Who came first, David or Moses?

The heading of Psalm 90, attributing its authorship to Moses, should arrest our attention to begin with. It makes it pretty certain that chronologically it is the first of the psalms, being written some hundreds of years before the rest. Moses, the writer, is spoken of not as the prophet or law-giver but as the man of God; and it is a prayer, though we find nothing in the nature of a petition throughout the first eleven verses.

Psalm 90.

It is "A prayer of Moses the man of God." This is the suited introduction and finds its place here rather than in any other among the 150, Historically it would precede all probably; for there is no substantial ground for doubting that Moses was the writer according to its title. Adonai is owned as Israel's dwelling-place in all generations, from everlasting to everlasting El, turning weak man (enosh) to dust, and saying, Return, sons of men (Adam). He is the God of creation and of providence. But faith, that owns man's transient littleness and the power of the divine displeasure, can also say, Return, Jehovah: how long? Their prayer rises that Jehovah's work may appear to His servants; and His majesty on their sons.

The principal events stand thus: B.C. 4004 Adam created. 2948 Noah born. 2348 The Flood. 1996 Abraham born. 1921 Call of Abraham. 1896 Isaac born. 1836 Jacob born. 1706 The Israelites enter Egypt. 1491 The Exodus. The law given. 1451 The Israelites cross the Jordan. 1444 The division of the land. (See JUDGES.) 1095 Saul anointed king: the kingdom begins. 1055 David, king. 1015 Solomon, king. 1005 Dedication of the Temple. 975 Division of the kingdom. (See KINGS.) (776 Era of the Olympiads begins.) (753 Rome built: era of A.U.C. begins.) 740 Captivity of the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan. 721 End of the kingdom of Israel. 658 Manasseh carried to Babylon. 606 Jerusalem taken: first captivity of Judah. 605 Nebuchadnezzar reigns alone. Time of the Gentiles begins in the first great empire — Babylon. 599 Jerusalem re-taken: the great captivity. 588 Jerusalem re-taken and destroyed. 538 Belshazzar slain: the second great empire commences. The Medes and Persians. 536 Cyrus reigns alone. The 70 years of Jer. 25:11-12 end. The Jews return. Ezra 1, 2: (See PERSIA.) 475 Artaxerxes succeeds Xerxes. 455 Artaxerxes commissions Nehemiah to build Jerusalem. The Seventy Weeks of Daniel begin. 336 Alexander the Great, head of the third great empire — The Greek. 323 Death of Alexander the Great: his four Generals divide the kingdom, but it mainly merged into two kingdoms: Egypt, 'kings of the South,' and Syria, 'kings of the north.' (See ANTIOCHUS.) 191 All Asia Minor on the west of Mount Taurus delivered to Rome. 166 to about 65 The times of the Maccabees. In 166 Jerusalem was recovered and the temple re-dedicated. 65 Rome, the fourth great empire, rapidly gains ascendancy. Syria becomes a Roman province. In 63 Judaea is subjected to Rome. In 30 Egypt becomes a Roman province. 40 Herod is appointed by Rome king of Judaea. 20 Herod begins to rebuild the temple 6 Birth of John the Baptist. 5 Birth of Christ. (See NEW TESTAMENT.)

Now come to chapter 15. "And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent" (1 Chr. 15:1). And now comes the proof of his having studied his Bible. "Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them has the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister to him for ever" (ver. 2). He said this as though he had made a great discovery, and so indeed it was. But four hundred years before, it had been plainly written, "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day" (Deut. 10:8). The Spirit of God doubtless turned David's attention to this and cognate scriptures, and he at one prepared to obey the Word of God. "Cease to do evil, learn to do well" (Isa. 1:16-17), became an active principle for the moment. I think I hear him saying then, "What a foolish man I was to imitate the Philistines."

Long before Socrates was born Abraham had the vision of the God of glory and became the father of the faithful for all time. Things were shaping in him and his descendants, in the ways of God, for the revelation of His holy word. Six centuries roll by, and we see Moses writing the inspired words that in time produced the Pentateuch. David wrote many psalms, prophets added their part. The Israelites were blessed with the presence of God in their midst and the knowledge of the Most High.

If the remnant had spoken as so many do today, they would surely not have returned to Judea. Over 1000 years had passed away since Moses had made known the "statutes and judgements" in which God had established the only place of worship for all the twelve tribes and in which the priestly functions were expressly determined. Five long centuries had gone since Solomon had built his magnificent temple and arranged everything according to Gods thoughts, as revealed to David. Never had unbelief more reason to excuse disobedience to God's Word. Was it now necessary after one thousand years, now that the circumstances were so different, to still act according to what God had laid down in the books of Moses?

Between the times of Moses and Solomon, many changes had passed. As to my present purpose, I may say that the principal of them was this that the nation had become a kingdom. The promised land had been gained — reached and conquered. The Lord had been found faithful to all His covenant engagements, and Israel rebellious again and again. Terrible evils had been committed, and sorrowful discipline endured under the judges and King Saul. But in season the Lord arose, in the riches of His grace and the might of His Spirit, and in David righteousness prevails, and in Solomon peace follows it.

Take the great religious movements of the Old Testament. We have Moses, the lawgiver, a sublime figure, filling a unique and magnificent place for God. He is succeeded by Joshua, a fine man, a gallant fighter, but he lacks the power and greatness of Moses. Great as Joshua was, he was not the giant Moses was. Then came the nameless elders of Joshua 24:31, and then you get the awful debacle of the Book of Judges, ending up with such terrible stories as the concubine of the Levite of Bethlehem-Judah being cut up into twelve pieces; and of the way in which the Benjamites captured their wives, the book ending with the description of the awful state of things, “In those days there was no king in Israel every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

The book occupies a very interesting place in the history of God's dealings with His people, Israel. Preceding it is the glorious dual leadership of Moses and Joshua; Moses, the great deliverer out of Egypt, the lawgiver, the leader through the wilderness, the great man of God, the man who spoke to God "face to face" (Ex.33:11), a man who was indeed for God in every sense of the word; and Joshua, his successor, leading the nation into the land, possessing much of the territory, setting a personal example to the nation, exhorting them not to serve other gods, and in spite of all that was against them, he could say, "but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh.24:15). And then, immediately following it, we find the great recovery beginning with the Moabitish maiden, Ruth, and the recovery of Naomi. This paved the way for the introduction of Hannah, Samuel, David and Solomon, the great heights to which Israel rose under the power and the might of God. Here, between these two great peaks of glory and blessing we find a valley of darkness, of failure, and of departure from God. Thank God there are those that shine brightly in it, men and women inspired with a desire to be true to God, a desire to be faithful in a day when many were not.

The history of the 19 kings each over Israel and Judah (without queen Athalja) is the report of the second decline of the people of God. After Israel's salvation out of Egypt and its introduction into Canaan under Moses, Aaron and Joshua, the people declined the more and more from God despite of priesthood and the office of judges. By introducing the kingdom under David God made a new beginning with His people but after a short time the decline started again. The first period ended with the people's rejection of Jehovah (1 Sam. 8:7) and in the second period Israel had to be rejected of God (2 Chron. 36:16).