the penitential psalm, wherein he confessed, "For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me... Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." But it was not so with Jehoiakim, who lusted after Jeremiah's blood, so that the prophet, being warned by the Princes, was compelled to flee the king's ungodly wrath. But the foundation of God standeth sure and his purposes shall ever stand who doeth all things according to the counsel of his own will. Thus, when the longsuffering patience of God with the House of David had come to an end with these acts of Jehoiakim, the Lord caused Jeremiah to rewrite the book of his prophecy, except now it contained some more decrees against the sins of Judah. And it

contained a curse, a curse upon the seed royal, a curse upon Jehoiakim, the son of David, and the legal heir to David's throne. It declared, "Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoikim king of Judah; He .shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not" (Jeremiah 36:30-31).

Here we have an amazing thing. The seed royal of the House of David that was promised existence in perpetuity, that was given a throne that was to stand forever, is cut off. The lawful heir to this throne and all his posterity are disinherited, for of this king Jehovah declares, "He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David." The present heir of the covenant promise that he should have seed upon the throne forever is condemned to a perpetual curse that prohibits any of his seed from ever ascending the throne of his fathers. And neither was the Lord slack in executing his sentence, for in the very next generation, when Jeconiah ascends to the throne of Judah, the Lord deals with this son of Jehoiakim, this seed of the apostate House of David. And the Lord testifies against this king by the mouth of his servant Jeremiah, declaring, "As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another county, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. But to the land whereunto then desire to return, thither shall they not return. Is this Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which then know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah." (Jeremiah 22:24-30)

It seems as if the Lord will no more have any pleasure in the seed royal of the House of David. It seems as if all his covenant mercies have failed. It seems as if the hope of Israel has come to an end. It seems as if the promised seed of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed, and the promised seed of David who should establish that eternal and righteous kingdom, will now never come. And this is of such universal importance, of such earthshaking dimensions, that this knowledge is not just for the despised remnant of Judah but for the whole world, as Jeremiah cries out, "O earth, earth. earth, hear the word of the lord." The entire world is to know that they can have no hope in the seed of Jeconiah. And Jeconiah, whose name signifies "Jehovah will establish," has his name changed to Coniah: the "Jehovah" is removed from his name, for him Jehovah will never establish. Of him Jehovah says, …write ye this man childless." The term used for "childless" is the same term used in Leviticus concerning the progeny of the forbidden degrees of marriage. It does not mean that Jeconiah will not have children. It signifies that they will not be recognized, they are under a curse, they are illegitimate, and legally this man is to be considered childless. The only legitimate heir to the throne of David is told that he will have no legitimate heirs to that throne, for he is "A man that shall not prosper in his days for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah." Coniah's brief reign of but three months ends in the overthrow of the kingdom and his captivity in Babylon. Surely the House of David is fallen down. Surely it will take the faith of our father Abraham to still believe in God's covenanted mercies to David, to still put one's hope in the covenanted kingdom of God, in the sure mercies of David.